Still summer prices, these will drop from October. Pints earlier in the season for €1, coffee and brandy or €1.50 in lots of places then.

Robby

I totally agree, we always visit fuengirola every august, this year august 9th 2 weeks half board las palmeras hotel as like last year.

Now I know that the british pound is weak at the mo, when we were there it was 1.16 to the euro, however, we could not believe prices in certain british bars in fish alley. ie britannia bar/dolphin pub, 7 euros for 1 large wine(spanish wine) ? and ok pint of magners!! I know cider is imported, but spanish vino!!!!! come on your in spain for gods sake, we were buying don simon red vino in supermarket for under 1 euro per carton!!!!! so thus we went to bar la plaza fuengirola centre opp church and paying alot less than the brit bars!!! also food issue!!!! I spent almost my money on food, as the hotel evening meals were dire!!!! so for example some money spent on for example a jacket potato at yes you guess it!! £ 5-£6 just with beans!!! in manchester I can get better for £3!!! burger king £6-£9 for a meal deal!! rip offf!! however spanish tapas very very cheap!!! so if you want english food!!! forget it!! local food!! cheap!! I have learnt my lesson and will for sure be booking next august in a villa/apartment and will buy my own food, as I found the supermarkets ARE cheap,. and more variety, then atleast you can eat when you want, and what you want, drink as much cheap vino, and not be ripped off.no wonder the spanish only have one half of lager/1 coffee and make it last all night..JOKE!!!

And finally do not drink sangria in english bars!!!! watered down crap...spanish bars a definete yes!!!

Heres hoping the british pound/euro gets over 1.20 next august also!!

and another rant:

Gibraltar trip - express £16 pp, rip off when there food/drink in uk prices expensive??

Buses and trains - cheap, cheap!!

Internet cafes - cheap!!

dolphin trip - £15 pp - 2 hrs very expensive although if you see them its worth every penny!!

fuengirola Zoo - went last year, £16 pp - good zoo, but with crap rate is now not worth it!!

just go on buses and trains to malaga, mijas, benalmadena, and torromolinos and do your own thing, and you wont be stung by excursion prices!!! MALAGA CITY - is cheap, but this is because its mainly spanish tapas(which I adore) no english bars thank god!! Mcdonalds is still ok and reasonable, my fella had his fill..

Hi Kazza, we are thinking of spending Christmas in Las Palmeras (15th to 26th.) Can you post a review to give me some idea of the meals? Not booked yet. Mick.

Wow Karen, what a rant...love it !
Yep got to agree with you, there is only one British bar that I frequent and it's because I'm too bone idle to walk further for a snack at lunch time, when dragging my weary body off the beach.

I won't give them my custom. I stayed in the 4 * hotel Pez Espada in June and can you believe that the drink prices were cheaper than some British bars were charging outside.?

My OH was whinging one night to see a football match ( I think it was England under 21's) and so we found a British bar showing it, I think he had a gin & tonic and I had a bottle of fanta orange and the price was just a few centimos short of 7 euros, it wasn't that price in the hotel

And the beauty of it all is that people rave about this bar and IMO it's a dump and I wouldn't be seen dead in the place again, football match or no football match.....he called them thieving robbing so and so's, they deserve to go bust, don't come whinging to me.
Two freshly made white coffee's in the local Spanish bar, served in a glass tumbler the way the Spanish have it, 2.40 euros total, 2 bottles of Mahou or San Miguel for 3 euros total"¦.and that was in Benalmadena Puerto Marina ( Spanish bar)

IMO The Gibraltar express is good value for 16 euros, but like you say, once there, the bar/café/ restaurant owners know they have a captive audience and people will pay when they get hungry.
Last time we went to Gib and looked at the prices for 'fish n chips' or tea and scones, my OH said...."I hope you sell a lot, but it wont be to me"....it's a captive audience in a rip off tourist trap"¦trap being the operative word.

The British are not visiting because of the poor exchange rate and these bar owners are losing money hand over fist, but keeping prices at the "old" prices before the pound sterling did a flop against the Euro, this is not going to entice the few British tourists into the bar.
I know the price of goods have escalated in Spain and they are having to buy in euros, but surely, it's better to break even or make little profit, than to make no profit at all and slide further into the red.?

If the Spanish bars can do it, why can't the British bars.?
In June I walked several times from Torremolinos back to my hotel and on route the Spanish restaurants were doing ok with plenty of people inside, the British bars were empty"¦"¦nuff said.

The Spanish are not well paid and the cost of living has risen in Spain, the average José and family have no more than a British family to spend, and it doesn't matter whether they get paid in euros and are spending euros, if you don't earn a lot of euros in the first place, you're just as worse off as the British and the exchange rate problem.
The Spanish bar owners know this and they're not going to charge estupido prices and cut their own throats....but it seems the British bars will gladly put their heads on the chopping board.

I'm off to Torremolinos in the morning and we are going s/c this time, I fancied a change because I got fed up of the hotel regimentation in June and Thomson's rip-off prices.
We might have a few meals inside the apartment, but the majority will be eaten in the local restaurants.
I'll be having a good look around at the prices and visiting Mercadona for fresh produce and some vino for my old man.

Sanji

Have a wonderful holiday Sanjii. Self catering every time as far as we are concerned. We usually sort out our own breakfast and snack for lunch and then eat out at night. The large bottles of beer sold in the supermarket are still good value.
Hotel food is so boring and repetative and the self service buffet style usually means that you are up and down like a yoyo. The Las Palmeras ii Fuengy is the last hotel I would stay in, its well past its sell by date and needs knocking down. The food when I last stayed there 10 years ago, was dire , the breakfast coffee was to die for, literally.

Hi all
I am off next Friday sounds like I'll have to economise when I am out there. Any cheap places you could suggest. I am room only so will probably eat out or get things from shops and eat in the room, and buy my wine and beer from the supermarkets.
Sanji I have cancelled that taxi and will get one at the airport, hope you have a good flight, where are you staying? As you know I am going to the El tiburon

Dawnie-Rob

we stayed at the san fermin hotel(on the opposite corner from the Bali)so spent a few nights on bonanza square so was only paying 1.50 euros for a bottle of mahou and the same for a glass of wine but we got stung on the second night in Johnnys bar on bonanza square when we was charges 7.50 euros for 2 brandy coffee's, were as the other bars were charging 4 so we never went in again. We was also paying 1.50 in the bars opposite the Villasol, bar none, star inn, monkey business and food wasn't badly priced in that area either.

small point if you drink shorts,you are geting a triple measure,get your moneys worth say no ice then ask for ice after
i dont drink shorts,cider is 3/4 euroes so i dont go out much

Everything seems expensive now with the crap exchange rate be it Spanish or Brit places. A decent loaf will cost over 2 euro. Our local beach bar now charges 2 euro for a tubo of beer, not sure but there would probably be about 5 or 6 in a pint. He is Spanish too. Makes me long for all those nice two meals for a tenner in the UK. We are the new poor

My experience of self catering......
We went with the intentions of eating the majority of meals in the local restaurants and after trying a few, and comparing value for money, we decided to eat in the apartment and it wasn't because we couldn't afford to eat outside, we took enough money with us"¦. it was because of the muck they were passing out as food.

I realise that there is just the 2 of us and some people will not go near a cooker on holiday"¦...I thought like that in the past, but with very little effort, if you shop where the locals shop and get the idea of British brands out of your head, you can do self catering very cheaply"¦...we brought back hundreds of pounds that we had earmarked for food.
I mean, if the Spanish can't make a tin of tomatoes, a jar of tomato ketchup, marmalade or fresh orange juice, then who can.?

China City restaurant in Montemar should be ashamed to call themselves Chinese, I have never tasted such dried, tough and tasteless rubbish that they called Peking duck, the duck must have died in Peking and been reheated several times on its way to Spain, and the rice was just one solid mess of starch stuck together.
How can the Chinese not know how to cook rice for goodness sake.?"¦"¦I might have swallowed the pill (bill) easier if it had been one of their cheapo "meal of the day", but it wasn't.

In the British bars, I saw "cod and chips" advertised for 6 euros and "Fish Tea" which consisted of battered haddock, chips, mushy peas, bread and butter and a pot of tea for 8 euros.
Lasagne chips OR salad for 8 euros, OR?, I'd have wanted both for that price.!"¦.Pasta chips and salad is tuppence a ton in Spain.
The price for a full "English" breakfast was between 4 and 6 euros, 5 euros being the norm.

We tried a restaurant called the "Ivy" in Montemar which was a total disaster too, the food was drowned in salt and I picked up the taste of the overpowering amount of salt used immediately.
Dave had chicken, chips and veg, and I had "Cottage pie" and veg.
The veg were obviously frozen out of a packet and the meat (if you can call it meat) was like something I open up out of a "Felix" packet every morning for my cat"¦Yuk, I couldn't eat it and the small amount I did eat, it laid heavy on my stomach, and I felt like giving it them back, for hours afterwards.

On the Saturday that had been threatening rain all day/night, I couldn't be bothered to walk all the way back down into La Carihuela village to go to Bodega Contreras, my feet ached, we'd walked back from Torremolinos, so, the "Carvery" opposite the hotel Sol Aloha Puerto have a special deal for senior citizens for 7 euros on Saturdays, normally I think it is over 10 euros"¦."¦.I thought we'd give it a try.
The meal was very nice, you had the choice of beef, lamb, chicken and pork ( all of them if you wanted) Yorkshire puds, roast potatoes, mashed potatoes( although we didn't have any mashed potatoes because it looked like "smash") and cabbage, peas, leeks, cauli and carrots.
You could go back as many times as you wanted, but you only had the dinner for that price, starters and a dessert were extra (3.80 for a dessert) and with the exchange rate, 7 euros was near enough 7 pounds and I can get a starter, main meal and a sweet for 7 quid at my local carvery.

The Spanish restaurant called "Bodega Contreras" in Calle Bulto IMO was the best food, best prices and best portions"¦.whether you ate British or Spanish style dishes.
We had swordfish that was like a piece of chicken, it was cooked perfecto "¦.another time, Dave had a steak and I had another swordfish.
Casa Pascual 1, again in Calle Bulto was doing a 3 course meal for 8.75 euros.

So, what did we do? Remember every euro was virtually a pound sterling.
We went up to Lidl and I bought:
Vacuum packed " British" bacon, (serra marina) 10 rashers for £1.29
Tins of tomatoes for 35 centimos each.
A jar of marmalade for 55 centimos.
A gigantic carton of fresh orange juice for 89 centimos.
A carton of semi-skimmed milk for 53 centimos.
A tub of "flora" "¦.can't remember the price.
Eggs"¦.can't remember the price.
A huge loaf of white bread (British type square slices) for 99 centimos.
A carton of wine (rosado) for 55 centimos, good enough to drink and throw in the cooking.

It took me less than ten minutes every morning and it probably would have been longer than that if I'd walked to the bar and ordered/waited."¦..bacon 3 minutes in the microwave, load the toaster up, tomatoes warming in a pan, hubby setting the table and pouring out the orange juice, a nice cuppa tea and toast and marmalade to finish off"¦.team work.!"¦5 mins to wash it all up and put away in the cupboards.

We went to Mercadona and I bought a ready cooked chicken for 4 euros and a few centimos, the prices varied depending on the weight of the bird"¦ We got 2 meals out of it, we had the breast with a fresh salad, a few baby potatoes and some fresh crusty bread from the panaderia"¦..the next day we threw all the rest of the meat into a stew pot that obviously hadn't been used very much in the past, and added some fresh vegetables to it, spiced it up with a few herbs/spices and a dash of brown sauce, and it was absolutely delicious for something that had very little thought behind it"¦..we let it simmer on a low heat for an hour while we had a siesta/shower "¦"¦.in fact it was only missing a few more ingredients and it could have passed for Andalucian stew outside.

We bought some mincemeat and pasta in Mercadona, threw in a tin of tomatoes, herbs and onions and we had Spag bol within 30 mins and it was far superior to the muck they were passing off outside"¦.made it twice.
Finished off with a yoghurt (4 for 99 centimos)
I think the dearest thing I bought was ham and cheese, which we had on a sandwich when we got back into the apartment, which was usually around 4 pm.

As far as getting ripped off for drinks"¦..
Two white coffees served in a glass tumbler which holds more than a tea cup in the Spanish bar called Velasco is still 2.40 euros.
Go onto the promenade to Restuarante Antonio in Plaza del Remo and two white coffees served in a cup will cost €3.60"¦.go up into Torremolinos near where the fair is held, two white coffees in a glass for 2 euros.
Bottles of Mahou for 1.50 centimos"¦.go to Lidl and 12 cans of Cruzcampo is €5.80.
A half sized bottle of gin ( ok it's not the best gin) but ok for an afternoon drink, €3.99 and 6 bottles of tonic for 95 centimos, again not the best tonic, but good enough to mix into the gin for a long drink after a long walk.
Same with the cans of beer, ok at times....we had the real stuff when we went out.

The biggest rip off for drinks was a Spanish bar in La Carihuela on the promenade called Heladería San Miguel.
We were walking back from Torremolinos and in dire need of liquid due to the heat"¦..I ordered a bottle of fanta orange, Dave had a bottle of beer, Heineken (spel)
The orange was draught orange and came in a half pint glass and the price €3.20 for the orange and €2 for the beer"¦.I was fuming and they'll never get me inside the place again.

I enjoyed it so much, I've already booked a better apartment for next year.

Sanji

Brilliant report Sanji. I love reading things like this that go into the nitty gritty of what folks have done for food and drink. So interesting.

I laughed out loud at ' the duck must have died in Peking '

So pleased you had a nice time, and found your way round the excahnge rate problem, lots of good stategys there.

Doe

Hi all
Did find the prices dear. Like sanji based prices on the pound. Went to Nigels and Cheryls for two meals, not bad. Went to the "Dark side of the Moon" for a two course sunday meal, not bad but went back another day and the meal wasn't so good. Chip shop in Montemar selling bags of chips for 2.50 in other words £2.50 a bag. Went to Toms Bar got a pint of San Miguel for €1. Went to Torremollinos for 5 t-shirts, they were asking €14 per shirt, went back to La Carihuela and got some for €7 per shirt.
Had a chinese meal on the Menu de dia (3 course) for 5.75. Had a meal in the Indian restaurant in the street just of La Carihuela front, it was very nice. Bought snacks and wine from supermarkets.
Wont be going back to the hotel I stayed in, they treated me like dirt. I have described my experience in the El Tiburon topic.
Prices at the airport terrible, €3 for a small bottle of water, did not buy. The businesses have got to realise that these prices are ridiculous, if they don't cut them, people will go elsewhere for their holidays.
Dawnie Rob

Dawnie, did you eat any Spanish meals? Shame the hotel didn't do any any.
My Husband and I are on our own at home and cook daily so when we go away, we don't want to do the weekly ritual of shopping/going to Supermarkets and cook meals so our dream on holiday is a barbie (cooked for us) in the moonlight on a warm sandy beach with the sea lapping over us, ..... better stop now, I making it sound too good!!!

Hi,
I have had a place in Arroyo de la Miel now for 10 years and have watched the transistion from Peseta to the Euro and the significant price rises which followed. Add to that the collapse of the pound against major currencies, particularly the Euro and it now makes Spain and the CDS quite a lot more expensive than it was say two years ago.
We used to visit several times a year for holidays but now we're both retired we spend quite a few weeks a year in Spain and boy have we noticed a difference. As I think Sanji said it's not that you can't afford the higher prices (although some can't) but there is no value factor anymore. What was good value for money no longer is so.
Walking along the Paseo in Benalmadena a couple of weeks ago near the Buffet Libre there was one english bar advertising (like it was a great offer) sweet and sour chicken and rice for €9.95 (£9). That's just one example of the stupid prices that are being charged. I know many British Bar owners most of whom are struggling. They've had the best part of eighteen months now of reduced trade. Many have run up debts and there are lots of bars where, following the end of the season, the owners are just handing their keys back to the landlords walking away from €80k leases.
My friends tell me that the cost of employing staff has risen quite a lot and that, plus reduced trade, is making things very difficult.
However, thre are many places that are responding to the times and making good reductions. Chameleons on Avenida Bonanza offer a great three course meal for €3. Giorgios on the same calle now have menu's starting at €8 for three courses. My advice is come up from the Paseo and shop around as there are many bargains to be found.
I also have to agree that there the Spanish bars continue to give great deals on their drinks and tapas.
Best tip - if you don't mind doing a little cooking - bring some packet sauces and shop at the local supermarkets/shops and eat in saving your € for treats at some of the places above or similar. A 1ltr bottle of San Miguel/Mahou/Alhambra is around €1.07 that's 50p per pint and tastes just as nice on our balcony as in many of the bars

Hi did not go into Spanish restaurants a bit nervous on my own, and lot of them its mainly sea food which I am not into, except for perhaps the odd prawn or white fish such as cod etc.
Diners were mostly in groups and couples. Some of the meals looked pricey. Would have had a paella but with the seafood in it and they seemed to only cook and price these for two persons.

Dawnie-Rob

Hi clunkclick
Welcome to HT. Spot on.
I had no intentions of standing in front of a cooker whilst on holiday and I don't mind paying for good food, but I'm not paying for rubbish, and just for the two of us, it was dead easy to rustle up something decent to eat in very little time.
A good example would be the "cottage pie"...that was never mincemeat, it reminded me of the old "Frey Bentos" tinned meat...or if I want to be horrible, it reminded me of a tin of chum.

I'd bought mincemeat in Mercadona, cooked it and eaten it.
It comes in a little polystyrene tray with cling film just like in the uk, with the weight etc.
It's sometimes called "burger meat" and you have to take note that some types have less fat and minus artificial colourings and all that stuff, and in Mercadona they have a small picture of a cow on the clear cling film part, and others have two small pictures of a cow and a pig....meaning one is solely beef mincemeat and the other is a mixture of beef and pork meat...the latter is cheaper.

I'll not mention any names or places, but I know of some bar owners who will change your sterling notes on a Sunday when the banks/exchange places are shut, they know what the rate is in the exchange places, they only have to look in the window on the boards that are usually left in situ until Monday when the financial markets open.

They are glad of the sterling because the GOOD bars will need the sterling when they go to Gibraltar to buy British goods in bulk in the warehouses.
They buy such things as Heinz beans/tomatoes, sauces and teabags etc"¦quality branded produce.
Now, *some* of them are going to places like Lidl and other warehouses/ outlets within Spain, and buying cheap foreign imports of lower quality, EG: cheap ham, cheese and bacon, and still charging the prices you would expect to pay for quality food.

I don't believe it's just happening in the CDS either"¦"¦"¦there's quite a few unauthorised dead chickens passing between hands in Spain.

Sanji

I have to agree with Sanji and Clunkclick, Spain is not the value for money place anymore. I did notice that this easter whilst we were in Benalmadena that meals are expensive, luckily we were on half board. Even the meals in the Bali had gone downhill from our previous visit 3 years ago.

We went to Ibiza in August and found the exact same senario there. Pie and chips 6 euros,toasties 3 euros, steak 14 euros, we did find a couple of reasonable priced places and the food was ok but I can honestly say that I haven`t had a good meal this year in Spain.

Like you Sanji I don`t like paying for sub quality food. I am no top cook but each time we ate I kept thinking that I could make a better meal myself but I cook at home each day and the whole point of a holiday is to have a break from the normal.Looks like if we do go next year it may have to be self catering as I am not prepared to be palmed off any more.

3 course meal in Ibiza 9 euros consisted of
prawn cocktail (aprox 3 prawns in it)
steak in pepper sauce a very thin piece and how they could ask how we wanted it beats me, sauce was packet type.
sherry trifle which was nice.

I had a fantastic 3 course in my favoirite pub this sunday for £8 I won`t go on about how good it was but everything was home made and plenty of it.

Things will have to pick up.