El Fuerte Marbella

“Gorgeous”

A beautiful hotel in a great location very close to the beach with shops and the beautiful old town which is walking distance . The staff couldn’t be more welcoming such lovely helpful people . The rooms are spacious with comfy beds and a walk in shower with plenty of space in the wardrobe for cl… more

A beautiful hotel in a great location very close to the beach with shops and the beautiful old town which is walking distance . The staff couldn’t be more welcoming such lovely helpful people . The rooms are spacious with comfy beds and a walk in shower with plenty of space in the wardrobe for clothes . The breakfast is a good selection of delicious cooked food to continental . I was given a beautiful little chocolate cake at breakfast one morning for my birthday 🎂 It was a milestone birthday for me and we had informed the hotel in advance , I appreciate that we had booked a double room but when we arrived it was a disappointment to see it was facing the main rd , We asked for a nicer room with a view and was located to a side view of the sea room the bed was huge probably bigger than a super king size which we have at home However we was charged an extra €80 a night for a different room , I read another review on here where a couple celebrated their anniversary and were given a free upgrade which seems a bit unfair as we were there for 5 days and they were at the hotel in June the same as us . I unfortunately got bitten to bits by mosquitoes while we was there my own stupidity and ended up having to call a Dr from the hotel The staff couldn’t have been more helpful organising for a Dr to come to the hotel ( the bites were infected and I was prescribed antibiotics so word of advice use repellant the mozzies are there and vicious ) Overall we would return to this beautiful hotel in a heart beat Thankyou to all the staff that made our holiday and my birthday memorable

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“Exceptional service at a wonderful hotel”

We stayed 5 nights in June to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Delighted to receive a free room upgrade on arrival which had a lovely side sea view. The hotel was sparkling clean throughout every area both internal and external. The staff across the board were welcoming and always smiling and eag… more

We stayed 5 nights in June to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Delighted to receive a free room upgrade on arrival which had a lovely side sea view. The hotel was sparkling clean throughout every area both internal and external. The staff across the board were welcoming and always smiling and eager to help with any request. Always had loungers available at the pool, grassed area and beach. Breakfast was served either inside or in a shaded terrace and there was plenty of choice to cater for all tastes from cereals and fresh fruit salad, eggs cooked to your liking and even oysters washed down with a glass of Taittenger! Restaurant choices we tried were Soleo on the beach and Levante - both were excellent! Around the pool area it was great to see that anyone reserving loungers had their towels removed if they did not return within 30 minutes …!! Our room was perfect either way the most comfortable bed and choice of pillows! Our only disappointment was that the rooftop bar and pool were not open during our stay.. so, we shall simply have to return again next year in peak season! We would not hesitate to recommend this hotel to anyone planning a visit to Marbella!!

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“A tale of two room categories ...”

I have a mixed opinion on this hotel. It really is like two hotels in one ... in fact, the room categories literally have separate elevators. If you get one of their 'select rooms', that's where you want to be. The regular rooms (even the Junior Suite Side Sea View) are basically an old style Holid… more

I have a mixed opinion on this hotel. It really is like two hotels in one ... in fact, the room categories literally have separate elevators. If you get one of their 'select rooms', that's where you want to be. The regular rooms (even the Junior Suite Side Sea View) are basically an old style Holiday Inn layout with poor air conditioning and boring colors. The select rooms are about $200 - $300 more than the standard rooms but way better. I would highly recommend paying the extra for a select room, although these rooms are still pretty small for the price. (Although honestly for $1200/night ... you could do a lot better in a town other than Marbella) We stayed at 4 luxury hotels on our trip and all the other rooms were both nicer and less expensive than El Fuerte. Our check-in person was not very personable ... in fact, kind of snooty. Once we got to the room and settled in, we felt at home, although they loaded our bags onto a cart, but we had to push it up to the room ourselves, which was odd. The hotel itself is an older resort from the 1950's which was converted into a 'luxury' property (if you are in select rooms) so the rooms are not large, although they are a bit modernized. It kind of feels like an interesting clientele ... in the US, I would equate the crowd to be a Miami/Atlantic City/Jersey Shore type of crowd. Not as polished as your typical 5-star crowd ... but everyone has some money to spend. The lobby areas can get very crowded ... especially at breakfast. Dodging all the tourists in the buffet area and waiting in line for fruit was not fun each morning ... it kind of felt like staying at a Disney resort. However, I will say that the breakfast buffet might have been one of the top we've ever had. Bottomless Taittenger champagne ($70/bottle in the US) and Iberian ham and dozens of other options, both grab and go and made to order. Everything was of incredible quality and the staff were great. Fresh squeezed orange juice, etc. The restaurants were pretty good, as well. They have one restaurant which is right on the beach ... so close you can watch the waves while you eat. The food was fantastic ... even the pizza place was really good. It's a short walk to old town and lots of restaurants, nightlife, etc. Marbella is a city loaded with restaurants and bars of all kinds, so it's nice being able to walk into town. The beach left a lot to be desired. The water was rocky and it was hard to walk in because the rocks were so jagged. The beach is narrow and you can't really walk for a long way. There is a boardwalk which you can walk for miles on, next to the water and restaurants/bars line it. Lots and lots of tourists. We thought our room was nice but a little average for what we paid. The view from the balcony was nice in our select room but our friends' junior side view suite had very little view except to look across to other people sitting on their balconies. The junior suite shower was a tub/shower combo, so narrow that our friend could not fit in it sideways with the door closed. We let him use our shower ... what an embarrassment to the hotel. When you have a select room, you have access to a nice little lounge and private seating area. There was pretty average food there ... mostly snacks ... but bottomless wine, beer and alcohol which was awesome. Overall, if we were staying in a standard room, we wouldn't return to El Fuerte. For a select room with front ocean view, we would. The incredible breakfast buffet ... walkability to old town ... the beach lounges ... and how clean the hotel was ... all were great. You'll pay a hefty price but Marbella is one of the more expensive cities in Spain, so we knew this going in. We enjoyed our stay and will likely come back every few years.

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“Great location”

This is a lovely hotel in a great location - easy access to the beachfront as well as the town. Recently renovated- everything is clean and modern. Beautiful flowers all around the hotel. Staff were helpful and friendly - in fact the hotel is very well staffed so there was always someone to help… more

This is a lovely hotel in a great location - easy access to the beachfront as well as the town. Recently renovated- everything is clean and modern. Beautiful flowers all around the hotel. Staff were helpful and friendly - in fact the hotel is very well staffed so there was always someone to help. This was particularly evident at breakfast. Breakfast was amazing- a very big selection and all high quality. We have half board so we tried the three different restaurants and were not disappointed by any of them. Only disappointment is that we had vouchers to use the spa facilities but there was never any availability so we missed out on this. I would recommend booking the spa well in advance. That is the only reason for the 4* v 5*.

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