Our stay at the “Alhondigas Apartment” was a bit of a mixed bag. First, the good: the unit is well-lit (both naturally and otherwise) and -ventilated, a nice size, well laid-out, and centrally-located — everything we cared to do/see we walked to within 2-25 minutes. We would characterize external noise within the apartment as “moderate” — this is a 2F unit at the corner of two fairly busy city streets with a relatively busy Peruvian restaurant’s al fresco tables directly beneath the living and master bedroom windows — but the windows seal up fairly well and automated exterior blinds keep light and some additional noise out.
That said, we had two basic complaints with the unit. The first — and inarguably most frustrating — of these was communication with the host. From the time we booked until check-out, not once did the host initiate or respond to our messages through the Airbnb site. (A few days prior to our arrival we did receive one cryptically-attributed message — via WhatsApp — asking about our arrival time, but nothing more. After we departed — and notified the host of our departure through the Airbnb site — we received another WhatsApp message reminding us of the check-out time.) By the time we collected our bags at Bilbao Airport we had no idea when or where to meet the host, pick up the keys, etc., so we had to make an international phone call to finally reach the host. A guest should not have to chase down a host for this sort of thing.
Our second issue we will summarize as “inattention to detail.” For example, while the unit had been “cleaned” prior to our arrival, it had not been cleaned well; there were crumbs by the toaster, toenails in one of the bathrooms...that sort of thing. There was no book inside the unit with house rules, tips/instructions for using the unit’s appliances, recommended restaurants/shops/conveniences nearby, nothing. There was no dish soap & sponge, paper towels/hand towels/dish towels, or laundry detergent; we bought these and left most of them behind as a “gift” to the next tenants. The bathroom towels were new — so new, in fact, that they still had their IKEA tags and packaging on them; we had to wash them ourselves before using them. We found all of this very odd...
Would we recommend this unit to others? All things considered, probably not. The unit itself is fine, but it appears to be managed by hobbyists, not professionals. You can probably do better elsewhere.