The building

OPUNTIA Hotel Boutique is located in Mijas, in an Andalusian traditional old house. The beginnings of its construction can be dated back to 1770, according to a handmade inscription on one of the masonry walls that was uncovered during the recent renovation and refurbishment works.

The process of reforming and refurbishing the building, which has lasted almost three years (2019-21), has been carried out respecting the main original structural elements of the building, such as its façade, typical of the architecture of the houses in the south, and the floor plan, which is distributed around a large interior courtyard that brings light into all its rooms.

The principles that have guided the renovation process include, among others, the use of highly efficient air conditioning systems, with the inestimable collaboration of the building thick walls, which have been preserved intact; maximum energy savings, installing aerothermal equipment for the production of domestic hot water; adequate soundproofing and thermal insulation, through the use of PVC enclosures with low thermal emission glass and air chamber, as well as polystyrene sheets in the floor slabs and glass wool in the walls; minimum consumption of drinking water, through the use of low water consumption plant species in the communal areas, installation of a recirculating pump, dual flush systems in the toilets and water flow aeration mechanisms; and the use of natural materials in the finishing of the building, particularly wood, iron and cement. Various elements of the building have also been recovered, especially marble from the historic Mijas quarry, in use since the imperial Roman period, giving them new functionalities or decorative uses; the more than 100-year-old Arab tiles that cover the building; and the century-old Melis pine beams that formed part of the roof of the building and with which the tabletops of the cafeteria tables have been made of.

Its rooms, located on the upper floors of the building, are equipped with everything necessary to guarantee the highest level of comfort to its guests and have been decorated all differently in a minimalist style, making them unique and unrepeatable spaces. Their interiors, like those of the hotel’s shared use rooms, are decorated with original works of art.

In its patios you can contemplate different varieties of characteristic plants of this area of the Mediterranean, especially the opuntias, which is a genus plant that has been found in Andalusia for more than 500 years, where it grows both in gardens and in the wild and whose fruit can be tasted at the end of summer. It is precisely from here that the hotel gets its name.