Holiday Village Costa del Sol

We stayed at the holiday village during the Summer Holidays. The hotel itself is brilliant if you are staying with children. There is a seemingly endless array of activities for them and the swimming pools are brilliant! We spent most of our time in the water park / complex across the road from the hotel which is accessed via a bridge. This is shared with another hotel but is big enough to accommodate everyone. The gates to this complex do not open until 10am so there is no problem with guests reserving sunbeds with towels early – which is a bonus. We were there in July so no problem with the temperature of the pools (some guests have commented in their reviews that the pools were cold in Oct). There is also a pool at the top of the steps in this complex for smaller children and an area where water jets come out of the floor. This seemed to be a hidden gem as not many people used it, so if you needed to get away from the madding crowd, this was the place to be. There is a nice restaurant located in this area too, which is where we ate lunch most days. There was a wide selection of food, all of which was well presented and plentiful. In the evenings, we ate in the main hotel restaurant, which, as you would expect in a holiday village full of children was very noisy and bustling. Even so, the staff did incredibly well to keep up with the volume of people, and again presented a wide variety of tasty food which catered for everyone. The guests of our hotel seemed to stay around the main pool next to our hotel, this is where most of the daytime activities and entertainment happened, so not surprising. This pool always seemed busier than the waterpark strangely. The hotel is huge! We have never stayed in a Holiday Village before so were surprised by the scale of the place. The rooms were spotlessly clean, cleaned daily and the kitchenette was a welcome addition for drinks and snacks if you needed to retreat for some quiet time. The staff could not have been more helpful, they were brilliant and also knowledgeable about the local area so could direct you off the beaten track if you wanted to head out. I would recommend getting out of the hotel and exploring the local area at least once. We headed out to the local town - ask the taxi driver to drop you off in the Old Town where you will be able to stroll around the beautiful traditional whitewashed buildings, quiet streets and bars used by local residents. We had a delicious tapas lunch in a small bar, looking over a traditional plaza, before walking up to the Santa Domingo Church at the top of the hill which was built in the 17th century and it is the oldest church in Benalmádena. We also took a boat trip from the port which is highly recommended, and even had dolphins swim alongside us part of the way! The only drawback to this hotel really is the noise which comes from the volume of people and children having fun. We have never stayed in a Holiday Village and if you have children and want to keep them entertained, this is the place for you. However, if you don’t have children, or prefer a smaller, quieter setting then I would recommend you look elsewhere.

I have just returned home from four nights at the Holiday Village. Thankfully, we were only there for a short time and were meeting other family members in a different hotel. This establishment is MOST DEFINITELY not four star!! On arrival, we discovered it is a tired, outdated hotel that is the worst all inclusive we have ever visited. The room, whilst spacious, was extremely drab and in need of repair. An odd looking kitchenette (which we didn't use!) with an air conditioning unit sellotaped together and a wardrobe with a badly repaired hole in it. Not good. The bars and restaurants inside the hotel are also outdated and don't serve any branded drinks. If you want bottled water you have to buy it...water is provided in paper cups from a dispenser! The food is bland, served lukewarm/cold and often frozen produce. The poolside snack bar serves food that is often standing for some time, no tongs so people helping themselves by hand and nobody supervising...a stomach bug waiting to happen!! The poolside seating area falling apart. Again...NOT what you would expect from a four star. Lots to do for children and the entertainment provided during the day was good for families. We, however, don't have children and did not appreciate the pool being closed for hours on one occasion because a child had 'gone to the toilet' in it. We booked an evening meal in the burger bar but the food was again frozen chips and nuggets, wings etc. and you had to serve yourself to most of the food so we left. We ended up eating and drinking elsewhere. The 'Irish bar' is in the basement and smells strongly of bleach. Didn't appreciate the laminated notices on each table and the bar warning of 'excess intixication.' No bars or restaurants in the near vacinity so we used buses and taxis. All in all....a disappointing experience and not one I will repeat. Not will I be booking through First Choice! In my opinion.....best avoided.