Balboa Holiday Apartments

Our ground-floor stay in apartment No8 had a superb street-side location, but the apartment itself was a letdown. The furniture was old, uncomfortable and overdue for an update. We paid a top price, and Balboa No8 needs either to cost less or be brought up to a standard that fits the rate. We won’t be back, sadly. The basics were skimpy, with only things left by previous guests and no standard supplies. The toilet paper was threadbare, and there were two tiny, odourless, cheap bars of soap for the two bathrooms. No washing powder was provided. We bought pillows at KMart in town because the ones there were cheap, flat as pancakes and smelled terrible. The place needs a massive overhaul if it’s going to command that price.

We stayed a few nights at the start of December in Balboa Apartment 7, and it was a beautiful place for self catering. From the apartment you look right onto the beach, with easy access to the pool. Four mile beach is just a minute away on foot, and it takes about five minutes to reach the start of the main strip of shops and restaurants. We loved it and will definitely book Apartment 7 again. Highly recommend.

Our ground-floor corner room was generous in size and had a view down the road toward the beach. The managers were friendly and easy to deal with. For the quality of the accommodation and the location, we felt the extra cost was well worth it. Highly recommend the Balboa apartments.

The apartment block is quite dated, though it’s in a handy spot near the beach and main street. We didn’t use the pool because it was tiny and looked dated too. The apartment was clean and roomy enough for us, and at a reasonable price it did the job.