Holiday Village Costa Del Sol

single and a large balcony. We were room 547 and were right at the front on the top level. It had a great private view over the pool and out across the sea. It had air con , Plasma TV ( my brother had an old style) and DVD player. The safe was 2.5 euro a day.

The food was nice - its not 5 star but if you can;t find anything to eat you are really fussy. The Italian and Mexican are nice for a change as you get table service. One thing which is annoying is that you can get water as part of the all inclusive everywhere in the hotel apart from the 2 restaurants ,even although they are only about 20 yards away from one of the hotel bars !

The water park where you see the picture of the pirate ship is across the road from the main hotel. It is quite a walk from your room to it - so don\'t forget to take anything you might nedd or you spend quite a bit of time walking to/from your room !!!!! The main bar was only ever staffed by one person and the queues were pretty long. Again ,here you could not get ice cream on the all inclusive - you had to walk all the way over to the main complex pool bar !The water park was great for the kids. Plenty of slides , fountains and shallow bits so they could play without having to have side by side supervision.

On reading about the hotel I was a bit concerned that it sat itself in the middle on nowhere. This is not the case. It is surrounded by other hotels but not by restaurants or bars. Buses run every half hour from outside the hotel to either Beneladena or Fuengirola and only cost 1.25 euro. We walked down to the beach at Fuengirola side which was only a 15 minute walk.

My son who is 3 went to the kids club in the afternoon between 4.30pm and 6.00pm. He seemed to enjoy that. Gave us a rest ! Don\'t know much about the other entertainment but there always seemed to be somrthing going on for the kids.

At night we sat between the two hotel blocks outside at the Piano bar. My son ran about and played with other kids. There was normaly a live singer or group on.

On booking in the girl told us that there were only 7 empty rooms. The complex is so big that it was not crowded - even at the water park which is open to other hotel guests.

I would highly recommend this hotel to families and would certainly go back. The staff were very friendly and any problems I had were attended to right away.

the pool. We were on the 5th floor (the top one). The numerous lifts all have one glass wall so might not be ideal for anyone a little wary of heights if above the 1st floor. Our room had a pool view which normally incurs an extra charge but we had not asked for one specifically. The other option would appear to be a nice mountain view in the distance and this would not have bothered us really. The room had a very large bathroom incl 2 sinks, bath with shower, separate enclosed shower, bidet (much to the amusement of the children !), they all have a hairdryer, and more than enough towels which along with the bedding were changed daily. The kitchen was of an adequate size and had a fridge containing two bottles of water, a bottle of coke and orange juice which were also replenished daily. The main bedroom had two double beds, the safe (chargable if required) and more than sufficient wardrobe space. The children had the sofa in the living room which folded down so two could sleep and we had also provided a fold down bed. The balcony was also more than adequate size wise. The room had a T.V (remote via deposit at reception but no money was req to be handed over as charged to cr card if not returned). Room also had air con. The pool at its deepest was 1.95m and had sloping shallow ends. There were always at least three lifeguards on duty who were very attentive. No balls or inflatable lilos etc are allowed in the main pool, only in the separate baby pool. There were always more than enough sunbeds with space for more if req in high season. This then meant no reserving them which isnt allowed anyway before 0900 as per the notices. The Beach Club is accessed via a bridge which crosses over the road and is about a 6-10 min stroll from the main pool. It cannot be accessed by anyone not staying in the hotel. This is were the large donuts can be hired for use on the three water slides and in the wave pool (10 euros for three payable plus a 30 euro refundable deposit). The wave pools current is strong and it stays on for about 20 mins each time and there are sufficient verbal warnings given prior to it being switched on. Again, as per the main pool, there are a sufficient number of lifeguards on hand. Breakfast and evening meals are taken in the main restaurant. You are initially shown to your table by the staff and then you are free to help yourself as many times as you want. We could not fault at all both the range, taste and quality of the food. For breakfast, there was a choice of numerous cereals, fresh fruit of all varieties, pastries including croissants, fresh meats and cheeses and of course bacon, sausage, black pudding, tomatoes etc etc. Eggs were either fried or scrambled or hard boilded and if you wanted the chef would prepare a fresh omlette with your chosen ingreidients while you wait. Toast was available via the self service toasters and tea/coffee available via machines (but not the vending type machines !) along with orange or pineapple juice. Evening meal was the same set up but staff would ask what you would like to drink and bring it to your table. There were themed nights incl Caribbean and Spanish and those who like fish cooked a lot of times right in front of you won\'t be disappointed ! there were numerous meat dishes and food of all varities too mumerous to mention here and alway a \"kiddies corner\" consisting of the usual. This resort caters in all aspects mainly for a U.K market so those not as adventourous with their food as us won\'t be disapointed either as there was a good choice of more recognisable dishes. Lunch is either taken at the restaurant at the Beach Club and is a similar set up to that already stated or by the main pool were there is a variety of snacks incl toasties, pizza, burgers, hot dogs, chips, chicken wings. There are two bars by the main pool incl the one serving the snacks, and two inside incl the one by the evening entertainment area (which moved outdoors the day we were leaving). Alcoholic drinks are local produce (the beer is Cruzcampo and v. nice) and to be honest my wife and I couldn\'t taste the difference anyway between the spirits! The staff incl those First Choice staff who run the kids clubs were great but go A.I as would be v. pricey otherwise.

Every time we saw him we just started to laugh. Beware! you could get a soaking from him, but hey! your on Holiday.
The Beach club is NOT a half hour walk,unless you are very overweight and lazy. Just a pleasant 10 mins walk over the bridge.
Go to the local beach. Just a few minutes walk across the road. Cheap beds, lovely sandy beach.

restaurant but the queues for the buffet that we saw, and the queue to get served at the AI bars would put me off, we were amused to see various arguments breaking out at the bar as the AI deadline approached. One thing I will say if you're SC is that the shop in the hotel is useless and VERY expensive, they charge about 3-4 Euro for a tin of beans or a bottle of milk, best idea is to get on the bus to Benalmadena from outside the hotel.

Entry to the rooms is via swipe card so is very secure, there's various lifts and staircases for getting up and down. We had the cleaners in daily with fresh towels and sheets, the bedroom consisted of 2 double beds pushed together, absolutely huge, good wardrobe space, digital safe, the kitchen has a microwave, decent hob, fridge, loads of utensils. The bathroom...well what can I say, it was like an apartment on it's own, large marble counter with 2 deep bowl hand basins in front of a wall sized mirror, full size bath with shower attachment and curtain as well as a separate standalone shower cubicle big enough for 2 people! The living area consisted of a sofa bed in front of a coffee table and TV with a few channels to keep you occupied, full sized dining table with 4 chairs, more wardrobe space and various cabinets ,both the living and bed rooms lead out to a massive balcony with furniture for 4, the way the hotel is built means no balconies are overlooked from either direction so it was very private and secluded. We faced the pool and were up on a high floor so we had a lovely view right across the pool, the main hotel, the beach club, out to sea and along the coast to Fuengirola, lovely to sit out there early evenings.

The pool area was really good in September but I'd hate to have been there peak season as there's not a lot of room around the beds, especially when you consider the hotel must hold a good 1000 people. The wooden banisters into the pools were slippery, the steps were VERY slippery and unmarked, the rocks in and around the pool areas are literally razor sharp and the wave pool is a complete minefield of sharp and slippery surfaces.

If we ever go back to the Costa del Sol we'll stay here again not AI, the queues really did look huge and the menu in the lunchtime snack bars looked pretty poor. We'd probably use this hotel purely due to the standard of the rooms and the security of the place more than the facilities.

the 4 grand it cost us for the holiday in blackpool would never go back Turkey here we come for the third time

fridge was stocked up with water cola and juice on a daily basis. As this was our third visit we were also sent a basket of fruit and a bottle of red wine which was a very nice gesture.

There was lots of variety at the restaurant and the Mexican Italian and Open Grill are well worth a visit and cater for everyone\'s taste including children and make a change to the buffet style restaurant as you are waited on. And the wine is nicer. And if you missed breakfast in the morning there was always the snack bar where you could get ham/cheese toasties, pizza, hot dogs, salads, nugggets and fish fingers plus a variety of other things.

There are lots of activities going on throughout the day like quizzes, water polo, raft racing. There is a big family pool as well as a childrens pool at the main hotel. Over the road at the Beach Club it is split into three areas. There is the childrens area to the right with a shallow pool and water jets for kids, a Robinson Crusoe style house and high trampolines (which you pay for) and then there is the Pirate Ship which is great for kids and adults too, though the water in this pool is freezing. There is then a larger pool which gets quite busy with a shallow end for kids. The jacuzzi beds are not to be missed. They are situated up on the top of the Beach Club and they overlook the sea. Then there are the water slides, caves, the wave pool and more water jets. It really is fantastic over there. The food at the Beach Club is lovely too. Lots of salads and meats and pasta dishes.

The kids clubs are great too though mine wanted to be together and as my little boy wasn\'t 3 for a few weeks(and my daughter 6) he had to go in the creche which wasn\'t free so I didn\'t bother putting them in. But from what we saw they all seemed to be enjoying themselves.

In the evening there is often entertainment on at the Piano Bar if you don\'t want to sit at the main entertainment dome. This is a very relaxing area with fountains and mexican singers playing.

The entertainment team work very hard and put on some really good shows for example Grease, High School Musical, Mother Goose. We also saw a magician, a comedian and a group which were all very good. There were coin operated cars for kids and trampolines too. The kids disco started at 8 for an hour and everyone including the adults seemed to enjoy it. At night in between acts you could take part in quizzes, play bingo (for some really high cash prizes) and there was rarely queues at the bar and if there was you weren\'t queuing long. And if you want to carry on till the early hours of the morning the Irish Bar is the place to be. We hired a trolley for my daughter which was a godsend when we were in there. It opened around 11pm and we used to stock our drinks up so we didn\'t have to buy anymore after 12. There was always something going on.

We did make a visit to the beach one day which is literally turn right at the roundabout, pass the car park and down quite a lot of steps. We let the kids have a paddle and collected some shells but as the weather was really hot there was no shade so we didn\'t stay long. You can also get a bus outside the hotel to nearby Benalmadena and Fuerengerola which was very cheap and took about 20 mins. There is also a crazy golf course at the back of the hotel which didn\'t cost us a penny if you are looking for something different to do.

We really had a good holiday and would recommend this hotel to families with children of all ages. The reps were helpful, the welcome meeting didn\'t drag on, in fact it was over in about 10/15 mins, the hotel was clean. Nobody we spoke to had been ill or had any complaints. The sunbeds were a bit hard to find though I think when we went it was a lot quieter than peak season where there is the huge rush for the beds. And on the plus side it is only about 30 mins from the airport.

Hopefully next year will be our 4th time... if there are any free child places left!

Just want to add that we went All Inclusive and would highly recommend this as the food is lovely and there is a lot of variety including one visit per week to each of the themed restaurants and there are three of them this year. I would not advise really going self catering as the supermarket is very expensive and there are no local ones nearby.