Evenia Zoraida Garden

“Great hotel with amazing pools and slides”

We have just returned from a week-long all-inclusive holiday at this hotel. We travelled with two children (a 3½-year-old and an 8-month-old). After reading many of the reviews below, we were a little cautious before arriving. However, after spending a week at this hotel, I would highly recommend … more

We have just returned from a week-long all-inclusive holiday at this hotel. We travelled with two children (a 3½-year-old and an 8-month-old). After reading many of the reviews below, we were a little cautious before arriving. However, after spending a week at this hotel, I would highly recommend it. The Pools There is one large swimming pool, which is deep enough for swimming and perfect for older children and adults. There is also a lazy river-style pool, which features a smaller splash pool with little slides for younger children. It also has three larger slides suitable for both adults and children, as well as a huge splash park with a pirate ship, dragon, and numerous smaller slides that are perfect for children of all ages. There are also four larger water slides, which were great for both adults and children. Our 3½-year-old was allowed on all of the slides and was confident going down them on her own. I would recommend armbands or a zip-up life vest for younger children for extra peace of mind. All of the pools are surrounded by plenty of sun loungers, and we never struggled to find one. We often chose the quieter area towards the football pitch, where there was always plenty of space. Most of the pool area is covered with artificial grass, which was ideal with a baby. You can easily put a towel or blanket down in the shade, allowing them to crawl and play comfortably. The Food We ate mainly in the all-inclusive buffet restaurant and never experienced any issues. Granted, if you arrive towards the end of breakfast (around 10:00am), it can be busier. We thoroughly enjoyed the food. Yes, much of it is Spanish cuisine—as you are in Spain!—but there is plenty of variety, including options suitable for both our toddler and baby. For lunch, there are several other places to eat around the hotel. We often chose the Italian restaurant, which had plenty of choice. There are also other restaurants that you can book for evening meals. We ate out one evening at Aloha Bar, which is about a five-minute walk along the beach promenade, and would also recommend it. Rooms Our room was clean and had two double beds. Before travelling, we contacted the hotel to reserve a cot. There is a small charge, but it is a proper wooden cot rather than a travel cot, so it was more than big enough for our 8-month-old. The room was cleaned every day, with the beds made and fresh towels provided. The hotel also has plenty of microwaves in both the restaurant and the lobby area, which are useful if you need to warm baby food or milk. There wasn’t a kettle in the room, so we took a travel kettle with us. The hotel was very clean overall. Every morning the pool areas were cleaned, the pools were maintained, and the lobby was spotless thanks to the hardworking cleaning staff. Throughout the day, bins around the pool were emptied regularly, and the poolside toilets were cleaned frequently. Occasionally, if guests didn’t dispose of their plastic cups properly, they would blow around in the wind, but overall the hotel was very well maintained. The lifts could get busy around breakfast time as everyone headed down to the pool, but we never found this to be a major issue and never waited more than around five minutes. The hotel was mainly occupied by Spanish holidaymakers, which I personally don’t see as an issue, despite what some previous reviews have suggested—you are in Spain, after all! All of the staff were lovely, and we never experienced any problems with service because we are Welsh. The staff naturally speak Spanish first, but we learned a few basic phrases such as “hello” and “thank you”, which were always appreciated. Every evening we attended the children’s mini disco, which our 3½-year-old absolutely loved. She danced and sang every night. There were a mixture of Spanish songs alongside favourites such as Baby Shark. We didn’t attend the other evening entertainment, so I can’t comment on that, but there always seemed to be plenty going on. The hotel is situated on a lovely beach promenade, with around a one-mile walk to the local town, castle and harbour. I’d recommend doing this in the morning before it gets too hot. It would have been too far for our children without a stroller. If you enjoy walking or running, the promenade is ideal. The beach is shingle rather than sand, but our toddler didn’t mind at all and thoroughly enjoyed playing in the sea. There is also a local bike hire shop near the supermarket where you can rent four- or six-person bikes with a canopy, which is a great way to explore the promenade. A small supermarket is just a three-minute walk from the hotel and stocks all the essentials, including nappies and some baby food. There are also three or four tourist shops opposite the hotel selling souvenirs and holiday essentials. A little tourist train stops outside the hotel and takes you into the busier tourist area in around 5–10 minutes, where you’ll find more shops, bars and restaurants. Overall Overall, I would definitely recommend this hotel, particularly because of the pools and water slides. There really is something for every age, and our children absolutely loved them. If you’re looking for a hotel full of British people, serving British food with British entertainment, then this probably isn’t the place for you. If you’re happy to experience Spain while enjoying excellent facilities for families, I’d highly recommend staying here.

less

“Good family holiday”

As a group of friends with children we revisited this hotel after 7 years. The pool, slides, Clean hotel rooms and the good choice of all inclusive drinks and snacks for the kids were great. The food was mediocre as before but generally from a basic buffet style restaurant breakfast and lunch was … more

As a group of friends with children we revisited this hotel after 7 years. The pool, slides, Clean hotel rooms and the good choice of all inclusive drinks and snacks for the kids were great. The food was mediocre as before but generally from a basic buffet style restaurant breakfast and lunch was fine. We chose to eat out most evenings. Brasserie Panini and La Taska were very accommodating to our group. The hotel itself has an edition of a lazy river since we were last at the hotel which was really nice. I think going so early on in the year before summer kicks in meant the hotel didn’t seem extremely busy. This brings me to the rule regarding No Ball Games in the pool. The kids were told off. One of our party did have a word with the manager who insisted it’s always Been a rule which wasn’t true as the last time we were there we had balls and inflatable’s …… so just be aware no fun in the pool 😂 we came to an arrangement that if the pool got busy the kids would get out but they weren’t causing any trouble at all. (We understood no inflatable’s)

less