We had a wonderful stay at El Nogal. Canar is lovely - you really feel you are in a 'proper' Spanish mountain village, occupied mainly by locals rather than visitors, and with a maze of small alleys running between densely arranged white houses that cling onto the hill slopes. The village shop seemed to have everything you might need and was open 7 days a week, and everyone we passed in the village seemed very friendly.
El Nogal is a lovely apartment - light and airy, and with breathtaking views across to the hills to the south. We never tired of this view - appreciating it from first thing in the morning, through the french doors of our bedroom, to late at night while sipping wine on the balcony. The flat is extremely comfortable - basically having everything you could want but, more than that, furnished with great quality and care. This meant we had a lovely time just pottering around the apartment and balcony, relaxing and 're-charging our batteries', with no feeling that we wanted to rush off.
Saying that, Canar is well-located to visit other attractions and, during our week, we visited Alhambra and Granada, walked up Veleta in the Sierra Nevada, and spent a day by the sea. But our preference was to spend about half a day walking along one of the many wonderful trails in the area (particularly enjoying following the acequia water channels) and about half a day relaxing in and around Canar.
Our stay in Canar was made even more enjoyable for having been arranged very easily with Robin - as he always responded quickly to emails. He then made sure he was there to meet us when we arrived in Canar. This great service continued during the week when, after informing him by text on a Saturday evening that one of our gas bottles had emptied, he arrived at the door within half an hour with a replacement that he fitted. We couldn't fault anything.
A couple of miscellaneous things to mention for info as we wondered beforehand are: a) we got perfect mobile signal at the apartment, including 3G internet access with Orange/EE (although we resisted checking our phones too frequently); and, b) the weather was absolutely gorgeous for us in mid October - about 20-25 degrees each day, although I understand that this might not be the case every year.
So, in summary, a wonderful place, wonderful accommodation and wonderful service from Robin. For us, it was the perfect holiday break and we hope to return again another year.
