My name is Andrea, there is a big group of us going so no doubt you will hear us if not see us at some point or another!!!!! Really is almost here now!

Hi Andrea we will look forward to it with our nine and your sixteen god help them. Regards Stevie

Hi Sue, i am lucky enough to own a apartment in Roquetas and it is one of the white apartments close to the Neptuno (well next door to the Arena Center) i am sure you will love Roquetas, there are alot of good restaurants (cheap as well) close by the Neptuno you have the Europa (nice pork chops here) this is a 5 min walk approx, the bodegan 15 min walk approx and if you are really hungry then try the Flamingo on medditerrianeo about a 20minute walk but well worth it Warning only go here if you are hungry and dont order any starters you have been warned, also Theos is a good pub to go to especially on a sunday nite when Fanny appears!!! Roquetas is very flat so dont worry about the walking. If you want any info on tapas bars for the day time then let me know, if not have a good holiday.
Emmo

Hi Emmo

Thanks very much for your post. You are very lucky to have an apartment in Roquestas, it does sound ideal. I'd love to know about little tapas bars, fish restaurants (my husband doesn't eat meat and we all love fish), anything very spanishy. Little ice cream places that are open in the evenings, and any little plazas/bars/restaurants that have small playgrounds next to them - we've found these sort of places in Spanishy type resorts we've been to before and they've been brilliant - so any suggestions would be very welcome.

Thanks
Sue x

There are quite a few authentic restaurants and tappas bars in Roquetas de Mar, you should have no problem finding a nice one, but be prepared to speak a little Spanish

Hi all,

Just booked a fortnight at the Neptuna from July 28th using Easyjet & Hotelclub, just wondered if anyone knew how much a taxi is from Almeria airport to the hotel or if there's a shuttle bus ?

Any reviews from people that have just got back will be welcome too.

Cheers,

Mick

There are plenty of taxis outside the airport, I have never seen a bus though, perhaps one of the ex pats could help?

as Robert says , plenty of taxis about at the airport ,usually charge between 38 and 44 euros , so I've been told, for a one way trip to Roquetas, not heard of a shuttle bus tho

Stu

Thanks Robert
Very happy to practice a bit of the lingo, (I need the practice!!). What about little playgrounds by bars, ever seen anything like that? When we went to Conil (costa de la luz) which is very Spanishy they had lots of these little places which were great. Admittedly, staying at an aparthotel this time, we'll no doubt have enough going on there and may not venture out quite as much.

Sue

Hi Mick T
We're going to the Neptuno on 9th August for two weeks, so we'll be the white people arriving at the end of your holiday! Hope you enjoy yourselves. Never been to Roquetas before so hope its as good as it sounds.

Sue

Thanks for the advice all, from what I've read on this and other sites it should be a very pleasant stay.

Any advice on places to visit with young kids (11 & 3), or more to the point, places to avoid

PS: is there a Maccy D's in the resort, sacrilege I know but you know what kids are like
Hi Sue,

Hope you have a good time too, notice you're in Essex, I'm in Romford (small world)

No Maccy D' as far as I remember, there is a Burger King in the indoor shopping mall (a short Bus Ride away)

nearest Maccy D's is up in El Parador , quite a way out of the resort area

Stu

Cheers guys, the kids will have to settle for BK, unless they wear me down

Hi MickT

It is a small world - we're Loughton (if you know where that is!). Maccy D's tut, tut!!! That's sinful! We've only once been to a MaccyD's in Spain and that was in Benalmadina (not recommended believe me!) I have to say, it was quite nice - real meat... didn't taste anything like it does over here and the kids didn't like it!!!!

Hope the Neptuno is everything it's promising to be. Never stayed in an aparthotel before so really looking forward to it. By the way, in case you haven't read all the reviews, if you're self-catering the rooms do not have kettles. We'll be taking a travel kettle. I checked this out direct with the hotel, as my holdiay company said that this was rubbish and "don't believe what these holiday thruth websites say" - to which I replied "oh, so I shouldn't believe that the Neptuno is really nice and that Roquetas de Mar sounds wonderful!!!!"

I also checked on bath status and they don't have them - they just have showers. Hope this info is helpful.

Have fun!

Sue

Maccy D's taste the same where ever you are that is the thing about them!

Hi Sue,

Thanks for the tips.

I know Loughton quite well, used to spend many an hour in the pubs around Loughton, Abridge & Theydon B, lovely part of the world.

Hi Robert,

Main thing about Maccy D's in Spain is they sell beer, very civilised

Main thing about Maccy D's in Spain is they sell beer, very civilised

Yes that is a surprise

Just come back from the Neptuno and had a fabulous time. in our opinion 15 of us went it is one of the best holidays we have ever had. The hotel is very clean, food was fine, breakfast - omlettes and eggs made to request in front of you alsobeans, bacon sausage toms etc, continental breakfast etc etc. Dinner was self service as breakfast with an eat as much as you like system. Hot food, stews, chips, grilled meat and fish in front of you, pancakes made to order, soup, desserts, massive icecream fridge which again was self service and lovely.

happy hour 7 - 8 buy one get one free - if you only want two drinks just ask for 1 other wise you get 4 if that makes sense.

Pool always looked clean with a life guard on at all time we were round but we did spend the morning and early afternoon on the beach before sauntering off for tapas and beers before going back to the pool for the children to play. Our favourite tapas bar was Cullars Bar - a small family run affair - lovely!

Stevie Dee - nice to meet you hope you and yours had a great time.

There is no facility to change travellers cheques in the hotel so we went to either the bank or a souvenir shop close to the carribean breezer. A tip - make sure you take your travellers cheques in sterling. we took ours in euros and the bloke in the souvenir shop said that they didn't charge commission on sterling but they did on euros. Not sure if this is the same everywhere so it may be wise to do a little checking up on this area.

The beach is shingle and gets really hot quite quickly. there is a lovely breeze - sometimes a wind which tends to keep you cool however we had some freak weather days where the temp went up to 42 degrees. The sea is fine but shelves a llittle steeply - by which I mean an average adult after about 5 steps would go to thir knees a few more steps their thighs. Ok for adults but something to bear in mind if you have very little ones. Sometimes the sea was verry choppy and in my opinion not very safe to swim in however the majority of the time it was fine. After the sea had been choppy there tended to be quite a lot of seaweed and marine debris in the sea but this wasn't particularly a problem. we saw a few jelly fish washed up but none of us had a sting and neither did we hear of anyone who did.

Now then the flies..........there are alot of flies just like the type we have in England not the mosquito type. These seem to be a problem during the day but seem to disappear on a night. They do get on your nerves a bit after 2 weeks but it hasn't put us off returning or in any way spoit our holiday. If you really hate flies I suggest you eat inside as there were very little flies indoors that we noticed. we sat outside each lunchtime for the tapas etc and sometimes you would be constantly wafting them away from your food. once the food has gone they do tend to reduce in number.

there are a number of bars in the local area a mix of british and spanish. The tropical bar to begin with left the bottle of spirits on the table for our first 4 or 5 visits this did change after you became a regular but they always brought crisps, fruit, small cakes and sweets round every 10 mins or so in fact somethines it was embarrasing saying no!!!!! Alot of places brought out nibbles with your drink.

All in all a fabulous time was had by all. On the last day we visited the Europa pizzeria - food amazing in there but we did only go once.

For your information there were people who came round and left little trinkets on your table - particularly whch appeal to children. If you touch them or pick (which is waht the children tend to do straight away)them up you are expected to pay for them so be aware of this fact.