A smart stay with a buzzy rooftop bar in Spain’s best second city
, The Times
This might be one of the newest hotels on Valencia’s scene — it opened in summer 2024 — but the building has rather more years under its belt. For more than a century, it operated as a bank, and this heritage has inspired elements of the hotel’s design, most notably in the original safe mechanism that’s displayed proudly behind glass in the ground-floor Place of Bankers Bar. This is just one of two bars — the other offering rooftop views — and you can drink excellent cocktails in both. With a spa, slick styling and a convenient location in the centre of town, this is one of Valencia’s smartest stays.
Overall score 8/10
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Rooms and suites
Score 9/10
The modern and stylish hotel lobby — with its white wooden panelling, abstract monochrome art works, and feature colours of black, red, purple and gold (the latter again playing on the building’s banking heritage) — is echoed in the look and feel of the rooms. It’s all the work of a well-known Catalonian designer called Rosa Rosselló. The 65 rooms, divided between standard Urban Rooms, deluxe Corner Rooms (which suck in light through their larger windows and some offer great views of the cathedral) and Junior Sweets (sic), all have comfortable upholstered seating, light wood floors and walls painted in one of the hotel’s bold signature colours. The hotel has no connecting rooms, but there’s a suite that sleeps up to three, and cots are available. Rooms all make good use of space too, incorporating little touches such as sliding doors into the bathrooms, which are a decent size, with white faux marble surfaces and walk-in showers. In addition to those you’d usually expect, in-room facilities include some extras such as hair straighteners and a Marshall radio. It all feels contemporary and fresh.
Food and drink
Score 7/10
The buzzy, informal Place of Bankers Bar, separated from the lobby by a glass screen, has a Mediterranean and Asian-inspired menu. Alongside dishes of grilled beef with padron peppers or tempura squid, there are small plates such as anchovy toast and Iberico ham croquettes; a three-course menu is available for a weekday lunch. Breakfast is here too, a selection of cold meats, salads, cheeses, pastries and cereals, alongside an à la carte menu of healthy “energy bowls”, eggs and more.
Later in the day, it’s well worth browsing the cocktails, which have been put together by a Spanish champion mixologist — I had a superb smoky old fashioned, the finishing touches added by staff using a special smoke device, which created some real theatre as well as flavour. You can enjoy cocktails at the rooftop Coin Bar too, which looks across the city’s church steeples and the tiled cupola of Valencia’s first university (built next door in 1839, but now used as a concert venue). There’s live music in the Coin Bar on some evenings, and the management plans to add a small pool. The service is good without feeling exceptional.
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What else is there?
Score 8/10
The hotel has a wood-panelled spa on the basement level with a massage room (complete with whirlpool) and a low-lit private pool (you need to book in advance). There’s a small fitness room, open 24 hours and offering a couple of cardio machines and a selection of dumbbells. It’s particularly worth mentioning that guests also have access to facilities at the beachside sister hotel, Estimar Marina Farnals, on the coast to the north, 20 minutes by road, including the swimming pool, towels and parasols for the beach, and even some organised activities. A shuttle runs there regularly (Wednesday to Sunday) in summer.
Where is it?
Score 9/10
The hotel’s central location is superb, a ten-minute walk from Plaza de la Reina, with its restaurants, regular crafts markets, and cathedral backdrop. It’s a short stroll from Jardin del Turia, the lovely park that snakes along the former bed of the Turia River. You’re right in the heart of things here, with access to all the bars, restaurants and shops of the old town.
Price B&B doubles from £116
Restaurant mains from £10
Family-friendly Y
Accessible Y
Adrian Phillips was a guest of Estimar (estimarhotels.com)
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