Hi Dermott

I'm not a weather expert, but I believe that Benidorm and Majorca are about the same weather-wise.

I think you'd be surprised if some-one from the Majorca forum suggested you went to Benidorm, but it really depends on what you're looking for. There's more choice of entertainment in Benidorm, but personally I chose to live in Majorca because I find it a nicer place.

April will be very quiet in most Mallorcan resorts, although Palma Nova and Magalluf will be the busiest. The Magalluf Park is slap bang between Magalluf and Palma Nova.

Whichever you choose, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Cheers

Adam

I`ve been to both in April, it depends what your wanting out of a holiday.

How old are you? who are you travlling with? What are you looking for?

If you say what kind of an holiday your looking for, I`m sure I could give you some info.

Sorry Adam, I love both Majorca and Benidorm for different reasons.

hi theres me and my husband and son and his girlfriend where going to book magaluf park for 27th april its 795 for 2 of us half board for 2 weeks think its a good deal we are ages 46 and 48 my son is 25 and his girlfriend is 23

Why don't you wait and get a late deal :lol:. We stayed at the Magaluf Park in April this year and to be honest it was OK but I wouldn't go back. Have to admit the location was very good but wasn't keen on the food (too British) or the cockroaches . Gx

I`m going to Magaluff Park earlier in April, I have booked flights with Bmi Baby for £139 for 3 of us and the hotel I booked hotel through Winter Sunshine holidays £255. total for 3 for 7 nights £394. Have a look at diy. There`s loads of low cost airlines flying into Palma.

hi have you seen cockroaches in the hotel or in the rooms please let me know what you think of hotel if they have problem with cockroaches not goin to go been to this hotel 3 years ago and we saw cockroaches in the bar area but thought it was just a one of but lookin at different holiday reviews there has been a few sightings of these thankyou for any info you may have

Hi Dermott. In April of this year, we had rooms 137, 139, and 141 and two of the rooms had cockroaches. There were loads in the bathroom, if I remember they were coming up the sink and through the light fitting. Me and my friend had our kids with us and we all ended up sleeping in the room that we didn't see any in. My friend speaks very good Spanish and the maid said there was always problems in the rooms on this corridor. One evening in the dining room there was a bit of a rumpus (little girl screaming cos she had seen a cockroach on the curtains ). Personally, I didn't like the hotel but there are plenty of people who do :shock:. I can't imagine what it's like in high season (the heat in the dining room, not much space around the pool). We posted a review on the hotels section, don't know if you have seen it. To be fair, the location was good but can't think of any other positive comments - sorry. We stayed at the Santa Lucia last year which we thought was much better. PS We were there at the beginning of April (school holidays) and the weather was brilliant.

I think it is a bit unfair to pick on this Hotel because you had some cockroach problem. Calvia, which covers the whole area around Palma Nova, Magalluf, Santa Ponca, and Peguera is very strict with Cockroach control, and all bars and Hotels have to have a certicate that they have been treated. However some of these things can fly - it is simply impossible to guarantee to anyone, anywhere that they are cockroach free- a female can land, lay her eggs and within a few days you would have dozens of them.

However if you brought it to the attention of the management, I would be amazed if they didn't take some action.

We find that no matter how well we treat our bar, they can come in inside packaging, in the rims of beer barrels etc etc, but as soon as they cross the line of treatment, they will be dead within minutes, but a customer might still have seen them, and I would be mortified, if they suggested we had a cockroach problem, because we have not.

We've known hundreds of people who've stayed at the Magalluf Park, over the past 3 years, and I've never heard of this complaint from anyone, although I'm not suggesting for one moment that it didn't happen, or that it might have caused you concern.

There are very immediate and effective treatments for cockroaches, and as I said, I'd be amazed if the management didn't attend to such a complaint immediately.

Cheers

Adam

hi goodfellow thanks for that was getting worried as we still want to go to magaluf park but when i read some reports it started to put me of i know its a good hotel we are going booking it next week for 27th april so we will come and see you at your bar any further comments will be appreciated thanks julie

Dermott. I just gave my opinion on the Magaluf Park :shrug. The maids came into the room with some sort of powder and advised us to leave the plugs in the sink and the bath. When the situation didn't improve they did move us to other rooms which were fine.

hi pargaluvva thanks for that the rooms you were in can you tell me what floor they were on thanks might ask for high floor if you were on low floor

Hiya Julie.

You being a Benidorm babe will know that Benidorm is a 12 month resort, the Balearics are not.....simple.!
Also, whilst the Balearics (particularly Ibiza) are more or less on the same latitude as Benidorm, the climate is not the same and this is because Benidorm has its own micro-climate being protected by the mountain range and nestled on the coast situated facing south.

The micro-climate is one of the advantages of Benidorm that enables it to attract visitors all year round.

If you are wanting to compare Majorca with Benidorm for the entertainment and the chances of good weather in April...well sorry, there is no comparison.

You pays your money, you take the choice

SanJi

Hi Dermott. I think they were on the 1st floor (not sure if there are any rooms on the ground floor). Like I said, they did try and rectify the problem and they did move us to a higher floor but I can't remember which :oops:. We didn't have a problem with these rooms. I'm sure you will have a great time. Gx

On the subject of cockroaches

Adam, with all due respect.
Keeping a bar cockroach free with regular fumigation (that as you rightly say are the regulations, especially where food is being served) is a relative small task when compared to the size of hotels.

I have never liked low floors in hotels because of the chances of a cockroach crawling/flying in from the gardens, but when you have cockroaches on higher floors, then the hotel has an infestation that no amount of fumigation will ever get rid of them...all they can do is try and keep the numbers down.

Also, it costs quite a considerable amount of money to fumigate a large building on a regular basis.....some hotels try and cut the cost down and just fumigate the kitchens, but to fumigate effectively, then you have to evacuate the building and literally set fire to it.
Not until quite a few guests complain do they then bring in the pest control, but by this time, it's too late.

Cockroaches are there, they are part of the scenery and the Spanish(depending on the amount of exposure to them) accept them as part of everyday life...they don't like them, but realise the battle between man versus cockroaches will never been won by humans.

The hotels (also depending on the age of the building) that are spending the money fumigating on a regular basis, will be the hotels where the chances of holidaymakers encountering a roach...will be slim.

I encountered an infestation of roaches on the 8th floor of a 9 story hotel that was classed by British Tour Operators as a 4 star, and when I spoke to a local lady, who had no vested interest whatsoever in the hotel.....she said " I'm not surprised, it is an old building compare to other hotels (20+years old) and "locally" classed as a budget hotel."

I use the word "fumigate" in the broad sense..... to cover all types of treatments
I hasten to add, that the hotel was not in Majorca.

SanJi x

Hi Sanji

this is because Benidorm has its own micro-climate being protected by the mountain range and nestled on the coast situated facing south.

That would be the same microclimate that Palma Nova and Magalluf enjoy, protected by a range of hills/mountains, we enjoy less rain and more sunshine, than most other resorts on the Island, and on the mainland at similar latitude.

You failed to mention the small matter of crime in Benidorm. Nearly every holidaymaker I've spoken to this year, who have chosen Majorca over the mainland has mentioned the epidemic of crime on the mainland, which we do not see on this Island, obviously because it is so much more difficult for some of the undesireables to get into and out of Majorca. A simple search on Google for "Crime in Benidorm" reveals over 85,000 options, whereas a similar search for Magalluf reveals less than 1,000. Not very scientific, but it's a problem that's certainly not as serious here.

As regards Cockroaches, I accept all of what you say. However my point was that almost certainly the Magalluf Park does not have an infestation problem, otherwise I'm pretty sure we would have heard about it from other visitors. This hotel is maybe 200 metres away from my bar, and we get lots of visitors who stay there, and I didn't want Dermot to panic thinking he's booked some horrible Hotel. I accept what Pargalluvva says, but can only think that this was an unfortunate one-off, and as she says, they were moved into another room, presumably giving the Management a chance to clear what seems to have been a localized problem.

BTW, I have no issues with Benidorm, and we will be visiting for a week in January.

Cheers

Adam

Hiya Adam.

Ooooh, I wasn't knocking Majorca and I have absolutely no interest in the hotel Magulluf Park.
I was merely answering the original question, ( in my opinion) if you are wanting to compare the entertainment and the weather with each resort in April.....I have been to Majorca in April

Sorry, but I would disagree that Majorca shares the same micro-climate that areas on the Costa Blanca do...particularly Benidorm by being nestled on the coastline, protected from all sides by the mountains of Sierra Helada to the east, Aitana to the north and Tossal de la Cala to the west, plus swung around to face south.
Yes, you may get resorts that are protected from the severity of the elements by mountains, but the Balearics are Islands situated in the Mediterranean sea and therefore are subject to weather belts from all directions.....we'll agree to disagree on that one

I didn't mention crime Adam, because I didn't think it was part of this topic, the poster asked about the entertainment and the weather in her original post, but I have no problem enlarging on your suggestion of the issue of crime, not only in Benidorm, but also mainland Spain.... just as long as I don't get my wrists slapped for appearing to have come into this forum looking for an argument and going off topic...which I have not hun.
However,
You fail to mention on your google search that Spain has a population of 44,395,286 inhabitants (officially) but like the UK that number does not include the illegals...and it is estimated that 60,000 have entered the country in the last 4 months alone....by illegal methods.

Valencia (which is only a medium sized region of Spain) and where the town of Benidorm is situated..... is approx 23.300 km2
The Island of Majorca is 3,640 km2......so there is no way that you can compare Majorca to Benidorm, unless you find a town with the same population, area and equal amounts of visitors.....
It's like trying to compare the statistics of some parts of London to the Isle of Skye. the statistics for Skye will always be more favourable, chose how many numbers you feed into a computer.

It's not that the undesirables can't get to Majorca, thousands could get there tomorrow if they wanted too...... they don't want to come to an Island where work is seasonal...they need mainland Spain for their journey across Europe.

Tenerife and the Island of Malta thought they were of no interest to immigrants, and look what has happened there.
Never say never Adam

Regards
SanJi x

The original post was weighing up the balance of holidaying in Benidorm or Magalluf - and I raised a topic which I think is of interest to people choosing their holiday destination, and I am proud of the fact that Majorca enjoys one of the lowest crime rates in tourist resorts in Spain, whilst Benidorm has one of the highest.

The figures which I quoted were a direct comparison between the town of Benidorm (a holiday resort) and the town of Magalluf (a Holiday resort) and is therefore a fair comparison.

As regards undesireables, there are a huge number of eastern European Gypsies travelling across Spain, and obviously are attracted to tourist areas. In order to get to Majorca they have to pay the ferry costs, which put most of them off, and those who do are soon rounded up and run off the Island. The problems in Canaries are caused by people fleeing West Africa - it's a flipping long way from there to Majorca - don't think there's too much risk of them landing here!

Dermot has chosen wisely, but I'll let you persuade me where I can spend my hard earned euros when we visit in January, and following what you've said I'll pack only shorts t shirts and swimwear

Cheers

Adam

I wasn't suggesting that illegal immigrants from the west African coast would come to Majorca.....but considering that thousands upon thousands of them have been let loose in Mainland Spain, having been transferred from the Canary Islands, then the problem of acquiring the money by ill-gotten means for the ferry crossing, it not an impossibility

The figures which I quoted were a direct comparison between the town of Benidorm (a holiday resort) and the town of Magalluf (a Holiday resort) and is therefore a fair comparison.

Sorry, no it is not a fair comparison....
Magalluf has a beach 1 kilometre long ....and has an area of ? ...capable of lodging a few thousand visitors.
Benidorm has 6 kms of beach that attracts on average 180,000 people and has 65,000 permanent inhabitants in an area of 38.5 km²....now capable of lodging 5 million visitors.

Majorca enjoys one of the lowest crime rates in tourist resorts in Spain, whilst Benidorm has one of the highest.

Would you care to substantiate that statement with some official figures...and then put those figures into perspective against the above points...like the square metres of area, the number of permanent residents and the number of visitors in a 12 month period. ....considering that Benidorm is a 12 month resort and Majorca is not, then those figures will be flawed before you even start.

Not very scientific,

I agree.!

Currently, just over 7 million visitors pass through Majorca annually ( that is the official figures for 2005 from the Mallorcan tourist board) and refers to the whole Island.
Benidorm (the town) has had on average 4 + million visitors...so that means 4 million people in one town, plus the 65,000 permanent residents to base your crime figures against.

Anyway, I shall once again be in Benidorm from Xmas until the 1st week of January 2007 and if the last 4 years are anything to go by, then you will need your shorts and t-shirt...but I suggest taking a coat because it does get cold at night.

SanJi

got a good price for magaluf park 2 weeks half board 2 adults with flights and transfers with thomsons for 790.00 going to price match it with travelcare as got a 50.00 voucher of them this morning as we booked with them when we went benidorm in sept its a welcome home present let you all know whats best price we get will call in at goodfellows when were there going to book for 27th april