Parador de Olite

We stayed two nights in the Parador in June, in a “Superior Room”, as part of our trip around Navarra. The hotel has only recently re-opened after 18 months’ refurbishment, and it is a new hotel, so previous reviews no longer represent the current status. There is no parking available at the hotel, there is a 20 minute window available for parking outside the hotel for loading/unloading, enforced by cameras, but there is plenty of free parking around the area. The hotel interior is new, so in superb condition, both fixtures and fittings, and very pleasant, and is well situated in the centre of town, close to the palace and restaurants. We ate one evening in the hotel and it was up to the usual Parador standard, choice good, food very good and reasonably priced. Breakfast was in the dining room, by sitting, and again, well in line with Parador standards. The one down side was our room (room 102), which was small, and dark, well below the standard we have come to expect for a Parador Superior room, which sadly removes 2 stars from our rating.

The restoration of the castle and the interior decoration and atmosphere are beautiful and elegant, but it is managed by numerous inexperienced staff, both at the reception and in the restaurant and café. The waits are incredibly long Be careful with the room they assign you. We requested a superior room, and although it even had a terrace and furniture, it was impossible to stay in it because all the air conditioning machinery for the building was next to it. The noise is unbearable. We were able to rest thanks to the good sealing of the windows, and we could barely hear the outside noise

The service is awful, the quality is very mediocre, and the rooms are just "okay." The surroundings are wonderful, but the poor service and the low quality of the attention make it not worth it. The only good thing was a blonde waitress who attended to us and was charming. Very professional and helpful, and very "sweet." In the café, my husband had to explain how to serve a coffee with milk! They did not know how to operate the machine...