Diver Aguadulce Affiliated By Senator

“Don't know what people are moaning about!”

Visited 21-28 August with our 8 and 6 year olds. We're an English family and experienced no negativity whatsoever. In fact the opposite, the staff actually teaching the kids some Spanish words and going out of their way to try & understand us! Perhaps if people made a little effort to learn some ... more

Visited 21-28 August with our 8 and 6 year olds. We're an English family and experienced no negativity whatsoever. In fact the opposite, the staff actually teaching the kids some Spanish words and going out of their way to try & understand us! Perhaps if people made a little effort to learn some basic Spanish before they go it would go a long way, you are in Spain after all! There were a good few other British families on holiday here whilst we were there. But everyone we met, Spanish/English were all very friendly. We were on floor 6 and the views are simply breathtaking. As I imagine they are from every room given the hotels location. It may not be walking distance into any town centre but this is only due to the road layout and no footpaths, it's literally 3/4mins in a taxi (8 euros) to the nearest coastal town of Aguadulce in one direction which is full of bars, restaurants, a stunning 3km long beach and amazing harbour, or 10/15mins in the other direction into Almeria city. There is a small beach bar separate to the hotel about 2mins walk away along the seafront. The hotel have an trip every Tuesday to the Oasys Mini Holywood Wild West themed park & zoo. We didn't go but the reviews and info looked good. To book this you need to visit reception about 4pm on the Monday before (so we were told, we didn't arrive until after this time!). The food we thought was excellent both in the main restaurant and the pool snack bar. Good variety and plenty of choice. The pools are both beautiful and the scenery of rocks and waterfalls on one side and the ocean on the other cannot be topped! The 'main' pool where the water slides, crazy golf, archery, snack bar and animation team were based was obviously busier but we found that most people leave for an afternoon siesta between 3 and 5pm so we spent the morning at the other quieter pool, which has a small private rocky beach and pool bar, then went over to the main pool later on in the day. Never had a problem finding sunbeds for 4 of us at either pool at any time of day, a novelty in European all inclusive hotels! The hotel had a small shop on site open for a few hours in the morning & a couple in the evening but this is more for souvenirs and beach/pool accessories and not for any groceries. Kids club is included and available 11am-1pm, 4-6pm and 10pm-midnight. Plenty of activities & it didn't matter at all that the majority of the kids were Spanish. The animation team were fantastic and ensured our children felt involved and included. There was a kids mini disco every night at 9.30pm on the stage by the main pool which is also where the evening shows took place. The evening entertainment was varied, a variety/comedy show, flamenco dancing, live band etc. It does get very busy down there and every seat taken and on some nights we preferred to sit in the upstairs bar and play cards whilst admiring the view out to sea! The bar upstairs closes at 11pm whilst the bar by the evening show is open until 1am. All inclusive drinks were good, self service beer, sangria & soft drinks including slush drinks for the kids. Also tea/coffee machines. The main pool also has mojito and pina colada slush for the grown ups (served by bar staff!). There are fridges everywhere containing endless bottles of water of various sizes which you could help yourself to. It's a shame there's no fridges in the rooms however to keep the water cool overnight. Although the information folder in the room did say you could hire a minibar fridge, something we didn't do. Likewise use of the safe and wi-fi is extra. We didn't use either. Pool towels are 10 Euro returnable deposit per towel and they charge 1 Euro per towel if you want to exchange for fresh ones during your stay. The only gripe we found is that there are only two small lifts (about 6-8 people) servicing the 9 floors of the hotel and particularly in the morning going for breakfast there could be a bit of a wait. We found our typically English routine complimented the traditional Spanish lifestyle of doing things a bit later in the day... as I mentioned earlier we went to the pool with the small beach in the morning after breakfast about 10 and stayed there till 2-3pm then walked over to the main pool (2mins) which was quieter at that time. Then when that got really busy again by about 6 we went back to the room (normally via the bar!) and headed out for dinner when the restaurant opened at 8, just as most people are leaving the pool/beach! The restaurant started to get busy at 9 when we'd finished and headed down to the evening show area & got a table no problem for the kids disco and show. By 10 there were no tables left. This worked well for us! Smoking - yes people smoke, but we didn't experience anyone unsocially smoking and not taking note of people (especially children) around them. This wasn't a problem for us whilst we were there (we're not smokers). Also we saw one tiny dog sat on their owners lap in reception one evening in the whole week, other reviews on here seemed to suggest dogs are running riot all over the hotel! This is not the case and there are signs up to say dogs not permitted at the pools. In addition to the 2 swimming pools there are also 2 large jacuzzi/hot tubs which are for over 15's only, nice to relax in whilst the kids are doing face painting or playing crazy golf! Overall we had a fantastic week here, would certainly recommend to any families with children, not so much for a couples holiday however. The price we paid for a week at the end of August was nothing compared to some of the other quotes we'd found for all inclusive hotels elsewhere. We read many reviews on here before booking and hesitated, however if you're reading this, don't hesitate any longer. A holiday is what you make of it. Go enjoy yourselves!

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“Great hotel”

Hi there, this is great hotel but its miles from any where ,Its a forty minute walk to the next village , on a busy main road with no pavement. There is no promenade and after a few days you just get bored. The entertainment is mainly for children and it goes on well after midnight with tired... more

Hi there, this is great hotel but its miles from any where ,Its a forty minute walk to the next village , on a busy main road with no pavement. There is no promenade and after a few days you just get bored. The entertainment is mainly for children and it goes on well after midnight with tired brats being naughty. Would i come here again no , you need a car and i really mean that. Many thanks for letting us have a shower as our flight was late evening.

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“Family holiday”

We have just returned from a weeks family holiday children 11 and 13 ! The hotel is a little dated but clean the rooms are very basic but air conditioner worked ok. The food started off ok with a big selection at breakfast and paella at lunch time in the main restaurant the evening meals were sel... more

We have just returned from a weeks family holiday children 11 and 13 ! The hotel is a little dated but clean the rooms are very basic but air conditioner worked ok. The food started off ok with a big selection at breakfast and paella at lunch time in the main restaurant the evening meals were selection of salads soup fish some days it was lovely but never hot enough !! Some dinners were really bad lots of frozen crochets 😱with different fillings! The food around the pool was quite poor burgers chips wasn’t very good but the slushes crisps and drinks were great!! There was two pools the one with the slides was so busy you couldn’t get a sun bed , the quiet one you had to get there by 10am to get a bed! The beach was lovely one large beach and a small cove lovely for my teenage son to snorkel but no umbrellas for shade but you could by one at the shop🙄. We was the only English family for most of the holiday and all the entertainment was in Spanish and for little children!! Not sure I would return to this hotel as the food could of been better and hot !!!! But the views and weather was fantastic!!

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“Remote Location”

Very clean hotel, and the food is great! Every room has an amazing sea view, great pools, good entertainment if you can understand it. Best all inclusive I've been on. On the down side, no one speaks much English, there's not one British newspaper, or TV channel, no entertainment for the Brits... more

Very clean hotel, and the food is great! Every room has an amazing sea view, great pools, good entertainment if you can understand it. Best all inclusive I've been on. On the down side, no one speaks much English, there's not one British newspaper, or TV channel, no entertainment for the Brits. The hotel is for the Spanish holiday makers, so shouldn't really be advertised for the British, not sure whether they like us or not. I felt really quite cut off, as there was also nowhere to walk to. I wouldn't say I wouldn't go again, but if I did, I would definitely hire a car as the taxi drivers rip you off.

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