When booking our holiday we didnt realise that Arenal is a very popular resort for Germans. In fact, we were the only English couple in the hotel (both 28yrs) but this made our holiday even more relaxing! We were just left to ourselves. The hotel itself was exceptionally clean and tidy and the staff were lovely - their English wasn't great but they tried their best ...as did we with our minimal Spanish! We were half board as we didnt want to feel confined to the hotel. The food was lovely - very continental! We got to try all sorts of foods that we wouldn't normally. And the drinks ...well what a bargain! My partner drank beer for €2 and a glass of wine was €1.70 - cocktails were more expensive but I can recommend the Mojito! There were hardly any children racing around, we went at the start of September so perhaps they were back at school?

The walk to the beach was 10 minutes and caused no problems at all. We opted for the smaller beached to the left of the harbour as it was quieter and smaller. Don't forget your snorkel as the fish were amazing to see! We also caught the bus €2.50 for 2 to Palma, which took about 45mins. We went to a beach here and also an amazing beach slightly further in Porto Pi, absolutely stunning! In fact all the beaches we visited were beautiful with crystal clear waters.

We also visited Aqualand which is a 10min walk from the hotel. I was slightly anxious about a water park but I have to say it was brilliant fun! Our advice is to arrive as early was possible as by 12 is bustling! A lot of people took picnics and set up for the day - in hindsight we would have taken food too as there is a lot of shaded grass area.

The only negative I have about the hotel was that our air con wasn't working when we arrived but it was fixed with 24hrs. Our room was also next to the big air con unit outside which was quite noisy but we got used to it and it didn't cause us any problems.

We'd happily return to the hotel and area - we had a fantastic time : )