NH Marbella

I booked the NH Hotel through hotels.com who were the most competitive on rates. (£52 per room per night)

The pictures on the web page looked nice enough but you never can be too sure if they tell the whole picture.

In this case the NH Marbella exceeds what I had imagined. It's all very modern and sleek and polished. The reception staff all speak pretty good English which was good for me as I hadn't quite got to grips with my phrasebook yet!

It has a carpark which is €12 per day, and a bar which opens until about 11:30pm

If you're looking for a base in which to explore Marbella/Puerto Banus then this is a great hotel. I would point out that it is in the middle of these two resorts so it is a bit of a walk into either of them (we had a car so it wasn't so bad!)

The only bad thing I could possibly say about this hotel was that the sea view was obscured by a big crane as there's a building site in front of the hotel.

Unique Quality: Bright modern hotel, with a clean, quiet pool area.

Huge double beds and gorgeous bathrooms with a proper power shower

Directions: On the main N340 through Marbella you'll eventually come to a huge pointy fountain on a roundabout. NH is about another 300 yards on from that. There's a big sign for it on your right and when you see it turn immediately as it's up that street.

The NH Marbella advertises itself as having four stars, but a quick check online reveals that it actually has only three and a half. Upon check in we found that the combined IQ of the staff at the front desk was about 6. They didn't know where local restaurants were, they didn't know where they kept the phone book, they didn't know which bus to take into town, they didn't know where the tour (that they organized) would pick us up from, etc... Only the porter seemed to have a functioning brain cell left in his head.

The room was clean and the bathroom was equipped with a modern shower. Every day housekeeping loaded us up with high-quality shampoo, body wash and body lotion... I will never have to buy toiletries again!

The pool was clean and quite busy... it was usually difficult to get a sun chair. The staff at the pool bar were very polite and seemed accustomed to dealing with horrendous, rude tourists who left their garbage all over the lawn. The buffet breakfast was served until 10 or 11 am, and was only decent (though one day the eggs had a mysterious black film which, when pointed out to the staff, caused the removal of the entire dish).

Location was not great- 500 meters UPHILL from the beach and a good twenty minute walk into town. Bus service is not frequent on the weekends- this is a hotel for people with cars. "The Golden Mile" is a lot longer than a mile!

Unique Quality: Really nice bathrooms.

Directions: On the Golden Mile between the Old Town and Puerto Banus.