"Dates of stay: 31st Jan - 7th Feb
Weather: So much sun! Around 20/21 degrees which often felt a little hotter. The late afternoons tended to get a bit cooler but just a light layer over the top was needed for the evenings out.
Hotel and Room: Room 101 (comes with heated private pool, rarely available so we were very lucky)! The room is spacious, clean and bright. Lots of storage available. The views from terrace are out of this world! The amount of sun on it is incredible, from 9am to 6pm. The pool is the star of the show, it’s a shame our neighbours didn’t have a pool rather than hot tubs too as the pool is so much better! The room is located right by a gate that leads to the walk to Amadores Beach! Amazingly convenient, the walk is not hard, I repeat the walk is not hard! So many reviews are really against the walk, my Mum who is 70 managed it, it takes no more than 15 minutes to the beach. On the way back it will only take a bit longer due to having a little stop as it is steep (but so doable! Perhaps aim to walk early before the sun is too hot and come back later when it cools down). Also, the path is very clean but also a bit slippy in certain footwear simply because of the surface texture so you might feel a bit tense as you walk down if wearing something not so grippy. Cleaners come so often. We didn’t always need the rooms cleaned so just asked for what we did need such as new tea towels and dishwasher tablets. Air con units all work very well. TV has a good few English channels, you can’t watch Netflix so just ignore that on the TV remote. In fact, it’s all about being outside on the terrace and in the pool, we didn’t even need TV! Bring card games with you :)
We never really spent time at the communal pool until the last day, it was lovely! We managed to get a later checkout for free (thank you)! and our flight was much later so we spend all day at the pool and kept our luggage in reception. The on-site shop is small and doesn’t have a lot so walk to the Europa Centre where there are two supermarkets and there is also one at the bottom of the slope on route to amadores beach. Just have plenty of hands to help carry the shopping back if you’re buying a lot, top tip buy your big bottles of water from the hotel shop so don’t have to carry it far.
Very minor things - The kitchen table would be better positioned the other way giving more space around the kitchen walkway to lounge. A cheese grater, garlic crusher and microwave instructions would all be useful. A welcome manual would also be a great touch too. The main double bedroom should be the only one with a shower en-suite, the family bathroom would be better as a bath tub and shower combo. We never found out how to make that shower work properly but the lovely staff would have helped if we asked, we just all used the better shower room! The gym in our opinion should really be free for guests especially those spending the full wack on their room like me!
Location: You really can’t beat it! I have never stayed in a more perfectly positioned accommodation. The Europa Centre is a lovely short walk, and again is not hard! A slight slope up to begin with as you exit the hotel, but then you’ll just need to walk along the beautiful views of Puerto Rico and you’re practically there, you can’t miss it as it has a big light up sign saying Europa Centre. It has so many places to eat! I strongly recommend Mambos for a decent breakfast and Gran Hong Kong for a quality Chinese meal! The staff there were very good and it was a delight to dine in. The hotel is half an hour away from the airport. I recommend to leave enough time to get to airport as we thought we planned it well but wow, the airport staff were so rude and unhelpful when their passport control systems failed and we was expected to queue up when our plane was about to leave! So just anticipate having to deal with very rude people that tell you that ‘it isn’t their problem’.
Places to visit: Little Venice in Mogan is a real gem! At first you might think hmmm this isn’t what I was expecting but as you get walking through the shops and then through the alley ways of houses you’ll fall in love with its charm! So many good places to sit and have a drink and food in too. Definitely go to amadores beach at least once but try and go more during your stay! There are stunning views if you sit up on the rock area which is a real unique touch, located by the pedal boats. We didn’t buy sun beds as was too busy by time we got to the beach but as people left around 3ish we laid on the beds and never got charged, in fact it seemed as though the sunbed workers were done for the day, so perhaps you could plan your beach trip later or just do what we did and lay on towels to begin with on the sand. The shops on the beach are so good, they sell everything you need, even a blowup pillow perfect for that sandy beach towel lay. They have an incredible selection of rubber rings! I also bought lovely patterned outfits from a shop and the brand is Coco.
Aqualand is worth a visit, this time of year means it’s rather quiet so less time queuing up. I recommend you pack with you lunch as prices are not cheap there and the food is soso. They sell water shoes which is handy or pack your own from home as walking around can hurt your feet and you don’t want to have to keep removing your flip flops for the slides.
The hotel staff: A very warm and friendly team, from front of house at reception, to bar staff and the cleaners. Michelle in reception is super! She really helped me with ordering McDonald’s through the Uber eats app and throughout was so kind and helpful. Isabelle is also welcoming and happy to help! Nadezha (hope spelt right) is a very lovely face at the snack bar, she is so relaxed but works hard and happy to help, such as letting me take a jug of sangria to the room and on our last day of checkout she let us store our leftover ice creams in her freezer for the day. She also lent me a cheese grater!
I’ll be coming back, 10 out of 10!"
