Sitges
Number of rooms: 60
Rate range: From €60 EUR (per room per night)
Owned/Managed by:
Hotel Romantic
Clientele: Straight Friendly
The Hotel Romantic is, quite simply, a Sitges institution. An integral fixture of the Sitges gay scene since, well, before there was a scene, it has played host to painters, poets and anyone from the bohemian side of the tracks through decades of the town's emergence as the style capital of Catalonia.
Both hotels (the Hotel de la Renaixenca is round the corner from the Romantic) lie just a few minutes' walk from the town centre and five minutes or so from the beach. A stone 19th century exterior gives way to mosaic floors, lavish chandeliers and walls hung with original artwork, and you cant fail to be enchanted by this neo-Gothic time capsule.
The Romantic's reception area is your first port of call even if you're staying at the Renaixenca, so if added privacy is the name of the game for you, choose the Renaixenca which, while not perhaps as ornately decked out as its sister, has no reception facilities and consequently carries the air of a private residence.
The bar at the Romantic is seldom bettered as the venue of choice for early evening drinks. Gratifyingly inexpensive (never a bad thing), you can choose to sup indoors and enjoy the general atmosphere of bonhomie, or to take the air in the hotel's leafy gardens, one of which is equipped with complimentary sunbeds.
The Renaixenca too has a bar more intimate than the Romantic's and equally friendly, and there's also a small garden a real sun trap where free sunbeds are provided. Breakfast for both hotels is served at the Romantic, either indoors or out in the garden and those choosing the Renaixenca get the benefit of a small, often very intimate roof terrace. No sunloungers in the Renaixenca's garden (sorry) but they are available on the roof terrace.
The design of both these hotels means that every room is different. Some are larger than others, some have balconies and single rooms in the Romantic are classified as interior with little or no access to natural light (solo travellers might want to think about booking a twin for some use).
Not all rooms have a private bathroom. Don't book too late though, because if our allocation of rooms is sold out, there may only be last minute availability in one of the rooms without a bathroom, and we wouldn't want that, would we?
Air conditioning is not on the agenda here, but all rooms are equipped with large electric fans, more often than not those big helicopter things that are fixed to the ceiling.
Maid service, including changing your towels, takes place every day and bedlinen is replaced twice a week. All rooms offer a safe for hire and, as ever, we strongly recommend that you take advantage of this facility.
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