| | Maritimo, Torremolinos, 29620, Spain
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Overall Community Rating: |   8.6 (based on 1 user reviews) |
 Riu Belplaya: Fancy a quiet Xmas? by Jim Morrison 2 |
| Posted 17 April 2006 about a visit in December 2005 | Overall rating: 8.6 |
I stayed at the Riu Belplaya Hotel over Christmas period of 2005 and enjoyed the experience very much.I had booked this trip independently on the internet with Easyjet and through Riu Hotels website. Nothing could have been easier. The Hotel website is self explanatory and user friendly and the cost of total package was reasonable cheap considering the time of year. The hotel only required a deposit for the room with the remainder due on arrival.
My flight left and arrived on time with no problems. The worst experience of the week was the taxi trip from the airport. The taxi driver pretented that he did not know the location of the hotel and we enjoyed? a round trip of Torremolinos. We evetually arrived at the Belplaya and the driver tried to extort 40 Euros for my mystery tour. Fortunately I knew some Spanish and knew that this was regular occurrence by Malaga airport taxi drivers. We eventually agreed on the correct 15 Euro fare. Beware of these highway robbers and take some piece of paper with hotel address to show the driver.
On arrival at the hotel I was offered a champagne cocktail whilst completing the registration. During registration you are allocated a time for dinner. There are only two sittings which are at 6pm and 8pm and you are restricted to the allocated/chosen time which can be annoying if you are fancy a change.
The staff were excellent, friendly and could not be faulted. The only problem is that your charged twice for the Christmas and Boxing Day tariffs. There is a supplement for the Christmas holiday period and then you are required to pay another fee for the Gala Dinner. However taking the overall cost for the Xmas break it was cheaper than staying at home. The rooms were excellent and extremely spacious. They were cleaned daily and maids were very considerate. This hotel is situated in a very quiet area of Torremolinos in the Playamar area which some distance from the the town centre although I wouldn't let that put you off. There is a bus stop 2 minutes walk from the hotel with buses dropping you off in the centre of town for 1 Euro. There is also a taxi rank right outside the hotel with plenty of taxis. In the general area there are a a number of bars and restaurants although the majority were closed or the holiday period. I expected this so it was no surprise but I would suggest that you do find some local bar as the hotel bar prices are absolutely ridiculous. Opposite the entrance to the hotel is a nice Spanish owned bar (Owners lived for years in Essex) where you can have a brandy and coffee for 2 Euros whereas the hotel would charge nearer 10 Euros. I should think that there would be enough bars/restaurants open during the summer months.
The hotel restaurant is very nice and the waiting staff are very helpful. Breakfast was mainly continental but each day there was a hot selection. In the evening there was plenty of choice with both a buffet style area plus two carvery areas. The chefs on the stations were extremely helpful in explaining all of the dishes if you asked for assistance. The Gala Dinner on Xmas day was excellent with a cocktail reception with the staff before dinner. There was an unbelievable of choice of food including smoked salmon,giant prawns and a choice of five roasts plus anything else you could possibly want. The meal was accompanied by complimentary wine and sparkling wine to end.
All in all I would highly recommend this hotel and would especially suggest that you visit at Christmas. As I have said it is cheaper that staying at home and you are well looked after.
This review is the opinion of a diytravel.co.uk user and not of diytravel.co.uk. |
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