Albayzin Del Mar Hotel

wins on price, but mixed feelings (Part 2)

After a few days at this hotel I had mixed feelings. It's perfect for families as you can book a suite where kids under 12 go free, a reasonable option. There were some pretty messy goings on with the booking & sad to say a few incidents that put me off a bit. On arrival after dealing with James Bond style car park in the heat we got to the room to find other peoples things in it! They had given us someone elses key- BAD! A treck back to reception. On first impressions the suite was spacious & clean but on a closer inspection the fridge was off & boasted a brown smelly stain. Failing to work it out we asked reception who said wait 'until manana' for an 'engineer'. Turned out there was a switch you had to 'slide down' or something - not obvious & no notice to tell guests, in fact there as no info re anything much. Had brought some cheese & wine etc which rapidly went off, also no chilled water for the night. Uncleaned graffiti graced one bedroom wall & I couldn't help thinking we'd be bunged in a slightly 2nd class rather stale suite. Plus side - we had a huge balcony with a garden view. Reception were very efficient but had that feeling that they were looking down at you somehow. Being the only Spanish speaking person in our party (not totally fluent) I end up speaking alot for others & on resorting to English very briefly at reception one day, I was told in no uncertain terms to 'habla en Espanol'! Afer the freedom of a village house where you felt very involved in life around I felt cooped up in this place of mirrors & floor 6 felt like it could have been anywhere in the world. The food & drink prices were seriously inflated & the A La Carte restaurant was dark & empty, so if you didn't book full board it was very dull. The gardens and pool looked fabulous lit up at night though, symmetrical and lots of lovely flowers and fountains. As I say it wins on price for family, but I wish we had gone back to our little 2** in the mountains, but the small people loved the pool, so that was a major plus.

Unique Quality: Excerpts from the A La Carte Menu (English version) : )

Imperial of the orchard with bonite fish of the north in escabeche mode.
Papada Capaccio with stroke salad with vinaigrette with pinions .
Rodaballo heart at the short broth.
Back of barracuda in scab of almonds.
Back of Codfish to the Baezana
White garlic with Partridge in escabeche mode with grapes jam
Shallots, soup yoke and Duck ham.

and... selection of 'Rises on request' :

'Blink' paella.
Rice with 'stroke' (sounds fun!)

and possibly for desert?
Stawberries with green pepper and citrus juice.
or even...
Fried milk with vanilla ice cream?

Hotel Tip : Take your own beach towels, if you dont want to pay 12 euros for a towel, although you do get to keep it if you do.

• Opinion of Price: less expensive than average
• Related to: Family Travel

Albayzin Del Mar Hotel Photo: Fountains at night

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