Hotel guide · Elciego, Rioja
Frank Gehry's hotel in a Rioja Alavesa winery, with a vinotherapy spa and the village of Elciego beside it.
Facts checked
01Is it for you?
02The hotel
Hotel Marqués de Riscal stands in the City of Wine of the Marqués de Riscal winery, between its vineyards and the village of Elciego. Frank Gehry designed it inside and out: ribbons of titanium and stainless steel billow over a building of stone raised on pillars, and inside it is wood, steel, leather and marble.
It is one of the hotels we choose for our honeymoon trips to Spain, for the wine and the architecture together.
The rooms are in two buildings, joined by a glass footbridge. In the Gehry building they are asymmetrical, shaped by the building itself: the Deluxe Gehry rooms, of 27 to 39 m², look towards the winery, and the Premium Gehry rooms, of 27 to 45 m², towards Elciego. The Gehry Suite, of 72 m², is the hotel’s presidential suite, loft-like, with a private outdoor space looking towards the village.
In the Spa wing, the Deluxe Spa rooms, of 44 to 52 m², look over the vineyards; the Premium Spa rooms, of 38 to 45 m², look to Elciego and the mountains from a balcony, and the Premium Spa Terrace rooms, of 44 m², from a terrace. The Riscal Suites, of 64 to 83 m², are lofts with the bed upstairs, some with a terrace facing the Gehry building or the village. Every room has a marble bathroom with a separate bath and shower. The rooms sleep two; a suite takes an extra bed or a cot for a child, and some rooms and suites connect.
If a building, an outlook or a terrace matters to you, tell us when you enquire and we will confirm it with the hotel for your dates before anything is booked.
On the practical side: room service runs around the clock. Logroño, with the nearest railway station, is 22 km away by road and Bilbao 122 km, and we arrange a private transfer from either. The hotel’s own pages disagree on whether any room is adapted for reduced mobility, so if you need one, tell us and we will confirm it with the hotel before anything is booked.
Restaurante Marqués de Riscal is the gastronomic restaurant, cooking under the direction of Francis Paniego, who takes the flavours of Rioja to their highest level. 1860 Tradición, on the second floor, with the vineyards and Elciego in its windows and Gehry’s drawings on its walls, serves regional dishes à la carte, and the breakfast. Asador Torrea, in the winery’s City of Wine, grills meat at lunchtime, from three menus. The Vinoteca & Bistro, off the lobby, pours the estate’s wines, with cocktails and light bites, and the Library, a lounge on the top floor of the Gehry building, serves coffee, cocktails and wine at any hour, beside its fireplace or on a terrace among the ribbons.
03Location
The hotel is at Calle Torrea 1, in Elciego, a few streets from the village’s two-towered parish church of San Andrés. Elciego is a wine village of Rioja Alavesa: the Basque part of the Rioja wine region, in the south of Álava, between the Sierra de Cantabria and the Ebro. The map shows it with Laguardia, and with Haro and Logroño across the regional border in La Rioja. For the region itself, see our La Rioja page and our wine tasting in La Rioja.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
Hotel Marqués de Riscal
Laguardia
Haro
Logroño
04Alternatives
More hotels from our Rioja selection, each with a different character.
Villabuena de Álava
A four-star house of 33 rooms in stacked concrete cubes on the church square of Villabuena de Álava, with its cellar in an old underground passage.
05Planning
Hotel Marqués de Riscal can be the whole of a stay in the Rioja Alavesa, or its nights on a longer journey through northern Spain. Before any payment, we send a written proposal with a quoted trip price and what it includes — such as your room, a private transfer from Bilbao or Logroño, a tour and tasting at the Marqués de Riscal winery, and walled Laguardia with a guide — and refine it with you. Once you approve the proposal and complete the agreed booking requirements, we confirm your arrangements. We coordinate the details and support you while you travel.
How we choose hotels. For their size and character before their brand, and for how they suit the way you travel. No hotel is on our list simply because it sits on a preferred-partner programme. More in our story
Financially protected. When your stay is part of a package trip, your payments are covered against our insolvency by a guarantee with AXA. A hotel booked on its own is not a package. Plan with peace of mind
A room in Gehry's building, or a Riscal Suite with a terrace over the vines: tell us your dates and who is travelling.
Enquire about Hotel Marqués de Riscal
Usually answered within one business day.