Hotel Santa Cruz

You need your own car here, since the hotel is out in the wilderness, a little way from the main road, with nothing around it. The wifi is quite ordinary, and the service is poor. Santa Cruz itself doesn't have much to offer beyond using this as a cheap base for daily hiking or trekking. It's a very basic hotel with ordinary rooms. Mine was small and modestly furnished, though the bathroom was better and had a bathtub. Breakfast was a pleasant surprise for the price, and overall the hotel offered quite a lot for what we paid. Better, friendlier, more efficient management would make a big difference.

The bedrooms are big and comfortable, and the buffet food is great. There's a swimming pool for summer, plus football and basketball, sneaker, and air hockey. It's a bit far from the slopes, but the hotel price is so good that I really recommend it.

The food was great, especially dinner. Breakfast was okay, though there wasn't a single vegetable. Staff were very friendly and helpful despite their limited English, but English was also very poor at reception and in the restaurant. The rooms were clean, though badly underinvested, which I expected for the price. Soundproofing was terrible, and I felt like I was sleeping in the hallway. The room was extremely hot, with no way to lower the temperature except opening a window. There's no sauna or ski room, though they let you keep equipment in your room, and there's nothing to do in the evening. The wifi was so slow it's totally unusable.

For skiing, this is our ideal place because we prefer to avoid the resort's hustle and bustle. The bungalows cost a bit more than the hotel, but they're quieter. The place works for couples as well as families, and special requirements at the reasonable buffet are handled without a sour face. The bar is a good size, with snooker, air hockey, a few other console games, and a really nice fireplace where you can sit with board games like chess, which you can get at reception. There's a morning bus to Pradollano (Sierra Nevada), but demand is high in winter, so reserve a seat in advance.