The Place
Described by our reporters Jonathan and Joan Noble as ‘one of the best hotels in which we have stayed over 30 years’, El Castell de Ciutat is a very special place. Ten kilometres from the border with Andorra, in the Urgellet Valley, it is a low-lying modern Pyrenean style building of wood and slate sitting snugly and unobtrusively under the castle of Seu d’Urgell. Its long line of balconies give impressive views of the Cadi mountains.The rooms are delightfully furnished and cater for every details. The Tapies family have managed to create one of the most welcoming atmospheres in the Catalan Pyrenees.
The kitchen hasw received some outstanding reviews. Jonathan Noble writes: ‘This is a really serious French restaurant, with some Spanish flavour, whose food is delicacy with imagination, accompanied by wines from a list of seven hundred to match and to suit most budgets.’ The dining room has large open windows opening on to the River Segre and the town of La Seu, which has a magnificent Romanesque cathedral. It’s an excellent base for hiking in the mountains, or for shopping in Andorra. The hotel has a beautiful spa and heated indoor swimming pool which Nobles thought was ‘huge and graceful.’ As they said, after a thoroughly enjoyed visit: ‘No praise is too high for a truly wonderful hotel.’