La Maga Rooms

A restored house on Calle de les Ànimes

La Maga Rooms is at the top of Xàtiva's old town, at number 56 Calle de les Ànimes (Calle Almas), already on the castle slope. The Generalitat's tourism register lists it as a guesthouse (pensión), with six rooms and twelve beds, open all year. The building, white outside, with slit windows under the tiled eaves, was completely restored and inside mixes the old with simple design. The host is Estela, and the house takes its name from the Maga of Cortázar's Rayuela: the website tells it with quotations from the book.

Standard, junior suite and suite

The website publishes three room types, all for two people:

• Standard: 25 m², onto Calle Almas, from €48 a night.
• Junior suite: 40 m², onto Calle Almas, from €70.
• Suite: 50 m², with views of the castle, from €90.

Some have a freestanding bath inside the room and others are on two levels with a wooden staircase. If you want to see the castle from your room, the suite is the one that has it. The website does not publish check-in and check-out times or whether breakfast is included: ask when booking.

To book you pay 30% of the total; the rest is charged in the seven days before arrival. If you cancel before those seven days, you lose that 30%. Stays paid for with gift boxes cannot be cancelled once the voucher has been redeemed. Book on their website, on 695 796 587 or at [email protected].

Driving up, walking down the steps

Arriving by car takes some know-how, and the hotel publishes step-by-step directions from the N-340: always uphill, towards the castle. The first thing is to try to park beside a tower, at the end of a cobbled street. If there is no space, keep climbing three bends to a traffic light; from there don't go back by the road: take the steps beside it and then the slope on the left, which leaves you at the door. With a big suitcase, that last stretch is noticeable. On foot from the centre, it is all uphill.

Dogs, cats and the ridge

The house admits pets, dogs and cats, and has its own: Rufo, Gato and Lilu. The castle ridge starts at the door for walking the dog. Ask about the conditions when booking, because the website does not detail them.

From here, the castle is uphill and the guided walk along the walls covers the east and west walls that climb this slope. For lunch, go down to Plaza del Mercat, where El Cullerot serves the Xàtiva baked rice.