Myramar Castle Beach Reviews

the location is maybe the worst thing, its quite a walk to the front with nothing except a trafford centre type shopping centre almost next door, nothing else and as theres talk off muggings by the gypsys everybody gets busses (every half hour) or taxis to the front.

wide choice of bars/resteraunts on the front, reccmend the ones on the backsteert more life etc. we was told was a very lively place although theres alot of spanish and its definately a family place

alot of big irish famillies that dint wanna know or people that are freindly in the day then you dont see them at night! (adults)

the food was ok but was not what we expected, you can go half board and thats why a few people stay in the hotel all night but we only eat in there twice, you can either have a buffet or order seperately of the menu

snack bar usually and 2 x bars, the good one closes pretty early and the other one next tot he restaurant is more an adults pub no kids runnin around in there, thats open till 3 and happy hour 2 for 1 is 11-12

entertainment? - airtours reps not professional, a rep magic show, asinger and one flamenco night

daytime entertainment theres all the clubs and actviities and 11-16 can go on trips away (water park, puerto benoes, tivily world) daytime airtours reps dont make as much effort as the spanish entertainers in getting everyone up

rooms were excellent, the place is only few years old so cant fault that

dont think my mum and dad would go again but i wanna go next year was big gang (mostly irish!) of us and some people had been the year b4, would be perfect if you could move it to the front

Castle Beach.a missed opportunity.

It's a smart, clean and well equipped hotel with an absolutely superb (honestly!) new shopping centre just two minutes walk away.

Postives.

1. Plenty to do onsite - gym, Jacuzzi, indoor pool, football, tennis, archery, internet, pool and games - plus other that I've forgotten.
2. Lots for kids including a very safe children's pool, kiddies clubs, games and entertainment.
3. Clean, well equipped rooms with air-con. They only lack a UK satellite TV service (and an ironing board!).
4. Great location, close to a main arterial road and the new shopping centre.
5. Friendly entertainment reps that did their best in difficult circumstances, although the evening shows were amateurish.

Negatives.

1. Absolute rip off for beers at 3 Euros for a pint of watered-down San Miguel (we ran a taste test and compared it to the canned stuff).
2. Shocking service by rude bar staff, although the hotel management did nothing to help as long queues formed for drinks in the evening. Also the bar staff attempted to short change us on no less than three occasions, giving us the impression it was a practice they regularly tried out.
3. The restaurant is not four star, it is at best a two star buffet style self service. At times the pasta was left warming through for so long it dried out and became crunchy. We ate a variety of cheap cuts covered in various ";sauces";. Neither have I ever seen broccoli, rice, sweet corn and carrot served up for breakfast - until last week!
4. The bar ran out of clear plastic glasses about a week into our holiday. Rather than get some more of the see-through version they opted for ";Coke"; branded paper cups. This meant you could not see how much beer was in the cup, thus three quarter filled cups were the norm.
5. The evening bingo ";prize"; was a meal for two in the hotel restaurant, which was pointless for those of us on half-board. Yet the reps had no alternative to offer when my daughter ";won";. However the 40 - 50 euros they collected for tickets had mysteriously disappeared?

I would not visit the hotel again simply because it's run to gain maximum profit from its clients at the expense of any semblance of quality or customer service. (Although on balance some of the drunken British teenagers did little to help foster decent relations between staff and holidaymakers).

In summary I feel the ";Miramar"; corporation are attempting to get a ROI (return on investment) out of the Castle Beach as quickly as possible; as a result the hotel is poorly managed and a customer service disaster.

Castle Beach Apartments are spacious and very clean. A/C is excellent and doesnt keep you awake at night.
Nobody I spoke to said a good word about the restaurant although we didnt try it ourselves. Bar prices are steep at 3euros for a pint but being a canny Scot I purchased all my daytime drinks from the huge supermarket next door. 3.60 euros for a 12-pack of San Mig cant be bad!

Both the pool bar and the Old Castle bar seemed undermanned with queues forming quite regularily. A word of warning - check your change and insist on getting the till receipt, especially in the Old Castle at night.

There's enough entertainment going on during the day if you want it, e.g. quizes, water polo, football and even a fashion show! The mini club entertainers were very good and the little kids seemed to enjoy their activities.
Entertainment at night was a bit hit or miss. Basically the professional acts were good but the reps shows/games were poor. Airtours seem to want all singing, all dancing reps literally and it doesnt work. Reps would have been better used sorting out wee problems like the lack of bar staff.
Fuengirola itself is a good 20 min walk away or 85c on the bus/6e by taxi. Its big, busy, cheap and cheerful. No different from Benidorm, whether thats good or bad.

Would I recommend it? Yes, but be aware of the above (prices, distances etc)

Just returned from 2 weeks at Castle Beach. I have read all of the reviews on this site and have to say went with mixed expectations. Firstly, we only saw 2 rats in the 2 weeks and so that is not as bad as it sounds. There is, however, a problem with ants in the apartments.

The hotel is ok; the staff are really friendly; the airtours rep was not at all. We had booked flowers and wine on our arrival as it was my 30th birthday and they were not there on the arrival. The rep did arrange for them to be delivered later in the evening at the end of our first day, but only after a couple of reminders to her.

The Children's Club is good as are the reps that work there. My children thought it was fantastic.

The apartments are generally clean. The maid only comes three times per week and we did have to ask on one occasion for clean towels after no visit for 3 days and on another occasion she stripped one of the children's beds and did not leave clean sheets. However, the towels and sheets were brought to us quickly on request. The hairdryer does not dry hair so take your own.

The food in the restaraunt is diabolical. DO NOT EAT THERE. I had a bad stomach for the first week after eating there.

The pools are nice and clean. There are loads of sunbeds and we often did not go to the pool until the afternoon and always got sunbeds. There are stacks in the corner by the kids pool.

I would strongly recommend hiring a car. We did for 10 days and saw so many other parts of Costa Del Sol. We visited Tivoli World twice which is an absolute must; fairground rides, shows and excellent food. We also went to Selwo Marina and saw the most amazing Dolphin display. Airtours try to sell excursions to many of these places but charge so much over the top. We also visited Porto Banus, Selwo Aventura, the water park in Torremolinos, all of which are great.

It is possible to walk into the centre of Fuengirola with three small children in 15 minutes and the beaches there are very nice. We did not find any decent places to take children in the evening though within walking distance and so many nights had to either stay at the hotel and watch the entertainment there or travel out in the car. The entertainment is ok at times and the airtours reps do work hard at trying to put on a decent show but drinking in the hotel bar is very expensive.

I probably wouldn't go back to Castle Beach, even though it is generally ok. I would prefer to be somewhere nearer an area that catered for children. I think Majorca beckons again next year.......

The welcome meeting was pretty poor (didn't even get a drink) and the reps were very poor.

In contrast, the reception staff were very friendy and helpful and had considerably more local knowledge than the reps.

The apartments are nicely furnished, well equipped and clean. In fact the whole complex is exceptionally clean.

We found that most sunbeds had towels on them by 08:30. What was really annoying was that most of the sunbeds had never been occupied even by late afternoon, and we couldn't blame the germans, as most guests are british! I would suggest that the hotel staff bring in the '30 minute rule'as most other hotels do.

We enjoyed the 15 minute walk into Fuengirola over the bridge, then stopping to feed the fish and terrapin along the way. We were beginning to think that the rats were a myth as we didn't see one until our third day. They only ever seem to be at the riverbank and were never a problem.

The shopping centre next door is heavenly and well worth a visit (or three).

Overall, we had a good holiday, and would recommend this accomodation to anyone going to Fuengirola. But would point out that it would be a tiring trek into the centre each day for elderly persons,or small children (although the bus runs hourly and only takes about 10 mins). But we personally would prefer somewhere closer to the centre of Fuengirola.

Travel to Benalmadena, Torremolinas, Marbella and Mijas is extremely easy and very cheap and well worth the visits.

Myramar Castle Beach Apts.
If you have kids this is a great place to go.There is entertainment for them in the morning, afternoon and evening.The staff were all great with the kids, and they loved it at night time when they were called up on stage to get their prizes(usually a free drink, coke etc).

The apartments are situated quite far from the town (about 15 mins walk)but it is a pleasant enough walk to build up an appetite, and after eating all you want for about 7euros a taxi home will cost you about 6-7 euros.(Taxis can only take 4 people, but most of them took the 5 of us as the wee one was small.)

The outside pool is freezing but it didn't stop my kids from playing in it, just me!!The indoor pool is quite deep with no shallow end, so watch the kids in it.You also have to have a swimming cap for it, 5 euros and you can buy them there, I recommend you take some with you if you can.

The maids came in every other day, and the apartments were clean.I found ours a bit on the small side for the 5 of us, and if our youngest was any taller his feet would have been hanging out the end of his ";bed";.
The kitchen was small and not really practical for 5,no oven and just 2 rings, but there was a microwave, but with eating out so cheap who wants to cook anyway!!!

The satellite T.V.was all in Spanish bar 1 channel,but kids will watch cartoons in any language!!
The kids loved this place, and if their happy it makes it so much easier!!!
We had a lovely time here and would recommend it.

One of the best days we had was going up in the cable cars, (not for the faint hearted)and if you like birds this is for you.Watch out though as the birds will land on your head during the demonstrations!!
A last word,although I'm sure you have heard it all before, do be wary of people handing out scratch cards. They will tell you you have won a fantastic prize etc etc,it is all timeshare selling, Avoid them!!!

just got back from the so called airtours suncenter castle beach,firstly if you have travelled to suncenters before dont go here it is not a suncenter just a resort with entertainment if you want to call it that.the rooms are pretty good with regular cleaning and are a fair size,but there is where the good reviews stop.

firstly the resolt has you by the short and curlys with it being so far away from the main resort if u have youg children you dont want to go to far at night so unfortunatly they rip you of with evrything on camp around 2.60 a pint a meal for 7.50 that you wouldnt feed your dog and uncooked food around the pool area.

evning entertainment was pretty poor seeing 3 shows at least twice,the problems with the drunken teenagers at night still goes on with them even fighting round the pool during the day drinking till 4 in the morning then disposing of there glasses in the pool main reason being the happy hour encourages them to binge drink.made several complaints about this but nothing ever got done,airtours rep was a complete joke because she wouldnt allow us to make official complaints in writing and she even has a habit of miss-selling the trips with poor information

would never travel to this dump again and airtours will be lucky to see any of my money again if you have doubts about this place dont go you will regret it TRUST ME!!!! DRUNKEN TEENAGERS MILES FROM ANYWHERE even the barstaff have a habit of constantly short changing you not a soley british resort we had germans,spanish,swedish in there so dont go steer clear u will wate your money

We had booked out holiday weeks before we were due to go, which mean't that our accommodation was ";allocated on arrival";, so we were quite aprehensive of what we were going to be staying in.

However, upon arriving at the Castle Beach Apartments, we could not have hoped for any better. The Room was brilliant and had everything we needed for s/c.
The Welcome meeting was very informative...if not a bit too informative, almost forgot what the welcome meeting was about when leaving.

We did take on board some of the information and went to Torremolinos to the Crocodile park and the Water Park - a definite must do!!

The pool area was excellent with enough sunbed for everyone, as we sometimes didn't make down until 12pm and were still able to find a spot.

I do agree that the Hotel is aimed at families, but that did not stop us having a good time....we even found ourselves dancing in the children's disco! The entertainment was excellent providing different shows and act every night to suit all tastes.

I have noticed that some of the reviews have complaints about the food, i found it to be rather nice. I also noticed people complaining about prices of drinks, have any of you bought a drink in Fuengirola town or back in the Uk??? I think you will realise that the drink prices in the hotel are quite reasonable!

The Airtours reps were some of the most friendly bunch of people i have ever come across as I found after going out a few nights with them.
All in all, the accommodation, the hotel staff, the food, the pool etc etc etc were excellent and not forgeting them reps (aka Lisa, Emma, Steve, Kym, Rosa) who made our holiday!!
Hopefully see you all in August! Stu
So there you have it ";holiday makers"; whats stopping you from going to castle beach, its brilliant.

Just arrived back from castle beach apartments in fuengirola and I had been a little bit worried by some of the comments on this web site but was very pleased when we arrived and for the whole fortnight we never had any complaints, you have to pay 100 euros for your room which you get back at the end of your stay. also a small charge for a safe in your room. right next door a huge complex shopping centre has just opened and full of brill shops also one just like asda. there is a bridge over a river to feed fish with bread and the kids loved it. the entertainment staff were great aswell.

in one word ";FANTASTIC"; its a must to go lovely helpfull staff. clean tidy huge apparments.cleaned 3 times in one week, fresh towels. the food was lovly we up graded when we got there,to half board and it was well worth it. the airtours reps were amazing ";steve";and ";lisa"; would entertain you all night.they have so much energy.the pool looks so big in the brouchure we thought it would be huge but its not that big, its still great though,and lifegaurded all day long which is great.first time in fuengerola,would possibly go again,but would deffinatly go back to the castle beach.

iwould recomend the hotel to any one, go youll have a great time! say hello to steve for me!!

The Castle Beach Apartments were excellent. We booked this holiday literally a few days before and paid only £129.00 per person, making it excellent value for money.

The Snack bar where all the evening entertainment happens is more for families with children, focusing on the kids.

For adults The Castle Pub is better at night especially with the ";Happy Hour"; from 11.30pm-00.30am!!

The walk to the resort centre takes approx 5-10 minutes but what we often did was get the bus in and walk back or vice versa. The bus service was pretty good, running every half hour and costing 85c each.

The snack bar during the day serves excellent food such as Club sandwiches/hotdogs/hamburgers/pasta etc all very reasonably priced. We only tried the breakfast from the restaurant and for 7 euro's you can eat as much as you like from the buffet.

A final ";plus point"; on these apartments was on the day of departure they offer a luggage room and also 4 seperate shower rooms to chnage in for travelling. This was ideal and means you dont have to bother extending your check out time.

Enjoyed a lovely week at the Castle Beach. Hotel was well laid out, our room overlooked the pool and was very spacious, comfortable and adequately equipted including a microwave which has to be a first. Plenty of sunbeds and space on the terrace.

The only criticism is the design of the pool, whoever decided to have a 'stepping' pool needs to have their head examined - I thought this was very dangerous especially for youngsters and weaker swimmers. The pool gently slopes and then you step down two levels, expecting the third step to be the same a lot of people were caught unaware by the sharp drop including my son who, coupled with the cold water, panicked and had to be helped out by a holiday maker (thanks if that was you).

There is a lovely (warm) indoor pool,gym and jacuzzi. The hotel is a little bit out of the way for those who like the beach but there is a bus service that stopped hourly outside the hotel and went into the town. The entertainment was typical of most package holidays and the bar prices were reasonable. We had the option of paying half board but declined, had heard some holiday makers were not completely happy with what was on offer but everyone is different. The staff were all friendly and helpful and the rooms and reception areas were kept very clean.

Fuengirola itself was very charming (after you leave the main promenade front)and definetly worth milling around the side streets and stopping to sit in one of the many plazas where the locals meet up just to listen to their chatting and laughing.

Overall we enjoyed the Castle Beach but if I were to return to Fuengirola we would want to be nearer the front simply for the selection of restaurants.

We have just returned from these appts(Mar 04.)I can honestly say the standard of accomadation and the facilities there are faultless.Having stayed all over Europe in sc accom i was expecting the usual standard but was really surprised at how good and spotlessly clean this property is. As we opened the door the smell of airfreshner greeted us ! I have never had this before !!

my only complaint is its location. If you are the type of family who just stay in the hotel then thhis is ideal for you ! There is a Trafford centre/lakeside/meadowhall type shoping centre opposite the accom. The rooms are in a U shape around the pool and all rooms look onto the shopping centre. doesnt sound like a problem but when you are there the sound of the man blowing the whistle to direct the traffic into the car park does get you down ! I wont tell you where my son wanted to stick it ! also for the coming 7 months they are going to be building a flyover for traffic to access the centre. They have just started this work. again really noisy.
loads for the kids to do, hardly saw our son!

Massive building work was completed after our first night(of 7) and a new shopping centre opened...2 minutes away from apartments...great value for groceries and ideal for browsing if weather bad.
Shopped in Dunnes and Lidl and preferred Dunnes for fresh bread.
Apartment complex was very good and plenty of sunbeds and space to put them. The one downside..if you don't like walking..was the distance to the beach/towncentre and having to walk over a motorway on a bridge..with buses/lorries thundering underneath..however there was a bus available outside the complex and also taxi could be phoned. The promenade is excellent for walking..approx 1 1/4 hrs from one end to the other. Weather was'nt great..3 days of sun and 3 of rain..but you take your chances at this time of year.

Summary : Would definitely go back