Hotel Nafarrola

What a lovely place. We had spent a week traveling around the Basque area and this was the first place we stayed where my wife walked in and went "Ohhh". The rooms here are very nice, spacious, well appointed, with nice amenities (who has wood burning stoves?!) andthe pictures actually don't do them justice. The staff were friendly and knowledgeable about the area, with many being from the region. Check in and check out were smooth, and everything worked as it should. The restaurant is not to be missed either. The food was uniformly excellent, if a little heavy on foi gras, which is not everyone's thing. We had dinner there both nights we stayed and it was very well done. It's not Michelin level but it's not priced like it is. We also did the Txakoli wine experience and I can recommend it enough. You can tell they really care about the region and the wine and we learned more about the regional wine than I would have thought possible in just tasting 5 wines. Seriously, it's a great time and a great value for what you get. Only downside, the location is a pretty intense mountain drive. If your local I'm sure it's just normal, but driving in while it was raining at night was pretty intense, and leaving at 4am to catch our flight was the same. Not really a downside as part of what makes this place special is it's remote location but be ready. Have already recommended this place to friends and will be back!

Hotel Nafarolla is a wonderful experience, and a great way to “getaway”. From the patio is a picture perfect view of the town of Bermeo against the backdrop of the sea. We enjoyed sitting on the deck looking out to the surrounding farmland, doing nothing but savoring our morning coffee each day. Its so peaceful.||The hotel offers meals to hotel guests, the Welcome Tasting Dinner is fantastic, some of best fish and crab Ive ever had, the sauces were amazing. We did the tasting dinner the first night, which was a great way to get to know the menu for the rest of the stay. What you come to realize is each dish, however humble sounding, is a surprise in flavors and textures made with so much care. There is an extensive wine list, reasonably priced, we stuck with Txakoli from the local area. With their dessert, there was pairing with either Late Harvest Txakoli or Iced Cider. Delicious. ||The staff are super helpful with nearby local gems, and how to access.||A day of venturing out to the coast, going to the famous site where scenes from Game of Thrones had been filmed (San Juan de Gatxelegatxe). You need to book a free reservation to actually walk to the monastery building, and often walk-ins are accepted from noon onward, but you can also walk alongside the coast, for spectacular views and picnicing , the hotel can prepare a picnic basket.||Going to Zumaia for a Geopark boat tour along the coast and a look at the Flysch, which is also famous for GOT locations but also helped date the dinosaur extinction period. ||Before arriving at the hotel, we had gone to the Txakoli Museum nearby, a small exhibit, which has good overview of the Basque regions, the types of Txacoli, labels (green versus black). It was handy to get to know these grapes, I never heard of before. The hotel restaurant website has a cool app that allows you to compare their cellar selections in details.||So many things to do around this area, and come home to the hotel to eat really well. We will be back!|We will be back

Arrived for an overnight stay to a very warm welcome, Stunning surroundings and fantastic accommodation with Mountain Views from the.huge balcony. Dinner was a real experience, every course was a taste extravaganza, up there with the finest meals we've experienced. The house wines just complimented the food perfectly. Waking up to all the bird song was a treat. Thanks for a great stay. We hope to come back soon! X

(ok.. I shoehorned the Agronomy in a bit but they have the farm-to-table ethos, so..)||Our visit to Hotel Nafarrola will remain one of our happiest holiday memories over many years of travel. Perched on the hillside way above Bermeo and the Northern Spanish coast, Nafarrola has wonderful views and a great, away from it all, countyside ambience. Our large room with balcony, jacuzzi bath, was spacious and beautifully designed (spoilt only by all our scruffy luggage dumped in it!) a joy to be in. Huge, comfy bed for a sublime night's sleep, if you could sleep with the excitement of lightning flashes and torrential rain coming in from the sea, or the gentle calm of watching the constellations through the skylight above the bed. ||We stayed 3 nights and ate at the Hotel each night. You would be a fool not to - the food is absolutely delicious. First night tasting menu was a revelation of perfectly cooked dishes making the most of excellent local ingredients. The spider crab dish was my favourite but everything was very cleverly created. Local wines matched perfectly. We couldn't resist the a la carte for the second night, equally marvellous. The third night we had the 'only on Mondays' cheaper Sidreria (cider harvesting) menu based (if I remember correctly) on the food the workers would have during the harvest. Obviously not as gourmet as the previous 2 nights but also excellent and interesting. Breakfasts were tasty and generous.||The staff were all cheerful, empathetic and helpful! We had a 'forest massage' which turned out to be a 'room massage' because it was raining too hard for the forest! This was quite a powerful massage by a young male masseur, my husband enjoyed it and so did I when I had got over the shock - I normally have female masseuses!||Worth every euro of the expense, we hope to return some time.

The hotel and the rooms were absolutely beautiful. The staff were a particular strength, so welcoming and eager to help with all enquiries and anything needed. The breakfasts in particular were excellent and we looked forward to those each morning. |As we are pescetarian (and eat fish etc but not meat) we were a little disappointed at the number of choices given on the menu, when there was actually only one fish dish available in fact as a main course. Having said that, the quality of the food for dinner was again fantastic, and we did nevertheless very much enjoy those also. The desserts were particularly good, as well as the efforts to accommodate our autistic son's diet. A super stay overall and would absolutely recommend.

It is difficult to put into words what an exceptional and beautiful experience it is staying at Hotel Nafarrola. The place itself is so beautiful it is more like a work of art than a hotel. Then the food is truly extraordinary - the quality of the ingredients and the cooking made every meal a glorious event in its own right. Above everything else though, the warmth of the welcome and the care with which Josu, Mikel and the whole team looked after us was what made our stay one of if not the best family holidays we have ever had.

Beautiful Hotel. Lovely atmosphere and extremely friendly and helpful staff. The whole stay was a real pleasure. |One small item, my wife is a vegetarian and the menu did not really cater for this. I fully understand the Basque preferences and respect the culture - after all we are visiting you!|Great Hotel Great Stay Lovely people.||Kind Regards||Tim Messer

We really enjoyed our short stay at Nafarrola. Everything (room, food, service) was superb and Josu couldn't have been more helpful. He gave us lots of information about local places to visit and even provided a ticket for the local train.|Definitely would recommend. (and the views are amazing!)