The Parador at Siguenza highlights the joys and problems of the Parador model. On the one hand how else do you get to stay in an 8th century Moorish castle; on the other, do you want to? In practice we would have been glad to stay here a night as it would be a shame to miss it if you are in this part of Spain. But more is pushing the hotel and the town.
Substantially rebuilt from a shell, the interior is somewhat gloomy thanks to small windows and dark floors. The central courtyard is open to the public who flood in through an archway – sadly the portcullis has been locked in the up position. So the main bar/lounge area is full of local families watching loud TV; fun for them; not for us. There is a separate vast residents lounge but they have managed to make it very uninviting so people stroll in, have a poke around and stroll out.
The dining hall (breakfast too) is punctuated by four vast stone arches comprising 30 stones apiece each of which two men would struggle to lift. Try to get a window table and try to ignore the dirty glass as the view across the valley is still great. The food is patchy – my wife loved her roast kid, my fillet of veal was of the ‘slab of meat’ style of cooking.
The bedroom was fine. It is made a little dark by a roofed balcony, but that is worth it for having somewhere to sit out. Not all rooms do. Ours overlooked the courtyard which was quiet at night, but one or two look out across the valley which must be lovely.
Others have commented on the service. We found it to be a bit patchy. Some of the staff are a bit aloof, but they are perfectly polite and attentive.
All in all, glad I went, and would be happy to return if passing, but I would not go out of my way to do so.

Parador de Siguenza was the third Parador on our Cid Tour though Spain and the most disappointing. There castle itself is just amazing, high on the hill above the delightful town. The restoration is fantastic with a beautiful sunny inner courtyard. The rooms are clean & up to the usual good Parador standard. What completly lets this hotel down is the abysmal service. We got the impression that the staff just didn't want to be there! Unfriendly,miserable doesn't begin to describe the service. The food was pretty bad too!

We were on our way to Zaragoza for semana santa, so we stopped by at Siguenza, which is surprisingly a little town on a hill steep in Spanish history. Since we were driving, our choices were limited, so we tried the Parador and it was better than we thought.

The hotel is perched on the highest top of the hill that is the old town of Siguenza. If you have the budget and you are planning a night over do stay here, because as a passing by tourist, you will only get to see some parts of the castle that are opened to the public. However, as a guest, you will get to live the experience of staying in a castle at night when things quiet down and tourists have gone away.

The rooms are decently ok in size (comparing to usual Spanish boutique hotel rooms) with LCD tv. the bathrooms are fully equipped with two sinks (his and hers). I would complain though that the window is small (there is only one per room) and that there is not enough light even with all lamps and switches turned on. Also the interior decoration with medieval madonnas on the wall was kinda spooky.

If you stay here, do book breakfast as it is quite a walk down hill and breakfast is ok. Parking is aplenty in front of the castle and a few inside.

We found front desk service to be ok. They were courteous and polite. You should bring the print out of your reservation to speed up check in. Overall we were satisfied and wouldn't find it hard recommend it to others.

By the way, if you are in Siguenza, for food we recommend "Calle Mayor" restaurant down the street straight from the castle. Also do join the tour of the Cathedral because if not you will not be allowed to access some of its highlights. For shopping, there is a cute medieval theme shop called " La Edad Media", which we absolutely like.

Siguenza Castle is very Spanish. Just an hour from Madrid you are in a completely different place and time! It is a medieval castle, very well preserved and decorated. I agree with some other posts that staff in the front desk need to learn how to be more professional and how to treat tourists, but the rest of the staff (specially in the restauarant) and extremely good. I organised my wedding in Siguenza Castle, with guest from UK and Spain and it was a complete sucess. Before then I was a regular. Check online at the official websire www.parador.es (avoid other websites) to see special offers and always try to book online and prices are much better.