Hotel Viura

The Viura Hotel is a hotel that I suspect guests will either love or hate. The "classic" photo of the exterior with its higgltey pigglety aspect sums the hotel up. The exterior to me is dramatic, but some of the interior does not come off - particularly the dark corridors designed to give a "warehouse" feel. This feel is carried to the bedrooms with raw concrete and distressed furniture - I personally like the bedrooms We had dinner in the restaurant which we enjoyed. Little of the hotel was explained to us on arrival, and we had to find for ourselves by wandering round. But we were offered a glass of local wine at arrival, which was a nice touch There was a mix ok good staff and bad staff, and no management presence. And it is really a firm management input that the hotel really needs

This is the second time we have stayed in this hotel. It is truly excellent. The staff are very helpful and arranged tours of wine producers in Villabuena. The tours were excellent, very, very informative. The room was clean and quiet. One improvement would be a night light so occupants could find their way to the bathroom easily at night. The restaurant was absolutely splendid. Our dinners were outstanding. I had a super hamburger. The chicken dish is very creative and excellent. The breakfast buffet had something for everyone to say the least. The hotel is not far from major wine producers in Rioja as well as in close proximity to those in Villabuena. We hope to stay again.

Have to admit our first impression of the blocks of concrete made us wonder why we had booked this unconventional designed hotel in a quiet village, however, we got to love the place. The staff were extremely helpful and professional. The artwork around the hotel was incredibly interesting and unique. The design was very clever from top to bottom. The 4th floor had loads of private relaxation areas on the top of each block with walkways in between screened by bamboo. The lifts were the best we’ve used in the past ten hotels on this trip. Breakfast was a great selection of cold and hot food with plenty of cakes and fruit. Excellent coffee making and the best fresh orange juice. We stayed three nights and ate all the evenings in the restaurant. The Head Waiter (think his name was Mooney) looked after us extremely well as did his number2. The food was excellent and starters needed to be shared if we wanted three courses. Always a fabulous selection of wines both by the glass and bottle, with Mooney passing on his personal knowledge recommendations. The front desk recommended we take the village wine bodegas tour and having the opportunity to visit a small, medium and large winery for tasting was brilliant. The only three minor criticisms I have are: 1. A kettle to make tea would have been better than the pod coffee maker, 2. Filter water in room instead of bottles and 3. Reusable rather than disposable cups in room.

This is a modern structure set amidst the old town. Very handsome. More to the point, Everything is fine. It was quiet. The staff were nice. Everything worked. The location is good in that it is proximate to vineyards and Bilbao. We would be very pleased to stay again.

Let’s start with the positive. The staff is friendly and accommodating. The rooms are fairly clean. And there is parking. Now the negative is out of the way and hard to find. Make sure you have Waze or another app. The rooms are small (I paid for an upgrade) I can’t imagine how small the other room are unless they just gave me a regular room and did not upgrade me. I have no way of knowing. Every furniture in the room is very cheap. The food was awful and expensive so I don’t recommend you eat at the hotel.