I loved this hotel and would love to stay there again. A beautiful hotel with antiques and paintings, but up to date in every other way. Staff very nice. Right in the middle of Salamanca that makes it in walking distance of whatever you want to see or do. Nice park across from the hotel.

To be honest, we had some hesitations before booking this hotel because of the mixed reviews. As it turns out, we liked it very much. After re-reading the reviews, I found them surprisingly objective and in line with our own observations. What is going on? This seems to be a recurring issue with five star luxury hotels. Everybody's expectations are slightly different, yet everybody wants everything to be perfect. The Alameda has a black marble bathroom with huge mirrors, sliding glass doors and white, seashell-shaped sinks. There is also a very sophisticated shower. On the other hand, it did not offer the bathrobes and slippers some other hotels did. But maybe we didn't like black marble but we absolutely need those slippers... Or there were the automatic lights in the bathroom and the hallway, switched on and off by motion sensors. They worked fine as long as we kept moving, but sometimes we were left in the dark at the most unexpected moments. And there was that huge, ancient television in cheep looking grey plastic, when we were expecting a slick new LCD panel... Don't get me wrong, we loved the Alameda. I just wanted to show you how easily I could write a very negative review just by focusing on the few relatively minor things we didn't exactly like. Now the important stuff. The location is excellent, just at the edge of the old town, walking distance to everything. There is valet parking, a real blessing for someone like me, who doesn’t know how to squeeze into the tight European spaces. The rooms and the public areas are all nicely decorated in classic style. This means marble and fine wood floors everywhere, carved classic furniture and crystal chandeliers. The overall atmosphere is very warm, friendly and classy. The buffet breakfast was the best we had in Spain. Let me just repeat that. The buffet breakfast was the best we had in Spain during our entire three week trip. We also had dinner at the hotel. It was served in the same room as the buffet breakfast, the main restaurant being closed, probably because of the relative lack of guests. Surprisingly, there was only a fixed-price menu and no English version of it. With some help from the staff, our dinner turned out surprisingly good, after all. I don't really know what to say about dining at the hotel, since it may be a completely different experience when there are more guests staying there. But most importantly, we loved the Alameda because of the good value for the money. This is the other thing I’ve noticed. It is easier to disregard some minor annoyances if you are not paying top price for the room.

A colleague and I stayed here in April on a Business Trip. After reading reviews about the hotel we were both very excited at the prospect of staying in such a luxurious hotel. From the outside, the hotel looks very grand and is in an excellent location for exploring Salamanca. The 'grand' theme continued into the lobby where we were swiftly met by the porter who took our bags from us. Although the room we had was nice, we were a little bit disappointed. It was clean and bright but just a little average. The bathroom however was fantastic with a great shower. We decided to go and explore the facilities in the hotel. As keen fitness enthusiasts we were looking forward to using the gym. However, the 'gym' consisted of just a rowing machine and a weights machine - not a treadmill in sight! There was a jacuzzi but this was very small and cost an additional ?15 to use! On a positive note, the maid service was excellent - fresh towels and sheets each day. The breakfast was one of the best I have ever had in a hotel - with a huge choice ranging from toast and cereal, to smoked salmon, cakes, spanish omlette, meats, cheeses and fresh fruit. However, although this is supposed to be a 5* hotel we were never asked if we wanted a refill of our coffee in the morning, even though there were 2 members of staff on duty in the breakfast room and only about 5 other guest in the entire hotel! On the final day, we had to leave early, before breakfast (which at 0730 i thought was rather late) and when we asked the night before if we could have a packed breakfast we were simply told no. When we asked again and explained that we had paid for this, again we were told no. So, to conclude, the hotel was pleasant enough, but staff lacked attention to detail and were unwilling to help. This certainly is not a 5* hotel but more like a good 3* hotel.