It is clear that the owners of the Cerro Príncipe Hotel, Pepe and Lola, love jazz. On the one hand, the suites are named after the greats of jazz music: Billie Holiday, the beautiful Charlie Parker suit with canopied bed, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Chet Baker, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong… 

On the other hand, their passion leads them to organise live music evenings now and again, which some travellers find surprising since the Cerro Príncipe Hotel is a rural hotel in La Garrovilla, a village with only 2,500 inhabitants, the last place one expects to find panoramic views with a jazz backdrop.

Dinner with John Coltrane 

Whether you have dinner in the porticoed patio or lunch in the John Coltrane dinning room you will enjoy the charms of nature. The taster menu features lovingly made food, using the area's excellent raw materials. Before dinner, you can enjoy a chat in the Tete Montoliu lounge while listening to jazz numbers chosen with exquisite taste by the proprietor.

What is important here is not whether the hotel has this or that trendy service or if there is a golf course close by. It is about having a relaxing walk around the village, spotting some of the area's native birds, such as the cranes, or reaching the Los Canchales or Montijo dams to then return the cosy hotel room for a jacuzzi.

Merida, world heritage site 

If you want to go on an excursion, we recommend asking the owners for advice on what to visit. They know the area better than anyone else and they will be able to direct you to places that do not appear in the guidebooks, although visiting Merida is a must. Its Roman archaeological site was declared a world heritage site in 1993. It is certainly spectacular: the theatre, amphitheatre, circus, the bridge over the Guadiana, the Acueducto de Los Milagros (Aqueduct of Miracles)... In addition to this archaeological heritage you can visit the Arab citadel and the Baroque churches.

An important tourist attraction of the capital of Extremadura and its surrounding area is its gastronomy. Dishes such as lamb stew, scrambled eggs with green asparagus, leche frita  (fried milk and flour) with Jerte cherry sauce or a good, acorn-fed ham should be enjoyed in good company. The best restaurants to try these dishes are Cachicho (tel.: 924 372 847) and Nicolás (tel.: 924 319 610). The most modern version of Extremadura's cuisine can be found at Altair (tel.: 924 304 512).