We went here in the end of October, but the weather was really nice. We've booked through Booking.com and asked for an upgrade to a privilege apartment. This upgrade means you get a ground floor poolside apartment with a private garden and two very luxurious sunbeds. The upgrade cost 25 euro a day and was worth the money.

The apartment was spacious and very clean, but it had somehow a damp smell inside. We complained about this and the reception staff said the damp smell was caused by not using the apartment during a week. After activation of the airconditioning and heating the smell disappeared, but the mattresses were not completely fresh. There was a connecting door in our apartment (nr. 1003)

The kids liked the shallow swimmingpool with pirateship and slides a lot, but they could not play long in the water because the water was very cold. The biggest pool in the complex was very shallow ( 70 cm, 90 cm and 120 cm deep) and very cold. Adults can swim in a pool 1.50 m deep in the adult-only area with four-poster beds. There is free wifi near the reception but it is troublesome.

I think the complex will be very crowded in high season because there are 200 apartments and the complex to attract only families with small children. During our stay there were lots of German guests and Dutch guests (It was a Dutch schoolholiday).


The apartments are not near the beach. Can Picafort is a seventies resort, but you can walk nicely on the Son Serra grounds. At the Rancho Can Picafort you can make a 3 hour horseridingtrip ( 40 euro) on the Son Serra grounds with a stop in San Serra the Marina, in our case with a native speaking instructor.

The multilingual miniclub was good with about 4 hours entertainment per day. The adult entertainment was average.

Stayed at the Viva Mallorca for 4 nights with my partner and our 2 year old son. We chose to stay half board in a 1 bed apartment.

On arrival, I was disappointed that we had to take our own luggage to our room which was at the far end of the resort. For a 4* hotel, this wasn't good, and I have to say didn't make the best first impression.

However, once we got to our room, I was pleased. It was a good size, nice and clean, with a useful small kitchen area.

The facilities in the hotel were good - the playground for the kids was great and my son loved playing there. The pools were also lovely, albeit freezing - I have to admit to only braving it in a couple of times. My son found them too cold and refused to get in the bigger pool with me - there were quite a lot of other children in the pool looking quite blue and teeth chattering!

The entertainment was okay, not too intrusive but there for you to get involved with if you wanted to. The kids disco in the evening was very popular.

The food was pretty average - nothing wrong with it exactly just not the best. When you're catering for the volume of people they do, I know it must be hard to produce quality food, however I have experienced far better food at large AI hotels before so its definitely possible. The salads and deserts were nice, but the main meals a bit hit or miss. Breakfast also wasn't great - the sausages were radioactive, the beans horrid, and the bacon clearly the cheapest nastiest bacon around (and I don't think I'm fussy at all - I love bacon!).

As others have said, the resort mainly has German guests. Whilst it wasn't really an issue, it did mean that it was hard to get chatting to people round the pool or at dinner etc and also that most things were focused on them (e.g. entertainment, language abilities of staff etc).

The hotel is very much a family hotel, and I definitely wouldn't have wanted to have stayed there just as part of a couple. I'm also pleased we stayed there slightly out of high season, as it was still quite busy but I can imagine at full capacity it would've been a bit too much.

Overall, I enjoyed my stay at the Viva Mallorca, there were just small things that could've been better which would've made a big difference - and made it great.

I would stay there again however, I don't think we'll be rushing back.

We did have a problem with the air conditioning as it was stuck at 18 degrees so slept with blankets, bedspread, socks and cardi until they eventually believed us and agreed that it was broken!!(after 3 days)
the food lacks in variety at times but its nice and plenty of it
it was my first time in can picafort and i thougt it was good its abit quiet but if you want night life theres not much but there is skau, the red lion and a bar called charlies the best places to go but they are atleast a 20min walk or 4euro in taxi well worth it. hotel great carlene was excellent and the kids reps well done
the food is good, but not excellent. Good variety of salads and puddings, but the main meals are a bit samey.

this is an amazing hotel for a family holiday. We have two and half year old twins and although too young for the kids club the staff would always involve them and were apsolutely brilliant. Although it attracks alots of germans everyone got on well and a wonderful atmosphere.

The walk into town is 10 mins to a wonderful clean beach very child friendly and shallow. Evening entertainment is very funny however the hotel works hard on keeping you happy and well staffed. Little shop on site with bits to keep you going when you first arrive however expensive. Supper market is a ten min walk away so worth stocking up.

Rooms very clean and well stocked with utensils and electric hob, microwave, toaster. Cleaners worked hard on rooms and we found t hem all very nice. Can picafort is a lovely town and very child friendly and a great place for the kids. I hope to go back next year.