San Jaime, Son Bou, Menorca, 07730, Spain
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Overall Community Rating: |   7.9 (based on 3 user reviews) |
 San Jaime: Wonderful Beach Holiday by Dee Dowkes |
| Posted 19 September 2007 about a visit in September 2007 | Overall rating: 8.3 |
Booked the first two weeks in September last minute through Thomson mainly because we were a party of 3 with a teenage son of 17 and the San Jaime offered a self catering 2 bedroom apartment with a half board option. Our apartment in Zone 3 was basic but spacious no aircon but ceiling fans in both bedrooms and the lounge, and louvred shutters so we were comfortable and slept well! Well laid-out 2-storey complex with either 2 balconies or a patio. Pretty low-rise Resort with lots of green space spoilt somewhat by the huge multi-storey Sol Pinguinos / Milanos (Hotel Pingu) which looks out of place.
Half board option was brilliant we opted to take breakfast in the nearby Zone 3 Le Jardin Restaurant where the food was freshly prepared and waitress served whereas the Zone 5 Gondolier Restaurant had self-service breakfasts. However we preferred the Gondolier Restaurant for a quieter evening meal - the 10 minute walk did us good! The half board option (can be booked after arrival) gives a voucher for your party to each choose any 3 courses from the extensive menu! Again freshly prepared and waiter served and as a bonus you each get your second drink free.
The weather was very hot sunny and dry but being September a bit cooler at night than high season and a couple of hazy days but still hot. I think we went at just the right time of year for us!
The two free pools looked clean and nice but we preferred the beach - and what a beach, miles of it. Absolutely gorgeous! Sea mostly really calm or occasionally small waves only a couple of days with surf. Sand soft and white (and could be hot to walk on!) 2 Loungers and sunbrella will cost you 17 euros a day though!!! Lifeguards in towers every so often along the busiest part of the beach and sea gently shelving with boardwalks to get you onto the beach from the road. Access to the beach is restricted to one end due to a nature reserve. The other pool is privately owned and you have to pay for use of loungers etc and the flumes.
There is a supermarket, bakery and a couple of other shops on site but there are plenty of bars, cafes, shops and supermarkets nearby and a local bus service. There is also a proper scuba shop where our son bought a good mask and snorkel that fitted and worked well - they offered PADI sub-aqua training as well. Reasonable priced car hire was also available.
Only problems are the steps as the complex is on a slope - could be a problem with pushchairs. Also should mention there is no phone or tv in rooms but we did have a good fridge-freezer. Depends where you are within the complex of course but Zone 3 is approximately 10 minutes to the beach but there is a frequent 'road train' to transport you around the resort if needed at 4 euros per journey.
Would we go back or recommend this holiday? - unanimously YES especially if like us you just want to relax and unwind on a superb beach in low rise accommodation with historic sites within walking distance. We would recommend the half board option as we feel that self catering could prove more expensive and suggest buying your own sunbrella and your own beach mats or lilos (to discard on departure) to cut costs
This review is the opinion of a diytravel.co.uk user and not of diytravel.co.uk. |
| 28 of 28 users found this review helpful. Did this review help you? |   |
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 San Jaime Reservations |
| San Jaime: Quiet Week by Keith Edwards |
| Posted 01 November 2003 | Overall rating: 8.0 |
22-29th October 2003
Very clean and reasonably well equipped apartments. The whole complex was pretty, well maintained and again very clean.
The weather was a little cool as you would expect.
The main pool bar was expensive and not as good as even the atmosphereless Haiwaian Bar in the centre.
Food at the smaller pool was okay, priced above local restaurants as you would expect but very friendly.
This review is the opinion of a diytravel.co.uk user and not of diytravel.co.uk. |
| 5 of 6 users found this review helpful. Did this review help you? | |
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| San Jaime Reservations |
| San Jaime: San Jaime, Son Bou by Sanman1 |
| Posted 05 September 2002 | Overall rating: 7.5 |
We stayed at the San Jaime complex, in the first 2 weeks of August 2002, on a self-catering basis. 3 adults and 2 children. Flying out on Britannia with Thomson.
The Apartment
The apartment was clean and tidy, well laid out and we had fresh sheets and towels every other day, this we considered to be very important especially with 2 small children with us.
The Resort Layout
The resort is quite long and split into several zones, however, if you prefer to stay by the pool-side there are several located around the complex giving you easy access to at least one, no matter which zone you are located in. Entertainment is held nightly within each zone (pool-side) so again its not too far to walk, well-organised and entertaining. The disadvantage of the long complex layout is that if you have booked self-catering there is only one supermarket, so if you’re unlucky to be at one end of the complex you’ve got quite a long walk to the supermarket and back again with all your shopping (we paid extra for a quiet apartment - so it was a little further away anyway). Another disadvantage of the layout of the complex is this: Between the complex and the sea there is a road and an area of protected marshland both of which run parallel to the complex. As the marshland is protected there are no tracks across it and no other buildings which means that you cannot walk out of the complex straight across the road, across the marshland directly to the sea, you must take the long walk round – so beware the brochures that state that this is a beach front complex. Technically they are right – there are no other hotels between it and the beach, but you must make the 500m trek round the long way every day.
Or, you could take the train that travels around each of the hotels in and around Son Bou, however, this is massively over-priced at 4 Euros per person, there is no distinction between adults and children. The train runs between 10am and 2pm, and 5pm and 10pm daily.
The water park within the complex comprises of 2 slides, one of which was closed as it was undergoing repairs when we were there. Cost of the one remaining slide was 2 go’s for 1.5 Euros, 4 go’s for 6 Euros and 10 go’s for 12 Euros – again over-priced.
Food and Restaurants
Food within the complex was average in terms of quality, but over-priced if you’re eating in one of the restaurants, if you’re self-catering then either you go out to eat or you shop in the one and only supermarket.
Waiter service in the restaurants both within the complex and outside it ranged from adequate to excellent, depending on which one you go to.
We bought some lunch (4 rolls and 2 cans of Coke) from the beach huts, this cost us 22 Euros (£14.30) – we never did that again, electing to make our own rolls from then on – much cheaper. Also beware the hag by the toilets asking for tips if you use them.
Evening entertainment for the kids was not as good as the entertainment we had in Tunisia last year (again through Thomson). The Kids club rep did not seem to be interested in the reason she was there and it appeared that she could not wait for her slot to finish. For the kids there was also a small funfair with merry-go-rounds and bouncy castles. Cost of 4 merry-go-round rides was 12 Euros (£7.80) again massively over-priced.
The Beach
Son Bou has a wonderfully long beach, one of the best on the island in fact. We took our own beach umbrella as it was very expensive to hire the one you get on the beach: 17 Euros per day – buy one from the supermarket 19 Euros!!
The area between the road and the start of the beach has a wooden path which is excellent if like us you have a pram with you as it means you can roll up to the beach until you’re almost on the seafront – less to carry.
General
There is very little to do in Son Bou itself, it is not designed as a massive tourist centre catering for all kinds of clubbers, and because of the small number of restaurants and evening bars etc you could well be stuck for something to do each night – if that’s what you normally do on holiday. Hence, I advise anyone going to Menorca to hire a car like we did. It
means that you can visit many other beaches around the island and visit the brilliant water park at the opposite end of the island (open from 10am to 6.30pm daily), and therefore also sample nightlife in other parts of the island.
Excursions
We went on 2 excursions while we were there. One was advertised as a family night out – Pedro’s, the other a sight-seeing trip from North to South. Pedro’s was a massive let down, as the restaurant was barely half-full so the atmosphere was non-existent – there is no way you can tell how many people are going to turn up so its all down to luck. We were also treated to 1.5 hours of Pedro singing Spanish songs which after 30 minutes we were all fed up with, the rest of the show was ok –Flamenco dancers, and a Kids disco, Pedro’s wife’s singing was almost as bad as Pedro’s though. The food was basically Chicken and Chips – we were expecting something rather more local. The North and South excursion was ok but not really designed for children – more of a sight-seeing trip for older children and adults. Food not included on this one – it should have been given the amount we paid. Neither trip was worth the money.
We love our beach holidays so most of our time was spent at various beaches around the island – which was great, so we didn’t have a miserable time, its just that we were not impressed with certain aspects of Menorca.
Overall, I would say that Son Bou is a great place for a beach holiday where all you really want to do is stay by the beach all day and just relax at night. The downside is that it’s also designed to take as much of your money as possible while you are there. Now, its not that I’m massively stingy, I actually don’t have a problem with spending loads of money on holiday, if my children want something I will always buy it for them. However, one thing I hate is getting blatantly ripped off, which is what happened in Son Bou – unless you go outside Son Bou and visit some of the other beautiful parts of the island.
Hope this review has helped.
This review is the opinion of a diytravel.co.uk user and not of diytravel.co.uk. |
| 35 of 38 users found this review helpful. Did this review help you? | |
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