Let me add my tuppence worth to the excellent comments made about this hotel.My wife and myself stayed two weeks there and cannot find any faults about the place at all.Rooms are spacious and cleaned to a high standard daily.The buildings and grounds faultless.The location was perfect,as a twenty minute walk along the beach took you into the Plaza shopping area of Costa Dorada.The hotel shops are a little pricey,but thats to be expected.The staff were really friendly,always speaking/joking with you.Generoso and Henry in the main restaruant were superb.The entertainment staff(Star Friends)really put in long hours,with the various activities during the day,and putting on the various shows at night.Excellent.Especially the Lion King.The Dominicans are a friendly people,and although there is a lot of poverty,they still smile and give the enevitable 'OLA'.Would we visit again.....YOU BET!.

An outstanding hotel well worth the visit. Only grumble was the hotel diving school staff who nagged us to book a trip with them the whole time we were there.

Where do i start? This hotel was by far the best i have ever stayed in. The food was fantastic, Lobster, Beef, Lamb, Pork, Turkey, curries, roasts, fish, pasta's etc etc and this is just the buffet!(and all cooked in front of you).
The room was lovely, maid came every day and was kept immaculate, always left her at least $2.
We flew from East Midlands with First Choice and upgraded...it was worth every penny...the flight, service, seats, attendants....lived up to there name!
The hotel workers never stopped.
Location was just about right.....on the beach and a 10 minute walk to the shopping mall.....but i found it too hot to walk so ordered a taxi from reception and always booked a return so they just came and picked us up again. Entertainment was great, something different every night and in the day we had beach parties, paella etc.Hotel spa was fab...had a massage, manicure, pedicure...all very reasonable. The gym was fantastic with hot and cold jacussi's and steam rooms in both the ladies and gents changing areas. Pink Flamingoes, Peacocks, Turtles all in the grounds.....this hotel has it all. I have just changed my booking for 2008 from the Gran Ventana back to Iberostar Costa Dorada....says it all really!

we were in a group of 8 adults and 9 children and found the hotel to be very good. the staff were excellent and our holiday rep was always very helpfull, we got married whilst we were out there and the wedding planner really made it a special day for us, the all inclusive package was well worth it as there was a steady supply of food and drink and ice creams for the kids, the only sour point was in our party we had my friend darren who is severly disabled and sometimes people seemed to stare and point at him, not so much the hotel staff but the other holiday makers. this was particularly upsetting for him when we tried to take him on the bannana boat. but that aside we really would recommend this hotel and will be going back again.

Ted and Caroline

We took our family to the Iberostar in August for our friends wedding.

We found the staff to be very friendly and cooperative, the food in each restaurant was lovely and we was surprised to find that we could even drink champayne as part of the all inclusive package!!

We did however find the entertainment poor and found that most of the guests seemed to find our friend Gary great entertainment! due to the fact that he is a travelling dwarf in a roadshow asnd is a constant exhibitionist!!!

All in all a fantastic holiday

FANTASTIC best holiday ever. the food was out of this world, the buffet restaurant was great so much to choose from, 3 al a carte restaurants but we didnt try these as men had to wear long trousers and our youngest son didnt have any with him. good idea to tip the waiter as he gets your same table and your drinks for you. $1 they are very greatful for that.The hotel rooms are very clean, mini bar restocked daily if you leave a little tip for the cleaner. The star friends entertainment team are fantastic, scooby doo, spiderman, superman, victor, francesco, cuculolo and not to forget little cassandra if you get involved once in a game they remember your name I was known as Paul uk. watch out for the lion king show, and agua? you might even see michael jackson. If you are travelling with thomas cook, your rep will be Emma shes fantastic, she will do her very best to help you, she never failed us.

The hotel was amazing. Would definetly go back again and recommend it to anyone who is planning to visit Dominican and also to anyone who is planning to get married over there. The beach is private to people from your hotel and you don't get harassed by people selling things all day as you lie there soaking up the sun, there are people selling excursions but if you say no thank you they normally don't bother you again.

The food was good and the buffet had a good selection at night, even the fussier eaters in the party managed to find something they liked.

The hotel staff were lovely. Superman is the most memorable and is actually in some of my wedding photos. The rooms were cleaned every day (and I mean spotless when they left)and the maids were lovely always singing away whilst they worked.

Weddings at the Iberostar
Our rep Vicky from Thomson was really nice and planned all of our wedding and organised everything leaving us a stress free day. She was fantastic and our pictures in the grounds were stunning we had pictures taken at the beach which was lovely but at 2pm in the afternoon and 110 degrees there wasn't much make up left on my face!

All in all an amazing holiday. Can't wait to get back over there.

We have just got back from this hotel I loved the hotel.

Holiday was great. Staff fantastic loved every second apart from the weather. 3 days of rain some days sunny some cloudy 2 days of thunder.

We went with Thomas Cook our rep at the time was very good very helpful and made you feel very welcome.

My partner was not all that keen on the hotel because there was not a lot to do.

We think the hotel is suited to older couples.

We chose this hotel based on recommendations and generally excellent reviews on various holiday websites.

The hotel itself is spotlessly clean, well designed, with landscaped gardens, impressive decor and a great layout and situated right in front of the beach.

Our room was quite large with a minbar, TV, nice bathroom, air-conditioning and a balcony though any view was obscured by large trees so we didn't really use it much. Good idea to request a pool or sea view when you book!
Towels and sheets were changed daily and the minibar restocked every 2 days as necessary. We only saw one bug in the room during the whole fortnight (which sadly encountered a swift but humane death by flip-flop)
I don't think we saw one mossie during the 2 weeks either!

The beach varied in quality but was kept nice in front of the various hotels on the complex and there were always plenty of sunbeds available.
Even when the limited number of beach canopies had been nabbed by all the invisible people that leave their towels on the beds from dawn til dusk there were plenty of palm trees to shade under.
The beach-bar was also handy for drinks and was open from 10am to around 6pm.

The pool area was huge and well kept and there were regular pool games, dance sessions etc. and refreshments were always on hand from the poolside bar and restaurant.
Again there were plenty of sunbeds available any time of the day though some folk insisted on bagging 'their spot' with a strategically placed toeel or upturned paperback book regardless.

The food was excellent.As my wife is quite picky with her food we ate in the main buffet resaturant most of the time for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The choice, quality and presentation of the food was outstanding and the service was always prompt, courteous and efficient. A couple of mornings there was a champagne and smoked salmon option for breakfast which was a nice touch.

There are 3 speciality restaurants (Tropical, Mexican and Brazilian) which are a-la carte and waitress service which you need to book a day or 2 in advance. We tried the Brazilian which was ok but overall we were more than happy to stick to the Buffet restaurant

I felt the evening entertainmnet was a little disappointing. The 'Star Friends' do work hard and put a lot of effort in to the shows but although they try to vary it each night it does get a little 'samey' and the main shows only lasts from around 9.30 to 10.30.

There is a resident live band who then play for another hour or so but their repetoire is mainly Spanish music.
Unless that's your thing it does get a bit repetitive and we found ourselves in bed before 11.30pm most nights if we weren't up for yet another drink!

I appreciate Spanish is the first language in the Dominican but as 80% of the hotel guests seemed to be Canadian, North American or Englsih speaking Europeans I felt they could have tried to vary the live music on offer each evening.

We only did one trip which was the monster truck safari which was great fun - at

The hotel was out of this world could not fault one single thing if we tried, staff were falling over themselves to help you and were always smiling and very polite they were so nice. everything was so pretty and well kept it was fant5astic and go on all day.we got married at this hotel and spent three weeks there but in honesty it was not long enough, normally after 10 days i need to come home but not here. the wedding co ordinaters are fantastic they make everything so special, santo in particular was brilliant what a gentleman.i wont so no more other than i cant wait to go back there and if you haven't then try it it's fantastic