"We booked a 7 night package holiday through Love Holidays. Our stay was absolutely amazing and we are already planning a return holiday.
The apartment was very spacious, well equipped, clean, comfortable and air conditioned. The only toiletries provided are hand soap, washing up liquid and toilet paper. I was aware of this from other reviews and it was not an issue. There was plenty of bed linen and towels. On the 4th day a bag of fresh towels and linen with extra toilet paper and hand soap is delivered at your door.
The outdoor pool was absolutely amazing and the lifeguards do a fantastic job making sure people are not too boisterous in the water. An area of the pool is roped off for an hour 3 times a day for ball games (ball games are not allowed outside these times or outside the roped off area). The only downside to the pool was even though there are signs saying sun beds can't be reserved with towels this is not enforced and people start putting towels down around 7am, even though the pool doesn't open until 10am and some of the "reserved" sunbeds remain empty until the afternoon. We did find the sunbeds start becoming vacant again around 4-5pm.
Our booking included breakfast which was well stocked and delicious. The restaurant staff were amazing. Lunch is served until 4pm and the bar is open until 8pm. There are only evening meals twice a week when they do Spanish and Italian buffet evenings (we had both which were delicious). The cocktail of the day is €5.50.
There is a shaded picnic area which was very quiet and a nice spot for a drink to escape the heat for a while.
Other facilities include a games room (with pool table, giant chess and table tennis), an indoor pool with hot tub and outdoor toddler pool, a spa/wellness centre and complimentary use of the nearby Oxygen Gym. We didn't use any of these other facilities but another guest said the gym was "amazing".
Check in and out was very simple and the reception staff were very welcoming, friendly and helpful.
The local area was also amazing.
As others have said the area is quite hilly but the hills are not that steep and make for some quite pleasant walks.
There are many minimarkets, bars and restaurants a very short walk from the hotel. We ate in the Pepperoni restaurant 3 times because the food was amazing and had evening drinks in the Harp Bar on all but 2 nights (tip: there's a 10% discount in the Harp bar when paying by cash).
There's Mercadona and Lidl supermarkets at the bottom of the hill and more restaurants/bars near Mercadona. The El Zoco shopping complex is also at the bottom of the hill and the Calypso street market held on Thursday's and Sunday's is only a 25 min walk away, though on the day we went there were only about 6 stalls.
The beach is only a 20-30 min walk and was a lovely beach with lots of beach bars where you can hire sun beds for €8.50. The sea was very choppy with some very large boulders so we couldn't do our snorkeling. You can hire padel boards and pedalos from the Royal Pirata beach bar.
If you don't fancy walking back up the hill there is a taxi rank outside Mercadona and a taxi back to the hotel is only €6
If you fancy a scenic walk we walked up the hiking trail to Ermita del Rocío which is a monument left behind by a film crew. Be warned though this walk has a >800ft elevation and takes about an hour from the hotel. It is well worth it though as the views across the Med and the mountains are amazing.
There is a bus stop outside the hotel with buses to Fuengirola and at the bottom of the hill you can also get buses to Fuengirola and Marbella if you wanted to travel outside the local area. Note: the bus stop outside the hotel only serves a circular bus route with buses travelling down the hill but not back up.
This was an amazing holiday loved by every member of our party of 2 adults and 2 teenagers. I cannot believe the negative reviews and we are already planning a return."
