Mapoula

Wonderful Amenities, Great Service, Convenient Location!

This was a fantastic stay in Santiago de Compostela for my husband & I at the completion of our 14-day Camino! The hotel is conveniently located in the historical downtown area (near the edge where the business/downtown area begins, but still within the historical streets & a few minutes' walk to the Cathedral & shops/restaurants/museums. It is also conveniently located about 10 min. easy walk to the train station, which we had to take back to Madrid. Located on the 3rd level of the building, there is elevator or stair access from a nice quiet lobby (the rest of the building seemed to be residential apartments?). The reception area of Mapoula is very nicely decorated with warm but modern décor, with a seating area around the reception desk, & then a dining area & kitchen/breakfast buffet area around the corner. Everything was very clean. Included in our stay was the continental breakfast buffet (it would have been well worth the 4€ I think it was listed separately for anyway): there is a selection of pastries & cakes (apple, Santiago/almond?, meats & cheeses, soft boiled eggs, yogurts, cereals, fresh fruit, etc. available at the buffet. They bring you fresh squeezed orange juice & a basket of freshly toasted breads & croissants to your table. The mugs for hot tea & coffee are in a heated carousel. Everything was immaculately clean & service was great. The only very slight negative here was they only put a small amount of fresh fruit out. My husband wanted a banana but the second day noticed someone had taken the last (only?) one (& actually ended up not finishing it!)...to their credit we didn't ask them for more, & perhaps they would have brought more out if we did. Our room was just off the reception area, through an extra door/small entry area, along with another room. The lighting was automatic & bright, which I love (some hotels are so dark & dim). In the room, everything was very modern, yet cozy (love the one stone accent wall). There was air conditioning & recessed ceiling/behind the bed lighting. The bathroom was larger than most we had stayed at throughout our Camino (we stayed in hostals & pensions, not albergues!) & everything was immaculate, comfortably decorated, great water pressure/heat in the shower, lighting overhead as well as the vanity area, etc. (Here the one small negative was their towels, white medium/large bath towels with Mapoula stiched/printed across the bottom in red letters, were a little old. You could see the fraying begin around the edges of the ones we had day 1 & 3 of our stay. Day 2 the towels they gave us were a little newer. Everything was very clean, though.) Our room window had 2 layers of shutters, inside sheer curtains & outside automatic shutters (as are customary in Spain). There were no views since we were close to other buildings, but being on the 3rd level, we could see across the small pedestrian alley to a rooftop & no windows directly across. Also, laundry service was a plus!