I’ve just returned from a one-week holiday in Benalmadena in Costa Del Sol (June 2004) and would like to provide some information about Benalmadena Resort & Benalmadena Palace Apartments where we stayed.

****Benalmadena Palace Apartments****
Newly opened in February 2004, this Apart-Hotel has 4-Star rating.
The coach transfer from Malaga Airport to the Hotel was only about 30 minutes and that included a drop off a one other hotel first. Facilities include Outdoors Pool & Children’s pool, Indoor Pool and Jacuzzi, Sauna, Games Rooms, Table Tennis, Gym (Which was well equipped) Pool Table. Bar. Children’s play area, Mini-Golf (although there were only 5 holes!) Cyber café.
Some facilities were still being implemented, I don’t think the mini-golf was properly finished, and also Tennis Courts & 5-a-side football pitch were still under construction, I also heard they are opening Conference rooms as well, not that most holiday makers would be utilizing this facility.

The pools are open from 10am until 6pm due to cleaning outside of these times. The pools were well maintained, although by the afternoon it got a little bit muddy in places where some of the flowerbed and grassy areas met close to the pool. You had your usual towels on the sun beds every morning (you just can’t get away from it) this was very annoying when people who did this didn’t even turn up all day. Most of the time there were enough sun beds to go around even if we did end up having to use ones with no shade, alternatively you can sit at a table on the veranda (close to the pool) until sun beds become free. We found this easier sometimes as it was well shaded from the sun (the average temperature whilst we were there was 37degress C / 104 degrees F during the day.)

The Hotel also has a Restaurant for Half-Board guests, but if you are on self-catering basis you can still use the restaurant (no notice is required) you can just turn up and then bill it to your room or pay by cash. Meals in the restaurant are buffet style and carvery. Breakfasts were 8 Euros each and Dinner 12 Euros each. However if you have Breakfast & dinner the charge is 18 Euros, saving 2 Euros. Our Daughter (Age 2) was charged 4 Euros for Dinner (we only used the restaurant once when we were late back from an Excursion) but we found the food varied and enjoyable.

We were already aware that the access to the hotel was via a steep hill, however the lifts in the hotel go down to the basement car park, and most people quickly realized that by walking through the car park avoided the worst part of the slope. Having said that although the hill was quite steep, it was not unmanageable (Even with a two year old and a buggy and I was 24 weeks pregnant at the time!)

**The Accommodation**
The hotel was clean and tidy. Staff were helpful and friendly. The rooms were cleaned alternate days (3 times during our 1 week stay) and beds were made & towels changed each time. We stayed in a two-bedroom apartment; each bedroom had 2 single beds pushed together. One Bedroom had a safe, which cost approx 3 Euros per day payable via reception. The apartment itself was very spacious. We also had two bathrooms, one had a b-day and the other had a walk-in shower. The kitchen had all the appliances you would need including kettle, toaster, microwave, fridge (with freezer section) & 2-ring stove. Our balcony was at the back of the hotel, which overlooks the mountains (no sea or pool-view) we also overlooked the Tennis Courts & Football pitch which were under construction at the time. Two mornings we were woken up by diggers/trucks but we did not find it particularly intrusive, and it now looks like most of the work has been done. Although you can see some villas are in process of being built which I am sure in future will still cause some noise disruption. This would only be annoying if you are looking for a particularly quiet holiday (in which case don’t choose Benalmadena anyway)

****Excursions and out-and-about****
During our stay we did a lot of walking as we enjoy getting out and about and visiting the resort. The hotel is about a 5-minute walk from the closest shops and restaurants, although there are much better restaurants about 20 minutes walk away. Most of this walk is along a quite busy road (apparently its quieter than it used to be as now the new motorway has taken the through traffic away) Just after the Bil Bil Castle the Promenade starts (this is away from the road) and there is a long line of Restaurants, all have indoor and outdoor seating with the beach and sea-view in front. This is a much nicer place to eat than the restaurants up on the busy road. But be warned all the restaurants are vying for your business and may hassle you a bit as you walk by.
If you keep walking along the Promenade you get to Benalmadena Marina, which holds another array of Shops & Restaurants which are generally more expensive (I guess you’re paying more for the view of the boats) after the Marina, the Promenade starts back up again and goes on for miles, all the way through to Tormelinos. We actually got a taxi to Tormelinos and walked all the way back to our Hotel, stopping in a few of the bars on the way!

Generally eating out was cheap and very good value for money. Full English Breakfast including pot of tea and orange juice cost 4 Euros each. On average our evening meals came to total of around 30 Euros (£20) for our family, that is for 2 adults and 1 child including a couple of drinks each as well. An average main course was around 6-8 Euros (between £4-£6).

If you need to get food provisions in, there are a couple of good supermarkets to choose from; Walking towards Benalmadena (about 3 minute walk) and down a side road on the left, there is a well stocked supermarket for all needs. Walking in the opposite direction (about 3 minutes aswell) there is a Petrol station and ‘bulk’ supermarket next door. This supermarket is cheaper but choice is not so varied and everything is in larger packs (hence the cheaper prices) The Petrol station also came in handy, as when the shops were closed on Sunday, the petrol station came in handy as it sold things like pasturized and semi-skimmed milk.

Upon the advise of our Tour-Rep we went to Gibraltar instead of Rhonda – this was because we were told by coach it would take 2 hours to go to Rhonda, but only 1.5hours to go to Gibraltar. Bearing in mind it can be hard to entertain a 2 year old for this length of time; we chose the trip with the shorter coach transfer. However we were not advised of how long it takes to get in and out of customs at Gibraltar – this took an additional 1.5 hours each way. So in total we spent 6 hours on the coach, and luckily for us our daughter was alright about it, but also there was no toilet on board the coach (the coach did just 1 stop each way for quick break) so bear in mind this trip might not be very suitable if you have young children – it may be better to considering hiring a car for the journey instead or just sticking to more local trips.

We also went to Tivoli World. From our Hotel the taxi transfer to Tivoli was 6 Euros.
Tivoli World is not a water park, which is what I had expected, but was more of an amusement park, with lots of restaurants. It doesn’t open until 4pm in June (different times at different times of year) and closed around 1am. Its costs 4.5Euros to get in (kids free) but this does not admit you on any rides. You can either buy individual tickets for rides, or purchase a ‘super’ ticket to admit you on almost all of them, this costs 19 Euros each and children of all ages have to pay full price too – there are no child reductions.

Next to Tivoli World entrance is also the entrance for Benalmadena Cable Car. This is well worthy of morning/afternoon visit. The Cable car costs 10 Euros each (children up to 4 free) Each Cable car holds 4 people and takes you on about a 10-minute trip to the top of one of the mountains behind Benalmadena. At the top there a fabulous views, you can see Africa on a clear day. Children can have a little donkey ride (just gave the donkey handler a small tip in his bucket at the end) there was a Falcon display, and you can explore and walk to the top of the peak if you are feeling energetic. There was also a Restaurant and bar for refreshments.

There were organized trips on offer to Porto Banus, which would have liked to have visited, but the trip was for the evening, leaving at 8pm and returning early hours of the morning. So with a child, this was not suitable and we thought it was a shame there were no day trips there. I enquired about getting a taxi/bus, but the taxi costs about 40 Euros each way, and there is no direct bus link (apparently you have to change buses 3 times each way) so it was not worth the expense/hassle. There is also a train link but it only goes as far as Fueingerola.

The nearest beach to the hotel (just straight down the hill and across the road) was very shingly, I found it pretty much unbearable to walk on without shoes. However walking just 10 minutes further down (by Bil Bil) the beach is much sandier. All of the beach is very well cared for and was very clean. There is a set price for 2 sun beds and one parasol, this costs 7 Euros (no matter how long you stay; whether its for 30 mins or all day.)

****Over-view****
I guess we only saw the resort as a ‘family’, I am certain the resort would be buzzing 24/7, but we only saw it up until 10 ish! The resort should appeal to both families and couples and has plenty to offer no matter what kind of holiday you are looking for.
Don’t go there if you are looking for a quiet resort though, even though Benalmadena Palace Apartments is slightly out of town, it is still quite busy, especially the traffic on the main road through.
There are plenty of excursions/trips to take, and you are certainly not likely to get bored.
Happy holidaysJ