Tryp Albayzin occupies a good spot close to most of the interesting parts of Granada. It's fairly small and old fashioned, but as you will find as you wander the streets of the City, very typical in design and appearance to many other hotels.

The lobby is compact and mirrors have been used to try to make it look bigger than it is. However it is clean and smart, with internet access (payable), restaurant and tapas bar, breakfast room, tiny lift and check in counter.

Check-in was straightforward, however as many others have found, asking for anything else can present a problem as English is not well understood by most of the staff. We asked for a quiet room and ended up with room 217, which is set back away from the main road on a small pedestrian only side street. However, this street is equally busy due to it being a throughfare between two busy streets, and on the Saturday night we stayed it was noisy until midnight.

Needless to say we slept poorly, and the day after both had bad backs too, due to the firmness of the matresses and ultra-thin pillows.

Room itself was small, with very traditional Andalucian furnishings, which although may be to some tastes, was not to ours. Large wall to ceiling mirrors again attempted to make the room bigger. Fixtures and fittings looked tired and worn, there was evidence of peeling and condensation in many areas and the bathroom was similar in appearance. There were a couple of hotel brochures, but were old and tatty, with just a smidgeon of information.

We were going to use the restaurant, but there was a limited menu, nobody available to seat us (too busy serving the locals in the bar) and the restaurant (which is behind the check-in counter) looked like a function hall with no atmosphere at all. Skip that one then...

Breakfast was, as others have said, a fairly good and varied selection on a large table, but we did feel the main hall it was served in a bit cramped and the seating arrangement was dire - too many 6 seater tables and not enough 2/4 seaters. Just an observation, but to assume everybody travels in large groups is ridiculous.

To suggest this hotel is a 4 star is, in my opinion, an overestimate of at least 2 stars.

My experience was similar to other travellers', both positive and negative, but I wanted to reiterate a couple of issues that affected the enjoyment of my stay:

Positives: The breakfast really is terrific - the best of any hotel I've stayed in. Huge variety of meats, cheeses, pastries, fruits, hot breakfast food, cereals, cakes, and beverages. The central atrium is a lovely spot to eat breakfast and pore over your guidebook. The dinner menu looked overpriced and I did not sample it; local tapas bars and restaurants were a welcome alternative.

The hotel didn't advertise this feature, but they have wireless internet available in the lobby of the hotel (I was also able to receive a signal in my room, which was above the lobby). Ask the concierge for the password to access the network, which is free. The hotel has a desktop computer for internet if you didn't bring your own but charges five times what internet cafes do.

Negatives: I stayed in a room facing the street, and as others have mentioned, it was very noisy. Street cleaners - including leaf blowers - showed up every morning between 3 and 7am. The pedestrianized street fronting the hotel is also filled with people until at least 11pm and so there is quite a bit of street noise at all hours.

The beds are very hard, and the pillows thin. Extra pillows would have been nice to have in the rooms.

Perhaps the biggest difficulty I encountered was interacting with the staff at the front desk. This was an issue during my entire stay - 5 days - and it didn't seem to matter who was on staff at the time. Staff tended to ignore me until I pointedly stared at them or finally cut in on social conversations. Unfortunately the conceirge did not seem to know much about Granada and was of very limited help in terms of recommending restaurants, renting a car, and, most importantly of all, could not explain how I could find the bus to take me back to Granada airport. I had to ask three separate staff members about this and finally someone remembered they had a bus schedule in a binder under the front desk. Even with the schedule in front of them, the staff were unable to explain it and I had to figure out the details myself. Everything worked out fine in the end but this stress detracted from my enjoyment of the city.

A separate note from the hotel details, but relevant to the neighbourhood where Tryp Albayzin is located, is that the beautiful trees lining the street were full of pollen and bits of dander in mid-April and this caused breathing irritation in many people. I do not suffer from allergies but after walking about in the evenings my eyes were swollen and I kept having to cough. One night I ate at an outdoor cafe near the hotel and nearly every person out for a walk was coughing. I'm not sure how long the trees are like this but it is something to keep in mind if you are sensitive to pollen or dander.

Location was great and the price we got was good considering we have breakfast included, however the rooms were so noisy. As the hotel had not yet turned on the A/C we had to open the windows which of course let in more noise. The beds were very hard (like sleeping on a shelf) and we both got very little sleep during our stay there. I guess there may be less noise when the hotel turns their A/C on in the summer.

Breakfasts are wonderful and highly recommended.

Stayed here 2 nights March 2006 with my wife and we enjoyed the stay.
Pleasant, helpful staff and recently redecorated, quiet room.
Easy walk to centre of Granada and on 2nd day of our stay we walked to the Alhambra (best to pre-book Alhambra tickets and thus avoid potentially lengthy queues).
Had breakfast and evening meals in hotel - a good sign was that there were plenty of locals using the reataurant.
Overall an enjoyable stay and would happily recommend this traditional city centre establishment.