First of all what a brill website!
Going to La Pineda next week and staying at La Hacienda. Can anyone tell me if there is a fridge in the room as i have a baby whose milk needs refrigerated.Also is there food in the restaurant that would suit a three year old.Thanks

Hi,

there is a fridge in the room, however the one in our room was unlocked but in my daughters room it was locked. I beleive it is the mini bar that they advertise as payable locally. I should think if you request mini bar they supply you with the key and stock it with drink, I think we were just lucky it was open and empty. I am sure they have keys to them that you can request. Bear in mind that the electric only works when you are in the room as you need to put your keycard in the slot for it to come on.

As for the 3 year old, there are always chips on offer also rolls and cheese and meats, pasta and rice pudding, unfortuantly no chicken nuggets or fish fingers and watchout for the sausages the ones we had were very spicy.

Hope this helps have a good time.

Hi

This is a great page to get some info,I am going to La Hacienda for a short break,not till October though. Have found the website for the Hotel if anyone is interested?

http://www.hotelhacienda.net/english/opcion1.htm

Will be very interested to hear about everyones trip so keep us posted all who visit and have a great time.

Just returned today from La Pineda staying at La Hacienda. Heres what i thought.

The hotel was lovely!! Double beds in every room and very clean,maids cleaning every day. Pool area was lovely and adequate sunbeds for everyone.

Entertainment was ok and good things for kids(kids club and mini disco in evening)

I had read that the spanish staff were unfriendly but this proved to be untrue, however they had a lot of trouble understanding us and vice versa.

The food was typically spanish, i thought it was dreadful as did other people.It was so bad that we ate out every lunchtime as we were starving. I had a 3 year old with me and there was nothing for her except chips.However like everything it depends on personal taste.

All in all the hotel was lovely but because of the food i would never go back to it. Also La Pineda was far to quiet.

Hi Erin

Thanks for the write up. It is good to hear a straight forward, honest opinon. Sorry that the food spoiled things a little, as we've never been to Spain before then I'm not sure what typical Spanish food is like??

I understand its all down to opinions, but 'typical' spanish food is delicious. I defy anyone not to like a properly made tortilla (potatoes, eggs and onions)

I know because my mother was Spanish and when I was a child, I much preferred it when she cooked Spanish dishes for tea, rather than chips, nuggets, burgers and typical English food etc etc

I suspect that the food in restaurants is made to cater for the English/german tourist market and very likely does not reflect what native Spanish would eat

Apologies to anyone who took my "typical spanish food" comment the wrong way. Most probably spanish food cooked properly is delicious .
What we had in La Hacienda was part spanish and also food to cater for other nationalities. What i objected to was everything dripping in oil and meat(burgers,sausages,beef)only cooked on one side. Perhaps this appeals to some but again its personal taste.
The food didn't spoil the holiday as there were a few english bars in La Pineda serving "typical english" food and we also ate out in Salou.The hotel is so nice,its easily one of the best in La Pineda, that you can overlook the food while you are there,and hey you might even like it yourself!!

Well, I can now make my own judgement on this hotel having stayed there for 8 nights.

Food - absolutely excellent - not typical anything, but good selection, good quality, served in a spotlessly clean restaurant. No complaints whatsoever.
Rooms - a lot more basic than I had expected. Fridge in a cupboard is locked and the cost to unlock is 2 Euro per night. Not what I expected, but then I've never been to Spain before. Is this usual?.
Comfortable beds - maid service very good but occasionally had to request extra towels for our three person room - bit of a mix up really - they provided the next room with three sets of everything!!.
The entertainment was fine - not a great deal of young children around - suited us, as ours are older - Spanish "Pablo" - the Animation Team - was enthusiastic, and a thoroughly nice chap - didn't matter that he couldn't speak much English - water games are good fun in any language.
View from the balcony over pool was lovely - other views not so good - over the local power plant - you don't see that on any web pictures.
Hotel had a good mix of French, Dutch and Spanish and I believe that this keeps the standard of the hotel up as other Europeans do not put up with as much as the English tourist would. There are organised trips - if wanted - and we did several - the Hotel is part of a chain (which I wasn't aware of when I booked) and make every effort to keep guests informed of events. All in all, I fell in love with this laid back, stylish hotel and would thoroughly recommend it without any reservations. All five of us were equally impressed. I understand that it does get a lot busier in the summer and the atmosphere may be slightly different but it is still worth the risk - if for the food experience alone.

I have booked a holiday to this hotel today, the board is all inclusive however i cant seem to find any website that shows that it does? all inclusive. Has anyone been to this hotel on a all inclusive board? Also any ideas what the weather is like out there at the mo? Im going on the 16th May.[/b]

EDIT: Merged with this existing 2 page topic
David HT Mod

Hi, I went to this hotel last April and didnt notice that it did all inclusive, but things may have changed.

Have you tried looking at their own website?

It was a lovely hotel. Hope you enjoy your stay.

Karen

I have booked this hotel for 3 of us on an all inclusive basis in August this year so I too would be interested if anybody else has sampled what it is like. I booked my own flights and the hotel and transfers through Kwik travel as it worked out cheaper that way.

Really looking forward to going, we stayed in Salou last year but the all inclusive hotels in Salou werent getting very good reviews so we thought we would try Pineda.

Whilst we stayed in Salou last year we went to the aquopolis park in Pineda it was fabulous - the dolphin/whale show was brilliant, the only complaint was that there is only limited shelter so take plenty of sunblock if you're fair skinned like us!

If anyone would like to post a review, please do so HERE.

Thanks.

Pippy

Hi Kad
We have also booked (4 of us) to go on an all inclusive to this hotel in august.
We booked through Fleetway travel and got quite a good deal.
We have stayed in pineda before in a hotel just up the road and we liked it there.We found Salou to be quite 'in your face'!

When in august will you be there?

Karen

Hi Karen,

We go on the 4th. I still havent seen anything regarding the all inclusive board basis, so we will just have to sample it for ourselves when we get there.

When do you go?

Karen

Hi Karen,

We are going on the 24th.
We couldn't seem to find out much about the all inclusive either so we got the travel agent to find out for us.We have been told that it includes all locally produced drink and all soft drinks and water,
They didn't seem to know if 'snacks' were included but if you have breakfast,lunch and dinner, i can't see you wanting much. I think ice lollies and crisps were also included which should see the kids o.k!!

We got quotes from a few different travel agents and they only seem to do Half Board, it was only fleetway that said they had a special deal with the hotel to offer all inclusive.
One travel agent wanted £3,500 for half board for one week and we got all inclusive for £1,700, not a bad deal me thinks!!!

I hope you have a great time let me know when you get back.

Karen

We've paid just over 1400 for 3 of us for 10 days including transfers. I booked the flights myself. So we are very pleased with the price, just nervous that nobody seems to know anything about all inclusive.

By all accounts though it is a fab hotel, so I'm sure it will be fine. I cant wait.

I will post when I get back so that you know before you go.

Take care

Karen

Hi Karen,
I was just wondering if you were back yet and how it was.Hope you had a brill time, any info would be brilliant as we go next week.

Thanks
Karen

Hiya

We're back (unfortunately) we had a fabulous time at La Hacienda, it is a very impressive hotel, facilities are excellent, everything is spotlessly clean. The food was great, there were days when there wasnt much choice for me as I dont like a lot of fish or seafoods but the salads were always great and the desserts were to die for!! There was always pizza on and either chips or homebaked crisps so none of us went hungry. You could get snacks at the pool bar when the restaurant wasnt open but only until early evening.

The hotel is the first one you come to from the airport, so is at the quieter end of the resort (not that it is that busy at the other end either) there are a couple of shops and restaurants in the immediate vacinity though and the walk to the other end of the resort is only about a 20 minute stroll. To be honest we spent most of our time at the hotel. The Aquopolis waterpark is excellent, we spent a great day there. Bonovista market on Sunday mornings was great too, plenty of bargains.

There are not many British families, apparently they only allocate 20 rooms to British people, there were a lot of Spanish, French and Russian families. The mini club entertainers all spoke English, some not very good but could be understood, the main man (I cant remember his name now) is nuts, he works so hard to make sure all the kids get involved. Our son is only 5 and he went to the kids club every morning just to see what was going on then came back to us when he wanted to get in the pool. They also have activites for the adults in the daytime. There is a football pitch and tennis courts and they have competitions and tournaments every day at 4pm. The main pool is 1.2 metres at it's shallowest which was a concern for the first couple of days as my son couldnt stand up in it, so we had to stay with him, his swimming has definitely improved while we were there. But there is also a toddler pool and a large jaccuzzi which he used to swim in if it wasnt busy. Peter had a massage in the spa which he thoroughly enjoyed, he paid about 20 euros and there were plenty of other treatments on offer too.

The weather was fantastic, we stayed on the side of the hotel looking out over the gasworks (which are so far away you wouldnt know what it was) the advantage to this is that you also see Port Aventura in the distance and get to enjoy the firework display there every night at 1145.

The all inclusive option was great, no problems you just have to sign cards
when you get there then sign receipts when you order anything from the bar or drinks in the restaurant. There didnt seem to be the usual restrictions of 1 drink per person either as I used to get a few bottles of water to take up to our room in the night time with no problems.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay here and would definitely go back, we didnt want to come home 10 days wasnt enough. Some British people we spoke to werent happy that they were in the minority, but it didnt bother us in the least and meant that we mixed more with those that were there!

I would definitely recommend this hotel.

Hi Karen

Really glad you had a good time,you went all inclusive didn't you?
You said snacks were available at the pool bar did that include ice creams?
What was the weather like, was it very hot and was there plenty of umbrellas round the pool. Also what sort of time did you have to get down to get a sunbed? All these questions, i hope you don't mind!!

You mentioned Peter had a massage,is that your husband because thats my hubbys name too, so it seems strange you being Karen (mine too) and we both have hubbys called Peter!!!

Thanks

Karen