Hotel AR Almerimar

Pros Hotel was clean Air con was a godsend Food was OK Close to the beach Pool slides Cons Far away from anything, so was quiet boring Entertainment was all in spainsh don't cater to the English at all The lifeguards decided who could go down slides 4 spainsh kids at once yeah not a problem 2 English girls no not allowed Someone had a code brown twice in the pool during our stay, so that meant the pool closed, which wasn't good in 31-degree heat Even though there was nothing much in the area, everything closes down 2-5 Restaurants don't open till 8 or 9 at night and there wasn't much choice also no shop on site which was a bit of a nightmare All in all the weather was beautiful the sunset on the beach at night was beautiful but everything else was lacking would definitely not return

Just arrived home after a weeks stay at this hotel family ages between 11-63. 5 adults 2 children . Hour transfer from airport. First impressions were ok but looked dated , lots greenery hanging inside. Very very hot no air con in reception area lots of seating . Check in slow , room small but great air con and most rooms at both sides of the hotel have pool and sea views , only the front doesnt which overlooks the golf course . Bathroom ok shower above bath but a saloon style door into a toilet didn’t appeal to me and the woodwork at bottom was swelling with the water. Again all clean just dated . Beds comfy . Balcony great . Maid service daily clean bedding towels . Pool area great 2 big outdoor freeform pools with waterslides , aqua fit daily was excellent everyone was involved the entertainment team put lots effort in. Pools open from early morning until 8pm . Plenty loungers although not much shade . Lots space for lounges though no sunbed wars . Pool gets busy all morning thdn at 2 closes until 5. During this time no lifeguards and no slides but the pool is so peaceful. It’s like a completely different pool. Think they all siesta usually just the English swimming . Thdn come 5 it’s madness but still enjoyable until 8pm! Entertainment at night shocking - mainly due to all been Spanish so didn’t know what was going on as mainly acting things out or flying paper aeroplanes around ( very strange) or looked it as we didn’t knkw what was happening. the dancing bits etc were good. If have younger children then they would t understand the kids clubs or what to do. 1 restaurant for whole hotel very noisy but typical European all inclusive , choice of everything can always find something to eat , lots fish dishes . Plenty salad puddings . Little land train takes you around to the marina for 4€ each. Location excellent gate access next pool at back of hotel across a promanade onto beach . Promanade excellent and 10 min walk to marina where shops restaurants. Couid hire paddle boards and water equipment by the hotel too . Weather amazing 35oc every day not a cloud in the sky august 2023. All in all we had a great relaxing week here in the Spanish sun but it’s not a 4star I’d say 3! It’s the pool and location made up for the dated hotel look and other negatives. I would recommend this hotel for families but be aware that it is very Spanish and lots of Spanish families holiday here themselves. Think I counted 7 English families in our weeks stay.

We had a room right above the entertainment, which for one, is all in Spanish. At the end of the night, the staff congregated til Gone 1am and made a lot of noise. There is a car park just to the left, where there were beeping car horns, shouting etc. this made for a very uncomfortable night with the kids and tired days. The hotel itself is completely Spanish, with nothing to do for English speaking kids. The kids club is run by the Spanish entertainment team who didn’t cater for our kids at all. The pool is nice and the slides are good. The food is pretty bland and is nearly the same every single mealtime, despite ‘themed nights’ through the week. We ended up going for a walk after night three and eating out. Would not have been somewhere we chose had Tui informed us of the hotel being ‘so’ spanish.

We have a family of 5 but 10 of us travelled together to stay here and we really liked it. The hotel caters to Spanish people mainly with not much English translation regarding the food and no translation at all with the entertainment. This wasn't a big problem for us but may be for some. There were different activities for kids held throughout everyday but we don't usually join in with these. The entertainment team really worked hard and seemed fun. But I don't know how it would be if they were unable to speak English. There is also a board letting you know the different shows on in the evening. First one starts at 9:30pm. The staff, waiters, cleaners, etc. All worked really hard and were really nice. They tried their best to understand and help us as much as possible. During meal times they are quick to wait on you, bring you drinks and clear your table. A maid cleaned our room and changed our beds and towels every day. There were different food themed nights throughout the week. If you have picky eaters like us then you may struggle at meal times. But there is alot of variety if you aren't picky. We went All Inclusive and anything top shelf cost extra. But this wasn't a problem as there was plenty of options and they don't hold back on the alcohol either. We had a junior suite which 2 adults 3 kids stayed in at a time. (Although the rooms sleep up to 4, we took on another one of the kids to stay with us). They are very big, clean and had 2 seperate balconies, one bigger than the other. The Air Con is amazing and made it too cold if anything but this was great as we stayed during a heatwave. The best bit for us was the kids pool. It is quite big, it had an octopus slide with 3 slides coming off of it and 2 other slides. Our 3 year old was able to run around it freely as it isn't deep at all. So we were able to sunbathe and watch him at the same time. There is a small park next to it as well. Around the other side of the hotel was a big pool, quite deep and had 2 pretty big slides. These were only closed from 2pm-5pm which didn't bother us and were alot of fun. They weren't too strict at all regarding who was able to go down it as long as small kids had an adult with them or armbands, etc. And allowed 4 people at once sometimes. The lifeguards were always on watch though. The location isn't the greatest, you are very out of the way. There was only 2 hotels including ours to be dropped off at and it still took 1hr 30mins. A short enough walk down there was a harbour with a lot of shops and places to eat, supermarket, etc. Although most of the restaurants didn't open til around 8pm. If you wanted one open sooner then you'd have to walk further. You are literally on the beach, the water was amazing and very shallow a long way out. The problem is it is not sand, but a mixture of shells, stones and dirt so it wasn't great to sit on. There was lot of showers located along the edge of the beach to help this though. There are places

Hotel familiar. 100% recomendable. Repetiré lo más seguro. Habitación amplia y limpia. Buen servicio de comidas. El personal muy atento, tanto camareros, socorristas,… Animadores estupendos. Mis niños deseando volver.

The hotel is dated, definitely not 4* but very clean and tidy. There was a real language barrier, my 3 children were unable to join in with any kids clubs, activities or watch the entertainment. My children were disheartened watching other children play games but they couldn’t join (not for the lack of trying). The entertainment was great from Spanish speakers. We booked through TUI who had who had no reps visit the hotel so we felt a little left out in the sticks. The restaurant was very loud and canteen like. It was very busy and felt like a struggle to get to food as the guests don’t seem to queue and would rudely step in front of me and my young children who were patiently waiting. The food was ok. Almeria harbour-side is a short walk away and very pretty with lots of restaurants to choose from. This saved us as we could go out on the evening as we couldn’t understand the evening entertainment. The pools and slides were great and made the holiday!