Parador of Cardona

Fabulous hotel in a medieval castle on top of a hill, with stunning views all round. Hotel staff always accessible and helpful. Lovely relaxing environment. Excellent meals served in the restaurant. Well-appointed bedrooms, my only disappointment being the absence of tea/coffee making facilities. Well worth visiting the nearby Cardona salt mine - fascinating.

This parador was certainly not close to the paradores we visited before. The location was beautiful but the availability of food and drinks was very limited. The opening hours of restaurant and cafe bar were short. No vending machines and no coffee machines. Dinner was not great and some of the staff didn’t seem very happy. No lounch chairs and no pool.

This is our second stay at Parador de Cardona - we were there for Valentine's Day this Feb and we forgot a jacket when leaving! Rather than just swinging by to collect it, we decided to stay another night and we were not disappointed in that decision! ||From check-in to check-out we had a wonderful few hours - a relaxed evening in the bar area, a lovely room with a 4 poster bed and a truly great breakfast the following morning (coming from 2 'we don't eat breakfast' people!). Oh and we collected the jacket which had been all boxed up waiting for us. ||It's a really spectacular castle with oodles of history and views to swoon over! Thoroughly recommended!

This was truly something special, not something we would ever of thought we would do or stay in. The kids had such a great time exploring food was great very friendly staff. A must visit. The history of this castle was great. The views over looking the town were spectacular.

The castle is just beautiful.|My room was great - large and comfortable, with a beautiful, updated, and well-appointed and well-functioning bathroom. |The decor in most of the public areas is as you would expect in a castle - oversized, yet comfortable chairs, chests, wrought iron candelabra and old paintings. Exactly what you want in a castle hotel.|There is a rooftop stone veranda off the bar on one of the upper levels, which is beautiful and offers excellent views of the area. ||All that being said, here are the problems I have with this Parador in particular, and other Paradors (government-owned and -run hotels) in general: It is run like, and reminds me of, the old hotels I used to stay in the Soviet Union. |The beautiful outdoor area was closed for no explicable reason, and the tables all pushed to one side.|The bar area had no cozy adornments and looked like a shabby Soviet cafeteria. No rugs, no wall hangings, nothing to make it warm, inviting or charming.|The television (in both Paradors) didn't work.|The bartender in the bar was overworked, doing two jobs from what I saw, and wasn't always at the bar to serve us. |Dinner was in a magnificent vaulted room, but the food was incredibly basic and just thrown on the plate.|Breakfast is not available until 8:00 am, so if you have an early departure, you can forget about breakfast or even coffee. Yes, you can't even get coffee until 8:00. |It was clear that the hotel is understaffed and the ones that were working were doing double, even triple duty. I can't complain about them, I felt bad for their huge work load. They looked exhausted. |Lastly, this hotel is high on a hill, and getting to and from town requires a grueling hike down and up the hill. If you are elderly or not in good shape, you will not want to stay here. We are younger and in good shape, and it was tough getting back up. Cabs were hard to get, and the hotel offers no shuttle service down the hill to the town and back up.|This hotel is beautiful and has so much potential. It could be a marvelous hotel with just a few changes and a little more effort. But like the USSR, attention to detail, servicing the guests and their needs beyond their room is non-existent. |

Really nice medieval setting. The fact that you can reserve the sauna and gym just for yourself is a plus. The staff were super friendly and accommodating. For us, the weak point is the restaurant where the service is not great, apart from one girl who was super nice, and the food is overpriced for what it is. The dining room itself is architecturally spectacular though. We also thought that there could have been clearer indications that hot breakfasts were available.

This was a one of a kind hotel, where you could feel like you were back in medieval time with the Duke of Cardona, but still enjoying modern conveniences. Walking the castle on a moonlit night was absolutely magical, restaurant food was phenomenal and staff friendly and competent. The hotel designers are to be highly commended for maintaining the medieval feel, beauty and history but providing all modern comforts. Only little improvement I might suggest is some option to have a lift for guests and luggage up the steep street into the hotel as this was a bit of a struggle.

Hôtel history and location is stunning. The breakfast was fantastic, But the evening meal was a huge disappointment for over 100 euros! Bland and cold food and poor waiter service. They never once asked us about our food or poured our wine,

This was most definitely an interesting stop on our travels through Northern Spain. For sure I thought this was a return to the time of the Middle Ages it was wonderful to standi high atop while viewing over the charismatic town of Cardona. We also visited Minyona Tower and a church, both dating from the 11th century. We were very happy that we stop in this wonderful town to visit the castle with its towers, walls and gothic features. The lunch was also very good along with the wine. Well we had lots of wine.

What a great spot for spending a night to relax and eat well. The Mid Evil castle is a national treasure. It's very well kept and clean. The rooms have been redone and bathrooms are very nice including the towels. The restaurant food was spectacular. The highlight was the Cannelloni and service!

I highly recommend coming to Parador de Cardona! Why? Because this is a one and lifetime experience and such an adventure. we cruised around the different towns nearby- ate dinner at the Castle; Our servings were very Medieval - I ordered lamb, hubby ordered fish- our plates had no side dishes to accommodate the main course. My 5lb lamb thigh Was served with nothing else on my plate. Very interesting I thought

Everything about this place hits the mark. Picture a ridiculously old fortress with hundreds of years of history turned into an amazing hotel. Plaques explaining the history throughout the years hang everywhere as well, which as history nerds, my wife and I scoured the hotel looking for. The rooms are spacious and well furnished and the common areas are fabulous. Dinner was served in a huge hall that used to be part of the church and you enter through a former audience cheer that used to ALSO be a torture room. The food was very good and would recommend the taste of Catalonia with the lamb, sausages, croquettes, and bread. Dinner was topped with a crime brûlée and dessert wine. All delicious! This is a great romantic getaway and my wife and I would recommend to anyone looking for the same.

We were staying in this beautiful paradore so dined at the restaurant. It was beautiful and cozy lights for the holidays. The food and red wine selections were excellent. For a starter, I had the terrine and mushroom soup - both exceptional. Tenderloin and sea bass entrees were a hit. Reasons I did not give it 5 stars: understaffed so service was lacking; everything somewhat salty (maybe from the town's salt mines); breakfast was poorly staffed for a buffet, so lacked table service and restocking food.

This quaint, hilltop hotel inside the Castle of Cardona was wonderful. Our room was not luxurious, but it was very comfortable and came with a wonderful view of the countryside, salt mine and the small town of Cardona. The parador's location offers stunning views both inside and outside. The restaurant inside the parador is reserved for guests only and serves stunning food. It is not cheap, but well worth it. The Medieval cloister, ramparts and tower are all amazing to explore. Wi-fi is very, very slow.