Bluesea Coral Beach

“Only going you are happy to eat out all the time, or at the snack bar”

We hadn't been to Ibiza in years and chose Es Canar as it's small but has a good bus service to Santa Eulalia, which means you can get to anywhere on the island. Es Canar hasn't changed much over the years, and still has many of the same cafes, bars and restaurants, but now has a pedestrianised sec… more

We hadn't been to Ibiza in years and chose Es Canar as it's small but has a good bus service to Santa Eulalia, which means you can get to anywhere on the island. Es Canar hasn't changed much over the years, and still has many of the same cafes, bars and restaurants, but now has a pedestrianised section from the bus station and along the sea front, massively improving the town - this means you can enjoy a stroll along the bay, take in the fantastic view or stop for a beer or a coffee, and it was more relaxing. As it was the end of the season it was fairly quiet, but still busy enough that most places were open, the Hippy Market was on, the glass bottom boat still running etc. The hotel is on the northern side of the bay, a short walk to the sea front, and between a few other hotels and apartment complexes. A short walk up the road takes you to a fairly new cliff side pathway (I remember scrambling over cliffs there years ago) that takes you back round in front of the various hotels in a loop - unfortunately there isn't a seafront path all the way into the main part of town, and you'd have to walk over the beaches which were full of piles of rotting seaweed - probably washed up due to the severe storms a few days before we arrived. The hotel itself is well presented from the outside, it has steps and a ramp at the front, onto a large reception area that is clean and well maintained - be aware of the local tourist tax (around 34 euros for 2 adults for 7 nights), and that rooms don't have any tea/coffee making facilities or fridges, you have to rent these (a fridge is €50 a week). If you can fit it in, I recommend buying a cheap Argos travel kettle to take with you, plus tea bags and coffee, as the tea and coffee from the hotel machines is awful. I've seen comments that there's no disabled toilet on the ground floor - there is, but it's hidden! It's at the side of the water vending machine and you have to get the key from the reception staff. Our room was an accessible room with 3 beds (one bed was placed so the door didn't fully open, not great for accessibility! We had to move that first). The room was clean and tidy and spacious, with a good size balcony, but had a view of the road outside, but it wasn't too bad as there were plenty of trees either side due to a large woodland area. As it was right above the hotel reception, and opposite the lifts and stairs, it was really noisy, especially when the bar closed or groups came back from a night out, with shouting, singing, doors banging etc. The bathroom was ok - a bit dated, could have done with a deeper clean, and only had 2 down lights above the sink, no lighting for the shower or toilet. The sink was meant to be height adjustable but wouldn't budge, and there wasn't anywhere for toiletries. We did have 2 good sized wardrobes and a dresser unit. The TV is locked in Hotel mode, so you can't use the HDMI ports and are limited to a handful of channels, mainly Spanish and German, with BBC2, ITV2, More 4, Drama and CBBC. WiFi was pretty good throughout the hotel. Staff were really friendly and helpful throughout our holiday, they're a credit to the hotel. The pool area is a decent size, with plenty of loungers and chairs. As it was the middle of October, the water is cold, but ok for kids and the adventurous, and there's an infants area with a paddling pool type area (hidden near there are some toilets and a disabled toilet too) Now to the bad. The food. Honestly, I'm not a fussy eater, but I do know basic food safety, and I do have limits. Breakfast was OK - decent selection of cold and cooked (notice I haven't said hot) options like cereal, yoghurt, plus toasters for the bread, bread, bread rolls, croissants etc, jam and butter (butter is only available at breakfast, lunch and dinner you only get a choice of awful margarine). For those that like a Full English, the Bacon was OK, tomatoes are tomatoes, beans weren't the worst I've had, fried eggs and omelettes were generally freshly cooked and hot, scrambled egg was fine, no idea what they do to make the mushrooms but it should be a crime against humanity..., and the sausages are probably the worst I've ever had - it's just that everything was cold. Lunch and dinner both have salad available with cheap sliced ham and cheeses, soup (like the worst cup-a-soup you can imagine but it was warm), several main dishes with the occasional gem hidden amongst the cold, tough, overcooked meats - the braised pig cheeks were surprisingly good, generally some potatoes or rice (both cold, which is a food safety risk with rice), various vegetables etc, plus undercooked, cold chips, cold pasta,cold pasta sauces, occasionally warm and often rock hard pizza. Dinner has a different International theme each night. If you don't eat these dishes, you are SOOL and are stuck with the salad, cold pasta, chips etc. The mexican night was a particularly low point, with the Chilli Con Carne being massively salty (and I like salt) and beef mince that's like the stuff they used to scrape off bones for Turkey Twizzlers in the 80s - it was disgusting. We ended up either eating out for most lunches and dinners, or having something from the snack bar, which was at least hot and fairly decent (if it opened on time or stayed open - it could just shut while you were in the queue at 4pm...) We ended up spending over £150 eating out because one of us or both couldn't or wouldn't eat any of the food available. We arrived on the Tuesday, they finally turned the warmers on for the food cabinets on Sunday after Jet2 came round (TUI have pulled out and Jet2 are taking over providing holidays there) and the bosses were about. Drinks are OK. Estrella is Estrella, and it was cold and plentiful. The cocktails might be your thing, but we didn't like them (the Margarita wasn't terrible, but tasted mainly of cheap like cordial). The Whisky Cream (cheap version of Baileys) is pretty good and lots of people seemed to be drinking that too - they were going through gallons of it at the bar. There's also red and white wine and a passable Sangria, and various cheap versions of spirits that taste ok after the first 4 or 5. Soft drinks, there's Pepsi and Pepsi Max, Kas Lemon and Kas Orange and a couple others I can't remember. The Kas stuff didn't seem as good as I remember, but the pepsi was usually OK, but from the bar it often tasted like there was too much soda water in it - in the restaurant it was fine. The entertainment was OK, but we don't have kids and they would have been bored as I didn't see anything for them. I'd recommend going to Popeye's bar just down the road for their entertainment (doesn't start until 10pm though) or Charlies Bar (again, 10pm start) for better entertainment, and Popeye's is good for food - I think half the hotel was going there for something decent to eat, or to the Chinese that does a decent deal at €14.50 for a selection from the limited menu, and also has a reasonably priced general menu. It's such a shame that the food isn't better, and hot, as it would make the holiday much better - just taking care to cook things properly, server them warm and keep them warm, and use better quality ingredients in some of the dishes is all it needs, and it would only be a minimal cost increase for them. I've never complained before, but this was bad. If you are happy to eat out for half of your holiday and get it cheap enough then it's not too bad, but if you can afford to pay a bit more for somewhere with better food then do it.

less

“Ibiza great hotel guests too noisy”

The staff are very friendly, there’s enough choice of food and drinks. The pool is good enough if not busy but the trees block out the sun round the pool at certain times a day. The hotel is spoiler by its paper thin walls and could definitely do with some slow closures added to the rooms entry doo… more

The staff are very friendly, there’s enough choice of food and drinks. The pool is good enough if not busy but the trees block out the sun round the pool at certain times a day. The hotel is spoiler by its paper thin walls and could definitely do with some slow closures added to the rooms entry door. Every time someone enters and leaves their rooms the whole hotel knows about it. Unfortunately we had a view of the car park from our balcony so not the best. And I didn’t get a pre warning for the charge the hotel was gonna lay on us on arrival who knew a visiting tax wouldn’t come in the booking as standard. This ate into a chunk of our spending money. Bring ear plugs if you want to achieve a good nights sleep.

less