Oasis Islantilla Reviews

The hotel itself was great but it was a spanish resort so if you did not speak a little of it, finding stuff to do was a bit hard. It took us over an hour to check in because it was so busy and then we had to wait another hour because we couldnt get into our room until 2 which was a bit of a pain. Never ate in the hotel so cant say what the food was like. All the entertainment in the hotel was spanish so as me and my boyfriend couldnt speak spanish we didnt go to anything. The location was beautiful and perfect for people who want to lounge all day. We went through Firstchoice and after the airport we did not see or hear from them once. The rep never showed up and we had to phone up a 24hour line to find out when our bus home to the airport would arrive because Firstchoice never faxed the hotel.

Excellent swimming pool. That's about it. We booked self-catering and we got, only after our rep intervened, two small cups, two sets of cutlery and a saucepan so small I thought it would not look out of place in a childrens' kitchen set. Pathetic. The chopping board provided measured 6" x 4" - more like a wooden postcard. Bottle opener but no tin opener. Entertainment was non existent unless you like to waltz with the hundreds of Spanish pensioners on a free holiday. The pool bar which opened in the second week sold cold drinks, ice creams and coffee. You could not pay cash but had to use a credit card provided by the hotel. Tiny coffee made with Nescafe in a tall plastic glass - a quarter full - 2 Euros. Reception staff hostile - refused to take car rental keys because they were from a Portuguese car hire company - our only choice - so we had to wait 2 hours in reception until car hire rep showed up. Holiday rep only available if requested. The safe cost 28 Euros for a fortnight. Is this a fair price for an essential? Rooms were cleaned daily. No information in English.

I have just spent a week at the Oasis Islantilla hotel and thought it was wonderful. I wanted a quiet holiday where all I wanted to do was lay on the beach, and that is what I got! The location was perfect, with the beach across the road, the hotel was spotless and disabled-friendly, and - regardless of other reviews I have read - the staff were very friendly and helpful. Yes, you need a phrase book but we were able to make ourselves understood and I was quite proud of my efforts. It is amazing what you can achieve when you try. This is not a place to go if you want a home from home holiday, it is a quiet and relaxing place, but you do not have to travel far for a more lively atmosphere. The weather could have been better, but I would definitely go again. And I really wish people would stop moaning about the lack of "Britishness" or language barrier, and make a bit of effort. I dont see any shops/restaurants/pubs in the UK that print their signs or menus in any language other than English!! If you make the effort, the Spanish people go out of their way to help you. It is not the place for kids, but if you do your research yourself before you go, you will find everything you need to know. My one and only complaint is that the beds were soooo uncomfortable and like sleeping on bricks!!!

From start to finish the best holiday we have had. The flights were good and at the best time for our mixed age group family. The rep was on hand for the check in at the hotel - room not ready so we had to spend time in the pool. Our eldest daughter who is 13 had enough to do as did our younger children. It was good to mix with people who think that Spain is not "the red lion".

We had great food - from the one euro tapas bar to the great spanis resturants.

the beach is a 30 second walk from the hotel which was great and very safe. Lots to do in the evening and during the day. Try the waterpolo. Thanks to the people we had a good time with and perhaps we may get together soon.

Just got back from two weeks at the Oasis Islantilla, must admit we read reviews after booking and was worried, but took kettle and phrase book so was prepared. On the contrary we had a wonderful relaxing holiday and felt refreshed by the fact that it was very Spanish and to see all the Spanish enjoying their holiday as a whole family, we made the effort to attempt to order by phrases from our book and had no problems being understood at all. The people were very polite and friendly both in the hotel and at the bars and restaurants at the commercial centre. Recommend La Terazza restaurant and Titanic Bar. We took two trips with First Choice, the first to Gibraltar which left at 7.30 and although a long drive we had two stops and a very good guide from Portugal (where the trip had started from). We then were transferred to a local mini bus guide which took us up the rock to St Michaels Caves and the Apes Den, where we spent time photographing the the apes and their babies. Afterwards there was plenty of free time for lunch and shopping before the journey back which arrived back around 10.15ish. Well worth the 58 euros. The second trip was to Seville which left at 8.15 and had a very good Spanish guide (who also spoke good English and German) who got on at Seville and gave a very good tour of the palace, jewish quarter and cathedral. We then had the option of joining a river trip for an additional fee (which we did not do as we were ready for a break by then) or free time for lunch and shopping. After this we felt comfortable enough to make our next trip ourselves by bus and ferry to Portugal and had another lovely day spending in time in Vila Real and Ayamonte. Our rest days were spent at the wonderful pool area and beautiful beach and strolling along the promenade to La Antilla. We would definitely return here and would thoroughly recommend it if you are looking for a relaxing holiday in beautiful and totally foreign surroundings. (In fact, don't know if we should be writing this review as it may become spoilt if too many people know about it). If you like everything English and only Spain for the sunshine, then this is not for you.

This is a very large hotel built in a U shape with a very nice garden area in the centre. Each wing forms an artrium with large planted areas running down the middle (think Prisoner Cell block H meets Jurasic Park) all painted in hideous gaudy colours. There are two large swimming pools and ample areas providing shade for sun loungers.There is an Italian restaurant by the pool selling expensive meals with beer here costing £4 a pint, there is also a small hut selling drinks with beer £3.80 a pint here. The hotel seems to give free rane to a group of teenagers (the equivelent of red coats I think) who at regular intervals during the day play music at ear splitting levels and start dancing by pool side. PLEASE NOTE you can not self cater at this hotel due to the lack of appropriate eqipment (try cutting a water mellon with a dinner knife).We did not eat in the hotel restaurant so can not comment, however we were told it is expensive.

Not recommended unless you enjoy being treated as a second class citizen and being bored to death! The holiday companies like to bill this place as unspoilt and the ";real spain "; where the spanish take their holidays. With regard to the latter they are correct but they fail to mention a number of very important points.

The spanish tend to take their holidays during august - mid sept and often take a series of long weekend self-catering-type hoidays. As a consequence the resorts gear themselves to that pattern and spanish entertainment patterns. The result is that the resort of islantilla is like a morgue - especialy mid-week. It consists of about 5 major hotels enclosed in their own grounds and the rest of the development is spanish holiday apartment blocks. The only tourist ";infrastructure"; is a purpose built commercial centre with about 10 restaurants - all of them decidedly poor-mediocre and largely with the same menu, which is vastly over-priced by comparison to other holiday resorts. Be warned also, they do not do children's menus even though this bills itself as a family-friendly resort.

There are no bars in the centre (although restaurants serve beer) but there are two marquee-type structures just outside it on the main promenade which are bars but the toilet facilities are decidedly poor. The evening entertainment therefore consisted of walking up and down the promenade with a host of spanish families stopping occasionally to look at the tacky goods being sold by hawkers who are constantly being moved on by the local police lest anyone should dare to have some fun. There are also precious little shops to distract you from the tedium. There are a handful of boutiques and one or two souvenir shops in the commercial centre but absolutely nothing anywhere else.

There is little or no allowance made for non-spanish. If you don't speak the language you will find it extremely difficult to make yourself understood - even in the hotels! Worse than that is the palpable sense of not being wanted there. I have been to spain on many, many occassions and have found the spanish people to be very kind and welcoming even though they have to endure the most troublesome lager-louts in certain resorts. But in islantilla and in the oasis in particular i was shocked at the level of rudeness and discourtesy. If you are not spanish you do not register on their radar unless there is no-one else around and they can ignore you no further.

We went to the oasis islantilla with direct holidays on a two week self-catering basis. Our party consisted of a family of 6 people (f45;m 50;m 17;m16;m13;f8) staying in two studio apartments ( we tried to get adjoining rooms but the receptionist gave us rooms on floors 1 and 3 and made no attempt to accommodate us even though the adjoining room was unoccupied for a large part of our holiday).

The hotel grounds, pool areas and reception area where very impressive. Unfortunately, the favourable impression ended there. The hotel provided no welcome pack or information pack whatsoever. The rooms consisted of a normal sized hotel room to which was added a pull-out bed-settee to make up the third bed. As a consequence the room was quite cramped for three people. The balcony was absolutely tiny and barely enough room to take two plastic chairs side-by-side. Worst of all was the self-catering equipment. This consists of a two-ringed counter-top electric hob. That's it! We waited a couple of hours and eventually a box of cutlery(3 of each - cup,plate,spoon, knife and fork -like military camp) was delivered along with a small frying pan and a small saucepan to one room but nothing to the other. There was no microwave, no kettle (electric or otherwise).

After repeated requests to reception we eventually got cutlery and plates delivered to the other room but it took twelve days and repeated requests both by myself and the rep (more of which later) before we got a saucepan and frying pan delivered to the other room. Making a cup of tea or coffee involved heating a saucepan of water usually two or three times as it was too small to cope with six people.

We tried eating in the hotel but the food was poor quality and ridiculously over-priced for the quality. Eg. Lunchtime two small reheated frozen pizzas, three cokes at the pool-side bar = 27 euro (approx £19); buffet-style breakfast 10 euro a head (approx. £7). Evening entertainment in the hotel was no better. There was a nightly show at about 10.30pm with about half an hour of presentation of certificates and then 11 o'clock until 12 - usually the spanish animation team - interspersed with the occasional night featuring a magician/flamenco show -the usual sort of spanish package fare. This was invariably delivered exclusively in spanish with minimal attempt to engage non-spanish residents -of which there were a fair few. People tended to sit ";cinema-style"; to watch the entertainment and what few chairs and tables were on the fringes which meant that if you did want to sit and watch and have a drink it was really only feasible at those tables with your view being blocked by the spanish families who straggled in throughout the show and who couldn't get a seat. Although given the standard of entertainment it illustrates how little there is to do in islantilla if people were prepared to stand around and watch this. The hotel also continued its policy of over pricing with drinks. A ";pint"; of beer (invariably three-quarters full) was 4.5 euro (approx £3.20) a vodka 5.5 euro (almost £4 without any mixer) a coke was 2.6 euro (approx £1.75).

During the day and evening the animation team ran mini-clubs and a mini-disco and some sporting events eg. Waterpolo and volleyball. But once again almost exclusively in spanish and non-spanish children and adults alike felt excluded. The much heralded water sports that are supposed to be a feature of the resort according to the brochures were notable by their scarcity. There was a sailing school on the beach but that was it.

Thankfully we hired a car and got ourselves out of the place for a week otherwise i think i'd have gone mad. If you do have the misfortune to have booked, a couple of pointers might help make it more endurable. The chinese restarurant in the commercial centre is very friendly, low cost and reasonable quality. If you go out the promenade end of the hotel and go right about 600 yards there is a small el jamon supermarket (same as the one in the commercial centre) beside it there are also two little spanish bars - nothing in them but the drinks are a bit more reasonable than the hotel - besides these two and the two marquees there is nothing else outside the hotel complexes -believe me. Of the hotel complexes the comforthotel has somewhat better entertainment than the oasis but it is relative and service is abysmal. There is also a little train which goes on the half hour (depending on siesta) past the main hotels as far as the village of la antilla (about 30 - 40 minutes walk away from the hotel). The village has a street on which there are a number of restaurants and one or two bars - a bit more what you would get in other spanish resorts but very limited in scope and variety although after islantilla it will be a welcome relief.

Finally, don't depend on the rep for any advice or assistance. Ours turned up on the saturday following our thursday arrival (there is a portugese minibus from faro airport not your usual coach with rep). He told us that the resort was very limited (we knew that by then) and that it would probably be a lot better in 5 years time when they built the infrastructure. He explained about the spanish holiday pattern and that how the hotels were hoping to extend their season by attracting in the week- and two week-long package tourist as opposed to the long-weekend spanish business from nearby seville. He knew precious little about the resort and perfunctorilly mentioned three excursions and in essence sympathised about the almost exclusively spanish nature of the resort and its very limited facilities. Pity the brochures don't make it as plain!

Was looking forward to this holiday as we had never been to this part of Spain before.

Flight going was delayed, so when we got there everything was shut so we couldnt even get a drink or anything to eat! To eat on the complex was vry expensive, it cost us £90 for lunch one day which was a buffet type meal-baby doesnt eat much and neither does the 9 year old.Very limited choice for childrens menu.Kitchen is a two burner hob and a fridge that constntly defrosts!!

Have to say that I spent this holiday very paranoid,as the spanish that were staying In the complex constantly talked about us or stared(whether its to do with us having a large family I dont know)They looked at my blond blue eyed little boy as though he had been scraped off the bottom of a shoe.

The sea is lovely and so was the pool, the commercial centre was okay, but got fed up of waiting for the lift, so ended up going up and down the stairs with the trolley.There is a wonderful chinese place which is really cheap to eat at, and they give you huge measures of alcohol too!!A pretty good Italian place and a yummy ice cream shop that sells absolutely loads of different flavours.

We hired a car for the last six days as the teenagers were soooo bored by this time.We spent most of our time in Portugal as we have been there loads of times and were a damn site more friendlier.I did feel at home there and they loved the kids.Was sick to death of complaining about the ants and one night I stayed up til four because they were constantly crawling in my babies cot.They were in the wardrobes and when we pulled the clothes out they were in the lining of my bra, in knickers, t shirts, shorts and even in the babies packet of nappies. The air con went and leaked into a light bulb and dripped into the bathroom.The sink in one of the bathrooms was blocked for four days.The staff on reception dont really understand english at all and communcation between them is terrible!

I will definately not be returning to the Oasis ever and it has definatley put me off going to Spain for life.

First of all can i say if you are not a fluent spanish speaker dont even attempt going here.They only speak spanish and will look at you if you try to get some of their words and pretend to not understand.
There are three restaurants in the hotel,the galera the bodequita and the buffet.

We ate in the galera and the food was verry expensive (?120) for a meal for two i wouldnt recommend it the food is not good , wife ordered caesar salad it came out swimming in dressing you could have soaked it up with four pieces of bread. I ordered carbonara which turned out as plain pasta. When we asked to send it back all we got was 'no entiendo' youll hear that a lot on this holiday.
Didnt eat in the bodequita its really expensive thirty five euros for a steak.
the buffet was cold on the morning we went there yum cold fried egg and bacon breakfast of champions mmmm
There is a little shopping area about 500 mts from the hotel but theres nothing in it a few clothes shops but nothing special. The restaurants there are all crap
There is a kids club in the hotel but its all spanish oriented and they will mostly speak spanish so our child who is a great little mixer was standing there not understanding what was happening.In the end i pulled him out and played with him myself
The receptionists dont speak english but at least they are willing to listen to you as you try to ask them things
Forget about queuing they dont seem to exist there is no orderly queue its a case of whoever barges up to the front and shouts loudest will get served first
We took the bus to Seville and it was really nice the people were coming over to help us even when we didnt ask ,id recommend going there for a day

In short i was glad to be home
If I won a holiday back to this resort i wouldnt go and i couldnt give it to anyone i know cos id have to see them again so id sell it
Dont go here this place is not a holiday resort for people who arent spanish and you wont be made welcome

On first impressions the Oasis looks quite impressive with its beautifully kept gardens and its clean pool but its not.
The area of Islantilla and the surrounding area is where the spanish go for their holiday, so be prepared to speak some sort of spanish.

Your also treated like a second class citizen, we noticed that while we waited for around 3 hours for our room to be cleaned about 2 dozen spanish families and couples got their key and went straight up to their room while there were several english families and couples waiting for their rooms to be ready and cleaned.

We advise that if something is wrong tell someone at reception and if it doesnt get done keep on persisting. The balcony lock on our room didnt lock and we asked around 5 times for it to be fixed. It didnt get fixed.
To be honest their isnt much to do for teenagers, but if your younger then you can join up with the kids clubs but most of the kids are spanish so that might put you off.
The entertainers and shows are all in spanish and are repeated, if your there for two weeks, but the entertainers do speak limited english.

The food in the hotel isnt very good, i personally didnt eat there but people who i spoke too didnt recommend it and said that it wasnt very nice.
If you walk down the road you'll find a commercial centre, this has a few pizzerias, restuarants and italians but it also has a supermarket and a cinema.

If you want to eat here then i seriously recommend, La Terraza (Bar Terraza). They serve a wide variety of fish meals but also some meat, italian and salads. The waiters are mostly portugese but they speak VERY good english and they are very friendly. Meals we recommend are the spaghetti bolongaise, the chicken and the Terraza Barcolao (or something like that), eating here is very cheap too.
Also the poolside sunbeds and parosols become full up very quickly, i went pass there once at around 7 30 and 75% of the sunbeds were taken up, any others were in horrible places.
Also about the pool, its very big but it can become VERY dirty with all sorts of bits and pieces floating around i even found scum forming and a waterboatman!!

The beach is just across the prominade and you can reserve your sunbeds and parosols for a whole week at a time, these are for Oasis customers only. Theres also a water sports area were you can hire out single and double canoes, pedaloes, small catamarans, windsurfers you can also go on a bannana boat and the flyfish.
The sand becomes VERY hot ands a little bit shelly at the top, theres no sort of bar or snack shop to buy any drinks or food so bring your own.

We thought the hotel was of a very high standard, although as previously mentioned from other people no kettle was in our room so we took one with us. The hotel was very clean, maid service every day, clean towels everyday. The food was very good although we did not see any of the poolside restaurant/bars open at all during our stay which was disappointing, and on asking this was due to the hotel coming to the end of there season. The hotel we would say was full of Spanish, which we think is the majority of the clientele. During the first week of our holidays beds and umberellas were being removed. The beach was very clean,full of shells, but also no water sports due to going late in the season, and on the second day of us getting there they started taking all the beds and parasols away from the beach, fortunately it was not very hot otherwise there would have been no shelter.

The surrounding area - Commercial centre had some lovely shops and restaurants but we felt that due to going in October that a lot of them was closing for the summer.

We would go back during peak season, but would not go back in October as there is nothing to do.

The hotel is as all the other reviews said, very clean. The rep from First Choice was good, and there was a decent range of excursions should you wish to leave the hotel. We did nothing all week!! Just sunbathed and relaxed. It was a great holiday, with just a couple of criticisms...

Depending on where your room is you may find its noisy at night. We were 2 floors above the childrens disco, which didn't finish until 12pm, and then all the Spanish children would run around the gardens below for a bit shouting at the tops of their voices. Also because the hotel is tiled everywhere, its quite noisy when people are walking around. It was bearable, but a bit annoyng when you are on holiday to get peace and quiet!!

I acn't fault the Hotel at all - it was really clean, great facilities and friendly staff. The beach is great too - really long so there is plenty of room for everyone.

One word of warning if you are self-catering as we were - their idea of Self catering is very basic! The kitchen comprises of a sink, a fridge and 2 electric rings to cook on. They provide you with one saucepan and one frying pan - not really enough to produce a gourmet meal. No kettle or toaster for those who would want them either.

The resort is nice - not much to it to be honest - just some hotels, a gold course and the commercial centre which I found a bit disappointing. We went there one night and there was loads of rubbish around on the floors, which spoilt it a bit. The food was good, although it mainly comprises of fresh fish or pork.

I would recommend this holiday to anyone wanting to get away for a bit and not have to worry about the quality of the accomadation. We don't have kids, but there were loads of things going on everyday for them to do. Thats it!

I don't really want to write a review because I'd like to keep it a secret!

Islantilla is where lots of Spanish go on holiday, so you need to be able to get by in Spanish. The advantage to this is that you are not getting ripped off for tourist goods and get a chance to really experience a different way of life.

The journey from Faro took about 1hr 45 mins with a few drop offs on the way. I reckon you could get there in just over an hour direct. The hotel is impressive when you arrive, the inside has an atrium. All the receptionists speak English, but some Spanish may be uselful.

We had a 2 bedroom apartment which was lovely and clean and overlooked the pool and sea. The only English channel we could get on the TV was BBC World, but we didn't use it much! We took a kettle with us after reading the reviews on this site, and got by OK with a saucepan and fryingpan. There was a fridge, but no icebox to speak of.

We were self catering so didn't try out any of the hotel restaurants, we ate in the places at the shopping centre and used the supermarket. The supermarket in the centre was adequate, not spectacular but we got all we needed from there (apart from Sangria!!). It was the restaurants that were very good value, the lunch specials (which started at 2pm) were 8 euros for 3 courses plus water, and the Chinese was 7 euros.

The Spanish people we tried to speak to (but mainly grinned and nooded at!) were very friendly and helpful and adored the kids. We liked the fact that there wasn't a thumping nightlife, we can't do that at the moment. There was entertainment in the hotel, starting with a kids disco at 9pm.

The beach was very clean, straight out the back of the hotel. The sea was warm (unlike the hotel pools!) and gently shelving. The hotel pools were lovely and not crowded, and there was am activity team who put on various activities for adults and kids during the day.

We would go back, it will suit us well for the next few years until the kids want a bit more action. Don't go - leave it to be my secret!

Accomodation is very clean and of a high standard - we had a two bed appartment and it came with an ensuite. One critisism of the room was that there is no kettle (we took a travel one after reading reviews on this site) also no toaster. It was very very quiet when we were there and for us it was fantastic. We were self catering so cannot comment on the food as we never ate there.

The Beaches are very clean and are within 50 metres of the Appartments (no road to cross). Within 200 metres (out the gate at the back and turn left) is the Titanic Bar, with views over the sea, this is really cheap and a great place to unwind.

A further 200 Metres along is the ";Commercial Centre"; This is the only place to eat, shop and bank - however we found plenty of variety, A chinese, a couple of Italians, Plenty of sea food and even a Burger King. A very good supermarket and plenty of shops selling everything from Designer clothes, ice creams, sweets, Sportswear, kids clothes to accomadation and banking are also their (if you can speak Spanish there is also a Cinema!!) Certain things (the snack bar around the pool and the Hotels Italian restaurant) were not open during our stay - we put this down to us going early season? As we had two young children it was also a slight problem that the commercial centre (except of Burger King) did not serve evening meals until 8PM as the Spanish do not eat until late. very little English is spoken even though all the menus were in English as well as Spanish - for us this added to the holiday instead of being a problem.

If you are looking for a lively resort with English bars and traditional english food including breakfast then this is not for you, but if you want to visit an unspoilt quiet resort with great food, cheap prices, lovely beaches and surroundings then book as quick as you can, because I am sure that the developers will spoil this beautiful place within a few years.

We had a great time. We loved the sun and food (and cheap booze) the kids loved the beach, play areas and kiddies disco.

This is not a resort for young people looking for some nightlife! The resort consists of about 15 hotels around three bars and a handful of resturants. If you do go, visit the Titanic Bar its just a little way along the beac front, the staff were very helful and friendly. You will not find many British people there at all, seems to be mainly Spanish holiday makers.

Having said all that, the hotel its self was very good. We travelled allocation on arrival, to be honest we were running out of time and just needed to pick something!
We were pleased with the hotel. It has three large swimming pools, two out door and one indoor. We were self catering so I can not comment on the food at the hotel. The rooms were nice and clean, the only dissapointment being the size of the kitchen.

The beach is beautiful, unspoilt and full of shells! We hired a windsurf for a few hours which was fun and fairly cheap.

The holiday rep was very good but the other staff were less helful. A lot of them were unable to speak English so we did struggle a little.