This is a fabulous hotel. I lived in Almunecar and often used this hotel for a weekend treat and even booked in for a weeks holiday when my family came across to visit me - which sounds a strange thing to do when you live just down the road, but it was so fabulous and felt like paradise when I went there.

Description: The entrance is very moorish with an eyecatching long water channel and small fountains, plus padded benches to sit on/relax - complete with classical music playing softly in the background. The entrance way also has a pub, shop with some English books, sweets, newspapers, swimming bits including childrens floats/costumes as well as a large aviary with parrots. YOu then reach the large revolving doors taking you inside the hotel with a reception desk on the left and the spa on your right.

The spa includes treatment rooms upstairs and on the ground floor mixed lockers, leading to Sauna (1 where costumes must be worn, the other without), Steam Room, then cold/hot foot baths, warm-ish pool with waterfalls and underwater massage beds, an orange pool with real oranges that you use to massage each other, a hot rock pool that you walk around, large jacuzzi, ice room, turkish bath (hot, freezing, warm baths - the final one with jets to pummle your neck!). I love this place and went many times for birthday treats with friends - you feel so relaxed after you need another day off to recover!

After the reception desk (where you pick up your towels for the outside pools) you have 2 restaurants (in the low season only one of these is open). Both restaurants serve the same food, but it has a good array of cuisine. There are often lots of seafood (some nights plates are stacked high with lobsters), a crepe section, pasta section, grill section where they do all the meats and chips and stir fry veg, a bread section (with toasters to toast your own bread in the morning), a fruit section, cold meat and salad section, soup section, paella section, then two areas with cooked foods such as pizza, croquettes, rabbit dishes or chicken dishes (or other cooked meats in variety of sauces) finally there is a section for desserts where they serve brightly coloured sponge cakes with cream topping for the kids, catalanya pudding, rice puddings, jelly, mousse, other cake etc. There is also a microwave for those with babies needing to warm milk/sterilise bottles. However, after a week or two, even though the food is gorgeous, there is a certain monotony about it as half the dishes are the same except that the two areas with cooked foods rotate the selection each day.

After the restaurants there is a games room, shoe shine machine on the left and on the right there is a coffee bar (you can't drink coffee in the main restaurant...outside the coffee bar is a fun golf area and giant chess) then a large stage room with lots of seating for the various shows the hotel puts on, then a corridor taking you down on the right towards the indoor pool/jacuzzi plus a noticeboard with all the weeks events. There is a glass elevator, which looks very 1920s art deco - that takes you up all the floors. By the lift there are doors to the central courtyard of the hotel. Again there are relaxing water fountains throughout the hotel (including in the main foyer) - and there is a childrens play club on the left (I think the child has to be 4 or over to be left unattended otherwise you have to hire one of the hotels childminders). The childrens play area also has a small outside park with swings, slide, climbing area, paddling pool.

The hotels inner courtyard has a winding pool that allows you to swim (or go down concrete slides) the whole of its length with various other pools leading off it - including a water polo pool and a pool with underwater seating and bar area. It also has 3 great slides (plastic tube affairs) which are great fun. Be careful on the winding pool because if you go too fast down the sliding areas you can scrape yourself on the concrete sides which isn't too pleasant. There is also a large outdoor jacuzzi here and showers. If you go to the end of the courtyard and then go through the main doors there is a first aid room immediately opposite you, toilets (incl disabled toilet) then the foyer takes you through to the back of the hotel.
Once you're at the back of the hotel there is a wooden hut selling drinks/icecreams and you can see the whole coast...its beautiful. There is also an infinity pool (pretty large - fabulous with water gushing from three outlets to massage your shoulders)...3 sweeping steps lead into the pool and it is graduated in depth. There are loads of sunbeds/tables/umbrellas so you just plonk your hotel orange towel down and relax. There is also a large outdoor jacuzzi where most people take their babies for the odd swim (even though they are not supposed to!) because the water is warmer in the jacuzzi than elsewhere - although of course the adults congregate there to relax too.

The Rooms:
The standard room has two queen(?) size beds pushed together, mirrored wardrobe plus security box, desk, chair, TV and fridge. There is not too much space in the room after this, so if you have a cot in the room you can't really walk around it and you can only just squeeze past it if you are sleeping on that side of the room. The bathroom by comparison is very spacious with bath/shower overhead, large mirror and double sinks with hairdryer, free comb/soap, other bits!. There is a SMALL separate shower (if you are a big person you'd have trouble moving around if you dropped your soap!) and a door leading to separate toilet. Everything is in a dark cream-colour marble. Each room has a balcony with plastic table/chairs.

The Family Suite:
If you can afford the extra money this is great. The room has the same two queen beds pushed together in a large room with a large round bath tub (not sunken), small TV, peacock chair - with great views. The balcony has wooden table/chairs. There is also a TV room with sofa/bed plus (extremely comfy for sleeping on!), dining table and chairs, an entertaining room which is quite small, but very moorish with cushions all around the edges and a moorish table and stained windows, a nondescript hallway, a marble double shower room with separate toilet, a large walk in closet with iron/ironing board, a separate kitchen with kettle, microwave, fridge, crockery etc.

There is apparently a nudist area on the rooftop for sunbathing but when I asked about it (not that I wanted to use it) it wasn't in operation.

Overall the staff are very friendly/helpful - not all of them speak English but this is part of the charm. It is a fabulous hotel and one which I would highly recommend. One friend did say that the style was too "over the top"/theatrical for her tastes (in its Moorish theme) - but I liked it.