Know Before You Go: Hotel Marques de Riscal, A Luxury Collection Hotel (Elciego, Spain)
Our family loved staying at Hotel Marques de Riscal for a night on our stopover from Madrid to Southwest France. With stunning architecture and beautiful surroundings, the hotel’s modern design blends seamlessly with the picturesque vineyards, providing a unique backdrop for our vacation. The spacious connecting rooms were well-appointed and a perfect set up for families, allowing us to relax and enjoy the views of La Rioja and the historic village of Elciego. We especially enjoyed our adults-only dinner in the hotel’s Michelin-starred gastronomic restaurant while the kids stayed with a babysitter and the complimentary family-friendly winery tour and tasting with grape juice for the kids. Additionally, the on-site amenities, including the indoor pool and Caudalie spa, offered something for everyone to enjoy, making our stay truly memorable.
OVERALL RATING
💛💛💛💛+
Notable, approaching Exceptional
Overview
At-a-Glance
Date of stay: November 2022
Length of stay: 1 night / 2 days
Trip type: Family wine country stopover traveling through Northern Spain and Southwest France
Property type: Family-friendly hotel and winery in La Rioja
Tailor-made for: Couples, food and wine enthusiasts, but also especially family-friendly
Highlights
One-of-a-kind Frank Gehry-designed building blended with 19th-century winery buildings
Bucolic setting among the vineyards in a small, historic Basque Country village
Excellent interconnecting room setup for families (Rooms 208 and 209) with outer doors creating a hallway and adorable tent and children’s amenities set up in the kids’ room
Caudalie Spa with family-friendly indoor pool and fitness center; package included a spa credit so had a very nice massage here (though the spa linens were a bit shabby)
Delicious multi-course adults-only dinner at gastronomic Restaurante Marques de Riscal, awarded one Michelin star (the Castillo de Canena smoked Arbequina olive oil served with warm, housemade bread was incredible); kids stayed in the room with a babysitter
Visiting nearby Bodega López de Heredia to buy their amazing Rioja wines to bring home, including harder-to-find white and rosé selections; while the winery is open only to professionals, the shop is open to the public, though only for pre-packaged selections (six bottle minimum)
Good to Know
The hotel offers complimentary on-site, family-friendly winery tour and tasting (with grape juice for the kids) for overnight guests
The onsite winery, Marques de Riscal, is a well-known wine producer in the region with a high-volume of visitors; book winery tours early to secure spots for your desired departure time and expect crowds waiting in the wine shop
We received complimentary daily breakfasts, a 100 Euro spa credit, and a voucher for two free welcome drinks from the hotel bar by booking through a travel agency
This property is part of the Marriott Bonvoy program so members can earn/redeem loyalty points on stays here
We brought an empty Wine Check with us to bring back wine from Rioja and Bordeaux purchased during our trip — in hindsight, and after coming across some incredible wine finds, we wish we would have brought two
Rating Detail
OVERALL RATING 💛💛💛💛
LOCATION & SETTING 💛💛💛💛
ROOM 💛💛💛💛
SERVICE 💛💛💛💛
DINING 💛💛💛💛💛
ACTIVITIES 💛💛💛
FAMILY SERVICES & AMENITIES 💛💛💛💛💛
WELLNESS 💛💛💛💛💛
WOW FACTOR 💛💛💛
VALUE 💛💛💛💛💛
Rating Legend*
💛💛💛💛💛 Exceptional
💛💛💛💛 Notable
💛💛💛 Standard
💛💛 Substandard
💛 Unsatisfactory
*All ratings are relative to similar-class properties
