"We stayed at Livvo Koala Garden from 18th July on an all-inclusive package and, overall, we had a really enjoyable holiday.
Check-in & Room
We arrived at around 3:00 pm. Check-in took a little while, but the reception was extremely busy, so it was understandable. We stayed in Family Room 342 and I’ll be uploading a room video separately. After dropping our cases off, we headed straight to the nearby snack bar.
Snack Bar 🍔🍕
One thing that really impressed us was that they were constantly cooking fresh food. Fresh pizzas, burgers and hot dogs were available throughout the day.
I grabbed a freshly made cheeseburger with salad and an ice-cold Amstel.
One thing to note is that the snack bar and many of the self-service drink stations use small brown cardboard cups. Even the beer and soft drinks are often served in these, and they aren’t pint-sized. If you prefer the larger reusable plastic cups, you’ll need to collect them from the main pool bar. Even in the main restaurant, the beer glasses are the same small glasses used for fruit juice.
Restaurant 🍽️
Breakfast
Breakfast was excellent with plenty of choice.
* Lovely crispy bacon.
* Hot dog-style sausages as well as chopped traditional sausages.
* Ham and cheese omelettes.
* Fried, scrambled and boiled eggs.
* Hash browns (available on some mornings).
* Fresh baguettes, bagels and pastries.
* Lots of fruit juices.
* Various milk options for different dietary requirements.
Lunch
Lunch can become repetitive if you’re expecting something completely different every day, but there’s still plenty to choose from.
Travelling with autistic children who can be particular about food wasn’t a problem. There was always pizza, chips, pasta and other familiar foods available.
I probably lived on pizza, chips, salad and rice at lunchtime, but I’d usually try something different in the evening.
Evening Meals
Again, plenty of choice.
We enjoyed the Chinese-themed evening, plus dishes including veal stew, turkey in sauce and chicken skewers.
In my opinion, the food only becomes repetitive if you choose the same meals every day.
Joey’s Italian 🍝🍕
Joey’s Italian is included with the all-inclusive package, although you do need to book a table.
It’s quieter than the main restaurant and serves pizzas, spaghetti Bolognese, lasagne, pasta dishes, meats and a good selection of cheeses.
The only disappointment… no cheesy garlic bread! That definitely felt like a missed opportunity!
Pools 🏊
There are several pool areas around the resort.
We mostly used the quieter pool near Joey’s Restaurant as it suited our autistic children much better.
The pools are quite deep in places, so keep that in mind if you’re travelling with younger children.
Everything around the pool areas was kept clean. Before travelling we’d seen Facebook posts claiming there was cat poo everywhere around the hotel. We honestly didn’t see anything like that during our stay.
The only funny issue was the ants around one of the self-service drinks machines. There were quite a few crawling around the drink nozzles, so you had to keep an eye out when pouring your cola or apple juice!
Free all-inclusive drinks are great… free ants with every drink, not so much! 😂
At the quieter Joey’s pool there isn’t any pizza, snacks or ice available, so you’ll need to walk over to the snack bar.
Like elsewhere around the hotel, only cardboard cups are available here. We noticed lots of guests bringing their own pint cups. We ended up buying one from the gift shop near the lighthouse for €8, and it was well worth it for keeping drinks colder and reducing trips for refills.
Entertainment 🎤
The entertainment team work incredibly hard throughout the day and evening.
Night-time entertainment included:
* Live dance shows.
* Karaoke.
* Quiz nights.
* Games for adults and children.
There’s a large outdoor stage with plenty of seating, creating a great atmosphere each evening.
Local Area
There’s a SPAR supermarket directly opposite the hotel with reasonable prices for snacks, drinks and essentials.
Holiday World is also just across the road and is definitely worth a visit.
Admission was around €16 for adults and approximately €10 for children (prices may change).
There are loads of rides including:
* Roller coaster.
* Dodgems.
* Big wheel.
* Water ride.
* Drop ride.
* Claw attraction.
* Arcades and food court.
Renovations
The hotel is currently renovating some of its rooms.
We had a look into one being refurbished and they’re fitting laminate flooring, larger double beds instead of two singles pushed together, and making the rooms much brighter, which should make a noticeable improvement.
Overall
Would I return? Absolutely, yes.
No, I don’t personally think it’s a true four-star hotel just yet, but it’s clearly improving and the renovations are a positive sign.
Could things be better? Definitely.
I’d love to see:
* Better reusable drink cups throughout the resort.
* Snacks available at all pool areas.
* Ice available at every drinks station.
But don’t let some of the Facebook comments put you off.
We found the hotel clean throughout our stay, there was always plenty of food available, and despite people saying there was “nothing to eat”, we never struggled to find something we enjoyed.
Everyone’s holiday experience is different, but from our point of view we had a fantastic week and would happily return.
Overall rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ (4/5)"
