My wife and I chose Castro Urdiales to be near the ocean and close to Bilbao (about 21 miles away). We were satisfied with Las Rocas and would stay there again.
A common photo is a little misleading because it makes it look like the hotel is on the water. It's not on the water but it is a short walk to the water and you can take a nice stroll toward the center of town. There weren't any obvious, good options for dinner within a short walk from the hotel. We took a very slow (due to road construction) taxi into town for dinner the first night but bought groceries for what we call a "whatnot" dinner the second night and ate in the room. The neighborhood is fairly quiet.
Our room was very spacious and comfortable and the bathroom was more than adequate.
The breakfast buffet was very good and had a zumo de naranja (orange juice) machine that cuts and squeezes oranges to order. The OJ machines are common in Spain but that's the only one we saw on a buffet during our 22 nights in Spain. The buffet cost about €10.50 per person, a very good value.
The hotel has free wi-fi but we had to stand in front of our door to get a decent signal.
The people at the front desk were very helpful.
We did not have to pay anything for parking very close to the hotel.
