Review: Hotel Maria Cristina San Sebastian, Marriott Luxury Collection

I recently spent three nights at Hotel Maria Cristina, a Marriott Luxury Collection property. The hotel is located in beautiful San Sebastian, Spain, in Basque country. The 139-room property is typically regarded as the best hotel in the city, and it also has quite the history, dating back all the way to 1912. Best of all, it’s part of Marriott Bonvoy, so you can earn and redeem points.

We had an excellent stay at Hotel Maria Cristina, and I’d say the hotel met my (high) expectations. The hotel has an ideal location, blends a historic design with modern comforts, has solid food and beverage outlets, and friendly service. Perhaps my only criticism is that the hotel doesn’t have a spa or pool, in case that’s something you value.

By the way, we paired this stay with a couple of nights at Hotel du Palais, a Hyatt Unbound Collection property, in Biarritz, France. San Sebastian and Biarritz are roughly a 45-minute drive apart, so I highly recommend this combination.

Booking Hotel Maria Cristina San Sebastian

Rates at Hotel Maria Cristina vary wildly throughout the year, as you’d expect for a leisure-oriented property in Europe. Rates for a base room range from under €300 per night in the off-season (winter), while they can go for upwards of €1,000 per night in peak season (summer).

We were staying for a few nights in July, where the cash rate would’ve been €1,100 per night (admittedly this is absolute peak season in San Sebastian). I ended up redeeming Marriott Bonvoy points for our stay, at the rate of 107,500 Bonvoy points per night. Personally I value Bonvoy points at ~0.7 cents each, so this was a better deal than paying cash, but not some slam dunk redemption.

If you are going to book a cash stay at Hotel Maria Cristina, I’d recommend doing so through the Marriott STARS program, offering additional perks like a room upgrade subject to availability, a $100 hotel credit, complimentary breakfast, and more. Ford and his team are happy to help with these requests, and can be reached at [email protected].

Hotel Maria Cristina San Sebastian location

Hotel Maria Cristina couldn’t have a more central location, as it’s right in the heart of the city, on the banks of the Urumea river. From Hotel Maria Cristina you’re within walking distance to endless restaurants, bars, and shops. Hotel Maria Cristina is arguably one of the most beautiful buildings in the city, and it’s a sight that even non-hotel guests want to see.

By the way, I just want to mention how much I enjoyed our time in San Sebastian. It’s such an approachable and beautiful city, and it might just be my favorite place I’ve visited in Spain.

San Sebastian is known for its amazing food scene, and in particular, for its tapas spots. We were traveling with friends who were intimately familiar with the city, and that always makes a trip better. They knew exactly where to go. The whole tapas culture here is so fun, as you can just roam from bar to bar, having a drink and snack at each.

I enjoyed San Sebastian so much more than I was expecting to, so I can’t recommend it enough. Admittedly having someone who can play tour guide at a destination always helps with making a trip special.

Hotel Maria Cristina San Sebastian lobby & check-in

Hotel Maria Cristina has one of those lovely, grand, old world lobbies, that you’ll mostly only find at historic properties in Europe. I love these kinds of spaces.

Our arrival experience at the hotel was great. As we pulled up in a taxi, a bellmen immediately assisted us with our bags and asked for our last name. When we arrived at reception, I was then greeted by name, so that’s a pretty seamless arrival experience.

The property’s amenities were explained to us, and I was also thanked for my Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite status. I had used three of my Nightly Upgrade Awards (available through the Choice Benefits program) for the stay. I requested the top suite category possible with the program, which was a one bedroom terrace suite with a river view, and that was approved three days before our arrival. Score!

It seems to me like this hotel has great elite recognition in general. For example, some of the friends we were traveling with had Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite status, and received an upgrade to a huge suite without applying any sort of upgrade certificate.

At the conclusion of check-in formalities, we were escorted to our room. The hotel goes from level minus one to level five, and our room was on the top floor. The hotel’s elevators and grand staircase are located right down the hall from reception.

Hotel Maria Cristina San Sebastian terrace suite

Once on the fifth floor, we headed in the direction of room 510, located at the very end of the hall and on the right.

Terrace suites at Hotel Maria Cristina are marketed as being 958 square feet (or 89 square meters), so they’re generously sized. As you’d expect based on the name, the most impressive aspect of these suites are the outdoor space.

The suite featured an entryway leading into the living room. The living room had a couch and two chairs, and just generally had a nicely restored historic design, from the chandelier, to the wall and ceiling finishes.

There was a minibar in the living room with drinks and snacks for purchase (there were several bottles of complimentary water as well).

There were then double doors leading into the bedroom. The bedroom was probably even bigger than the living room, and featured a king size bed and a desk with a chair. The bed was exceedingly comfortable for Europe, with a soft mattress and plush sheets.

There were then (narrow) double doors leading into the bathroom, which boasted double sinks, a soaking tub, and a walk-in shower.

While the shower had excellent water pressure, the issue was that it was elevated above the rest of the bathroom, so water would leak out. Eventually I figured out that the water pressure was simply too good, to the point that the drain couldn’t keep up with the amount of water. So lowering the pressure a bit avoided the flooding issue.

Toiletries were from Byredo, and were in reusable containers.

There was also a room off to the side with a toilet and bidet.

Now let’s move on to the highlight of the room, which was a massive, wraparound terrace. My gosh, what a treat it is to have an outdoor space like this at a hotel. The terrace had two separate sets of chairs and coffee tables, plus a dining table with four chairs.

But most impressive of all was the views… wow!

Shortly after checking into our room, we were brought a welcome amenity, with a half bottle of wine (from Marques de Riscal, which is also a Marriott Luxury Collection property), plus some chocolates.

When we arrived in the room, I noticed the air conditioning wasn’t working well in the living room, so I immediately asked for maintenance to take a look. They determined that there was an issue whereby the temperature had to be adjusted remotely.

This wasn’t a big deal at all, since it wasn’t terribly hot during our stay, and the bedroom air conditioning also worked properly, which was most important. Nonetheless, the hotel sent up a bottle of sparkling wine and some more chocolates as an apology. That’s impressive service recovery, which reflects the generally high level of service I found at this hotel.

One other quirk is that the rooms at Hotel Maria Cristina don’t automatically have coffee machines. However, upon asking about this, they gladly brought one up. Does anyone know the backstory here, because that seems odd for a luxury property, no?

In addition to the in-room coffee machine, the hotel also has complimentary coffee in the lobby in the mornings, so that’s a fair alternative.

The only other thing worth mentioning about the room is that the Wi-Fi was sort of intermittent. It worked well most of the time, but sometimes it was excruciatingly slow, so that’s something to be aware of, if staying connected is important to you.

Anyway, all-in-all, I couldn’t have been happier with our terrace suite. What an absolute treat, especially when traveling with friends, and being able to use the outdoor space.

Hotel Maria Cristina San Sebastian gym

As mentioned above, Hotel Maria Cristina doesn’t have a pool or spa, which is probably the only real drawback of the hotel, as I see it. However, the hotel does have a solid fitness center, located on level minus one.

For a historic property, the gym is fairly impressive, with a huge selection of cardio equipment, plus an okay selection of weight equipment.

My only annoyance with the gym was how light the free weights were. The heaviest free weights were 14 kilograms. Getting a proper set of free weights can’t be that expensive, so I don’t understand why this is so commonly an issue at hotels.

Hotel Maria Cristina San Sebastian breakfast

Hotel Maria Cristina serves breakfast on weekdays from 7:30AM until 10:30AM, and on weekends from 8AM until 11AM. It’s served in a dedicated breakfast room, just off the lobby. How gorgeous is this space?!

Breakfast was included on account of my status. Those with breakfast included can help themselves to the buffet, and can complement that with a selection from the menu.

Cold breakfast options included fresh fruit, pastries and bread, cereal, yogurt, cold cuts, and more.

There was also a selection of hot options, including several types of eggs, bacon, sausage, veggies, and more.

Then there was the menu, which you can find below.

One morning I had the txangurro omelet, while the other morning I had the avocado and salmon toast with a poached egg.

Drinks were available from the attentive and friendly servers, and I enjoyed the freshly squeezed orange juice, filter coffee, and cappuccino.

Hotel Maria Cristina San Sebastian lobby bar

Hotel Maria Cristina has Dry Martini by Javier de las Muelas, which is the hotel’s all-day lobby bar. It’s open daily from 11AM until 11PM (and until 12:30AM on Fridays and Saturdays). This serves everything from coffee, to wine, to cocktails, to light meals.

It’s a pretty space, and you can either sit in the main part of the bar, or there are tables along the hotel’s lobby corridor, where you can sit as well.

We had pre-dinner drinks here one day, and they were excellent, and were also served with tasty snacks.

Hotel Maria Cristina San Sebastian Cafe Saigon

While we didn’t have a chance to eat there, I wanted to highlight how Hotel Maria Cristina also has Cafe Saigon, open for lunch and dinner. This restaurant is well regarded, and serves a variety of Asian cuisine, including from Vietnam, Japan, and more.

As much as I love Vietnamese food, we figured we’d mostly stick to Basque cuisine while in San Sebastian, so we didn’t have a chance to dine here.

Bottom line

We had an awesome stay at Hotel Maria Cristina in San Sebastian. This is the best hotel in the city, and it has old world charm combined with modern luxuries. The hotel has a central location, impeccable service, a great breakfast, and beautiful design.

Now, to be fair, this hotel isn’t going to change your life, and in peak season, the hotel doesn’t necessarily represent some amazing value. However, the pricing is more reflective of the popularity of San Sebastian in summer, rather than anything else.

To me, these kinds of properties are what make me like Marriott Bonvoy. It’s nice to benefit from a property being affiliated with Marriott, without actually feeling like you’re staying at a hotel affiliated with Marriott.

So yeah, if you’re visiting San Sebastian and can swing it, I’d recommend Hotel Maria Cristina. Though having now visited San Sebastian, let me say that I’d just as happily return in the off-season, when the rates are much more reasonable.

What’s your take on Hotel Maria Cristina San Sebastian?