View from Seaside Rooms at Santa Marta

Private Mediterranean beach, a room with a view, tide-pools to explore, lunch under pine trees in the sand….all this can be yours, at least for a night or two, if you book at room at Hotel Santa Marta.

I’ve seen quite a few hotels in Spain and it takes a lot to impress me these days, but Santa Marta did. It is not the hotel exactly, although the hotel is special (more on that in a second), but the place. Such a gem right on the beach is rare along Catalonia’s Costa Brava. The beach in front of the hotel, Playa Santa Cristina is not private in that there are no private beaches in Spain; beaches are public property, as they should be! However, it’s not easy for ‘outsiders’ to get down to Playa Santa Cristina so hotel guests will have the sweet little cove mostly to themselves.

Deluxe Spa at Santa Marta

What’s more, Hotel Santa Marta is set on eight hectares of forested hillside, blocking out neighboring summer homes and the bustle of the outside world. Wake up to bird song and the crashing of the waves on the sand at this family-run hotel.

The hotel was built in 1958 and is very much 60s in style. Usually, this would annoy me, as I am not a huge fan of antiques and 1960′s interior design. Still, something about Santa Marta is so real and  cozy, that the slightly outdated furnishings didn’t bother me. It’s clear throughout this hotel that it is part of a family’s history, and has seen many a party, many a guest, many a festive summer filled with events and life.

Breakfast Room at Santa Marta

Most rooms at Santa Marta have been remodeled recently, with the exception of a couple suites which are due to get a face-lift. Rooms are simple, elegant, traditional, done in navy blues and wood with decks off the bedrooms looking out over the Sea or onto the hotel’s ample gardens. Bathrooms are enormous, with bathtubs and showers and all the toiletries provided. There are also double doors on all rooms making them especially quiet.

Lounge Area

The lounge area is a huge room with a wall of windows looking out onto a deck and then to the Sea in the distance. Here guests can relax in one of the many mini-living-room spaces created, some with fireplaces. Off the lounge there are private rooms for meetings, a game room, and another sort of chill out room with a fireplace. Have a glass of cava in the evening in front of the fire and fall in love with this comfortable space, which resembles your rich aunt Maria’s living room, circa 1975.

Rooms at Santa Marta

The only thing brand-new at Santa Marta is the Spa, which is state-of-the-art. Plan ahead and book a massage in one of their top-notch treatment rooms, or pay about $25 to take a dip in their waterworks area which has a warm pool with massage fountains, a cold plunge, massage showers, a steam room, and a sauna.

Dinner or lunch at Santa Marta’s superb restaurant is pricey but worth it. It’s not necessary to order a first and second course at dinner, as portions are huge. Try their catch of the day for something local and special. In the late Spring and Summer months the hotel puts on a Sunday lunch under its small grove of pines on the beach. The lunch is served Mediterranean buffet style and costs about $65 per person.

Off to the Tide Pools

Rooms at Santa Marta start at $200 a night and go up steeply from there. Breakfast is $25 per person, and was the only aspect of Santa Marta that I was unsatisfied with, especially at the rate they are charging (I also didn’t care for the statues in front of the hotel, but that is a matter of personal taste…). Put all three meals onto your room rate for another $140, or venture over to Lloret de Mar by car , one of the Costa Brava’s ugliest beach towns and try to find sustenance (Hotel Santa Marta is quite removed from the tourist trap that is Lloret).