this hotel is for you. We had two days there and loved the hotel, staff (excellent English), and setting which is in a nature preserve with a 9km circuit trail to a 100 AD Roman ruin. The common areas are nicely decorated and the dining ranging from tapa plates to a fixed menu of fresh ingredients. Breakfast included both fresh squeezed orange juice and the reddest tomatoes ever. The hotel is quiet, peaceful, and pastoral with horses next door. The staff were happy to converse and went out of their way to cater to us. I save 5 ratings for the best I have ever visited, and have to say, that this was a hghlight of a trip that was filled with excellent, inexpensive hotels. Atxurra was the best
Here is what we learned that we did not know. It is a 1500 foot down , 5-6 km walk to the town of Bermeo (lovely setting). While the climb back up is slower, there is a restaurant 1/3 of the way up for a beer to cool off. We initially reached the hotel from the center of Bilbao by an hourly bus (2.5 E) to Bermeo and then a 13 E taxi up to the hotel. There is a bus stop at the intersection of the hotel's road and the main Bermeo to Bilbao road and then it is about 2 km of level walk on an untravelled paved road to the hotel. Hence if you don't have too much baggage and like to walk, you do not need a rental car.