Aquaola

Everything about this hotel is great. Just a short drive from Malaga and the airport in the foothills. Perfect location, not too big, helpful polite staff, very clean, great views of coast and hills. Nice rooms and good size, breakfast choice is excellent and a nice bar/sitting area. Food and drink available all day. Also fantastic pool and garden area. Beautiful village of Mijas very close by. Will definitely return.

For the price they charge, and they call themselves four stars and ‘palace’ it’s a bit of a stretch. The one good thing is it’s adults only so no crying babies anywhere. The breakfast and dinner are great but it’s too crowded and loud no matter what time you go. Same with the pool area. Too crowded. The pool itself is shallow, a max of 4 feet. It’s not deep at all so you can walk from one side to the other and they keep it at a too warm temperature, like a bath or a jacuzzi. I would have preferred it to be cooler especially when it’s 40 degrees Celsius! The rooms are great (but I guess it depends what room you get) I befriended the staff working in the dining room and they were lovely. When I asked them what time they eat dinner…. They said they don’t… and that all that food gets thrown out instead of allowing their hardworking staff to eat there or to take it home. It’s a shame to throw all that out. Beware though that in your room you get one bottle of water on the first day and that’s it. They have no place to fill up your water bottle… which is ridiculous. So you have to keep buying plastic bottles. Be aware also that during the dinner buffet they don’t offer water (free) either prepare to pay 3 euros for water during dinner. Or other soft drinks. Also, one of the days I needed a bandaid so I went to the front desk/reception and they didn’t have any which surprised me again as this is supposedly a 4 star hotel… The pool area has a war of seats early.

I had a really lovely stay, the food was beautiful and the pool area well naintained-Lovely staff except for one male bald older bar tender, nay if been one of the owners on my both occasions approaching him came off rude. My biggest downside was as a solo black woman on my second night I was eating dinner and was asked to move half way trough my meal to accommodate what appeared to be a rude family with no regards for me. I was stunned and this wouldn’t happen in any other places. For this reason I wouldn’t visit again sadly.