Location: the location is superb, within a castle on top of a hill in the middle of downtown Tortosa. Therefore, you have fantastic views from the Ebro Delta.

Installations: this Parador does not seem to have been refurbished since it was built. Old elevators, old FF+E, old furniture, and nothing special about the interior of the building (it felt a bit uncomfortable...as if you were in a cheap hotel of the 60s).

Staff: in general, the staff was only "normal" (not specially friendly, but not rude either).

Room: old, old, old. Just good to sleep.

Breakfast: excellent, as in any other Parador. It is almost only worth it to stay here to enjoy the breakfast.

Tortosa: we were quite disappointed about Tortosa. The only thing to have a look at is the cathedral, and forget about the parts of the city which are next to the Parador (the old "jewish quarter"...completely rundown).

Conclusion: If I am exploring the Ebro delta, I think this is the place to stay. However, I would not return to specifically stay at this Parador.

My parents have been staying in Paradors for several years now and recommended that my husband and I booked a Parador whilst on our recent trip between Alicante and Barcelona. As we are under 35, we qualified for the special young persons rate of 57Euros each for bed and breakfast. Whilst not cheap, this is still value for money and the buffet breakfast was the best hotel breakfast I've ever enjoyed!

The Parador of Tortosa is in an old 10th Century castle and the setting is stunning. As the hotel is on a hill, the views are incredible and the ambience of the hotel is really tranquil.

Our room was on the second floor. The Parador has been sensitively maintained with details such as the lifts, which were cunningly disguised with old doors sitting in front of the sliding doors. The room was decorated in rich fabrics with dark wooden shutters and a little balcony. It was gorgeous. We had planned to go for a swim in the hotel pool, but it was cold and full of dead flies so we gave that a miss. Instead, we sat out in the hotel bar, looking out at the views and were truly relaxed Later, we ate dinner in the restaurant which was also beautiful and the food was lovely.

We had stopped at the Parador in Benicarlo for lunch on the way to Tortosa and, if we were coming back to the area, we would probably stay there instead. This is no reflection on the Parador of Tortosa, which is infinitely more beautiful a building. Rather, the pool and beach in Benicarlo would be more suited to two relatively young and active people.

We are very experienced Parador travellers. This is a lovely Parador in terms of its location and we had a wonderful suite with exceptional views. However, this Parador has a much less historic interior than others and has not necessarily been interior decorated with sufficient care. Overall, we have marked this Parador down because of the administration and reception. At all other paradors, we have been greeted with sheer delight and made to feel really welcome. On arrival at reception on this occasion was brusque to say the least with an unsmiling young man who, other than the initial greeting, actually said nothing to us. There were another two members of staff in the reception area who seem to have a problem acknowledging the presence of guests and engaging. We should add that the exception to the reception staff is Vanessa whom we met on our departure. She checked us out and was absolutely delightful. Wireless Wi-Fi is not available in the rooms but only in the main reception area and bar. We simply raised the question of whether the was Wi-Fi in the rooms and the reaction was cold almost as if we should never have dared to ask. There were other oddities. As we travelled to Tortosa the temperatures were over 32°. One of the points about this Parador is that it has a swimming pool. We made our way to it, went through the entrance door from the hotel, went through the gate to the pool, arrived at the pool and found it had no water. There was no warning that the pool would not be open not even on any of the doors. Again, we mentioned it to the reception staff, whom we found dismissive. The answer was simply that there will be no water in the pool until the beginning of June. Why this is the case, was never explained and it makes no sense anyway. Other guests commented on this oddity. We did dine in the restaurant. The food was good, the service extremely good and pleasant atmosphere. The operation of the bar was also superb. Just to make it clear, this is a Parador to be visited but compared with our visits to Hondarribia, Siguenza and Cardona (and many others) all of which are absolutely fantastic), it was a "slight" disappointment. There is a problem with the administration of this Parador. It needs a good shake. The reception staff at Paradors are usually exceptional. Somehow, this one did not work. We have given it an average score because of this. It might be a good idea to give the reception staff at this Parador a training session from the reception people at Hondarribia, Siguenza and Cardona. They could learn a great deal. Frankly, the indifferent reception staff on arrival spoilt it for us.

We recently had our first stay at a Paradore in Tortosa. To get up to the rooms, we had to lug our suitcases up 3 flights of steps, before we got to the lifts. The rooms were recently painted (this was still on going during our stay) with great bathrooms and a nice balcony. The rooms were really big and comfortable beds.

The hotel is set in a wonderful castle on top of the cliff over looking the town, and this is probably the best place to view it from. After a long drive we went for a walk back down the hill to explore the town and had to go through not the nicest part of town. To this extent we decided to eat our meals at the Paradore. Both the evening meal and breakfast were really nice, except not sure that the brekky was worth 15 euro pp.

Its disappointing that such a grand establishment is located in not the greatests of towns!!