About us

We’re Toni and Sofi. We don’t need to tell those of you who already know us who we are – two crazy people passionate about our work – but, if you haven’t been to our house and we haven’t met yet, here’s a broad stroke about our lives.

Toni was born in Benidorm and has worked in the hospitality industry for as far as he can remember. And I, on the other hand, studied at the University of Alicante, but I knew that, in the end, my life would end up linked to Guadalest, close to my people.

It was as a result of a trip we took to the north of Spain, in small hotels, when we thought we could do something similar in our area. This is why we called our company La Casona, after the typical lodgings in Asturias. Everyone said we were crazy and brainless, how would a guest house in Guadalest work if we had Benidorm only 20 minutes away?

We’ve always known what we wanted, so we looked for houses and land until we realised we had the perfect opportunity in front of our eyes and hadn’t even seen it.

Every day walking by and there it was, the perfect house, old, to be refurbished, yes, but with charm and breathtaking views. It was called Les Cases Noves because it was the first house to be built in Guadalest outside the old town. It was love at first sight.

We opened on 29 June 2005, and it seems like only yesterday.

Our origins

The Bar Guadalest had been La Venta de la tía Dolores, my great-grandmother, and it’s seen millions of people walk by. It may be one of the oldest remaining houses in Guadalest. As far as memories go, my great-grandmother Dolores, a village woman but a fighter and very determined, had this house she turned into a kind of inn.

After my great-grandmother, my grandmother Amparo was trained in the kitchen and, later, with the help of my uncle, my aunt and my mother – and finally my brother – continued to serve meals, but without renting rooms, as the improvements in routes and new means of transport caused demand to fall. The place where animals once rested became an increasingly busy bar, where even a well-known band in the Valle – the Kastells – rehearsed.

Now Toni and I have taken up the family torch, adapting to the new trends and tastes of people nowadays. The idea is to convey the passion we feel for our work, giving value to everything around us, defending local products, but reinventing ourselves with new trends. Humble but good-quality food in La Venta, and peace and good views in the Hotel.

A constant evolution

Column group

A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then, we’ve been changing and developing many things, but our essence remains intact. We believe in what we do, we fight, day by day, to defend everything around us, from the landscape to the products of the area… We try to respect the environment as much as possible, and try to convey our passion for our surroundings, our traditions and our roots to all those who come to our house.

It’s been, for now, 17 very tough years working really hard, and we needed to make some changes, so we decided to go one step further, a step that right now has coincided with the decision of my brother, who’s run the family bar for over 30 years, to retire. Then... it was clear to us, there it was again, in front of us. We started a new project with enthusiasm,

Nobody can say things are easy, but we’re entrepreneurs, fighters and we’re not scared of hard work. We were lucky to have a group of friends (because they are friends indeed and we see things in the same way), so they could come with us in this new journey. We hope to achieve our main goal: to make people a little happier if possible. Guadalest and its valley are beautiful, an ideal place to feed your mind and body. Hope to see you soon!