Islantilla Hotel Reviews

we stayed in a really plush appartment on a golf resort in La Antilla. The weather was wonderful but the flys they made us all want to drown ourselves, it was impossible to sit outside it drove us crazy! The countryside was flat flat flat and really uninviting We went to saville for the day and were not impressed. The food was ok we ate out all the time the paella was really out of this world but anything eles we ordered came without any type of veg/salad or rice/potatoes mostly just fish. what did we do wrong was it us or them?

Unfortunately we did not discover the Commercial Centre until a few days before we left as our holiday rep told us it closed at 8pm due to the end of season, and so we didn't want to sacrifice our sunbathing time to go down there during the day. But once we found it, we spent our last evenings there.

This is a Spanish resourt and 90% of the people staying here are Spanish, as a result no one in the shops or bars attempts to speak a word of English and pretend not to understand wheh you try to speke Sapnish. The up side however is that the people around the pool are refined and well behaved with not a foolball shirt or tatoo in sight.Islantilla is a purpose build resort consisting of a prominade approx three quarters of a mile long with hotels and holiday apartment blocks on the land side. In the center is a commercial area with shops selling designer tat and a number of the most appauling restaurants I have ever had the misfortune to eat in - apart from the Chinese which although not to up to Stowell Street standards, is quite passible, with friendly staff.A meal for two in most of the restaurants will cost about £40 - £50. The beach in places is very shelly and can be rough under foot it also gets very crowded. The sea becomes deep very quickly and may not be suitable for inexperienced swimmers.Our Thos Cook rep was next to useless. This resourt is only a few miles from the border with Portugal but it is truely a different country - If you have not been to Portugal before, do yourself a fovour and give it a try, there you will be made to feel welcome and have a much superior holiday

We had a great time in El Rompido. The complex is in lovely, quiet location and is furnished well. The staff speak English and it was good to be in a mixed hotel with people of different nationalities. Most guests were French, but lots of Spaniards arrived on Friday and Saturday. One delight for us was walking through the meadows and marshland. There are well laid out paths on circular routes so you cannot get lost and the abundance of different flowers and birds was amazing (we went mid May). If you like walking, birdwatchng or photography this is a great place to be. Take the path from the back of the swimming pool through the golf course, turn left to go to El Rompido and right for a general walk. Note that this path can get quite muddy because of the run off from the golf course, but the other paths are OK.

El Rompido itself is a small fishing village. There are quite a few restaurants given its size, but a few were shut as it was out of season. You will need your phrase book as most of the menus are in Spanish. It you love seafood, go to Dona Gamba in the little square. We can also recommend the Singulara bar opposite selling a pint of Cruz Camp for 1, 50 euro. If you want English food, there is an English sports bar just off the square (Orangegrove), which is run by the family of the First Choice rep, Dawn.

El Rompido is actually on a river and is separated from the Atlantic by a large sandbank. The beach at El Rompido is a working fishing beach and you would not want to sunbathe there. The trip to the sandbank via the road train and boat to the sandbank are well worth the trip. The train is free, but the boat costs 2 euros each return. As others have said, there are no facilities on the beach. All there is is sun, sea, sky, dunes and pine trees which is absolutely wonderful if that is what you like. Most people seem to stay close by the walkway across from where the boat docks, but if you walk on a little bit either way you will have the entire beach to yourself. You will be amazed by how many different types of shells there are.

There a free bus that takes you to other nearby villages and the times are in a leaflet provided by a the hotel. Catch the bus just up from the main supermarket. You can also go to Huelva for 1, 95 euro and the bus leaves from the stop on the same side of the road as the supermarket. Double check the times because the timetable provided by the hotel here turned out to be wrong.

Not a night club in site - but plenty to do if you have a brain!