Just got back from a week at the benalmadena palace hotel apartments and thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact, i would class it as the best holiday i have ever had. Staff are friendly and our kids were entertained for the entire holiday by susanna (who my 8 year old son has fallen in love with), and carol and jo (our airtours kids reps) and of course thanks to nacho too who kept my hubby entertained with archery, rifle shooting, water polo and other events.

There are activities all day to keep every one occupied and the apartments are second to none.

A great selection of food available in the restaurant and all in all, a top class holiday. I shall definitely be booking for next year.

Joanne broomhall

Just got back! Yes the hill is very steep, but use the underground car park to make it easier. I found that the music and the entertainment was played too loud. There was also very little management intervention on unruly and noisy kids. We requested low floor with pool view. We got the view but on the 5th floor. That was better really because we were farther away from the noise. The pools were good although the outside pool was very cold. Plenty of sun loungers to be had inside and out. Every morning our bathroom smelt of sewer and foul smelling drains. I complained the first morning and the second morning but nothing was done. It seemed that if you ran the water for 10 mins and flushed the loo a few times it disappeared for a while, but was back first thing next morning. I found the area dirty with the usual time share touts bugging you. I found some fairly decent restaurants with polite waiters. Street sellers are allowed to meander through the restaurants trying to sell their wares which got on my nerves.
I would not go back unless I wanted full English breakfasts in British bars run by brits selling British beers. This is not the real Spain its kiss me quick Costa del Blackpool.
I did however have a wonderful neighbour in the next room to me. I

Stayed in Benalmadena Palace for a week from 17 Oct and enjoyed our stay very much.

The apartment was a good size with good facilities, the only draw back was our room was at the end of the hotel where some new villas were being built so there was some building noise but it wasn't that bad.

The hill, wasn't as bad as expected no problems with that, the outside pool was cold but plenty of room around to sunbathe.

Had a couple of meals in the restaurant which were good but didn't rate the evening entertainment much probably why not many people in there, have seen a lot better elsewhere.

Good quite location, no noise to keep you awake at night, but be prepared to to a lot of walking.

Yes would go back again.

The hotel was very good. The entertainer tried his very best but could do with a team to help him. Children do just run round wild. The only real problem was that as soon as you get to this hotel they photocopy your visa card number. We asked three times for the photocopy back but was met with excuses. When we asked on departure we got told that it had been destroyed. Let's hope they was telling the truth.

Would not rate this as a 4 star hotel.

Pool and surrounding area never cleaned the two weeks we were there.

Hill not as bad as expected after reading reveiws.

Building work going on which we were not told of in advance.

Our apartment was broken into one night and we had items stolen (not the only ones we found out later) hotel management along with Airtours rep did not want to know. Found police to be more helpful.

Also very suspicious of reception staff taking photo copies of passports and credit cards on arrival, no evidence of these being destroyed on departure.

This is not a four star hotel, we stayed a week and did not have the room or bed changed once.

The pool and sauna were dirty, the entertainment a joke, it was always cancelled. One night the dancers had a cold and one night the parrot show couldn't turn up as it was raining.

Ony one or two bar staff so it takes about fifteen mins to get a drink.

The rooms are also very noisey and far too small. All our stay we had to put up with building work going on right outside.

We had a room for four people, but had only one spoon, two glasses, and three chairs.

We liked Benalmadena and we had a great trip to Gibraltar, the hill to the hotel did not bother us at all, but it was not worth climbing to get to this hotel.

I have stayed in over 100 4 Star hotels in the last 4 years on business and pleasure. This was by far the worst.

We booked the hotel separately on a half-board basis, and used an AVIS hire car from the airport - their advertised price for a Corsa was doubled by the time insurance and mileage was taken into account.

The hotel allocated us a studio apartment on the 7th floor under the roof and we had to bend double to get round the bed. There was no window or drawer space in the bedroom. Probably a health and safety issue there! The noise from the Air Conditioning Unit on the roof was terrible. The beds and towels were only changed once during the week and the refuse not removed at all.

The dining room was like the Marie Celeste. Few people ate there even though the food was good. The service was awful with the staff on duty too busy talking or making up their own meals to clear the tables. There was only one wine list for the whole room for 5 days.

Around the pool it was impossible to move because of the compact arrangement of the sun-beds.

Trips to Gibraltar, Mijas and Granada made the week just about bareable.

This was my first visit to the area and I will not be rushing back. Certainly not to that hotel.

Stayed at this hotel for one week. Our room was located on the 6th floor overlooking the pool (although we paid extra for this). The rooms were a typical layout for a 1-bedroom apartment but there were too many tables (6 in all) and not any drawer space! There was no sweeping brush in the room either and when you're self catering with two kids you need a brush! On the plus side the bathroom was great - had a separate shower cubicle as well as a bath/shower - handy when you're all trying to get ready at the same time. Did have problems with a horrible smell appearing in the bathroom but on reporting this to reception we had a maintenance man to sort the problem out very quickly. He explained this is a common problem with a new hotel, but doesn't know why. Our patio doors didn't lock but hubby fixed this himself. Maids were in and out frequently to change towels and empty rubbish bin but did only change bedding once in the week.

Ate dinner in the hotel on 3 nights. Food was OK but I agree with previous comments - there wasn't enough staff and they did seem pre-occupied with getting there own dinner or chatting. On our last night all our plates were piled up at the side of our table and it was still like that while we were eating our desserts!

My kids went to Airtours kids club and really enjoyed their time there - big thanks to Carol and Jo. Didn't see much of the hotels evening entertainment but it looked really empty in the Disco bar whenever we passed by.

Outside pool, although lovely, was too cold for us (lifeguard was on duty everyday). We made full use of the indoor heated pool which was almost the same size as the outside one. There was also a small sunbed area just outside the indoor pool area which was very handy for me.

Hotel was located in a quiet area of Benalmadena. We did a lot of walking but often just hopped on/off the buses to get to the Marina etc. Cost only 95 cents each and we could even get to neighbouring Torremelinos for this price.

Enjoyed our week but won't be rushing back to this hotel or the Benalmadena area.

Some observations of our recent stay at the Benalmadena Palace.

The hill.

Not too bad and only a problem if you're unfit or have a walking disability.

The Pool.

Freezing cold outdoor pool. Indoor pool area was OK but quite often dirty. Plenty of sunbeds available at all times. Sauna room was OK but often out of order. The steam room door didn't close properly and was out of bounds for the whole week of our stay. The Gymnasium was small but nobody used it.

The Restaurant/bar.

Only had a sandwich and a coffee at the poolside snack bar which was OK.

The Bar in the evening was a real let down. Not enough bar staff meant you sometimes had to wait 15 minutes for a drink. Children were allowed to run around unsupervised. The entertainment was non existent so they just played CD's very loudly making it impossible to strike up conversation with other holiday makers. Very poor service, glasses were left lying around for hours, never once saw the staff clean tables or collect plates etc.

Our room.

A nice big room on the fifth floor overlooking the pool. Very noisy at night times. Horrible sewage smell coming from the bathroom in the mornings, only seemed to go away when people were up and using water/flushing toilets. The maids came every other day but didn't once sweep the room. Don't think they checked the cupboards/fridge when people left as we found some butter, water and a few cans of beer on our arrival.

The Rep.

Can't remember much about her even though we attended the meeting on the first day. She couldn't answer some of the questions put to her and gave some poor advice regarding the trip to Gibraltar. We wondered if she was being serious when suggesting we spend a whole day at the marina at Puerto Banus eyeing up the rich and famous. To be fair she was quite young and it was possibly her first time abroad herself so not a good candidate for a rep in my opinion.

The resort.

Quite a nice place to visit but a week was more than enough. The usual timeshare/street traders giving you hassle, sadly just a part of your holiday in Spain nowadays. Plenty of bars and nightlife in nearby Torremolinos, we avoided the British places after the first days breakfast experience.

The highlight.

The cable car ride up the mountain on market day.

We wouldn't go back to the Benalmadena Palace again.

To complete our week, we had a 7 hour delay back to Gatwick on our return flight.

After suffering a 1 and a half hour transfer (advise a taxi on return 20