Canfranc Estación, A Royal Hideaway Hotel - Gran Lujo

The hotel is beautiful and the food was delicious, but the staff's attitude overshadowed everything. From the beginning they seemed cold and rigid, with no warmth or welcome, and every interaction felt uncomfortable. I couldn’t wait to leave. Everything felt controlled rather than relaxing. Booking was overly strict, and both the pool and restaurant ran on rigid time slots. At the restaurant I wanted to look around and admire the design, but was told to stay seated. It felt patronizing and unnecessary, like being treated as a child. I’ve never felt so uncomfortable. I only learned at checkout that the pool cost extra. It hadn’t been clearly explained beforehand. Whatever the misunderstanding, charging extra to use the pool at a five-star hotel was very disappointing and felt cheap for this price level. I’d recommend visiting if you’re passing through the area, but I wouldn’t recommend staying overnight.

The building and rooms are lovely, spacious, and elegant, as you’d expect from a five-star hotel. Leaving gifts for all the children on Three Kings day was a very nice touch. Still, after a week at Canfranc Royal Hideaway, we left deeply disappointed and won’t return. The service was poor value for money, and I’ve never felt so uncomfortable in a hotel. I was looking forward to going home. Staff were generally rude and unwelcoming. They rarely greeted us when we entered a room or passed them. At breakfast, one cook ignored my greetings for two days, then sighed when I finally mentioned it. The next day, again no greeting. That was shocking for a hotel of this category. Our duplex suite’s heating swung between hot and cold within minutes. When we raised it, we were told everything was supposedly fine because it hadn’t happened before. We felt dismissed and unheard. A Christmas tree decoration as a gift probably wasn’t the right fix. The café food was overpriced for its quality, with almost the whole menu made up of sandwiches. It also felt poorly suited to the season, such as serving salmorejo in winter, and portion sizes changed from one evening to the next. This was just the main part of a week with many incidents. The building may merit five stars, but the service completely undermines the experience. We can’t recommend it.

The building is lovely, and the setting is beautiful. My room was clean and comfortable, as it should be for 445€/night, but this didn’t feel like a five-star hotel. Maybe four at best, given the price and service. The pool cost 20€/hr, and wasn’t warm or especially luxurious. At breakfast there were 60 customers and just one coffee machine, so people queued; it jammed too, and a young boy thankfully got it unstuck while the understaffed wait team rushed around. My food order took ages to be taken, then ages more to arrive cold. Check-in took at least 30 minutes, even though I booked through Booking.com and they should already have had my information. The restaurants were full on my arrival evening, so I got a very dry, bland 20€ club sandwich at the cafe instead. They also wanted 15€ for parking in the middle of nowhere in the mountains, though I was on a motorcycle and could park for free around back. I wasn’t given a property map or a list of services either. There was only a QR code in the room that took me to the Barcelo hotel chain app. I’m not downloading an app just to find out what’s available where I’m staying. At these prices I expected a fabulous stay and fantastic service. I got neither.

We were lucky with the weather during our short March 2025 stay. The historic building has been converted into a hotel really well, and breakfast was sumptuous, with views of the old train carriages and mountains. We arrived very early by bus, since the train line from France is closed, and were greeted with drinks and shown straight to our amazing room. We took a taxi further into Spain because the trains from there ran at really awkward times.