Again dear readers, all of my reviews try to give a balanced view of hotels, restaurants etc.

I booked the El Molino de la Torre on booking.com to stay with a friend for a long weekend. Note it may be cheaper to contact the hotel directly. Sadly, the hotel does not have its own website but I hope they get one in the future. (it is possible to email the hotel directly to book)

The location of this apart-hotel is right at the top of the famous steps and could not be in a better place. It is 5 mins walk from the train station and about the same distance to the beach.

The accommodation is very peaceful and quiet with great views from its restaurant and the rooms I visited.

On arrival, we were met by a charming young spanish guy called Luis. Simply stated he was incredibly good humoured and helpful. His english is fluent and his charm lights up the reception and restaurant area.

The first room we were shown wasnt suitable as my travel companion has a disability and needs to sit down a lot of the time. The original room had a tiny balcony which doubled up as a kitchen. I went back down to Luis who spoke with the boss and he changed our room with no problem whatsoever. Luis offered to help move our things which was nice of him. Rarely have I been so impressed with such great service in small accommodations. Luis should be promoted to manage this place - his charm would only be good for business.

The new room (204) was small but spotlessly clean with beautiful views of the sea from its tiny balcony. In fairness, the balcony is enough for 2 people and a small table and chairs. It had twin beds, small kitchenette, tiny fridge, air conditioning and a nice bathroom (albeit without a bidet). It is what you could call basic but very good. The owner told me they have some rooms with bigger balconies and I may even book one of those in the future. I really liked the accomodation on this quaint building. One nice touch was that each balcony has a canopy which can be lifted up or left down to keep one nicely in the shade.

The food in the restaurant is okay and they have a set menu for ten euros. Be careful of some of the add ons. (we were charged 6 euro for very average garlic bread for 2 people- which is about double the normal cost in some restaurants). Our waitress Silvia was really sweet and again very helpful. Beer there is only 2 Euros per 500ml and coffee is 1.70 (again the coffee is expensive by spanish standards but I guess one pays for the views). Luis makes great coffee - unfortunately I had a horrid coffee made by the boss's brother which arrived with complimentary nasal hair. That put a stop to getting more coffee!

Now here are a few areas for improvement:
- There is no wifi in the complex. This is annoying and needs to be addressed. Wifi is cheap and attracts customers.

- The food needs to improve. I am vegetarian and there was only one item on the menu which I could eat - which was a tasteless spanish omellete.

- Prices in the restaurant need to match competitors. The food is very basic and could be improved. I dont mind paying fair prices where quality is there. In that context, the food is a bit lacking.

Taken together all of the above I would most certainly stay here again. Mainly due to Luis's helpful attitude. I would also hope that the owners of the place address some of the fairly minor issues that would make this place really great. As mentioned the views are stunning, the apartments are spotless and the place could really be great.

This is a business I would love to see respond to the challenge of small improvements. It really is a beautiful calm place just steps away from the noise. It is most definitely worthy of a second visit and I suspect I will book again.

Please feel free to contact me about this or my other reviews on this site.