Let's be fair and share the positives first. Great location, wonderful staff especially Maria at Breakfast, best hotel breakfast we've enjoyed, amazing selections, fresh products, great coffee, really nice bathrooms. Room for improvement, the AC in the rooms is either really cold or too hot to leave off and ths was on a very mild day. Rooms could use a bit of updating and bit worn, but the bathrooms was exceptional. It is in an old building so you hear everything in the hallways and if you are on floor 5 you will hear all the diners above you for breakfast. Would come back, but fix a few things and it would be perfect. We got the last room for the evening so we were pleased for a one night stay.

We loved staying here. Fatima was super welcoming and gave us lots of useful information about the city and how to get about. The location is perfect and is a great starting point for exploring this amazing city. It can get a little noisy but we loved listening to the city going about it’s business especially during our afternoon siesta. The hotel is beautifully styled and has a modern feel will lots of quaint features, like the beautiful staircase with its exposed brickwork.

It's in a fantastic location, right in front of the theatre and in the historic city centre. There is a good parking close by and great selection of restaurants, bars and shopping. The Hotel combines the architecture of the old town in a new and renovated building internally. The Hotel staff is extremely helpful and the building is very clean. It's a great value for the price.

Great hotel in the center of Bilbao, really clean and comfy beds, 24h reception service and really friendly and helpful staff. The breakfast buffet was amazing with good quality and variety of food every day, especially thanks to Maria for being that welcoming and nice to us every day in our breakfast. The location is super in the center in front of the theatre Arriaga Bilbao and 4 mi by foot there is an underground stop casco viejo, tram and plenty of shops and restaurants.

Great location to walk the Casco Viejo (old downtown). There are tons of places to eat nearby, including a Michellin star restaurant. Staff is very friendly and super helpful.

Very nice hotel, clean, very good breakfast, friendly stuff. I recommend.

Situation is the best at the edge of the old town and by the river. Hotel is also clean with no extra smells. Which is very important for me because I am allergic to many smells and especially molds. Hotel is noisy because it is old and everything makes a sneek, so nobody can move secretly anywhere. Breakfast is good but missing glutein free bread and lactose free products and especially vegetables. The staff speaks english poorly and no other languages than spanish.

Whilst the interior is tired with stained walls and scruffy edges on the furniture etc. I would definitely recommend and return, here is why: >Top Location with perfect access to public transport, shopping, sightseeing and bars & restaurants >Wonderful staff, friendly, courteous fluent in English at the desk, even housekeeping always greets with a smile. Especially Ruben & Angel make sure everyone is looked after. >The breakfast ist outstanding. I stayed 3 nights and aside all the basics there was some yummy little variations daily. >The rooms, I had 509, are very spacious & bright (mine has 3 sets of balcony doors, 2 of which are French Balconies including one in the bathroom), clean, have modern fittings in the bathroom and the bed was very comfortable. The powerful A/C, lights, minibar/ fridge all worked perfectly. Some criticism? Sure: Upgrade your towels & connect the TV to the Internet for guests to easily use streaming services etc.

We just returned home from a fantastic stay in this hotel. A beautiful building inside and out, stairs were amazing 😍 Rooms were spacious and clean. We slept the best we've ever slept in a hotel, beds were very comfy. Stayed in room 404 had a lovely balcony to stand out on and take in a little of the city. A lovely welcome note, bottles of water and some chocolate on arrival was such a nice touch and really appreciated. Location was perfect 👌 just on the edge of old town, bars and restaurants down every street... Walking distance to everything although metro a couple of hundred meters down the street, so handy! Special thanks to Angel who checked us in and was so helpful throughout our trip if we had any questions. Also a mention to the lovely Nadia who checked us out on our last day, such a nice girl she was very busy when we were checking out but took the time to chat 💕 very friendly staff! We were able to leave our bags at the hotel until we were going home which was great. Breakfast was included in our stay, we enjoyed it every morning, good choice of food, good coffee, staff very nice in the breakfast room too, another gorgeous room with huge wooden beams. Yes the floors in the hallway made a lot of noise especially at our door we thought 😂 but that can't be helped as it's an old building it actually gave us a good giggle!! Definitely hope to return to Petit Palace Arana in the future and will be recommending it to anyone I hear travelling to Bilbao. Thanks guys, Laura & Andy

Simply wonderful! Excellent location, super friendly service and the rooms were...well, roomy and very clean. A surprise treat was the breakfast and I highly recommend it. Victor welcomed us in and was very helpful and ready to suggest places to visit and eat at. This is my second visit to Bilbao and Petite Palace Arana will be the place I chose for my 3rd visit.

Can be noise from other guests arriving very late from drinking, and talking in the corridor loudly.

The hotel is situated very well, near to train station and metro (5-7 minutes), near to an "entrance" into the old part of the town. Near us also local pubs with good beer and "tapas". There are a lot of souvenir shops, two churches (cathedrals). The rooms were clean and tidy, the breakfast is on the 6th floor - a wide range of dishes.. Inside the hotel is visible the elements of old architecture very well combined with modern designe (wooden beams). Disadvantages: the floor creaks in places, someone will miss having more shelves in their rooms.... bit for me - five stars.

Planned a getaway weekend with my wife. We were really looking forward to staying at the hotel. Unfortunately they could not guarantee a double bed. Even on the same day of arrival. Terrible service. So we cancelled, and booked stay on other hotel in Bilbao where we up until now have received super service.

Excellent breakfast with a surprising variety of dishes, most of them homemade by Maria (like Spanish tortilla)

Amazing time! The hotel was perfectly located near everything. The breakfast offered was delicious. Friendly staff!

this hotel is in the perfect spot. its old world with modern mixed in. bathrooms are luxurious city views are awesome. staff VERY helpful ( even before we arrived they assisted with finding a covid testing facilities)

We had a really good stay here over New Year and we were very happy to be able to bring our dog with us. The location is good, too.

The staff are really great here and they really love dogs, if you are travelling with dogs then I highly recommend this hotel (or even of you're not!)!Great location.

Very nice hotel, close to the center and very friendly staff. Especially Ángel that helped us. They offered a bed for our dog as well 🙂

Great quality for the price, exceptional location and fantastic service. I loved the room, clean and with good design. The woman in the reception was not very nice but the cleaning staff was very kind.

Petit Palace Arena is a convenient, intimate and very comfortable hotel located at a corner of the old town. We stayed in a standard double room at the second floor. The room was not particularly big, but the bed was very comfortable. The bathroom was a delight with a very spacious shower area and highly practical area for washing your face and hands with a big modern mirror and bright, wide tiles. I was happy with the air conditioning system, which was easy to operate and highly functional, so even on a very hot day you will be able to balance the temperature of the room quickly and efficiently. The breakfast was on the sixt floor in an intimate room, which felt like a much more pleasant to start the day than the bigger dining rooms of other hotels. They served a great variety of fresh fruits and juices and a sufficient variety of options when it came to breads, buns, hot and cold meals. We didn`t interact a lot with the staff, but when we did, they were flexible, friendly and efficient. The first lift only goes to the first floor, then you need to move to another lift, that`s the only negative and impractical aspect of the hotel I can think of.

Modern room with everything you would need and beyond (make up mirror, body milk, hair conditioner and several kits like shoe shine or make up removal for example) Breakfast was really delicious, lot of choices and for everyone (even lactose free milk!). Breakfast schedule is til 11am on the weekend, perfect if you stayed out late the night before. Last but not least, the staff was always really kind with us and friendly despite our lack of Spanish! Really appreciate it! Only downside was the creaking floor from the corridor which you could hear quite easily. But good point is that the noisy neighbourhood is blocked out completely. Overall highly recommended for a weekend stay!!

Interesting small hotel with awesome location near the river and old town. Good breakfast, clean, comfortable beds. It is a good place to stay in Bilbao.

Friendly helpful staff, perfect location for walking everywhere. Would have preferred tea making facilities to a mini bar. Liked the fact you could actually open room window wide no child lock. Breakfast choice excellent good start to the day. Thoroughly enjoyed our stay.

Great location, beautiful building and very nice staff. The room was big and quiet. The toilet was a bit old and needs some improvement. I also think breakfast should improve as some food was not quiet fresh. But a part from that, I would definitely come back. Very good price-quality relation.

This is a wonderful small hotel situated right in the heart of Bilbao. Very friendly and helpful staff. The building has cool exposed beams and a wooden stairwell. I also liked the quirky breakfast room in the loft. If you're driving to Bilbao, park in the nearby underground Parking Arenal (five minute walk away) and you'll get a 10% reduction for your validated ticket. It was about €16 for 24 hours when we were there.

A lovely, functional hotel for a stay in Bilbao. Rooms aren’t big but they are comfortable and (as my husband keeps reminding me) has a great shower! Staff are lovely. I was a little disappointed they couldn’t do more to accommodate a booking error we made but wouldn’t stop me staying again. Great location!

Food was nice but a bit overpriced

Very high quality of serviece , we received a very nice room for our 3 nights and we definitely recomend

We really enjoyed our stay in this hotel. We had a city view. The streets were loud but I felt that the windows when closed were well insulated and kept the sound out for the most part. We did have one issue where the air conditioner stopped working but the staff resolved it quickly the next morning. The hotel is located in a great location where you can walk to lots of the main tourist attractions of the city. Also very close to a Metro station. Staff was friendly. I have no complaints