Castillo de Santa Catalina

I booked a last minute room. The booking said I could pay on arrival, but unfortunately I could not get a taxi there at 9pm (I was an hour away). I cancelled within 15 minutes. The terms and conditions I read stated there 'might' be a penalty. It did not say my booking was non-refundable. They charged me the entire €218 because I didn't cancel 24 hours in advance, which of course I couldn't have done. I showed them the T&Cs I downloaded but they refused to budge. Quite unreasonable.

I cannot give an opinion on the accommodation, since we did not stay at the hotel. We went for breakfast to get an idea of whether it is a place worth it for a celebration. And the answer is NO. To be able to go for breakfast we had to make a reservation, something that turned out to be very complicated because they would not answer the phone. It took many calls until the reservation could finally be made. Upon arrival, no waiter showed any interest in us; we had to approach them to tell them we had a reservation, to which they replied that we should sit wherever we wanted. Many of the empty tables were half-cleaned. When the waiter finally approached our table, he only brought us one menu; we ordered two lattes while we decided what we were going to order. It took him a good while to bring them, and when he brought them, he didn't even bother to ask if we wanted sugar. From the time he brought the coffees, which were terrible and €4.50 each, it took quite a long time for him to come to take our order for what we were going to have for breakfast. My husband dared to ask for another coffee since, by the time breakfast arrived, the coffee was gone; I preferred to abstain. We ordered kitchen dishes to get an idea of what the dishes might be like. The omelet at 9 euros was acceptable, but the eggs Benedict, quite mediocre, at 11 euros. Both dishes came with a "garnish" of unseasoned lamb's lettuce. They didn't even give us any bread, nor did they ask if we wanted any. When we asked for the bill, they charged us 1 euro for the item "miscellaneous food" which we don't know what they are referring to since we didn't order anything else, but to avoid arguing with the waiter, we didn't say anything and paid it. Anyway, very, very disappointing for breakfast at a supposedly 5-star hotel. Sometimes I wonder how hotel stars are awarded. This one, certainly, is ruled out for our celebration. .

Beautiful hotel high above Malaga. Truly a five star experience, away from the hustle and bustle of the city yet close enough.