Hotel Rico

A family-run address in the centre of Luarca, Hotel Rico has been welcoming guests since 1962 and was rebuilt in 1985. Its 15 rooms keep you close to the practical side of a coastal town: the beach, marina, cafés and restaurants are all within walking distance, while the hotel itself offers a bar and continuous café service.

This is a straightforward base for a few days on the Asturian coast rather than a resort built around staying indoors. You have free Wi-Fi throughout, a lift to every floor, tourist information and luggage storage. The hotel’s website is in Spanish.

The address is Plaza Alfonso X El Sabio, in central Luarca, Spain. Playa de Luarca is about five minutes on foot, and the marina is also close by, so you can reach the seafront without turning the walk into an expedition in full post-dive condition.

Several places to eat are nearby, including La Masera de Luarca at roughly 400 feet and La Solarina at about 600 feet. La Estrella is around 650 feet away, while Trébol bar is about 1,250 feet from the hotel. Luarca railway station is around 1 km away, and the A8 motorway is about 2 km from the property.

Asturias Airport is approximately 24 miles away. The wider setting brings together the sea, the river and the mountains, with Portizuelo Beach around 0.9 miles away and Playa de Tourán about 1.2 miles away.

The rooms face outside, and some have a balcony overlooking the town hall square. That gives you a choice between a simple base for sleeping and a room with a little more connection to Luarca once the day is done. For couples, the Double Room uses a large king-size bed; the Twin Room keeps two separate beds for dive buddies or anyone who prefers not to share a mattress after a long day.

Inside, the essentials are sensibly covered: a private bathroom with shower, free toiletries and hairdryer, plus a wardrobe, desk, socket beside the bed and flat-screen TV. Heating is available, and the hardwood or parquet floors keep the rooms firmly in practical hotel territory rather than pretending to be a beach villa.

The rooms are non-smoking, housekeeping is daily and Wi-Fi is free throughout the hotel. A lift reaches the upper floors, which matters when your luggage has acquired the usual mysterious extra weight on the journey home.

There is one hotel bar, backed by continuous café service. It gives you somewhere to take a drink or a coffee without immediately having to put your shoes back on and head into town. No breakfast or board formula is set out here, so the sensible approach is to treat the hotel as a base with its own bar and café rather than as a full meal-plan property.

For proper food, Luarca does the useful thing of putting several restaurants close to the front door. La Masera de Luarca, La Solarina and La Estrella are all within a short walk, so dinner does not require a car or a complicated plan. After a day in the water, that is the sort of luxury that counts: food nearby, a drink available at the hotel, and no timetable worthy of a military operation.

The coast gives you the main reason to leave the hotel. Playa de Luarca is about five minutes away on foot, while Portizuelo Beach and Playa de Tourán offer other stretches of coast within roughly 0.9 and 1.2 miles. Fishing and canoeing are available in the local area, giving you options for a non-diving day that still involve water without asking you to repeat the full kit-and-logbook ritual.

Luarca itself is the activity when you want something less organised. You are staying in the centre of a traditional coastal town, with the marina, cafés and restaurants close at hand. The tour desk and tourist information service can help you make sense of the area, while Parque Benigno Blanco and Parque El Campón are around 5 and 6 miles away by the listed routes.

For a slower afternoon, the hotel’s bar and café provide an easy fallback. There is no need to manufacture entertainment when the practical pleasures are already clear: a walk to the beach, a drink in town, and a room waiting upstairs.

Check-in runs from 14:00 to 23:00, with check-out from midnight to 12:00. You should give the hotel your expected arrival time at least two days beforehand. Cash is an accepted payment method, and luggage storage is available if your travel schedule does not line up neatly with the room.

Children of any age are welcome. A cot can be requested for children aged between 0 and 3, subject to the selected accommodation option, while extra beds are not available. There is no age requirement for check-in, and the hotel has a lift serving all floors.

Free Wi-Fi covers the whole hotel, and wake-up service is available. The beach is about five minutes away on foot, the railway station is roughly 1 km away and Asturias Airport is approximately 24 miles from Luarca.