Elciego
Hotel Marqués de Riscal
Sixty rooms in and beside Frank Gehry's ribboned building, in the grounds of the Marqués de Riscal winery at Elciego.
- Designed by Frank Gehry
- In a working winery
- 60 rooms and suites
Hotel guide · Villabuena de Álava, Rioja
Hotel Viura
A hotel of stacked concrete cubes beside the church of a Rioja Alavesa wine village, with its cellar in an old passage underground.
Hotel Viura at a glance
- The village
- Villabuena de Álava, in the south of Álava, in the Basque Country
- Category
- 4 estrellas (four-star), Euskadi tourism register
- Rooms
- 33 rooms, on the Euskadi tourism register
- Eating and drinking
- Bistró Barrica for dinner, a bar with a terrace, and a wine shop
- Address
- Calle Herrería, 19A, 01307 Villabuena de Álava
Facts checked
01Is it for you?
Is Hotel Viura right for your stay?
- Why choose it
- A design hotel in the middle of a working wine village rather than out among the vineyards, with the village's own wineries around it and the church square at the door.
- Who it suits
- Couples and wine lovers spending a few nights in the Rioja Alavesa, who want to taste in Villabuena's wineries as well as the famous names a short drive away.
- What to consider
- There is no pool of the hotel's own: guests use the village's swimming pool, in summer only. Bistró Barrica serves dinner only, and wellness here is massage rooms and a jacuzzi rather than a spa.
02The hotel
The hotel and its rooms
Hotel Viura stands beside the church of San Andrés in Villabuena de Álava: a stack of cubes of concrete, wood and aged metal set into the hillside of the village. Inside, bare concrete meets wood. The ceilings of the upper floors are lined with slats from old barrels, and whole barrels hang over the restaurant’s tables. During the building works an old passage under the village came to light, which once joined the parish tithe house to the vicarage; the hotel has made it its wine cellar.
For our other hotel in the region and how the two compare, see where to stay in La Rioja.
Rooms and suites
The rooms are set in the building’s irregular cubes, so no two are quite the same shape, but all share bare concrete, solid wood and earthy colours, and each has a private bar stocked with Rioja wines chosen by the hotel’s sommelier. The Viura rooms, of 25 m², face the village, with a rain shower or a bath. The Viura rooms with terrace, of 28 m², open onto a terrace at the back of the hotel, against the rock it is built on. The Deluxe rooms, of 32 m², look over the village’s stone houses with their coats of arms, or over the church and its square, to the Sierra de Cantabria; some have a balcony, and the Deluxe rooms with terrace a terrace of their own. All of these come with a double bed or two singles.
The Suites, of 40 m², are the largest: bedroom and living room in one open space, a bathroom with a separate bath and shower, and a balcony with the village below and the Sierra de Cantabria behind.
If a terrace, a bath or a view of the church 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: parking is free, with chargers for electric cars, and the hotel lends bicycles to its guests. The hotel’s site describes no adapted room; if step-free access matters to you, say so and we will check it with the hotel. We arrange private transfers from the airports of Bilbao, Vitoria or Logroño.
At the hotel
Facilities
- A wellness area set against the rock of the village, with massage rooms, showers and a large jacuzzi that can be reserved for your private use
- Massages and natural treatments based on honey
- A planted roof terrace for sunbathing or an aperitif, looking over the village, the church of San Andrés and the Sierra de Cantabria
- A small gym on the top floor, with windows over the vineyards: a treadmill, an elliptical trainer, a bike, a rower and dumbbells
- Wine tastings led by the hotel's sommelier
Eating and drinking
Bistró Barrica, down a flight of stairs, opens every evening for dinner. Its menu changes with the seasons, is made from the produce of growers around the village and is built to go with the region’s wines. The bar pours wines and cocktails and serves pintxos, and opens onto a terrace over the village’s houses, with a fireplace at its centre in the colder months. The hotel’s wine shop, on the church square where the parish tithe house stood, sells the region’s wines at winery prices, with a short menu of cold dishes, from Thursday to Sunday. Breakfast is a buffet, always included, and is served in the restaurant, in your room or on your terrace.
03Location
Where Hotel Viura is
Hotel Viura stands on the church square of Villabuena de Álava (Eskuernaga in Basque), a village of a little over three hundred people in the Rioja Alavesa: the part of the Rioja wine region that lies in the Basque Country, in the south of Álava, between the Ebro and the Sierra de Cantabria. The map shows it with its neighbours Elciego and Laguardia, and with Haro, across the border in La Rioja. For the region itself, see our La Rioja wine region page and our wine tasting in Rioja page.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
Hotel Viura
Elciego
Laguardia
Haro
04Alternatives
Other featured hotels in Rioja
More hotels from our Rioja selection, each with a different character.
05Planning
Planning a stay with Avelia
Hotel Viura 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, private transfers, winery visits and tastings with a driver, and Laguardia's walled old town 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
Peace of mind
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
Experiences we can arrange
- Private winery visits and tastings across the Rioja Alavesa and the Rioja Alta
- A guided walk through Laguardia’s walled old town, subject to availability
- A hot-air balloon flight over the vineyards, subject to availability
- A cooking class in Riojan dishes, subject to availability
- Restaurant reservations across the region, and the drive on to San Sebastián, Bilbao or Madrid
Start planning your stay
A Viura room with a terrace against the rock, or a Suite with the village below: tell us your dates and who is travelling.
Usually answered within one business day.