"decided we all needed a quick pre winter break, so decided on 5 day break. The resort is part of bigger complex with 3 additional sister hotels right opposite the Colina. You have access to all facilities in all four resorts.
To start the que at airport was long and spiralling right round so please be prepared for this. It took us 1.30 minutes to get to passport control. The jet 2 flight was great and we landed early. Jet 2 reps were on hand to direct us to our transfer bus.
We were welcomed by lovely reception staff and nice looking foyer after a really stressful arrival at fair airport. . Clean and tidy complex. The colina is a big resort and you need to make sure you have a good walk around. I did get lost !!!!, there are three different areas with individual pools in each section, One is a water park with slides and two separate pools. The middle area with smaller and larger pool and another outdoor pool in quieter block which is deeper and quieter and then the indoor pool.
The resorts offers something for every one. We found the middle pool area more suited to us. The children’s splash and slide pool area did appear very crowded on some days , with a lot of the parents smoking. This area seemed less maintained with sun beds looking old and tired. We did not spend too much time in this area, but my daughter loved the slides and water park so hung around for a while but could not have spent all day in this area.
The children’s playground was very quiet and did not appear to be used much. A lot of parents complained about the mosquitos in this area as it was close to green mossy area. I got one bite behind my ear after standing in playground for maybe five minutes. But I was well soaked in mosquito repellent, so not too bad but a lot of children and parents were covered in bites, so please be prepared.
The overall atmosphere in resort was good. No issues to report. Night time entertainment was great, kids Disney themed night was magical. My kids loved this. Mind it can get busy as families did arrive from sister hotel, so best to bag a good seat early. Day time entertainment was based mainly at sister hotel and night time entertainment was in colina. They did have animal show in the day and this was popular with the children’s. We did not use the kids club as we were aware the cost was £10 per two hour session and with two children that would be too costly.
We stayed in one bedroom superior apartment, which was on third floor. Corner apartment with two balconies. One facing the pool and the other facing the sea. The most amazing view of sunrise and sunset, totally breath taking. The apartment was spacious with one double bed with sliding doors. Two sofa beds. One was slight creaky and did disturb us a little. There was some noise from others retuning after night out with kids running down the corridors. We were also woken up in the middle of night to people talking loudly and the sound appeared to be from room above. The bathroom was clean and spacious. Plenty of storage space for clothing, all the utensils for cooking were supplied with washing up liquid. Fridge freezer, Oven, hob and microwave. Great for self catering options.
We did not eat at the resort as we opted for self catering option and enjoyed slow mornings and eating breakfast in the apartment whilst taking in the lovely view. We used the mini mart down stairs and also spar down the road for all our groceries for cereals, milk, margarines and lovely freshly baked bread. We did use giovanni pizza down stairs. Highly recommend the pizza and garlic bread.
We used the alafagar taxi service to go into old town and was reasonably priced. We love going into old town and looking round the shops. I feel old town is more suited to families rather than new town. The taxi service was an excellent service, as we just rang them when needed to return. There is McDonald’s and Burger King in new town. Which is short walk from old town.
We did also spend a morning on the most beautiful beach. Now the beach is accessed through the alafagar village across the road. Bear in mind there are a lot of steps to get down and it can feel a bit steep. Not ideal with prams and wheel chairs. We did see some parents struggle with getting pram down, not sure how they got back up.
Overall we really enjoyed our five days at Alfagar alto da colina resort. Few minor issues with noise from other guests arriving back from night. The mosquitos seem to be more prevalent this year all over Europe as I was bitten badly in April in Tenerife and have never had to use repellent before. Maybe resort could support with this as I could see a lot of guests with quite nasty bites. A lot of people I spoke with informed they could not recall how they had got the bites Lastly the sun beds in kids splash and slide pool need replacing as lot are broken.
We would book again as the resort as is clean and tidy overall with good amenities . Plenty to keep kids busy and occupied. Good transport service and not far from old town or airport."
