Hotel Sol Gavilanes Reviews

We enjoyed our stay at this Hotel. Clean and staff was friendly. It was good value for money. We would definitely recommend if to friends and family and return there ourselves.

Hotel very nice, rooms clean, air con not good, def not 4 star standard, pool not good, drinks very very expensive, should be ashamed of the costs, British are being ripped off on cost of drinks and food, also beach sunbed costs, they are 15 euros per day totally disgusting,, entertainment only average at the hotel, but sol galdanas other hotel has good tribute acts, restaurants all follow suite with high costs of drinks and food, we only paid for two drinks per evening then bought cans etc to leave in the fridge in the room. Basically due to high costs most holiday makers were seen to be sat on the balcony of there room with there cans. fantastic views of bay, but this hotel has only reputation for the views as all else is only average. Go there but be prepared to pay over the top and I meen way way way over the top.

This hotel is fantastic, beautiful views, lovely rooms cleaned every day. Food good with alot of choice and yummy pancakes cooked while you wait!! Cala Galdana is a very peaceful and Beautiful part of Menorca and I will definatly be coming here again probably to the Sol Gavilanes as it has a view to die for!!

When we arrived we were a little disappointed as we had become a victim of the 'Thomson marketing machine', indicating all rooms had a sea view. We had a 'Main Road' view, if I looked out of the balcony through 90 degrees I could just see the sea. If I had have known this, I would have paid more for a full sea view. All rooms and balconies are a little on the small side. Putting all that to one side, the hotel has a superb, stunning, position right on the beach, they have the best staff (and I mean all of them) I have ever met on a package holiday, really nice, helpful people. The jewel in the crown of this hotel is the large terrace area used for dinning and evening entertainment. It is accessed from the ground floor when you walk in from the front but the view from nine stories up at the rear is stunning with panoramic views right across the bay and sunsets to die for. Entertainment was also very good and on some nights exceptional. I thought the food was very good, various salads, fresh fish and meats all well presented and appropriate for a 4 star hotel. If it's burgers, KFC and any other sort rubbish that Brits seem to love consuming these days, then forget it, this hotel has quality basic food, lovely. Oh, perhaps I should mention there is a Italian corner with pizza's, yuk. To capitalise on its proximity to beach, the hotel has 4 or 5 lifts from all floors to the beach with large beach towels available free of charge. Taking all into consideration, I'd recommend this hotel to anyone who wants a quiet, relaxing holiday in quality environment, we had a very enjoyable stay.

The hotel is clean and comfortable with good size rooms and a lot with beautiful views over the bay. Staff always helpful, kind and considerate.

The food in the restaurant was either cold or raw. It was obvious it was the end of the season and we did not count for much. There was no entertainment or activities. The hotel is not suitable if you have mobility issues. The pool only gets about 4 hours sunshine because of the trees surrounding the area. Be aware that you have to pay a daily parking charge for the use of the car park if you have a hire car. We used a car park across the road. They even charge the reps!!! The hotel was clean and the maid was excellent, she could not do enough for us and the bar staff work very hard. We will not be going back to this hotel.

The best holiday ever! :D Everyone was really nice in the hotel and remembered us from last time we stayed their which was 5 years ago! On my sisiters birthday they gave her a cake and ballons and made it really special. The foods lovely (especially the rice pudding) and the rooms get cleaned properly every day so their always sparkling clean. :D The resorts really nice and you feel safe and all age groups are easily occupied. I can't fault it... think its the best place in the world! :D:D

We spent 2 weeks at this hotel and had a brilliant holiday.

Accommodation- We had a family room which was spacious and very clean, sheets and towels changed regularly, maid service good. fantastic view from our balcony, fridge, air con and fan, 2 TVs, and security safe. Room had two bathrooms which was great.

Restaurants - We all thought food was excellent, plenty of choice and good selection of fresh food , hot and cold meals as well as Italian corner.Desserts were also lovely. Breakfasts were good with wide selection to suit all, eggs were freshly cooked. Choice of two restaurants and staff all helpful and friendly, they catered nicely for my daughters birthday.

Entertainment - This is probably the weakest aspect of the hotel. There was not a brilliant entertainment programme here, very amateur acts. Okay for an evening maybe but we preferred to take 5 minute walk to centre of resort to watch better entertainment in square or other hotels.

Pool- Lovely swimming pool, plenty sunbeds and activities going on. Clean and well maintained. Poolside attendant was great. Childrens club seemed adequate.

All in all we were looked after very well in all departments of the hotel, bar staff very efficient as were reception staff, games room good too.Drinks a little pricey but we expected that.

For us as a family with teenagers the resort was perfect, , there was water sports, boats to hire, kayaking etc snorkelling good too. Plenty places to eat and nice little shops , beautiful safe bay with stunning scenery and many great places to visit on island. Try water parks and El toro ( highest point on island ) for some outstanding views. Hired a car for three days to see other resorts, all nice but Cala Galdana the best

Hope you find this helpful and your holiday is as good as ours.

This was our fifth visit to the Sol Gavilanes (so it goes without saying that we love it)but this was the first time we did not book a package deal. We booked the flights with Monarch and the hotel on the Sol Melia website. We travelled at a very expensive time as it was Spring Bank Holiday and doing it independently saved at least £1500 even including the cost of car hire for the week!

I would recommend Economy Car Hire which was a great price and even a free upgrade which is always good. They meet you at the airport and take you by minibus to there premises 5 mins away to pick up your car. The drive to the hotel is really easy and hassle free taking about 25 mins.On the return journey you just park the car in the airport car park and leave the keys in the car-obviously there is very little crime on Menorca!

Cala Galdana is a beautiful spot and the veiw from the hotel is fabulous. We had a Family Room which is great with lots of space , two bedrooms and two bathrooms which really helps when getting ready with two daughters!

The pool area is small but great for children. We had no problem getting sunbeds even though the hotel was full.
Being able to hire pool towells and change them twice a day if needed was nice. The beach is great but the sunbeds are so expensive that with our weather being mixed we did not want to pay and then not use them all day. Most of the sunbeds were empty so lots of people must feel the same.

Our two disappointments were the food and the entertainment which had gone downhill. The food on the Terrace was particularly poor with limited choice and the feeling that they were saving money by not replenishing empty dishes at the buffet, serving the cheese in tiny pieces instead of whole cheeses, putting the same bowl of soggy biscuits out morning after morning etc. The worse aspect of the meals was however the attitude of the restaurant staff. Requests were greeted with grunts or ignored. Service was rude and the uncomplaining Brits were obviously a big inconvenience to them. We found eating in the main restaurant meant better food and service but of course you lost the veiw.

There was a lot more in-house evening entertainment which was weak at its best. Again are Sol trying to save money? Only a handful of people stayed around for these shows but the three shows with professional acts were great and packed out with people buying lots of drinks from the bar ( please take note Mr Sol).

Finally we had a lovely relaxing holiday.There are things we would not do again such as the horse show down the road. The big selling point for this hotel is definately the location, that veiw in the morning when you open the curtains cannot be beaten however there were a few things which had deteriorated enough for us not to rush back immediately.

We really hope the management see these problems and resolve them quickly.

This was our second time at the Sol, but I doubt we will be returning.

Firstly, the entertainment used to be one of the best things about staying at this hotel with good acts on a 14 night rotation. This has changed to a 7 night rotation with very poor quality acts, 2 nights with entertainment provided by the staff, which was abysmal. We spent most of our time going over to the square and the Cala Galdana Hotel, which had far superior entertainment.

The food this time was not up to much and if it wasnt for the Italian Corner with fresh pizzas and a pasta chef, we would have found it hard to find anything for our family to eat. The puddings were horrible with ";plastic"; synthetic cream. We had no chance of putting on weight this time, as we mostly had fruit for our pudding! The breakfasts were not bad but always busy with queues.

The good parts were again, the kids club, the view from the rooms and the cleaniness of the whole hotel. We had a few days of jellyfish where we couldnt use the beach, therefore the pool area was rammed solid. This is not big enough for the amount of people in this hotel, as everyone finds out on arrival.

We still had a nice time, but compared to last year, the food and entertainment has gone downhill. We will be staying at the Galdana Gardens next time, which have been refurbished over the winter and look gorgeous.

Cala Galdana is the best resort in Menorca,it has a fantastic setting with lovely clean beach and crystal clear sea(IDEAL FOR SNORKELLING).
At night the cliffs are floodlit and it looks really impressive,it is a laid back resort most of the entertainment is hotel based(Abba Tribute Bands,Bee Gees etc),and is usually over by 11.30.
If your the loud full on club type then stick to the Costas etc this is a wind down type of resort.


WE booked the Sol Gavilanes direct with the Sol Melia website(lot cheaper than anywhere else)
Flights with Monarch on website (excellent ontime and good service).

The Sol hotel is absolutely spotless with excellent staff and beatiful gardens and pool.
Negative points for us were the lack of evening entertainment and the number of very young children in the hotel even though it was Mid May( THOMSON GOLD next year to get away from the little screamers).

All in all if you are a family with young children try Cala galdana you wont be dissapointed.

first of all before the moans let me say you will enjoy your holiday at this hotel due to its great location and the beautiful bay

our main gripe was the food it was very cafeteria style we thought it didnt rate 4 star.
the breakfast was passable but the evening meal was very repetative mostly serving veal pork meatball bigger meatballs very little veg even potatoes were scarce. a lot of chips
fried in front of you straight from the freezer plastic bag and very unexciting pudding the odd fly buzzing about due to i think no air con this was the case as well in the somewhat dated reception.
next the rooms very small balcony beautiful sea view not even enough room to sit at the dressing table and pass to the other side of the room you had to walk over the bed risking the blades of the ceiling fan beds rock hard but sheets changed every other day the air con was useless

the pool was very small and sign was unbeleivable no eating no drinking no inflatables no diving no dogs no shoes
not enough sunbeds or mattresses if you did find a bed gyn and sauna (underneath pool) opened for a couple of hours after half past three
drinks a little on the dear side 4.3 euros for a pint

sunbeds on beach 8 euros each umbrella 5 euros this the first time we have stayed in a ";SOL"; hotel we were not impressed this has put us off staying in another one of their hotels;
H10 much better

Ok so this was a late off the cuff booking for one week HB accommodation upon arrival with Thomson.

There was a choice of 4 hotels we could have ended up in one or possibly two were Gold selections so we took a chance. Never been to Menorca before so it was quite a surprise to see how green the island was. First impressions when we arrived were good the reception dealt with us in a very homely and professional way and made us very welcome. The room we had was on the side of the hotel; it was ";compact"; but had the usual necessities, reasonably comfortable and kept in a clean state daily. On the down side the pool area was small for the size of the hotel, poolside sun beds were ";reserved"; and gobbled up early doors and what remained was very shaded if you were there to sunbathe, oh and the pool area was at the front of the hotel up some steps of a path, so we gave that area a miss. In an effort to get some sun we wandered via the lift to the beach (very handy) unfortunately the charges for the beds were rather extortionate 8 Euro per bed and 5 Euro for the parasol which worked out at £14 per day!!!, needless to say most were empty.

The food at the hotel was the main sticking point for me, I have been very fortunate to have stayed at some very good 4 and 5 star hotels in Spain covering many of it's regions and I have to say the fair on offer while of a fair standard was not 4 star quality, it lacked variation or choice and at times it became a chore deciding what we were going to eat. This is one area that definitely let the hotel down,and I have to say at times it was a bit of a rugby scum to get a table and to get your food,another was the waiting on at the bar area, let me make it clear the service at the bar was exemplary but the waiting on while watching entertainment or during the day on the area over looking the bay was poor, I know it was end of season in many respects but how much does a greeting and a smile cost?

The resort itself was tidy and comfortable and not to busy, a few bars and restaurants and if you had kids one had an area for crazy golf etc to entertain the kids. I could never imagine the place being overrun or becoming a haven for the younger generation it's not that type of place and I hope it never becomes so. A slight annoyance at night was the booming noise of the entertainment at the three main hotels in the resort; the entertainment took place separately at all three in an outside area and at its peak sounded as if we had walked into some sort of music festival with three different acts trying to get your attention. A note for smokers (of which I am one: sorry) this is one commodity you will have a problem with, with the new laws in Spain apart from the obvious, the sale of tobacco at supermarkets and shops is now forbidden, you now have to purchase your tobacco from tobacco shops. Unfortunately the local tobacco shop has closed (the nearest is a few K's away) so the only source are two machines, one in the bar I mentioned with crazy golf etc in the centre of the resort the other in a bar down the road from the Cala Gadana hotel called the Missisipi, you have been warned !!

We rented a car to explore the island, it is a small island (less than the size of Anglesey in Wales) and if you're used to driving in Spain you can cover the main resorts and towns in about three days, which we did. The roads off the main arterial centrally running dual carriageway are more like our B roads and a little more care should be taken. Spain is currently running a very high and visible crack down on speeding and reckless driving; at times you could see why some of the locals obviously had not heard the news. There are some nice coves and little villages to visit to many to list, what we did notice was that the western costal area was a little more commercialised than where we were situated and in some ways spoiled the area.

So a few weeks on would I go back to Menorca, simply put no, I know of people that do go back there year in year out, I feel I could not. The island is certainly worth a visit, but for me it did not leave that lasting impression that required me to go back again and again unlike some other areas of Spain I have visited, if however I did go back it would be to the area I stayed it did tick most of the boxes and is more the type of area I am happy with these days.

We studied the reviews before we selected the hotel.We had been to the Sol Menorca in San Thomas in May and had been impressed with the hotel so we booked the Gavilanes as it was in the same group.The room was cramped but very clean and comfortable.The air conditioning did not seem to work, only the delivery fan seemed to work with no refrigerated air even on maximum cooling.

The food was at best very ordinary...and on more than one occasion just had one course because the choice was very poor and the quality more in line with a cheap cafeteria than a 4 star hotel.
The evening entertainment was the usual and indeed we had seen most of the acts in May and varied from ,not bad,to awful.The constant crying and shouting of toddlers and newborn babies added to the relaxing atmosphere..NOT..and were a constant pain all week.
The resort itself is pleasant enough, but the food in all the restaurants we tried was all about the same in terms of quality ie, there was`nt any and prices are about on a par with British prices.

We met guests from other hotels in the resort and they offered similar oppinions about their accomadation/food, without us mentioning ours, so i guess it must be the norm for theresort.
The weather was great for the first few days and then it thunder stormed for two days...nobodies fault, but there is nothing to do if the weather turns bad.
The staff were all fine and the hotel was clean and in good repair, but I would class it as a 3 star rather than a 4 star.
As we were leaving a film crew from GMTV was checking in at reception, so you will be able to check it all out on tv next year.
Some kind of early sitting at meal times for people with young children would be beneficial as at times it was more like being in the middle of a club 18/30(months)holiday.

Not recommended if you want a relaxing break.

Were we at the same hotel that other people have been raving about? Or perhaps some of the staff were in 'shut down mode' due to the closeness of the end of the season?

Whatever the reason, the majority of the hotel staff were extrememely dour and seemed generally bored with life. This particularly applied to the restaurant where one waiter didn't smile at all for the first 3 days and when he did I jokingly said to my wife that it must be his day off the following day and sure enough it was! Although there was always plenty of food on offer, the quality and presentation was poor. At breakfast the fried eggs were nearly always broken and the bacon was rock hard. At dinner, I can remember lamb chops which were virtually all bone, kebabs that weren't cooked through, mashed potato that was actually Smash. You probably get the idea by now!

Cala Galdana itself is beautiful. The beach was busy but never packed. As other people have said, the sunbeds and parasols on the beach were extremely expensive. We always used the beds and parasols around the hotel pool which were always plentiful whatever time of day we turned up. Entertainment in the resort is really confined to the three main hotels. We found a very friendly bar (Blanco y Negro) in which to spend a couple of hours each evening. If you want nightclubs then Cala Galdana is not for you.

In summary, we will definitely return to Cala Galdana but will try a different hotel. Some people we met in the bar said that the food at the Hotel Cala Galdana was very good so we'll probably give that a go next time.