Pensión Ama Bilbao

I found the hotel centrally located in the old city centre with cathedral & Plaza Nueva nearby. It’s a 20min walk to the airport bus stop and the Guggenheim museum. Countless cafés, bars and restaurants are around. The room was very clean and had tv, aircon, hairdryer, capsule coffee maker and electric heater. I liked the decoration and the balcony. When I checked in I encountered a multilingual receptionist who was very friendly and gave useful tips. As a tip: rooms towards the alley let you hear street cleaning and party people at night - earplugs are recommended.

Rooms were fine except for a terrible “drilling” noise (some kind of mechanical noise) that randomly occurred throughout the night at odd intervals making it impossible to sleep. Very strange, and makes it impossible to give anything more than one star. Reading other reviews, it seems to be the air conditioner. But even turned off, the noise still continued. Also never heard any air conditioner like this before. Stay away! Get some sleep! Writing this at 4.30 AM after the thing woke me up again.

Pensión Ama is right in the heart of Bilbao’s old town – buzzing with life, full of shops, pintxos bars, and great restaurants (check my other reviews for food tips!). Check-in was smooth, communication clear. Our room – Lydie – was clean, comfy, and had everything we needed: air conditioning, safe, coffee machine, great bed, lovely bathroom… plus a bathtub for a touch of luxury. The double balcony overlooking the charming old street is perfect for soaking up the city’s vibe. Bilbao is super walkable (especially the old town) and public transport is cheap and easy. Pro tip: get a Barik card (€3) at any metro station or tourist office – we used just one for our family of four, and a round trip to the Vizcaya Bridge - all the way on the other side of the city - cost less than €6 total. And if you want to enjoy an amazing view of the city, take the Artxanda funicular – a round trip with the Barik card costs less than €1 instead of the usual €5 for a ticket. You can also use it to get to the airport – from the pension, including walking, metro, and bus, it takes less than half an hour. We stayed three nights and had a fantastic time. Would definitely stay here again!

All round great value. A great location in the centre of old town, walking distance to all the major attractions. The staff were very welcoming, and whilst not expected, being able to converse in English was welcome after a long journey. The room itself was very clean, with a good bed and good modern bathroom facilities. Despite being in old town, the room was quiet and we were able to sleep well. Would highly recommend and look forward to staying again in the future.

The air conditioner in the room kept making a very loud noise every 10-20 minutes overnight despite being turned off. We were unable to sleep, especially my pregnant wife, because of the noise. This was really disruptive to our trip. We recorded a video of this and sent it to the hotel and were told it was normal working of the air-conditioner, even though it was clearly off and making a loud sound. We were not offered an apology by the management, let alone any compensation, despite having paid a fair amount for our stay where we could hardly sleep. Overall this was really disappointing treatment and I would recommend staying elsewhere to ensure you can actually get some sleep.