My wife and I stayed at the hotel at the very beginning of September for 1 night whilst attending a wedding close by. In my opinion, this is one of the best hotels along this stretch of the coast and the only one to be listed in the 'Leading Hotels of the world'. We know this area very well as we spend most summers here in an apartment complex close by.

I booked directly and received a confirmation email along with a reminder about 2 weeks before that my booking was confirmed for a deluxe beach facing room. I emailed them a few days in advance to confirm whether we could have an earlier check in as our flight was arriving in the morning - no problem.

Check in was fast, shown to the room by the check in clerk and bags promptly brought to the room. Nice size, very clean and luxurious with four poster bed and a good view. 10 minutes later a basket of fruit, freshly cut pineapple and a bottle of Cava was brought to the room compliments of the management. We had a slight problem with the internal safe but after a short while it was re-booted and we were able to use it.

We had the buffet lunch by the pool which was excellent, albeit expensive at €62 per head. We sat by the pool - nice comfy chairs and towels are laid out for you. The beach along this stretch is not good. Although the beach obviously stretches along the coast, this section of it is stoney and is no more than 20ft deep. The sunloungers on the beach are on a raised section.

In the evening we noticed the only niggle with the room - the bathroom. Beautifully presented and very clean however the taps for the bath ran alongside the wall where the double sinks were installed. Between the sinks and the bath taps was a glass shower screen. This came out about 3 ft which meant there was no way of reaching the bath taps from the bathroom floor, you had to get into the bath to turn on the taps! Now I don't know about you, but I tend to put the bath on before I get completely undressed - clearly not something the designers ever did! In addition, the bright spark had installed a towel rail in front of the double sinks. No problem with that apart from the fact it stuck out about 4 inches which made it very difficult to lean over either of the sinks to wash your face, etc...

Although we didn't attend dinner at the hotel because of the wedding, we did arrive back at around 1.15am on the Sunday morning. The Barry White dinner dance (this guy was Barry White's Godson) was still in full flow and we watched the show until it ended at around 1.30am. This takes place in the courtyard by the entrance of the hotel. This guy was excellent - a real showman and well worth booking if you get the chance. Dinner and show costs around €150 per head and kicks off at around 11pm.

We got up at around 10am the following morning and helped ourselves to the buffet breakfast - also excellent. At midday we checked out to attend a lunch locally and that concluded our trip to Las Dunas.

This is a great hotel with excellent service. Definitely a place we would return to however I would definitely query the bathroom configuration before I confirm which room I took next time. I can't believe all the bathrooms have been designed so badly so maybe it was just room 310.

On arrival we were shown in a poorly located room (despite an expensive direct booking) - looking over the car-park in front of the hotel to one side of the suite.

Room (family suite that is) was dark and not very attractive though there was a patio. Bear in mind there's no nice garden view except some rooms in the separate wing behind the pool, so book the sea-view. THankfully we could move to a sea-view family suite (2 bedrooms living room 2 baths) but this was the most expensive stay we ever had! 2500 euro per night! we had to because the other room was even worst value for the high price it cost!

However beautiful the interior was, the good value it was not. Especially as the sea-view is not direct but has restaurant under the windows, still very nice but doesn't warrant the price. The suite was great and so were bathrooms.

Another complaint was that in the beginning of the week only one restaurant is open, and the food there is very hit and miss (again v.expensive. Entertainment there is good (jazz from the US) but the same every night of the w/end. The formal Lido restaurant is very good, on a nice open terrace nearer the sea. But when closed you have to go out of the hotel to find variety - and this means travelling by cab to puerto Banus about 10-15 min or Marbella (further). It's strange to have one choice of restaurant ifor half a week n a 5 star hotel!

What was really good is the lunch buffet (no buffet in the eves) - fresh and great choice of meat and fish (you can also choose a piece incl Lobster to be grilled - that's extra). BUt even with no extras - good choice of hot and cold dishes for ..60euros each!

The worst feature of the hotel was the beach! They could have cleaned the sand possibly, but also there are no umbrellas or sunbeds on the sand, just a rather carmped wooden terrace (not too safe for small children as steep) - all looks very unkempt and the sea is full of stones and weeds when you come in, but then once you are past that it is clean - obviously hotel decided not to improve natural conditions. Tha pool area is nice but not large, but as the hotel wasn't full (not surprising with the prices) it was always possible to find a place. The pool itself is nice temperature (not too cold), not too much chlorine - but again not large enough for this type of property.
It's good for a short break if you are not too fussed about hte beach quality, and don't like crowded resorts, but too pricey and not good enough for a long stay.

Tha spa is quite good (esp products) but small and hard to book for next day. I marked it above average only due to the stunning suite with 3 balconies, but if you stay in small suites, expect only average.

We have just returned from a 4 night break here. We were really looking forward to staying at the hotel and whilst the hotel is stunning, both location wise (albeit a little isolated) and the rooms and buildings the service left much to be desired. We stayed in a garden suite and couldnt fault the room and amenties. A bed complete with 'feather' bed. However, we were given little information about the hotel on check in and had to 'find out ourselves', including that all the restaurants were full on our first evening. Turndown service was erratic, 2 nights out of 4 and as late as 4.30pm on two days for our room being cleaned. On our third night we asked if we may use the business centre only to have the reply ' were we guests of the hotel'. The final straw was on check out, and our final invoice having an inclusive meal charged for. It took three attempts to explain before they finally removed it from the hotel bill. They were always pleasant and never rude but suffice to say we wont be staying here again, for the reason stated that in a hotel of this standard we would have expected the service to match. A shame indeed.

The third time we stayed in Las Dunas (the first time in October 2003, next in June 2004). Although it was our third time, we were not recognised, not even as members of the Leading Club - maybe because it is Sofitel management now. We were recognised when we stayed here the second time.
The hotel is located about half way between San Pedro and Estepona. It is an ideal hotel because of its sea front location. This intimate hotel consists of about 100 nicely decorated rooms and it has a relatively large pool area.
The Lido restaurant serves gourmet cuisine, still under the influence of chef de cuisine Peter Knogl who meanwhile has left. It merits its 1 Michelin star.
The hotel was built about ten years ago and needs renovation. Therefore I rated the hotel as above average instead of excellent. It is closed in the first months 2006 for renovation.