VIVE COSTA AZUL

I spent three weeks here and soon felt at home. The staff were warm and welcoming, and I came to love both the hotel and the village, which has a lovely, authentic feel. The hotel is charming and tastefully decorated, as are the rooms. It’s in a small, picturesque village, just 100 meters from the local train station, and makes it easy to visit other beautiful places along the Costa del Sol. Breakfast was filling and really tasty, and the staff were friendly and helpful. I had some trouble with noise from a nearby room at night. The staff did their best to help sort it out, which I appreciated. Better sound insulation between rooms would be a welcome improvement. I’m looking forward to coming back for longer and seeing what’s changed for the next season.

A good budget option, with a comfortable bed and decent A/C. Having the train station right outside made getting there from Malaga airport really easy. Breakfast was fine.

We booked a stay with breakfast included and paid for it, but were told it wasn’t included. The poolside bar was closed, which was very disappointing. Some of the rooms had serious problems: a door was coming out of its frame, ceiling tiles were falling in a kitchen, and our keycards kept stopping work, so we had to replace them almost every day. After we checked out, we left our bags at reception. A few hours later, we came back and were told we had to pay an immediate €100 fine per room, €400 in total, for supposed ‘illegal substances’, ‘proof of smoking inside the rooms’ and rooms being too unhygienic to clean. They couldn’t show or explain any evidence. None of us smoke or used ‘illegal substances’. We stayed almost a week, but our rooms weren’t cleaned once. We had only been given two towels and two toilet rolls for a room with three people, so we had to buy more ourselves. We cleaned as much as we could, even walking 15 minutes to the nearest bottle bank and bins. Wouldn’t recommend a place where you have to clean your own room and then get fined for it.

The staff were amazing, though they seemed a bit overworked, which feels pretty normal these days. Rooms were spacious and clean, the location was perfect, and breakfast was good. It’s self service, though one guest kept putting her bread in the toaster first despite me telling her several times that I’m celiac and need my bread kept separate. We visited last week. If you come here, please go to Mijas. Benalmádena Pueblo.