Evenia Zoraida Resort

“Nothing to worry about!”

After booking our holiday and reading other peoples reviews we were quite worried about what we were going to. It turns out we had nothing to worry about! As soon as we stepped into the hotel we knew we were going to enjoy it. The staff were welcoming and it was very clean. The pools are amazing,… more

After booking our holiday and reading other peoples reviews we were quite worried about what we were going to. It turns out we had nothing to worry about! As soon as we stepped into the hotel we knew we were going to enjoy it. The staff were welcoming and it was very clean. The pools are amazing, yes very chilly but once you're in, really lovely. Food was good also. Yes a lot of pork, but every dish was cooked beautifully. 2 members of our family are gluten free, the man on the entrance of the restaurant was extremely helpful and pleasant. He showed us every dish that was GF and also told us if we wanted pizza, chips or pasta that the chef would be able to do that without a problem. The snack bars were also very lovely. The rooms were cleaned to a high standard every day. It's a busy hotel so the lifts will be busy and sometimes you may have to queue for the restaurant depending what time you like to eat. (We never had to queue). One issue that annoyed us (no fault of the hotel) was that there were plenty of rubbish bins about but still, some lazy people felt the need to leave their rubbish near the sunbeds for staff to clean up. Very rude. Any way it was an absolutely fantastic holiday with lots of memories made. Already looking at coming again! Thank you to all the staff for such a wonderful time.

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“Thank you mariola and esperanza”

We stayed in this hotel early May with our two children (age 4 and 1). The hotel was extremely clean and tidy and our room was cleaned to high standards - thank you to all the cleaning staff. The hotel has many pools and slides which were fantastic, it was easy to get a bed at any time during the … more

We stayed in this hotel early May with our two children (age 4 and 1). The hotel was extremely clean and tidy and our room was cleaned to high standards - thank you to all the cleaning staff. The hotel has many pools and slides which were fantastic, it was easy to get a bed at any time during the day and no rush to go get one in the morning like other hotels. The food could be improved. It was fine for our family but was a bit repetitive and the meats were the same nearly everyday. We loved breakfast though. I would have liked to seen Spanish omlette, soups, curries etc. As other people have mentioned the majority of people visiting were Spanish which we loved. We think they are kind people and I speak some Spanish so tried to chat with them. I want to mention two specific people who went above and beyond their roles. Mariola (waitress), we LOVE you! You made every evening easy with both our children and thank you for entertaining them. Especially Joey who fell in love with you. She was fantastic at her job, went above and beyond and was very friendly and kind. Also I want to mention esperanza at reception. On our first day after arriving, we asked a request and she not only fixed it for us but made the entire trip even better. All very promptly too. Overall, we had a brilliant experience and made our family trip very nice. Thank you!

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“Predominantly Spanish hotel, good pools for kids”

Just got back from a family trip to the Evenia Zoraida Garden. Overall it was a good holiday, but there are a few things worth knowing before you book. The rooms were fine—nothing spectacular, but they did the job. We went all-inclusive and were pretty happy with it. The snack bars were good, and t… more

Just got back from a family trip to the Evenia Zoraida Garden. Overall it was a good holiday, but there are a few things worth knowing before you book. The rooms were fine—nothing spectacular, but they did the job. We went all-inclusive and were pretty happy with it. The snack bars were good, and there was always a great choice of drinks and plenty of ice creams for the kids. The pools are definitely the main highlight here; there's a brilliant choice of slides and a really nice lazy river. The staff were also lovely and seemed to appreciate our attempts at speaking the language. On the food front, it was okay. There wasn't a massive variety, but we always found something to eat. One big thing to note for British families: the meal and entertainment times are very late. Dinner starts at 7.30pm and the evening disco doesn't start until 10. I totally get that we're in Spain so that's the local culture, but Jet2 really should warn people beforehand when you're booking with young kids. There were a couple of major downsides, though. First, our balcony looked directly over a shop roof that was absolutely covered in filth, which wasn't a nice view to wake up to. My biggest gripe, however, was the lifeguards. They were incredibly quick to blow their whistles and tell us off for going down the slides with our 3-year-old (it’s strictly one at a time, apparently). But at the same time, they said absolutely nothing to the tons of Spanish kids climbing up the slides the wrong way, bumping into the toddlers, and climbing all over the rocks to jump in—despite 'no jumping' signs being everywhere. It was really frustrating being singled out for trying to keep our toddler safe while other kids were left to run riot. Overall, it's a good spot for the waterpark features, just be prepared for the late nights and keep your wits about you by the pools.

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“Not great especially if your English”

I would not recommend this hotel for English people! Not once have I ever left a bad hotel review or looked forward to coming home from holiday however this time I could not wait to return home. The hotels (Park&Garden) cater mainly for Spanish guests, all entertainment is done in Spanish and not… more

I would not recommend this hotel for English people! Not once have I ever left a bad hotel review or looked forward to coming home from holiday however this time I could not wait to return home. The hotels (Park&Garden) cater mainly for Spanish guests, all entertainment is done in Spanish and not repeated in English and they also get access to more restaurants than English. The staff really struggled with speaking English too, it was very difficult to order drinks. Food - Was edible most of the time, not the best selection. We lived off Pizza, hot dogs, chips and Pasta. We managed to eat every meal but it was the same old everyday with the odd occasional nice thing like chicken skewers or chicken drumsticks. The food at lunch was often cold, especially El Olivio. It was handy being right by the pool but we had burgers and chips and they were freezing. Chocolate fountain every night in the main buffet which the kids loved but no other cake selection. Breakfast was mainly pancakes and nutella or Omelettes for us. The last few days there was very limited food, half the restaurant food counters were empty and they had no nutella, kids yoghurts or strawberry jelly (as its end of season I assume they dont bother to restock) There are al a carte restaurants which seem alot better for food however you have to be spanish or all inclusive plus which was an extra £1000 with Jet2 or you can only use them before 6pm when they are buffet style lunch. When it comes to the nice evening food comes available its only for the Spanish unless they are quiet and you can ask if you’re allowed in but this seems very rare as even in Oct they were queuing to get in. Main buffet evening meal it is impossible to find cutlery so ended up having to take them off clean tables. Also found alot of dirty plates. It is so busy in the restaurant everyone is on top of everyone, you cant walk, hear the people your sat with and I even saw a hot drink spilt over a child as its hectic in there. Alot of foods were also unlabelled so didnt know what you were eating or what it contained. Drinks - Cocktails dont taste like they should (Pina Colada and sex on the beach definitely didn’t taste like what it should but again it was drinkable) until last few days we asked for cocktails and when they come (there made up in the back out of sight) they were covered in insects, looked like ants, this happened on a number of days. The queues at pool bar were sometimes 20 mins long for drinks - ridiculous never experienced this before. Snacks - Ice cream choices were good (Magnum Almond, Caramel cornetto, Mini milk, Twisters, etc however not sure if its because its the end of season but most bars had limited ice cream’s available most days. Towards the end of our stay only 1 type of ice cream was available. Plain crisps also always available throughout the day with a few cake to choose from. Also some days pork scratchings and tortilla chips were available. Entertainment - The entertainment was great if your Spanish. The Disney shows for kids were amazing and lucky the kids weren’t fazed by all the Disney characters being Spanish but it was a shame nothing was in English. The quizzes and games were all Spanish so we didn’t have a clue what was going on. They would even say about photo opportunities but only in Spanish so by the time we realised we were back of the queue and then missed out of individual photos and were forced in with other people to speed it up. Rooms - Were small, just about big enough for 2 adults and 2 small children to just sleep in and getting ready in but if we had 2 older children it would definitely be too tight. 2 double beds pushed together all sleeping near enough ontop of each other. Only 1 plug socket in room also. Pools - The slides are brilliant best part of the hotel however the salt water is disgusting, it really put my daughters off going down the slides. It also caused my daughter’s legs to go all sore and I had to get some cream for them. The best pool is the nemo one as its not salty, we spent most our time there. Lifeguards are hit and miss. Lots of Spanish kids messing about walking up slides and noone to tell them different, annoying when babies are in the pools. WIFI - Available for free but very hit and miss whether it works Towels - 10euro refundable deposit to hire and 1euro charge per change for clean ones We stayed the end of Sept into Oct. The first week was mental, so busy everywhere, entertainment was packed nowhere to sit, couldn’t see the kids watching the show, queues for food into the buffet restaurants, half way through it was like a ghost town, noone around, pools were empty, outdoor area shut on night and only a few at evening entertainment, only half the buffet food open. Then last few days went hectic again. If your looking for a child friendly hotel in Almeria I strongly recommend Alua Gold Trindad great hotel and staff and food! We visited Mini Hollywood strongly recommend this trip we booked via Pepe tours, great day out.

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