Hotel San Antón Abad

Hostal San Anton Abad in Villafranca Montes de Oca is housed in the historical pilgrims hospital, which has been restored with some dubious style but conserves nevertheless its antique character and charms. The hostel offers both dormitory accommodations and private rooms. The private room we were given was large and comfortable. The service is ok and the Pilgrim's dinner is very good, with a fair choice of dishes for the very reasonable price of €18. Breakfast is excellent, both for quality and quantity. Highly recommended.

The hotel was one of the more unique hotels that we stayed at while we did the Camino since it was formerly a hospital. It has many old pieces through the building as decoration. It is also conveniently located along the Camino with a couple bars/restaurants and a mini store within walking distance. We enjoyed the view from our window of the countryside. The breakfast buffet was filling and had a variety of fruits, pastries, choice of fried or scrambled eggs, juices, coffee, hot chocolate, bread, ham, cheese, yogurt. Be sure to go to the “cafeteria” and not the restaurant for the breakfast buffet if it’s included with your room price. We accidentally went to the restaurant first which is attached to the hotel and there was all kinds of confusion amongst our fellow pilgrims who also showed up to the restaurant and were being charged for a croissant and coffee. Luckily, I remembered that the person checking us in had pointed in the opposite direction of the restaurant when referring to the cafeteria. As far as the actual room, it was okay. The room was on the smaller side and the bed sagged in the middle. The headboard was also loose and wobbled. The bathroom had a strange smell. We had the windows open at night to let a breeze in since there is no AC (there’s a thermostat on the wall, but the AC did not work) and we could hear cars throughout the night.

Everything about San Anton Abad looks better than it actually is! We arrived after a day on the Camino and headed for the shower. Water was stone cold. When I asked, I was told that sometimes it trips off and today it must have. For goodness sake you're a hotel: if it trips off, fix it. The room was nice but a bit awkward: bedside tables were time: a very ornate bit tiny dressing table: a very ornate wardrobe...that doesn't open. No doubt they're getting around to it. There's a tv but it's the smallest I've seen on the Camino so far. Years since I saw one so small. Before we realised it wasn't great...while we were taken in by appearances, we went to eat in the restaurant. At €18 it's the most expensive menu del dia I've come across so far. A really good salad, but the other dishes were just ok, and dessert was disappointing. If you choose ice cream, it comes in a tiny container so I imagine nothing is cooked on site. At €89 per night it was just too expensive for the experience. Lots of stuff on show but the resting eating and sleeping could be much better