Apartamentos Turísticos Santa Ana

When we travel to Europe we prefer the self-catering option where possible and for this trip to Granada, we chose the Santa Ana Apartments from the Granada Info site (http://granadainfo.com/english.htm). There were several other family members who made reservations here at the same time. The reservation process was easy and you were given instructions on what to do upon arrival in Granada, which required calling at least an hour prior to arrival so that someone could meet you as there is not staff on site, though available by telephone. (This can be an issue if you do not carry a mobile phone.) The initial reservation confirmation did not contain an actual address and when I requested it by email, I received “Puente Espinosa s/n, 18010 Granada”. However after calling the phone number from the Granada airport as per the instructions, I was texted the address of “Puente Cabreras 9”, which is indeed where the apartment is, located on the corner of Puente Cabreras & Calle Santa Ana. I later learned that the “Santa Ana Apartments” consist of multiple buildings. It is not clear on the reservation site that there are multiple locations under the Santa Ana umbrella so you may want to ask follow up questions. (Some reviews and photos on the other TA Santa Ana site located at San Juan de los Reyes, 31, are actually for the Puente Cabreras address.) The taxi leaves you at the bridge/Puente and it is over the bridge and a short walk up a hill (at the foot of Alhambra) with steps to the building. Remember that you will be doing a lot of walking in Granada, mainly up hills and on cobblestones so pack lightly and wear good shoes. Check-in was easy, Carmen was right there to meet us and you pay for the whole stay up front. Our rather modern accommodations were named Alcazaba, and it was up 3 steps from the entrance courtyard and consisted of a full bath, bedroom with two very comfortable twin beds pushed together to form a double, a kitchen and living room/dining room. The management provides the initial rolls of toilet paper, dish washing liquid and personal cleaning products, when those are finished you need to purchase your own. Towels can be changed every few days and there is a housekeeper usually around each day should you need something. There are several mini-markets near Plaza Nueva and a larger Supermercado Coviran several blocks up Calle Elvira from Plaza Nueva. In the kitchen there is a four burner gas cook-top (though my other family’s rooms had induction cooktops). The gas cook-top does not have an automatic lighter so you had to have matches. There is a nice sized refrigerator with freezer (no ice trays, though other apartments had them), a small microwave, a toaster, a coffee pot that is sometimes called an Italian Cafetière, a few pots, pans and place settings for about 4 persons. The utensils seem to vary by apartment (no corkscrew!). Also some apartments had irons, though Alcazaba did not. Much appreciated is the fact that each apartment had a front loading washing machine in the kitchen. Bring a travel clothes line unless you are in the penthouse apartment, which had a line and pegs. It is easy to do a load and have it dry in no time. The apartment has a wall mounted air conditioning unit in the living room. It did a good job of cooling the entire apartment though during our stay the evenings were quite pleasant. It can get a bit noisy due to the cafes and taverns in the area so that may affect your desire to have the windows open at night. I did not notice radiators so I am presuming that any heating is done through an under-the-tile system, should you stay in the winter. There is a TV with what I can only guess is some type of cable receiving system; there were two remote controllers but no instructions on how to use the system. All-in-all the apartment was nice, convenient to Plaza Nueva and other sights and certainly a good value for the money. The is a tourist information bureau down the street on Calle Santa Ana and the apartment is conveniently located to walk to the Albacin neighbourhood and other sites. A few concerns about the apartment were that the grout in the bathtub/shower was mouldy and really needs to be attended to, we had an issue with the toilet flushing mechanism that we were able to jury-rig until maintenance could fix it, toward the end of the visit our bathroom door knob was in danger of falling off, something that had happened to another apartment’s front door. However if you call the appropriate number, the staff is quite nice; Angie in particular was very helpful. The one thing that, for personal reasons, would probably keep me from booking there again is that there is no WiFi. I realize that this amenity is not necessary for many but it is for us.