Mercure San Sebastian Monte Igueldo

We arrived to San Sebastián in the afternoon via the bus from Hendaye. We knew the hotel was on top of one of the flanking hills on either side of the crescent beach so was excited to get to the hotel and take in the view – like the pictures. You can take the 16 bus which runs from end to end, we arrived at the base on the funicular that takes you up to the hotel and here is the first problem; you have to pay to go to your hotel. As a guest you get a concession rate of €3 per person return, it doesn’t sound like a lot but given there is nothing to do around the hotel as it’s on the far side of town you would soon spend €10 a day just getting up to your hotel a bus into town. The second issue is that the hotel is on top of an old amusement park, luckily the weather was bad so it wasn’t busy but this itself is a tourist destination so if you just want to go to your room for a nap, you have to go up a funicular with a bunch of tourists who just want to go on the rollercoaster. The view from the room is nice, but to have your window open you can hear the sounds of kids in the amusement park below. It’s a very weird experience. We arrived and even though we paid upfront for 4 days, I asked if we could cancel our stay before we checked in. Obviously, they wouldn’t refund us so we just grinned it and stayed for 2 nights. The hotel is fine, it’s what a commercial chain hotel was back in the late 90s and hasn’t changed much since. It’s clean, facilities are old but nice enough.