Pension Anne

Anne, the host, was so kind and accommodating. They also offered breakfast and laundry, both really helpful. It's affordable and in a great location, but if you don't sleep easily, I'd avoid weekends. I stayed Saturday and Sunday night: Saturday was noisy until 5am, while Sunday was much quieter.

I felt like I was being scammed, so I left and had to scramble for another room at 10:00 pm. I found somewhere much nicer with a private bath for only $10 more. The hosts had seemed really nice in their WhatsApp messages, but when I arrived in the rain nobody answered the doorbell. I called on WhatsApp and was told they'd be there in five minutes. Ten minutes later, she arrived, said my card was no good, and demanded cash. When I asked her to try the card again, she said the machine didn't work after 9:00. I'd stay as far away as possible. There are much nicer pensions in Donostia at similar prices, without the hassle or weirdness.

The good points: the laundry service was great, the room was clean, the bathroom was nice and big, and the location was good. But we definitely can't recommend this place. We should have checked the Google reviews first. For the money, the room didn't need to be pretty, but we did expect honest people. At first the hosts were very nice to us, almost too nice, and offered lots of services. That's why we chose the pension. Later, they felt unfriendly and not as nice as they'd pretended. They said we couldn't shower after 11pm because it was too loud. They'd promised a room for our bikes, which was why we picked this hotel, but after we'd paid and stayed a few days, they told us to put them somewhere else. They also promised snacks and coffee, then stopped providing them after we'd paid. Nobody told us the price would change when spring started, and suddenly we were asked to pay more than we'd agreed before the stay. Sometimes things disappeared from our room or bathroom, and only came back after we explicitly asked. In the mornings, they arrived around 7am-8am and talked loudly outside our room. We sometimes wanted to sleep after going out with friends, and they also talked to guests about other guests being strange and doing stupid things. They told us some stories too. At least in Austria, that's not a nice thing to do.

Central location, and room 3 is the one. It's not fancy, but lush, with clean cotton sheets and a good shower. Host Annie is an eccentric delight. We woke up to homemade tortilla and family-reared jamon on toast con tomate. Amazing value. Be nice to Annie and she'll sort you out. The ceiling fan was so much better than aircon. A perfect 'One Star' pension.