We (two adults and a 4 year old) stayed a week at the Arte Vida and had a fantastic time. Yes, the rooms are small and quite spartan, but you really only sleep in them. The bathroom was fine and the outdoor facilities (sun chairs etc.) were great. A few details are missing though, such as hangers and a bit more lights in the room.

The breakfast (bread, fruits, cakes and freshly orange juice and coffee) was one of the best we have ever had in Spain (and we have both traveled quite a lot in the country), but you have to adjust to the Spanish eating times (breakfast is served from 09:30), which can be a challenge with small kids, but worked out fine for us.

The staff was nice and friendly but expect a very laid back attitude. The bar played music from around 14:00 until around 22:00, so if you are sensitive to noice (or your kids are) that might be a problem.

Chose this hotel for its fantastic location (best in Tarifa) and great surf vibe with lots of cool people hanging out on the lawn and in the outside lounge.

The stay at this hotel, in resume, was good (but it could have been better). Its a hotel with so many positive aspects and some negative ones, but as a the final evaluation, it worths. It has a beautiful localization (just in the beach), so it gives you the chance to go to bed listening the waves. It has a garden were you can sunbath, a bar, restaurant and also a beach club, where you can share the day and night with the visitors just at the same place. The beach is just right there and the atmosphere, as a resume, is relaxing and a pleasure. The quality of the restaurant is good and personally i advise the "spanish gazpacho". its a luxury, drinking it at 10 meters fom the beach. The quality of the rooms are average (not so good, not so bad) and they have a personal garage for customers.

Of course, as it happens all around the world, when you have a natural beautiful place, normally, one of the worst aspects is the service. The beach club, for example, was hosted by waiters that they even didnt know the difference between rosé and red wine, and of course, when you ask for a drink menu where you can try to find something suitable for your afternoon, they look at you like you are coming from mars (they make you feel as you have to take it easy as a good hippie, but later they charge it as if you were in a semi luxury hotel paying 7€ for a mediocre "mojito" that it almost doesnt have alcohol). talking about beach sport activities, is another example. They have a very good list of different kind of sports, but again, the personal service was very bad. The kind of service use to have lots of clients and step by step start to diminish. This person didnt give me even 10 seconds to give me information about the sports he offered. as you can image, i decided to find it in another place. Finally, i would like to talk about the rooms. Its amazing how many insects (spiders, bugs, mosquitos, etc) you can find in the rest room. They dont care about trying to install a window grille to prevent it. You have to clean the shower before starting to use it. amazing.

so thats my review. tipical beaufitul natural place that, even because of this details, it worths. I hope you enjoy tarifa in the future.

I was in the hotel for 6 nights. The room was poor, the breakfast a disaster!
The only good think in this hotel is the location and the quality of the food on the lunch and dinner time.

This is a hotel for rich 'surfies'. Its bare-bones chic. Lots of little rooms in a row, facing the ocean on an open corridor. Everyone is very laid back, the rooms are pretty spartan but acceptable, just. There's lots of art on the walls, 'op' and 'pop' but nothing too inspiring.
The best thing by far is to be able to go to sleep with the ocean waves crashing in the near distance, and to wake up and walk right onto the beach for a stroll before breakfast. And its a wonderful beach.
The restaurant is nothing special for breakfast (apart from the view) and grossly over-priced at night. So anxious are they to make a 'style impact' that they seem to have decided that Spanish food is unfashionable, which is actually what the customers have come for, surely?
This hotel has all the air of a place where the patron does NOT mange ici.