This hotel had average reviews on this site and we were not expecting very much. It has to be said however, that we were very pleasantly surprised when we arrived.

We had a lovely room, granted it only had a balcony with room enough for one chair and faced a wall but you could still sit out there and see the tennis courts.

The food we could not fault at all, there was something for everyone and i am a fussy eater! There was plenty to choose from.

Breakfast was a range of full English with eggs any which way you like them!! Cereals, fruit, yoghurt, cold meats, cheese and unlimited tea, coffee, fruit juices and water.

For lunch/dinner you could choose the full 3 course with a different soup every day or go for the lighter option, you had meats, fish, pastas, salads, assorted potatoes and veg.

We found there to be plenty to choose from and there was unlimited red/white wine on tap which was very nice!! As well as your soft drinks etc.

After reading a few negative reports and having paid very little for this holiday, we were unsure of what to expect.

We were really surprised when we arrived, we could not fault anything at this hotel. It is positioned on the edge of a very busy road but once you are through the hotel gates and into the complex you can't hear the road at all. The hotel is about 45 minutes walk from Puerto Banus and about 30 minutes walk into the centre of San Pedro.

The food was very good, loads of choice and something for everyone. The entertainment was OK - standard hotel stuff really, singing acts, flamenco etc, just things to watch whilst you drink the all-inclusive beer !

This was a very good value holiday and we would definitely go back.

On arrival at 1 am in the morning we were told our room number but not told where it was or how to get there.

The food was ok ish but a bit repetitive. The main complaint was the drinks, very watered down.

The room was clean but the fixtures and fittings were in poor condition, similar to what you would find in a second hand shop.

The location I can only describe as a roundabout stuck in the middle of the A1.

San Pedro is a good 35 mins walk away and Porto Benus anther 45 mins in the opposite direction. There is a good bus service to get to the latter but the return trip turns out to be a bit of a nightmare as the stop is across a very wide and busy dual carriage way, with nowhere to cross, how nobody has been killed I don't know.

The hotel staff were ok until the Spanish moved into our block, we and many other people complained about the noise the Spanish were making in the early hours, but we were told that they would only be there for a couple of days so we would have to put up with it.

Entertainment if you could call it that, was abysmal and amateurish, but you had know choice but to tolerate it as there was nothing outside of the complex

Never go there again..should be taken out of all holiday brochures.

After 10 visits to this hotel we think that this really says it all.

We would like to say to any prospective visitors that you may find it a bit quiet!

You will never starve, and if you want a chilled out and relaxing holiday this is the place for you......

See you in January 07 when we go again.

Very clean hotel, with the maid even wanting to clean your room while you are in it!!! The only problem was, cats patrolling the balconies of ground and first floor areas in the bar area.

If you didn't like chips, chips and veal or veal, you were stuck for something to eat. Chips are compulsory for every meal and sometimes you have four types of potato as a choice (chips, mash, roasties and wedges) in one serving. chips are at both ends of the display in case you forgot to get them at the beginning!!! Do not ask for an early breakfast as all you will recieve is bread and jam (the toaster is locked away until 8am). Dessert was diced jelly and savoury biscuits but no cheese, or shrivelled fruits in some sort of bland sauce. After 3 days we ate out most of the time for either breakfast, dinner or tea and sometimes all three.

Although we went for New Year we went on excursions and found it an ideal spot to get around Puerto Banus, Marbella and then the resorts towards Malaga (Torremolinos, Benalmadena etc). We went to Gibraltar for the day which meant crossing the motorway/road (M25, M6 Spaghetti junction) outside the hotel to get to the bus stop. It was like the computer game Frogger!!! Or a ten minute walk to the crossing nearer to the next resort.

The maids are fantastic, but kept leaving the balcony door open. The bar staff were miserable (apart from 1 really funny waiter who got a tip when we left) and a rule is a rule with them making and changing the rules to suit themselves. New years eve, as many drinks that you could carry, to 2 drinks per person when they got out of bed the wrong side.

What entertainment??? Diabolical is a compliment!!! We went to Cheers bar around the corner most nights.

Would I come back to this hotel??? Are you having a laugh??? I rather have fillings without anaesthetic!!!

The food here is excellent for an all inclusive it was always hot and varied and the snack bar facility was superb. Drinks were served in glasses plastic cups were used during the day for safety.

The staff were helpful and friendly and worked really hard. Yes there is a busy road outside the hotel but once inside you wouldn't know it was there.

Ask for the superior rooms or the rooms with air-con when you book as they are in a much better location on the site.

It is some time since I stayed in this hotel, but clearly very little has changed. I spent many a teenage holiday with my parents at a much superior (although without air conditioning) at a hotel down the road by the name of the Alcotan.

I found this hotel to be extremely impersonal and the food appalling.

We went on an All-Inclusive holiday, for one week from 27 August 04.

Firstly, the good points. The hotel complex was relatively clean, and the rooms cleaned efficiently and effectively every day we were there. The hotel staff were friendly and helpful, especially the bar staff given the long hours they worked. The food was good, plenty of variety, it was hardly cordon bleu, but you wouldn't expect that in a budget hotel. It was generally well cooked, and plentifully there (appart from strange concoctions at breakfast, such as runner beans, carrots and chips!). Although you did have to constantly queue to get your food as the restaurant was etremely poorly designed. The hotel entertainment staff also appeared to put plenty on for families during the daytime - such as water polo, archery, darts and football.

Now, the bad points. The decor of the rooms (especially in the one we stayed in of the central plaza near the bar area), needs updating; especially the doors, bath & showers. The main pool also requires some attention and repair, and the terrace area around it was small given the size of the hotel. The pool area was also very slippery when wet and I lost count of the amount of children that slipped and fell. There was also a prominent water feature on the waters edge situated at the shallow end of the pool - which many children were climbing on - given the slipperyness of the pool side I consider its location as being dangerous. The entertainment in the evening was so dire, it was laughable - you got the impression it was done as an afterthought on the cheap. We also thought that security was poor. Examples of this, we had money go missing, and some absentee parents left a group of about a dozen older children to run riot around the pool & complex upsetting other guests and very little was done to stop them. Surely the complex should be better patrolled? My advice to people staying at the complex, invest in a safe even if it is costsly (approx

We stayed in the Cortijo Blanco Concentration camp for 2 weeks from 22 August 2004.

When we arrived (at 2.30pm) our room was not ready and we were told to sit by the bar till it was. About an hour later we got the key to our room/cell. What a let down !

The furniture was older than god! four single beds in 1 room (12 foot x 12 foot). For a family of 4 with children aged 15 and 5 there was no privacy. The bath was made for a dwarf, our 5 year old daughter could not lie down in it. No cupboard space, no hangers. We lived out of our suitcases for 2 weeks. When we complained about the room to reception they turned round and said "did you not read your brochure when you booked?". When we complained to the First Choice Rep she said "we would have to stay where we were as the hotel was full" (did'nt even look into it).

The food was Hot, Plenty, Boring and a mystery(nothing went together to form a decent meal.

The bar was a joke all inclusive drinks where, during the day beer was served in plastic party cups that held less than 1/3 of a pint and you were only allowed 2 each (unless you were Spanish then you could get as many as you liked and went to the front of the queue). We complained to the rep and reception about this but were told they may be friends of the hotel. We don't mind rules but they must apply to everyone.

Our friends apartment was broken into via a faulty door which was reported and not repaired until after the event. When they reported it to reception they had to ring the police themselves and security said "we cannot do anything now". But if you tried to take any food out of the restaurant or snack bar (Which was supposed to be open all day but was closed for at least 3 hours per day) he would threaten to throw you out of the hotel.

There were no kids clubs, no windsurfing no tea and biscuits, just nothing like the brochure says. This was probably the worst hotel we have ever stayed at an would never return. Some people we made friends with were actually crying to go home after 2 days.

Kids Entertainment: We travelled as a family with kids aged 10 & 3 and anticipated that there would be decent entertainment for them. It was so poor some of the Dads organised Football each evening. Each day there were 4 or 5 1/2 hr slots where the older kids could take part in competitions such as archery, water polo,and shuffleboard etc. I liked the idea that the winner of each game is given a diploma with a medal after 5 wins but generally the standard was very poor. There was absolutly nothing for a 3 yr old to take part in (apart from the nightly disco which she loved) The kiddie park was a joke. 5 mins there and she was bored. Spent 4 days of week 2 at the Beach

Food: With all inclusive I think you'r under an illusion that you won't need to go anywhere else, not so at the Cortijo Blanco. There was a good selection of food in the restaurant every day but after a few days we'd had enough and had to eat out. We were lucky, our kids will eat anything, but some parents we spoke to were having a nightmare with their little ones eating chips for Brekkie, Lunch and Dinner.

Rooms: Small but kept spotless by the daily maids who were very nice.

Bar: Drinks served in tiny plastic glasses during the day, and only 2 at a time, absolute pits...As was the nightly entertainment...The entertaining staff were funny and without them the Hotel would be lost.

I would hate to stay here again but we love San Pedro and my 10yr old really enjoyed herself, with the Beach so close for the little one ... maybe....