Where to stay in Alcántara: Hospedería Conventual de Alcántara

The historical village of Alcántara is a good base for exploring the Tajo-Salor-Almonte area in western Cáceres province. If you need a place to stay in this area, I recommend choosing Hospedería Conventual.

In this article, I share my impressions of staying at Hospedería Conventual de Alcántara to give you an idea of what to expect in terms of things like rooms, facilities, food and location.

Building

Hospedería Conventual de Alcántara is a four-star hotel located in a fifteenth-century former convent. The original convent was destroyed by war in the eighteenth century, later restored, and then abandoned. In 1946, a local industrialist bought it and turned it into a flour mill. Decorated in a modern style, the hotel manages to retain the character and history of the building. The former cloister, for example, is a charming dusty pink courtyard with trees and a well. And the flour mill machinery can be seen in the hotel’s hallway in its original location.

Location

The hospedería is located on the northeast end of the village, only two minutes by car from the centre of Alcántara and four minutes from the Roman Bridge. While it’s possible to walk to the village, be aware that it involves crossing the main EX-117 road and there are no street lights.

Address: Carretera del Poblado Iberdrola, s/n
Parking: there are two parking areas outside the hotel.

Room

I got a standard double room in the modern extension of the hotel. I found it quite spacious, very bright and quiet. The room had big floor-to-ceiling windows and a comfortable reading chair next it. While the view wasn’t spectacular (a fig tree), I liked that the room wasn’t overlooked. The en suite shower room was fairly stylish, with a quality suite, a powerful shower and a big mirror.

Facilites

Restaurante Kántara

​​I discovered Hospederías on my first visit to Alcántara – a winter day trip back in 2014. Hospedería Conventual seemed the best option for food in Alcántara and I went there for lunch. I left the restaurant very pleasantly surprised; so much so that I’ve become a big fan of Hospederías in general but specially of their on-site restaurants.

The Kántara restaurant is located in the former convent’s dining hall. It has simple whitewashed vaulted ceilings and bold mustard yellow walls. In terms of food, you can go for a €18 three-course set menu (menu del día), a €37 tasting menu (menú gastronómico) or à la carte. All the menus include some local traditional dishes (partridge, for example, is a traditional dish in Alcántara). I personally tend to go for the set menu.

I’ve eaten at Kántara twice. On my last visit, I travelled in a family group of six and these are the dishes we ordered:
• seafood risotto;
• grilled Iberian pork presa (over-shoulder), served with grilled peppers and red onions and a creamy sauce;
• millefeuille of Iberian pork solomillo (tenderloin), served with potatoes and a fig sauce;
• Iberian pork pluma (lower loin), served with potatoes;
• salmon wellington with spinach and pine nuts, served with a light torta cheese sauce;
• four-chocolate dessert (chocolate cake, chocolate brownies and chocolate ice cream, served with chocolate sauce);
• spongy carrot cake, served with banana and carob ice cream, a dark chocolate ‘tile’ and a berries sauce;
• fruit carpaccio (watermelon, pineapple and melon), served with hot chocolate and ginger sauce on the side; and
• mango tiramisu with acorn liqueur.

Booking is recommended, be it at reception upon arrival or phoning in advance.

Swimming pool

The swimming pool is located near the former convent’s vegetable garden, in an accessible and rather nice heart-shape green area with umbrellas, sun loungers and showers. In the afternoon, several trees on the western side cast some shade over part of the medium-size oval-ish swimming pool.

The swimming is generally open from the first or second week of June until mid-September. If you travel around those dates, it’s good to double-check whether the pool is already/still open.

Other facilities include the main hall (where breakfast was being temporarily served at the time of my last visit), a bar, a big balcony with views, a sitting room, a spa (not tried myself) and padel tennis courts  (not tried myself).

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