We (family with 2 children, 2yrs and 4yrs) are just back from our two-week stay at the Aldea Cala'n Bosch. It's got a very international atmosphere with people from Britain, Germany, Italy, Holland, Spain and France. The biggest group of guests were Dutch when we were there. There is a small marina 10 minutes walk away where you'll find restaurants, supermarkets, a chemist and medical centre. The accents we heard in the marina were predominantly british. At night, there are lots of amusements and rides for kids here too or they can get their hair braided or a henna tattoo. We went half-board and the food at the hotel was good. The hotel and the grounds are well-kept and clean. The grounds themselves are quite small with the balcony of the pool-side rooms being only a couple of meters away from the water! The rooms are cleaned to a high standard every day, with towels being replaced and little surprises for the kids left on the beds. The beds were rock hard and or/creaky and I woke up with aches and pains for the first four days till I got used to them. The wardrobe space is very limited for a family of four. Minorca has a problem with ants, and there were some in the apartment but it was tolerable. Don't leave any food lying around and be careful with the kids' sticky finger-prints (ice-cream!) as the ants move in quickly! Bring some tupperware boxes and food clips to store food. The staff are generally friendly, we only had one incident where we were still having breakfast at 11.10am (Breakfast is served till 11am) and were asked to leave so the staff could clean up! The dinner time is a little late for small kids (7.30pm till 10pm), but we did hear that the times are being changed from September.
Having been to similar hotels before, we were quite disappointed that there was no mini-club. The hotel broschure gave the impression that there was lots of entertainment for 3-6 year olds and the folder with the hotel details in the lobby describes a mini-club where children are entertained according to their age group, there is something for everyone, meeting point is the mini-club house everyday at a specific time etc etc.. Indeed, there is a mini-club house with signposts pointing to it, but it wasn't open at all during our stay and seems not to be used any more. There is only one 'animator' who is responsible for both adult and children entertainment including water gymnastic, the mini-disco and the evening entertainment (twice a week there is a professional show, otherwise it's bingo or quiz night etc. with the animator guy). Don't get me wrong, he is very funny and nice but he's just not able to do the job of an animation team. It seems to us that the hotel has cut costs and reduced the animation 'team' to one person, which is a shame.
The two pools are nice and there are enough loungers to go around, but there wasn't enough paradsols when we were there so don't leave it till the afternoon to make your way to the pool. Simple things like toasters and kettles (plus baby-phones and high-chairs for the apartments) have to be rented from reception at a price of EUR15 a week each. Rather than fork out an extra EUR60 for a toaster and kettle for the fortnight, we did without and boiled water on the hob instead. The safe costs EUR16 a week too and there is a deposit on the towels which you get back.
All in all, it was a nice hotel but we won't be going back as we really value an hour or two to ourselves when the kids can be supervised at a miniclub. That was missing this time. TIP: try the national drink 'POMADA', it's a local gin with lemonade.
- Grupotel Aldea Cala n Bosch
