NORO Plaza, A Coruña
Our apartment here was a comfortable 1-bedroom with tons of space, which felt especially roomy after our tight spot in Gijón. The apartment had lots of windows, and each one opened up to a small balcony. This gave us great natural light and excellent airflow throughout the day. On the downside, several of the windows were quite hard to open, and definitely squeaky, and they since they were single-pane they did let in street noise. For storage, there was plenty of room, including a ton of cabinet space in the dining area.
The kitchen was fully equipped with a cooktop, oven, microwave, dishwasher, and a reasonable selection of utensils. Nearby, the large dining table doubled as an excellent workspace. For internet we had speed over 100 Mbps for both upload and download.
Half of the bedroom area was configured as a large open closet, which provided plenty of room, though curiously they only provided 10 hangers. The bed was very comfortable and made for great sleeping. As a nice bonus, the front desk offered free housekeeping on Tuesday, which gave us a great mid-week refresh for our towels and linens.
Location was convenient, with a grocery store just one block away, plus two more options two more blocks away. We were also a 5-10 minute walk to a great selection of restaurants, and could be at the beach in about 10 minutes. We would definitely consider a stay here again.
Puente Santiago Apostol, Pontevedra
This apartment was one of the most difficult key pickups we’ve ever experienced. To start, the keys weren’t at the designated cafe — or at least, the staff there had no idea about them. Because we couldn’t access the parking without the keys first, Leandra sat in the car Whatsapping with the management lady while I had to hunt down a specific door on the building just to get buzzed inside. Then, the door code we were given didn’t work because they hadn’t actually activated it yet.
Once we finally had the keys in hand, things definitely got better. We appreciated having a dedicated parking spot, and the space itself was reasonable.
The kitchen came with quite a few useful implements, including a wine opener and a vegetable peeler, though it was entirely lacking paper towels or napkins. The floor-to-ceiling kitchen windows also didn’t have any curtains, which meant the morning sun was incredibly strong. Directly across from the kitchen window was an active construction site, starting at 8a, so thankfully the kitchen had a sliding door so we could block out the light and noise.
Our bed was very comfortable and the room stayed quiet at night. As for the living room, the couch was a little lumpy, but the TV was a good size and we were able to get local channels.
The location worked out well for us. It was about a 15-minute walk to the old town and a very quick walk to the river pathway, which featured some nice outdoor exercise stations along the route.
Overall, the apartment was decent, but given the hassle I would hesitate to return.
hostal Nomade Santiago, Santiago de Compostela
This inn consists of six rooms located above a wine bar and restaurant. There was no formal front desk, so all of our communication was handled through WhatsApp. It was nice that we didn’t need a code to enter the building during business hours, and they had a small elevator which was helpful for getting our bags in and out, though we just took the stairs otherwise.
Our room (202) was on the second floor facing the street. It was definitely noisy during the day, and occasionally at night or in the early morning with drunk people yelling and glass bottles being thrown away. To add to that, the room stayed quite bright because of a light positioned above the door and a gap underneath it, meaning we noticed every time the hallway light switched on. Let’s just say neither of us slept great either night we were here.
For decor, the room featured logs as a decoration? A first for us. On the positive side, the mini fridge worked well, and the location was convenient, sitting right on one of the busiest restaurant streets in town.
The bathroom was functional but on the smaller side – the showerhead was mounted a bit too high, so we ended up just using the handheld wand instead.
The Wi-Fi was perfectly fine, clocking in at 90 Mbps for both upload and download. Overall, I would probably try another place a little further from the tourist center if we returned to Santiago.
