Hotel Don Pepe

Judging by the luxury embossed towels and complementary headed stationery the hotel provides, this is somewhere that’s moved somewhat down-market over the years. Today it’s a convenient, comfortable, good value place to stay for visiting Pontevedra. In some ways it’s rather unpreposessing - the decor is distinctly dated, with rather dark walled corridors, somewhat gloomy in the low-energy lighting. However the rooms are a good size, with comfortable beds and reasonable but unremarkable en-suites, and everything was spotless. Reception is open well into the evening, with welcoming and helpful staff. Breakfast is a very good, extensive buffet, including nice scrambled eggs - a better/wider choice of breads would have made it excellent! If you get a room overlooking the Ria then you‘ll have a wonderful view! Unfortunately booking directs you to Booking.com, which doesn’t seem to show the room‘s outlook - ours was the other side of the hotel, facing the street (generally OK; occasionally the traffic could be noisy) and with an unremarkable outlook on to a built-up hill. It’s an easy, level (provided you resist going down to river level) walk into Pontevedra old town, mostly attractive, especially while crossing the river. Alternatively, on a fine day it’s interesting to take the steps down to river level, walk along the river, and take one of the other roads into the city. There are also numerous buses into the old town, although they operate on different services from multiple stops, with most services being irregular! See Transporte Público de Galicia | for more information, and you may find that services are only published a few weeks in advance. Other advantages of the location are that it’s well placed for excursions to Cambados and the Rias Baixas, or to Sanxenxo or Portonovo for ferries to the Atlantic Isles, by bus or car - although when we were visiting (late September 2024) bus times weren’t well aligned to the ferry departure from Sanxenxo, so we had to take a Taxi out (€30), returning by bus. The hotel has its own parking lot off the road, and parking on the quiet streets below the hotel seems unrestricted. Also, there’s a reasonable supermarket (and a couple of “low-end” food outlets) at the nearby A Barca shopping centre. However, it’s on the Southern edge of Poio, and there’s little else in the immediate vicinity - for a really good meal we’d recommend the 10 minute easy walk to Emma’s Cozinha Portuguesa. I couldn’t decide whether the Don Pepe merited 4* - if we were staying at Pontevedra again we’d be very happy to stay here, and would certainly consider doing so, but would also look at alternatives, so “very good 3*” seems right.

Lovely and cozy hotel. I enjoyed the bathrobes and slippers provided in the room.

Beautiful hotel! Staff were friendly and helpful. Room was amazing with added luxury of slippers and robes to use. Comfortable beds, great night sleep. Good location also.