TUI MAGIC LIFE Cala Pada

If you mention you're off to IBIZA, people always go "whoo hoo" or “if you can’t be good, be careful!” but this was the east side and a lot more quiet. Approx 40 mins from the airport once everybody is on the transfer coach. Both neighboring towns are a good 30 mins walk or a 6 euro taxi ride ... your call... A - GUESTS (YOU) POSITIVE: Great place for taking the kids as they are VERY well catered for - highly recommended. If you're flying from the UK for a couple of weeks though, chances are your children will come back speaking fluent German as that seems to be the primary language (!) - they’ll have a great time and are always well-supervised NEGATIVE - If you loathe kids you may hate it. They are well controlled in the kids clubs: fenced off with machine gun posts (no, only kidding) and by considerate parents by the pools. In the restaurant however it's a free-for-all chaos with tantrums, jelly on the floor, and plates of food crashing everywhere: kids running riot - I'm sure I trod on a few.... B - ROOMS & VIEWS POSITIVE - Lovely clean rooms which are serviced every day. Unusually there was a reasonable choice of English channels and no creepy crawlies in the bathroom. Cleaning staff are just lovely so if you go there, do say, Hola or “Buenos Dias” as they really do work their knuckles off to make your room smart. Gardeners do a great job too keeping the grounds looking lovely. Fridge works a treat. Very peaceful..... NEGATIVE - Not much of a view - you might be able to see the sea if you're on a top floor standing on an A/C unit but don't bank on it - just nice palms and other buildings. Very peaceful until about 8am when Mr Happy Gardener with the petrol-blower starts shifting leaves around the complex (rather than picking them up - you’d think he’s put that thing on “suck” rather than “blow” but I’m no expert......) Signage isn't brilliant but after a day you've sort of figured it out or you’ve got lost (again) C - ENTERTAINMENT POSITIVE - Spot-on dancers and good sound and lighting at the outside Auditorium. Plenty of seats and there’s an all-inc bar just a short stagger away... Check the boards for extra activities - quite a few inc shuffle board, mini-golf, archery and mountain biking NEGATIVE - Some Magic Life venues are truly amazing (Sharm El Sheik in particular) but many just seem to have choreographed routines to pre-rec music which kills an hour for the guests and this was often the case although the dancers were very good... There was an occasional slightly-different interesting night but overall, if this was a performers audition for next year, I reckon only a few would be re-employed. More creativity/originality in the shows would be my recommendation and use ideas from the other Magic Life venues. Wunderbar shows spoilt by a few standing up obscuring the view for the many D - POOLS POSITIVE - There’s a heated rectangular pool next to the outside Auditorium (found out it was heated two days before leaving) Main pool has a very shallow shelving area for the kids (just brilliant) and a deeper (not to deep) area on the other side of the bridge. There’s a MAGIC RADIO shack which plays music morning and afternoon and more than enough sunbeds so you shouldn’t have to do the dawn raid to bag a few (which is not allowed... yeh, right....) Lots of grassy areas too NEGATIVE - Can’t walk on the bridge - is only for the lifeguards and not for mere mortals. Music is quiet and not really “Banging IBIZA tunes”. No “pool games” apart from a daily “water polo” game and a basic “aqua aerobics”. There was a foam party which consisted of a foam machine being let off..... that was it really. Best to make your own entertainment as nothing is that well advertised E - STAFF POSITIVE - For the reception-staff it’s probably just a job but for the guest-staff it seems more of a lifestyle choice and they love what they do so have a good laugh with them! They were all fab - just a big group of individual people from around the world who want to have a good time and make sure you have the best time you can in their company NEGATIVE - Nothing F - REPS & HOTEL POSITIVE - The reps were there at the airport and were there at the hotel. Check in was efficient. TIP - Launch your partner off the coach first to get to the front of the check-in queue and worry about the bags later! NEGATIVE - Do you normally get something under your room door? - “hello, I’m xx, here’s your pickup time for departure’ or “hello, I’m xx, I hope your stay is wonderful but should you need... etc etc” Nothing.... ZERO hotel information from the reps - sure you’ll get a map but that’s about it. If you want to know about anything, go looking... Need to be more pro-active.. Wi-Fi OK but if you’re there for two weeks it will cut off after the first week and you’ll have to go back to reception to get a new passcode - why don’t they mention this? G - FOOD POSITIVE - Ooooh, groan.... Loads of lovely food. Fruit, cheeses, eggs... just loads - you won’t go hungry. Breakfast is in the main restaurant and then at 11am the pool snack bar opens. Fried stuff normally arrives around 12pm. There's the Bodega restaurant a “mere” stones throw from the resort which offers exactly the same food but a waiter(ess) service so you get served rather than piling up your own plate. Other speciality restaurant located at the snack bar but not impressed Overall - GREAT for families - Clean, plenty to keep the little / medium ones occupied and enough to keep parents happy too

We stayed here from the 17th October to the 24th October. We came with our family which included a 2year old and 4 year old along with the grandparents. The hotel is lovely with beautiful well kept tropical gardens. We found all the staff very helpful and friendly. The weather was excellent 23-24 degrees every day which was perfect! I’m giving this 4 stars as most things were excellent however a couple of minor improvements that could easily be changed to make this a five star review. Rooms - We had a two bed apartment type room which was excellent, our daughter slept in the single bed and the two year old in the cot in the middle of that room between the two single beds it’s was perfect as we could put them to bed and then relax in the lounge area. It also has a small kitchen area with microwave, fridge and sink which is helpful with young kids. Rooms cleaned every day and were spotless. They provided a travel cot from our email request. See pics. Grounds - They are excellent with very well kept tropical gardens. Easy access paths to all parts of the hotel, with ramps for pushchairs or disabled access. The rooms are in small blocks ranging from 2 storey to 3 storey and are positioned strategically around the grounds. Play park, sand pit, mini golf, tennis, archery, swimming pools and slides, volley ball, football. See pics. Food/drinks - We could not fault the food so much choice and the quality was very good. We ate at the beach restaurant one evening which was very nice, the grandparents looked after the kids so it was a nice to have a kid free meal watching the sunset on the beach. You can’t pick off a menu it just comes out Spanish tapas style, it was very nice. Never tried the flavours in the evening as for us the buffet with the kids was perfect. Love the coffee bar also. See pics. Kids club- This was excellent and very well run the girls running it are fantastic and a real credit to the hotel. You can leave the kids with the teachers if you wish to have a break. This is not something we did as wanted to Spend as much time with the kids as possible, however we waited with them whilst they undertook different activities. One thing I would suggest is that they lock the door to the kids club or have someone monitoring the entrance, as we just wondered in and out at different times of the day and no one asked for our name or room number or anything, we feel this could be a potential issue/concern. Beach - lovely beach clear water and soft sand. We did some snorkelling of the jetty and saw lots of different fish and even saw a moray eel. They also do diving trips from the beach. Boat trips- one thing that is great is the boat trips you can get from the beach which can take you to different destinations along the coast. We caught the boat from here to Ibiza old town this was a lovely day out and would highly recommend this to see the 14th century cathedral and the old cobbled streets with many bars, restaurants and shops we all had a great time and the kids loved the tunnels and climbing up-to to the top of the cathedral. See pics of map and pricing. We also caught a taxi one day to Cala llonga which cost €19 euro each way, it’s a lovely beach area here. Sunbeds are €6 euro a day and umbrella is €6 euro. We hired these as it made the stay more relaxing and enjoyable. Overall we were very impressed with this hotel and for a last minute deal thought it was excellent value for money. There are a few negatives - SMOKING! We really feel that smoking should not be allowed around the young children. We found this an issue when trying to sit anywhere outside especially around the kids disco and pool area. (They even allowed smoking in the outside seating area at the beach restaurant) If people want to smoke that’s their choice but to sit next to non smoking families with young children and babies in my opinion is unacceptable in a very family orientated hotel. This has been picked up on a lot of other trip adviser reviews also. They should have designated smoking areas well away from children and the pools, and ban smoking from any eating/drinking areas. They have a choice to smoke or not but they are not giving other people who don’t smoke a choice by making them breath in their passive smoke. This is something that could easily be changed and would make a big difference to the majority of your visitors. The only other slight concern we had is that our bedroom at the back near the pathway smelt a bit damp, again this is something that a lot of other reviewers-have picked up on, and is probably due to the fact this area of the block does not get any sun. We never mentioned this to the hotel staff as to be honest it did not really bother us that much as only in the room to sleep in the evening and we only stayed a week. Overall we were very impressed with this hotel. We never go to the same place twice on holiday as so many other beautiful countries to see and visit however for a secondary holiday or a quick last minute week away again we would defiantly come back.

Went with my wife and 2 kids 3rd week in October. Arrived late on the Wed night after travelling all day, and had to point at the wunderbar snacks and guess as the lady didn't know what we were saying, or us her! Not a huge issue. We managed something. The rooms were excellent, cleaned every day to a great standard. Well done! Pools were great, kids loved them all. Restaurants were magnificent, absolutely loads to choose from, and always plenty of food available. Well done all! Entertainment for slightly older kids, is poor and totally aimed at the guests from Germany, although lots of English speaking guests. This needs work. Wunderbar staff a bit up and down. Smile! Lastly, which I've seen others point out, this is 2018 and a family place. You need to separate the smokers from the non. Nothing ruins a good lounger place than a selfish smoker blowing smoke over me and my kids. Mostly, fantastic, would love to see more of ibiza which is stunning if we return. Overall totally loved it.