Gailupa

We’ve stayed in plenty of rural homes and apartments, and never before had we found the kitchen and living-dining room on the top floor. I’ll leave the barbecue aside. The listing’s use of “two floors” for the bedrooms and their placement, then “attic” for the fourth bedroom, is confusing enough that we felt cheated when we arrived. The owners say otherwise, but in my opinion the description is deliberately unclear. Spanish can be perfectly clear when it wants to be. From the street, you enter the building and see a closed door on the ground floor, plus stairs up to the apartment they rent across the two upper floors. I agree with Carla Soler’s view of the apartment, but I’m giving it one star.

The place matched the photos, and the host was very kind and helpful, though we didn’t meet in person. We spent the weekend there with family and three dogs. It’s a large, clean house with all the kitchen tools, dishes, cutlery, glassware, and barbecue equipment you need. There are four bedrooms, all with private bathrooms, on the second floor. The kitchen and dining-living room are on the third, which is a bit inconvenient. The terrace-garden is outside the house, so you have to keep going up and down to use it.

It’s a cute apartment, and having a bathroom in every bedroom is handy. But although it’s promoted as a rural house, it’s really a tourist apartment without a garden. There is a terrace, but you have to go out to the street and walk around the house to reach it. The rented space covers the first and second floors, with the kitchen upstairs. Eating on the terrace means carrying everything up and down two flights; there are dishes downstairs, but no sink to wash them, so you either leave them dirty or make the trip. I was glad they let us bring the dogs, though they didn’t enjoy it much since it felt like having them in an apartment. The sofas were incredibly uncomfortable, at least the dining chairs were comfortable.

The upper level is the nicest part, with a spacious, bright open living room and kitchen and a wood-burning stove. Every bedroom has an en-suite bathroom, a decent-sized wardrobe, and a comfortable bed. The street-access terrace is useful too, with a big table for a group meal. It’s a lovely house with every detail considered, in a beautiful rural setting just a short distance from Estella. Alfonso, the owner, was friendly and attentive to all the details. Highly recommended!