Beach Break Guesthouse - Self Check-in

Location - cleanliness- comfy bed - great shower

Noise from below till very late (we remembered the need for ear plugs) and if you want central location that’s what you get - only a sheet on bed / extra blanket would have been useful

Right in the middle of the Old Town, which is incredible. Really convenient base for both La Concha and Zurriola, and close to all the Old Town pintxos bars - plus just a hop away from Gros. The square with restaurants just outside the window feels really local, and it seemed like a lot of people who actually live around Donostia hang out there, which was cool. There’s also a cute little Juliet balcony in the room. The soundproofing on the windows is really good, so in cooler weather this would be a great option. All support was over messaging, but the staff were lovely and responsive.

Being in the middle of the Old Town means it is loud at night, mostly Thursday–Sunday when the bar next door is open. We stayed for a week and it wasn’t too bad earlier in the week. It’s to be expected in the Old Town, but bring earplugs if you’re bothered by noise. There is a ceiling fan but no air conditioning, so the room got very hot. Once we opened the window, though, it was veryyy loud - so you essentially had to choose between slightly less heat and the noise. The room was smaller than it seemed from the pictures, so it felt quite pokey for a week-long stay. It was also difficult to keep clean when coming back from the beach with sand. The mattress itself was okay, but the bed wasn’t very stable, which made it quite uncomfortable. Overall, it was an okay budget option, particularly for a short stay, but it wasn’t somewhere we could really relax. We’d probably only stay again for a short weekend break with minimal luggage, and preferably in the off-season when the room isn’t as warm. We specifically wanted to book a guesthouse or hotel rather than an Airbnb because we wanted to avoid contributing to the impact of short-term rentals on the local housing market. We hadn’t realised this was essentially a flat in a residential building converted into several guest rooms, with more of an Airbnb-style setup than a traditional guesthouse or hotel. If that’s important to you, it’s worth being aware of when booking (we probably should have realised from the listing).

The position within the old town, near all the restaurants.

The size of the room, no air conditioning, located above 3 restaurants that were extremely noisy until 2am in the morning, no ironing board, no proper mugs for tea/coffee, no table or chairs

The location was great: in the middle of the best area for pintxos, shopping, and drinks

The room is tiny, no AC makes the room quite warm, and the door to the balcony was tricky to use