Well located in the center of the old town but our room was not in a good condition (disgusting smell in the bath room). In addition it is too expensive, the price does not correspond to travel guides and the service is sloppy.

We needed a stop-over after arriving late afternoon in Madrid and heading for Salamanca ...and the Hospideria filled the bill perfectly...a lovely hotel in a beautiful town...certainly worthy of more than a one night stop. Avila has many charms and we were sorry to only have a night and the following morning to explore it...

The Hospederia is a gem of a place, although we would endorse the need for a friendlier approach at the reception end.

That said, the restaurant staff were charming and helpful in spite of the language barrier...No English spoken...but, hey, that's why we were travelling out that way...We were in search of 'real' Spain...and Avila is a charming example of it...

The food was excellent and the restaurant a visual treat.

The room was beautifully furnished and the canopied bed was fun..and wonderfuly comfortable...

The breakfast was also a treat in spite of the power-cut...and breakfast by candle-light seemed entirely in keeping with this rustic-ey ,olde-world place.

Highly recommended in spite of the non-communicators at the front desk!

(For the record, their attitude and curtness was not mirrored by their very friendly e.mial exchanges when we were booking...which suggests that somewhere in their admin side is a person or two with good customer focus...)

This is a lovely little hotel with truly charming guestrooms. The suit of armor in the lobby / restaurant is the icing on the cake. If it were owned by one of those charming families that chats with guests and exudes real warmth, it would be perfect.

Unfortunately, that's not the case.

The people staffing the hotel were cold and unhelpful in almost every instance. They never made any effort to answer a question or talk to us - except when the front desk clerk called late one night to demand that we move a car that was blocking the street. I explained that we had no car. We had arrived in Avila by train.

The food in the restaurant is very good, and the service is pretty good. But it is very expensive and it has adopted some pernicious nickel-and-diming that is unworthy of a place charging those prices - including charging for a basket of bread, whether or not you ask for it or eat it, without listing the price on the menu.

I'd love to go back to this place if somebody pleasant would buy it.