Hotel y Casona El Carmen

Hotel y Casona El Carmen gives you two versions of the same stay: a hotel building and La Casona, its annex, set among gardens in Perlora. The mood is more traditional Asturias than polished resort, with an outdoor pool, a terrace and a restaurant built around regional food.

You can read the hotel website in English as well as Spanish, which is useful when planning the stay. The place suits divers who want a base with food on site, somewhere to sit outside and enough practical comforts to avoid turning every evening into a logistics exercise.

The coast is close, but this is not a hotel planted directly on the beach. You get a quieter inland position, with Perlora’s railway station, local cafés and several beaches within easy reach.

The address is La Nozaleda in Perlora, Asturias, northern Spain. The hotel sits about 0.25 miles from the Asturian coast, while Playa de Güelgues is roughly 0.4 miles away, around a seven-minute walk. Playa Carranques is about 1 mile away on foot, and Playa de Madrebona is around 1.1 miles away.

Perlora railway station is about 0.35 miles from the hotel, or roughly a six-minute walk. That gives you a straightforward alternative to driving for short local journeys. Candás Apeadero is about 1.3 miles away, while Gijón’s bus station is around 7 miles by road.

Gijón and Avilés are both about a 15-minute drive away. Around the hotel, you have cafés and bars such as El Paseo and Correcaminos roughly 650 feet away, restaurants in the Candás area at about 1.3 miles by road, and Parque les Conserveres around 1.3 miles away on foot.

The room choice is useful rather than theatrical. Couples can keep things simple with a double room, while twin rooms make sense when sharing without negotiating who gets which side of the bed. A terrace version gives you your own outdoor space, which is handy when the day’s kit and clothing need somewhere to air without turning the bedroom into a drying room.

For three people, the Triple Room uses three single beds. Family categories add a sofa bed, and there are both standard hotel rooms and rooms in La Casona. The smaller double room in the annex is best treated as a compact base for two, while the larger family options give you more room to spread out.

Rooms in the main building have central heating, a flat-screen TV and satellite channels. Private bathrooms include a hairdryer, and selected rooms add a hydromassage bath and minibar. You also get a wardrobe, bed linen and a desk. Children can stay in the hotel building, but not in La Casona; cots and extra beds are not available, so the existing bed arrangement matters when you choose.

The main table is El Llagar, a restaurant with Asturian decoration and a regional menu. Breakfast comes as a continental buffet, while lunch and dinner cover the useful territory after a long day: salads, rice, fish and meat, with a menu of the day during the week and a weekend menu on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.

Asturian cider is part of the picture, not an imported afterthought. Half board is available, and the evening meal can be exchanged for lunch. That gives you some flexibility when your diving schedule makes a daytime meal more sensible than waiting until late.

For something quicker, the Cafeteria opens onto the terrace and serves tapas, sandwiches and drinks. There is one bar and café area rather than a row of themed lounges, which is probably all you need when the priority is a cold drink, a chair and food that does not require a briefing.

The outdoor pool is open during the summer season, giving you an easy way to cool down without heading back to the coast. The gardens and terrace provide the more important luxury for a diver: somewhere to sit with a drink and let the day become less urgent.

There is a small gym for keeping the legs moving, plus table games when the weather turns typically Asturian. A shared lounge and TV area add an indoor option, while the children’s playground gives families something to do between the pool and the next meal.

For a change of scene, Parque les Conserveres is about 1.3 miles away on foot, and Fuente Los Ángeles is around 1.5 miles away. Gijón’s aquarium is about 7 miles by road, with the Campo Valdés Roman Baths and the city’s historic centre around 7 miles away.

Check-in runs from 15:00 to 22:00, and check-out is from 08:00 to 12:00. You need photo identification and a credit card at arrival. If you expect to arrive after 18:00, contact the hotel with your arrival time; otherwise the reservation may be cancelled and the first night charged. A wake-up service, luggage storage, express check-in and express check-out are available.

Asturias Airport is about 17 miles away by road, with a driving time of roughly 27 minutes. Free private parking is available on site and does not require a reservation. Free Wi-Fi covers the hotel, so you can deal with the practical business of travel without hunting for a signal.

La Casona deserves a specific caveat. It is not adapted for guests with reduced mobility: there are stairs to reach the building and further stairs inside before reaching the floor with the lift. The hotel building and the annex should therefore not be treated as interchangeable when accessibility matters.

The hotel’s gardens and its position close to the Asturian coast are part of the setting, but there is no named environmental certification or specific sustainability programme to add to the decision. The practical choice here is the location itself: you can reach Perlora railway station on foot and keep the car parked when the train or a local walk does the job.