"We stayed at the San Fermin Hotel and, overall, there were definitely some positives, but unfortunately the issue with the balconies and air-conditioning units had a big impact on our stay.
The hotel is in a decent area, with a corner shop very close by. However, it is located on quite a steep hill which the hotel itself refers to as “Cardiac Hill”. To get down towards the beaches and restaurants, you have to walk down the hill and then down around six flights of stairs. This is something to bear in mind if you have young children, pushchairs or mobility issues, as getting back up is quite a climb.
The hotel staff were lovely and this was probably one of the best things about the hotel. When we raised an issue with our room, they were accommodating and did move us, which we appreciated.
However, the balcony situation was a major problem for us. The balconies are very small and, on around 90% of them, there are air-conditioning units positioned so that the hot air blows directly onto the balcony. Wherever you sit, you can end up with a constant stream of extremely hot air blasting at you. Our particular balcony had two air-conditioning units blowing onto it, making it completely unusable. It was especially frustrating because we had specifically paid extra for a balcony.
We had to ask to be moved rooms because we simply couldn’t sit outside. The staff did accommodate us, which we appreciated, but we were moved to the back of the hotel, meaning we lost the decent view we had originally paid for. Ultimately, we preferred having a usable room and balcony over being stuck inside, but it was disappointing to have to make that compromise.
It also seemed as though this wasn’t an unusual complaint. The staff appeared to understand exactly what we meant when we explained the problem and seemed familiar with guests struggling with the air-conditioning units on the balconies. In our opinion, this is something the hotel really needs to address because a balcony that you cannot comfortably sit on because of hot air constantly blowing onto it isn’t really usable.
The rooms are small. With two adults and one child, our son had a camp bed placed in the room, which made the space feel quite cramped. The air conditioning inside the room itself, however, was very good.
Breakfast was also good. We originally booked self-catering and then paid €91 for four days of breakfast for two people, and we felt it was worth it.
The pools are good, but we were surprised by how unsuitable they felt for children, especially during the summer holidays. There weren’t many children around and the pools seemed to be geared much more towards couples and adults. One pool is very small and only 0.4m deep, the medium pool is 0.93m, while the large pool is 2.1m deep. There are also no slides or similar children’s facilities. We felt that our five-year-old couldn’t properly splash around or swim freely in certain areas because of the depth and the number of adults using the pools.
The bars were also quite slow. There was usually a queue of around 4–6 people, with only two people serving behind the bar, so it could take a while to get a drink.
On the positive side, the hotel itself is lovely and clean, the TV is good with plenty of English channels as well as channels in lots of other languages, and the staff were friendly and helpful.
Overall, there are plenty of good things about San Fermin, but for us the balcony/air-conditioning issue was a significant disappointment. If you’re booking specifically because you want to sit out on your balcony, I would strongly recommend checking the room and balcony arrangement before booking, because the hot air from the external AC units can make some balconies virtually unusable."
