La Isla Y El Mar

We had a great Christmas break at this lovely hotel. The hotel layout is rather unusual but seems to cater well for wheelchair users as the walkways are all comprised of ramps. Some of the rooms are a little distance from reception and the restaurant. Housekeeping standards are excellent and the buffet restaurant management is second to none with food checked andreplenished regularly. The buffet offered lots of choice. The management team are always in evidence and the young lady in particular was extremely proactive, checking there were no problems and constantly ensuring everything was up to standard. Our room was lovely with a comfortable bed and a large bathroom and sitting room. Nowhere is perfect and I had a few issues - the pool was too cold apart from one day; we didn't have hot water in the shower on two mornings; I would have liked a dressing table with a mirror. For these reasons I couldn't give a rating of five, but the hotel merits more than four! Turning to the town, Puerto Del Carmen is pretty grim in places with cheap, mainly Irish, bars and souvenir shops. This improves around the harbour and beach where there are some better quality restaurants. The busy roads down from the hotel to the town are fairly steep. We enjoyed the short ferry ride to Puerto Calero at 8 euros for a single trip and found some nice shops and restaurants but not much else.

We stayed here for four nights between Christmas and New Year and had a lovely, relaxing break. Really impressed with choice at breakfast. Excellent coffee and choice of hot and cold food. Service was excellent in all areas. When we arrived in the evening and checked in to room 608 we couldn’t seem to work the air-conditioning. The room was 24° and we reported this to reception who said they would look into it and would sort it by the time we got back from dinner. It wasn’t sorted and we didn’t sleep well. I think this was because it was low season and it was assumed that most people wouldn’t need air con (therefore didn’t cool the room or get the air con going before we arrived) but we can’t sleep in a room that’s 24°! We reported this again the following morning and the room got cooler and we were able to sleep. However the hotel drops a star simply because of the first night’s uncomfortable sleep. We also couldn’t seem to get the shower temperature very hot. These things aside....lovely hotel and staff and an excellent breakfast. We didn’t go to the Kentia restaurant – in all honesty it looked a bit ‘style over substance’ for our liking and the restaurant itself when we peered in looked a little cold and clinical. However, the cocktail bar is delightful! Pool and chill out area lovely, heated pool. Altogether a great stay.