We arrived at the Arena Center hotel on Thursday 8th July 2004. We thought we would have 2 bedrooms in our studio apartment, however it was just one room, but we were pleasantly surprised at how big it was. There were two (larger than normal size) single beds, and a sofa bed that pulled out into two single beds. In the room were two cooker rings, a fridge, crockery, dinner set etc, and a colour TV. The room and bathroom were spotlessly clean, and we had a chambermaid every day, who changed the bedding and towels regularly.

The hotel staff are very nice and helpful, and the half-board meals were very nice, with a full Continental and English breakfast every morning. As the Arena Center is both half-board and self-catering, the restaurant is quiet most of the time, and there's very little queues. Breakfast can get a bit busier if you get to the restaurant after 9:30am. Breakfast is 8am - 10am, and the evening meal is 7:30pm - 10pm. As soon as we'd finished our meal, a waiter/waitress was very quick to take our plates straight away. The drinks are fairly expensive to buy in the restaurant.

In this hotel, many of the guests are Spanish. The receptionist told me when we were there it was 80% Spanish guests, and the other 20% was British, Germans and Dutch.

The pool, the pool area and the gardens around the pool was very clean, and there are plenty of sun beds. We would go down to get sun beds about 9am, and we could always get four together with two parasols. There was always a lifeguard on duty. There was water polo on some days, but there was very little activity around the pool, which made it quiet and relaxing!

If you like a family hotel, Kids Clubs, and mini disco in the evenings, then this hotel isn't for you, as it's a quiet hotel, which is great if you like quiet relaxing holidays. The evening entertainment was a bit disappointing, but when there was entertainment on, it finished about 12am. This is the quietest hotel we've stayed in, as there was very little noise after 11pm or 12am. The young girl who did the evening entertainment was nice enough, but she was too limp and didn't have enough 'Go' in her... and she was more interested in talking to the Spanish guests or preening herself.

I liked the resort of Roquetas De Mar, it's still very Spanish. But unfortunately there are a few British bars about, but not many. There's plenty of other bars/cafes/restaurants in the resort, but we didn't use many as we were half-board. The Arena Center is only about a ten minute stroll to the lovely, long, wide beach, which is sand/shingle. There's plenty of bikes to hire in Roquetas De Mar, but we found it was too hot to go cycling round! Although we did hire a quad bike for an hour, which I think cost 10 euros for an hour.

Unfortunately, there are flies about. The hotel staff told us this is due to the hundreds of greenhouses in Costa De Almeria. I would suggest taking an insect repellent with you, as the flies can be persistent. We were told the flies were 'fruit flies', but I'm not sure what the difference is to a normal fly!!

We hired a car at the resort from Almericar which only cost 41:50 euros for the day (Saxo with a/c). We drove to a quaint village called Nijar, where the locals make and paint the ceramics in front of you. We also went to Mojacar, which is nice enough. Another nice place is Aguadulce, but not if you're 25+ as it's very much a young persons place! In the evening we drove to Almerimar, which is a port/resort and nice to walk around.

We also caught the bus to Almeria. The bus stop is outside the Golf Trindad hotel, and it takes about an hour to get there. In Almeria the castle and cathedral is worth visiting. It's only two euros entrance fee to get into the cathedral, and it's free entry to the castle.

We decided to walk into Roquetas one day, and we went to the castle there, which was ok. From Roquetas we decided to walk to the Gran Plaza shopping center. I would not recommend this... as we walked & walked & walked...! It was further away than we realised, but we eventually got there! If you really want to go to the Gran Plaza, I'd recommend getting the bus or a taxi. We got a taxi from there to our hotel and that only cost 7:50 euros.

It was an excellent holiday that we thoroughly enjoyed, and we will without a doubt return to this hotel again, hopefully July next year.

It was new in the brochure with no reviews so took a gamble on the four star.

Room was not ready on arrival which was annoying as we had booked a taxi to beat the coach mob but got a better room in the end with pool view.

Air conditioning was an absolute god send and must - could not have survived without it.

Nice mix of people with good sprinkling of Spanish.

Evening entertainment was not great and overall the place felt a bit new and soulless although that is being harsh.

Staff were helpful at reception - don't change your travellers cheques there though.

Bar service not great at poolside.

Bit of sun bed hogging going on but I loved the lifeguard who just ripped the towels off - my king of guy.

We went to Roquetas de Mar on the 3rd of june 2004 for 1 week. When we arrived at the hotel, the reception area was impressive, it was very spacious with comfortable seating. Our room was very spacious with 2 double beds in it, television, large balcony facing to the back of the hotel with nice views. The apartmemt also included a cooker,fridge,and a very nice bathroom. We were not too impressed by the entertaiment, it was more for the kids than the adults. The hotel food was good with a different variety every night. It had a mixture of different pastas, chicken, soup, steak, and much more!!
the location suited us perfectly - almost on the beach front.