The task was simple. Our first stop on our Summer 2023 roadtrip north was in Lorca, and we wanted to then stop in Perpignan to see some friends. This was a trip of nearly 850 km, so we decided to make an over-night stop. An opportunity to stop in a new location, and try out a new hotel.
We finally hit on a new 5-star hotel in Monroyo near Teruel (the first and only 5-star hotel in the region). On the map it looked a reasonable option, even if the hotel did mention that the last few kilometres were on rough roads. I should have been more careful because this deviation added about 70 kilometres, but actually added just over two more hours to the trip. This was because getting to the hotel, and then back to the motorway, involved more than 170 kilometres on Spanish national roads.
A far better option would have been to keep to the motorway and stop overnight in Valencia.
But our expectations were high. Booking gave the hotel a 9.4/10 (Fabulous) from 374 reviews, and TripAdvisor gave it a 4.8/5.0 from 190 reviews. The hotel is part of the Small Luxury Hotels of The World.
Where is Monroyo near Teruel?
The first thing to understand is that Monroyo is nowhere near Teruel. It’s true that Monroyo is in the Province of Teruel, but Teruel itself is about 170 kilometres away and on the torturous national roads it takes in excess of 2½ hours to drive between the two places.
Monroyo, and the hotel, are on the edge of the Parc Natural Tinença de Benifassà. At times the area has a certain Alpine air, and is home to wild ibex, roe deer and the griffon vulture.
We left the hotel in the wrong direction, and within 2-3 kilometres found ourselves in a very Alpine-like landscape.
Finding the hotel
The Torre del Marquès was a partially fortified noble house on the southern slope of the Serra Molinera, a mountainous region in the eastern part of the province of Teruel. It could be accessed on tracks and paths from local villages and farmhouses, and there is now a paved road from Fuentespalda to Ráfales, and the new hotel has its own cemented access road.
According to one report the building was constructed with ashlar stone, and was acquired by some English who restored it to the best of their ability. Although, in some details, they did not respect the general tone of the building by adding some modern cement items inlaid with bits of tiles.
At its origin the building was rectangular in shape and consisted of a ground floor and three upper floors, covered with a double-sloped roof and topped with pinnacles. Between the main gates and a farmer’s house there was an open patio, fenced with a stone wall also with three pinnacles. There were two main doors, both located on the south-east façade and equipped with large voussoirs that opened, in turn, into a semicircular arch. The windows were all lined with large stones, except for two, on the north-east façade, which were lined with wood.
A report from 1993 mentioned that not all the windows were protected by glass, and shutters were the only protection. Most of the exterior faces of the ledges or sills were adorned with ribs. The building had, and still has, its own chapel, which has direct access from the outside (it is said that local farmers heard mass there every Sunday). There were also some annexed constructions and a partially uncovered area, closed with a stone wall, next to a gatehouse. The property consisted of just over 110 hectares. A hundred hectares were forest (wood, firewood and charcoal), and ten hectares were for rainfed crops (cereals, vineyards and olive trees).
My understanding is that in 2006 the Torre del Marqués estate was projected as a centre for equestrian events, however the economics of the project were unrealistic and the farm had to be auctioned.
In 2016 there was a project by a Madrid company to transform the historic Torre del Marqués into “a meeting space aimed at people with great purchasing power, groups, boards of directors of large companies and multinationals”. The architect was Angels Castellamau Visus, and I think that the building works were by Fernando Calavera. The project included a farm called Mas de la Llusia, and the total investment was estimated at 5 million euros (€2.5 million for the hotel building). Some reports mention a planned opening in 2019, others an actually opening in July 2022.
A good part of the materials used were so-called ‘kilometer zero’ and biosustainable, minimizing the impact of carbon dioxide. Land from the farm itself and traditional materials such as rammed earth were used to build part of the walls and different structures of the building, which is eco-sustainable and energetically self-sufficient. To do this boilers use wood chips from the surrounding pine forests, solar panels cover the parking spaces, and active air conditioning elements are used so that the building hardly requires outside energy, including for the spa and a outdoor heated pool.
The easiest way to find this hotel is to input the GPS coordinates from Google Maps into TomTom. The cement road and the rough track are often only slightly wider than one vehicle, and sometime raised above the surrounding land. Passing is often impossible, although there are a few places that are two vehicle wide. We had to back-up once, and an oncoming car was also kind enough to back-up to let us pass.
The hotel today
Here we can see the drive up to the hotel, with the entrance around the back. The above view is from the outdoor heated pool, and the parking is back along the entrance road on the left.
Public spaces
Here we have two of the public spaces on the ground floor. There were a number of smallish sitting rooms, etc., all with the same tone-on-tone colour scheme.
Our room
The bedroom didn’t have that wow-factor, and most of the bedrooms shown on the Internet look bigger and more sophisticated. However, it was more than adequate for a one-night stay. There was enough wardrobe space, a coffee machine, mini-bar, a good sized walk-in shower, a separate WC, and the usual amenities (but no tissues).
I do have a few negative comments, some factual, others more an issue of taste. I thought the room decor was a bit bland and the two ‘hand basins’ impractical and out of place. The minibar was not well stocked, but the prices were very competitive for a 5-star hotel. I also thought that having one, very plush, seat in a double room was odd.
I am not a fan of extra cushions, the bed throw, and the odd covers hanging on a wall frame. They are traps for dust and worse.
Also I was not sure if the air conditioning works or not, and if it was heating or cooling. It made so much noise I shut it down.
The shower had no shelve to put shampoo’s, etc. on, and the shower floor was quite slippery. The idiot who put the wall safe in the wardrobe under a shelve at floor level should be shot. I suppose it must be refreshing to imagine “people with great purchasing power,…, boards of directors of large companies and multinationals” on their hands and knees trying to access the “wall-safe” bolted to the floor.
Room service
Upon arrival, we were unsure about going for room service or dinner in the restaurant.
We decided to start with a snack from the room service menu. The menu was limited but we picked chicken nuggets and croquettes, with two glasses of champagne.
Sitting in what was a very pleasant garden the nuggets appeared as chicken fingers, and the croquettes as highly conventional deep-fried balls of undefined taste. We had to go back and remind the staff that we had also asked for two glasses of champagne.
We were so underwhelmed with the room service that we decided to avoid the restaurant that evening.
Breakfast
I guess breakfast was served in the restaurant area, with a really impressive view out over the valley.
What was on offered in the breakfast buffet was limited, but more than adequate knowing that there were only a few room occupied. There were a number of interesting additions such as small apple tarts and coconut twirls, etc. And they also served fresh orange juice and a small plate of freshly cut fruit directly to the table.
We also took up the offer of egg dishes, my wife taking the omelette and me scrambled eggs. My wife’s omelette was good, but my scrambled eggs were just dumped on the plate, with the waiter mentioning that it might need some salt and pepper.
Conclusion
I won’t hide the fact that I don’t think we will return to this hotel, almost certainly because it is too far away from our ‘migration’ routes north-south through Spain.
I don’t regret our visit, since it took us to a part of Spain that we did not know, and to a hotel that could potentially be interesting. However, for me it lacked those 5-star finishing touches. As an example, above we see the outdoor heated pool. It looks fine, but not particularly 5-star.
The staff were friendly, but appeared not to be fully applied to the task, and based upon the very ordinary room service menu and food, I’m not convinced the restaurant would have been any better.
