Hotel Carlton

Hotel Carlton in Bilbao impressed me with its spacious and elegant rooms, even if the style feels slightly dated. The restaurant is excellent and serves high-quality dishes, while the breakfast buffet has a wide selection with everything you need. The hotel’s location couldn’t be better – most attractions and city highlights are within easy walking distance. Overall, a very enjoyable stay and a place I would definitely choose again.

Incredibly beautiful hotel. The hall, the rooms, the ceilings are amazing. The service is fantastic and helpful. It is on sich a central location that you can reach all the main attraction of Bilbao on foot.

The worst hotel choice I have ever made. The rooms are extremely outdated — it feels like they haven’t been renovated since the opening in 1926. Furniture is worn out, and the so-called “soundproofing” is so poor that I could hear every single move from the room next door. The staff is unprofessional and rude. When we complained about the condition of the room, they simply said they didn’t see anything wrong. Housekeeping was also below basic standards. We were traveling with kids, so safety was my top priority. Imagine my shock when I discovered a broken electrical socket in the room — a clear safety hazard. Even worse, the staff dismissed it, claiming they saw nothing dangerous about it. For a hotel that claims to be five stars, this is absolutely unacceptable. I would strongly advise anyone considering this hotel to look elsewhere.

Wow this place is posh! Spectacular ground floor. Very helpful staff. Nice room. This was booked for us by Brittany Ferries as a place to stay before going home. It was great. The location is ideal. Walk to the Guggenheim. You would normally need to book parking well in advance, but as we were there on a bank holiday the street parking at the back was free.

Not a 5-star experience at all. Bell staff stood in the lobby and didn’t even acknowledge us, let alone offer luggage help — they weren’t busy, just disengaged. One front desk staff member was outright rude. They charged for parking but had no valet that day, so we spent 30 frustrating minutes squeezing the car into a tiny spot ourselves. Décor is dated, there was mold in the shower, and we had to request an iron. Pillows were uncomfortable, there’s no smart TV or in-room snacks, and the lobby was chaotic due to a summit during our stay. Definitely not the level of service or comfort you’d expect from a 5-star hotel.

We had an amazing holiday overnight stay at the Carlton Hotel. Our room had a premium view of the circular/park. No noise issues whatsoever. Lovely evening concluded on the terrace with drinks. Breakfast delicious. Very helpful staff and reception. A truly beautiful hotel. Crossan Family Dublin, Ire July 25

Perfect location to visit all areas of Bilbao. Plus from the airport on public bus took just 15 minutes.|Hotel is fabulous, room 619 was enormous, luxurious and the bed was so comfortable. |Room with city view and very quiet.|Balcony had fantastic views of the city.

As others have said, the location is ideal- A gorgeous building facing a beautiful garden and very close to everything.|The lobby area and the incredible ceiling are nods to the architecturally significant and impressive building.|This however is where the beauty ends. The rooms are in dire need of an update. Chipping paint, faded fabrics- not exactly 5 star. |Bed, linens and AC were fine. No irons? Can’t remember the last time I had to call for one.|We tried to have a cocktail on the outdoor terrace before our dinner that is apparently not always staffed. Had to call someone and then took at least 20 minutes for them to come and never saw them again.|Dinner equally as disappointing. Literally only 4 total diners (my husband and I were 2)in a room that I can only describe as a small banquet room. |Food was some of the priciest we had here and was good but not what it should have been for the price. Service was ok.

A classic hotel that hasn't aged well. Stuffy, pretentious with basic and traditional amenities. Expensive restaurants, slow Wi-Fi, no convenience store, loud banging at 6am (called the front desk with no follow-up). Great location near the subway and central to downtown.

An elegant grande dame located on the central square across from a beautiful garden. We stayed for one night in mid April in a Superiorto kick off a visit to the Basque Country. Our room on the fifth floor (512) was delightfully large with a nice balcony overlooking the square. In April the 187€ was a steal for this quality and especially given the inclusion of breakfast (23€/pp value AND two free passes to Guggenheim museum-20€ value). Like most historical properties it would be a nice upgrade to have better access to power outlets, but other than that I thought the marble bathroom was a good size and we had more than enough room in which to spread out. The hotel itself is beautiful with rich red carpets on a sweeping grand staircase and an amazing stained glass domed courtyard just off the lobby. The Belle Époque stained glass and other touches add a refined elegance to your stay. The breakfast buffet was included in our room rate and was absolutely outstanding with so many classic basque foods plus anything else you could possibly want from fresh fruit and juice, many pastries and breads and omelette s cooked to order. An amazing feast and not to be missed. Highly recommended

Will stay here again if I ever come back to Bilbao. Everything is more than I expected. The room is spacious and the breakfast buffet is very impressive. The staff is very friendly and helpful. The location is excellent. It's right outside of the metro station and only a shirt walk to the Guggenheim museum..

New favourite hotel in Bilbao. Best location wise-only a few steps away from airport bus pick-up and metro. Short walk to the Guggenheim.Very fancy rooms (old school), clean and low key cool balconies. After staying at Ercilla, this will likely be my next go to hotel in Bilbao. The staff were very helpful. Price way-reasonable!.

Best place to stay in Bilbao, hands down. Upscale hotel, professional and friendly staff! Rooms are spacious, clean and very well distributed. The view from our room overlooked the city which was amazing! I recommend you book in advance, it does get sold out a lot.

Dare I say it: I loved Bilbao, probably more than San Sebastian. Sure, even in the summertime the weather can be quite unpredictable (I had my umbrella with me at all times) and chilly, but I'm fairly used to these things after living in Galicia (and Chicago!). My stay at Hotel Carlton made my visit to Bilbao all the more enjoyable. The hotel is situated directly in the center of town and is a comfortable walk from the Guggenheim Museum, as well as the "old" part of the city. Upon checking into the hotel (and without even asking!), the concierge gave me a thorough description of the area, described highlights and key attractions in Bilbao, and advised me to take my camera on a clear day and head to the Mirador de Artxanda. I heeded his advice and after a sharp, uphill climb, was presented with one of the most beautiful views of the center of Bilbao and its prominent architecture, the surrounding mountains, and the river. Throughout my entire stay, the service was polite and friendly - I was always presented with a "Buenos Dias" when leaving for coffee in the morning and a "Buenas Noches" when finally arriving back to the hotel after an evening of pintxos bar crawling. The room itself was comfortable and clean with in-room wi-fi. I also made use of the small fitness center in the building, which surprisingly enough, had ample cardio and weight equipment. It was definitely one of the nicer hotel gyms that I've made use of in Europe. Most of the guests of the hotel appeared to be on business, judging by how many of them were in suits, speaking English, and having the front desk call for taxis to take them here-there-everywhere, but given the affordable pricing of the hotel (under 70 euro a night) and the key location, Hotel Carlton is a wonderful place for tourists and vacationers to stay as well.

Decent location but in need of a facelift. Staff were friendly but the hotel is aged. The location was very good and the airport bus literally went to the door step, right in the centre of town. The room stank of smoke and room was showing signs of age, could do with a new carpet, more paint etc. Hard to call the hotel gym a proper gym, and same goes for the steam room, pretty basic. i cant say this was a surprise however, the prices reflected this lack of renovation.