Barceló Aracena

Aracena is a lovely Andalucian town in the hills not far from Huelva which is famous for its caves, castle and scenic beauty. The Barcelo is a large, modernized hotel that overlooks the town and has a million dollar view that makes it a perfect place to stay in the area. The rooms are spacious with large balconies from which to enjoy the view. A very good breakfast buffet is included. It also has all the amenities expected in a resort hotel - pool, spa, gym, walking trails and more, but it really is the view that makes this hotel get an excellent rating.

We visited this lovely hotel for our 35th wedding anniversary and the staff made our stay very enjoyable. The hotel sits in a great location, looking down on the pretty old town of Aracena and across to the old castle; very atmospheric. The hotel itself has great facilities; an outdoor swimming pool with plenty of loungers, an adjacent bar with casual seating, a bistro restaurant with a large terrace, a very generous breakfast and a full health spa. Would highly recommend : )

Nice and comfortable hotel nested on top of a hill overlooking the town as well as the old fortification. Rooms are comfortable and well appointed. Breakfast is varied and of good value. Climate control was still set to heating, therefore no air conditioning despite temperatures day time in the upper twenties and nearing the thirties.

Great views of the lovely extremadura region and the Aracena castle. Modern and spacious rooms. Good food at Jamar. Did not use the pool and it is not heated. Did use the gym. Quite a large gyms for weight lifting. There is a spa, but was closed when I arrived (arrived late).

Hotel reception very friendly upon our arrival. We were allowed to check in earlier. Thank you! Very kind and helpful. Spa reception total Desaster. When you think Spain praises itself as being an advanced country in desexualising men and women we just experienced the opposite of this. nightmare. Never had to put on a bikini in a sauna (which I have no problem doing) just didn’t have to do this ever in any sauna (also very unhygienic) we were prompted to cover up because our nudity in the sauna (not talking about the pool area cause we covered up there with towel and weren’t planning to use the pool at all! I don’t understand this at all? We are in a sauna where people are supposed to be naked men and women and love their bodies. If you feel shy I respect you covering up but I didn’t have a bikini with me and I wasn’t informed so we were literally almost kicked out because we were upsetting adults with our nudity? No thank you. If we were informed about this prior to our arrival we can respect the house rules. But this was not the case at all. Instead I had to ask the reception where this is stipulated and we did get a refund in the end. Defiantly never booking this spa hotel ever again or any barcelo hotels with a spa. So just a reminder for foreign guests that do not speak Spanish and are used to being comfortable in the sauna without clothes. Here nudity is forbidden and not at all tolerated.

Four nights in this gorgeous hotel located next to a very nice town. Loved the reception area and the view (A 'wow' moment!!) Beautifully furnished and decorated and an amazing aroma! :) Breakfasts were good. Rooms had amazing views. Pool area also very nice. We had two rooms with a view over the town. One of them was 'panoramic' which meant it had an undercover balcony. Loved our stay. Very nice hotel and great to be right by the town which had lots of places to eat and sight see including the amazing caves and a fun trip up to the castle on a train. Gorgeous well maintained pool area and very good cocktails particularly the mojitos (!). Very nice and helpful staff at reception. Spa was amazing! Best I've ever been in (despite the jacuzzi being closed and part of the walk through part not working) Handy having an underground car park. (keeping car cooler) A few little gripes Would have been good to have a chef with the option of freshly made omelettes for example. (perhaps we were spoiled by having this in our first hotel on this holiday!) It felt like they were short staffed at breakfast. There was just one member of staff by herself who didn't seem very happy! The member of staff would not let us move the tables so we could all sit together for breakfast (we were a group of five) We ate just one evening in the hotel. Didn't think there was that much on the menu to be honest. We ordered burgers that were very very undercooked. (didn't realise till I had had a couple of bites!)They did take them away and cook them more but there wasn't much of an apology and they just cooked them up some more and returned them. I was surprised they didn't give us a new burger. I think that the manager was there at the time but he didn't bother to come and apologise to us. One time the pool ran out of towels but it wasn't too much of a problem for us as we had brought our own beach towels on holiday. Its such a shame the hotel don't have a shuttle service to and from the town. Apparently it was fine to walk down but not to walk up so every time we went into town we had to drive. There was plenty of free parking luckily but lack of shuttle did mean that we didn't eat out in the town in the evening. I asked reception about ordering a taxi but it seemed that wasn't an option. We had two rooms and one was 'panoramic' with a balcony. It was great to have the extra space of the balcony but to be honest the room without the balcony was much brighter so I think next tie we would opt for two rooms without the balcony. The bathrooms I think were a bit 'tired' and in need of refurbishment. There was no plug to the bath. The showers were not easy to use. We probably will be back..... particularly if there is a shuttle bus!