Hotel terme a Elciego

We had wanted to stay here for a number of years, after it was so highly recommended by a friend. We had also planned and cancelled trips to the region twice, due to Covid and other plans getting in the way. We stayed here for 5 nights using Marriott points and it was nothing short of spectacular and awesome in every way! From the point we drove up the drive to the front door, to the time we left, the service and staff were always helpful and friendly and followed through on everything we asked them for or to do. We got upgraded from a Spa Terrace room to a main building Gehry room with an Elciego view, and although we lost the terrace, the room was amazing, spacious and comfortable. And being in the main building was very convenient. We had a rental car and self-parked, which was easy and convenient, right in the vineyard, between the spa building and the main building. We used the de Riscal as our base to explore and enjoy the Rioja wine region, taking a full day wine tour, going to Haro, Laguardia and Logrono, driving up to the mountains and just enjoying the deck at the de Riscal wine bar, as the weather was nice the entire time we were there! We also did the de Riscal winery tour, which is included in your hotel stay, and having been on many winery tours in Napa, Sonoma, France, Germany and now Spain, it is a very nice tour with very good wines for tasting, along with a nice tasting accompaniment afterwords! It seemed like hotel guests get a little smaller tour and more private tasting, but that could just be the day and time we did ours. Although I had not heard of their wines - like many Spanish wines - the operation is very large, even by U.S. standards. It's a very popular stop apparently, as even on Easter Sunday they had folks doing the tour by the busloads! We were celebrating a couple of occasions on this trip, and the meal at the Restaurant Gastronomic, the hotel's one star Michelin restaurant, was very much worth it. The food was all very good and well done, and the service was as expected in a starred Michelin restaurant. They made our celebration very special! As Titanium members, the breakfast in the 1860 ”Traditional” restaurant was included, and it was also very good! They had a buffet as well as a few items you could order every morning, with a special. We ate dinner in the Traditional twice, as we usually ended the day there rather than have dinner elsewhere in Rioja and drive back to the hotel. Again, the wine bar deck was good, and we had light snacks/pintxos there a couple of days and just enjoyed the weather and the view! The one drawback to the incredible location is that there are really no other places to eat that are close; you can walk into Elciego but the places there are nothing special. The upside is that the 3 choices at the hotel are all very good, depending on how much you want to spend! I used the gym twice during our stay, and while not large, it's decent sized with plenty of equipment.