“Warm, Friendly, Practically Perfect”

After a bit of difficulty finding Hotel Artetxe we were very warmly welcomed by one of the owners who wished me a happy birthday and gave me a bottle of his family's homemade wine after reading on my passport that it was my birthday that very day. The time of our arrival was about 11pm and we had not eaten so the owner called a local Chinese restaurant for some food - we would not recommend this option (the only one besides going hungry) since the food was bad and very expensive. The property, a family run business, is very clean and well maintained. The rooms are very nice, simply and tastefully decorated. If we ever plan to visit Bilbao again we would stay at Hotel Artetxe.

“Beware of directions, even from Google Maps”

BEWARE! Google maps' directions from downtown Bilbao were wrong. It is impossible to get there in a more-or-less straight line as directed by Google; the road was never completed up the steep mountain. You need to go north on BI-3704 which goes up a valley to the west, then east on N-637. Look at the satellite view of the direct "road" if you have any doubt. Outside of this, it was a nice little hotel at a reasonable price with a great view over the valley. Suitable only if you have a car. The breakfast was inexpensive (6E) but not very interesting (fruit, containers of yogurt, bread, coffee, juice) so I skipped it. Staff was pleasant. My room was over the restaurant, so I was worried about noise, but