Barcelo Playa Blanca

The facilities are new and good, but the hotel feels short on character and poor value. The all inclusive setup is especially disappointing: there’s just one bar across a huge site, and outside breakfast, lunch, and dinner you’re only offered cold snacks there. Lunch and dinner were horrible, with the same paella appearing every day for all seven days. Breakfast was good. There were no dairy free desserts for my allergic son beyond fruit, and nobody made an effort to accommodate his allergy. I wouldn’t choose all inclusive again. At most, I’d book half board.

The hotel is right by the marina, with walks on either side, and nearby bars and supermarkets were much more eager to serve drinks than the hotel staff. The location was the best part, but I wouldn’t return. The buffet desserts were genuinely good, with plenty of choice and some tiny portions if you didn’t want to overdo it. Most hot food was warm enough, though the scrambled eggs and baked beans were cold. Service was the bigger problem. We were half board, and waiter service at the buffet was basically absent. On two of our seven evenings we couldn’t get drinks with dinner because no one was available. All inclusive guests could pour their own, but the draft beer and coke weren’t great, and the coke I got one evening was flat. There just didn’t seem to be enough staff for such a huge hotel. Housekeeping often didn’t arrive until after 3pm, when we liked to come back and relax. We booked a spacious ground floor swim up room, but the pool was freezing and the terrace and pool were shaded in the afternoon. The open plan shower and sink felt odd too, since people walking past could see in if you forgot to close the curtains. It’s a shame, because better service could make this hotel great.

We spent 10 days here and had a beautiful, very comfortable room. There was so much choice for food, and the fish dishes with their lovely sauces were especially good for me as a pescatarian. The staff were great and happy to help with anything. The location is fantastic. We’ll be back, highly recommended.

The hotel is very modern, under three years old, and sits right beside Rubicon Marina. Our Royal level room was spacious, and the staff were lovely. The menu at magical Restaurant was quite limited, though. We’ve stayed at other hotels in Playa Blanca with more variety, and felt they offered better value.