Hotel Cabogata Mar Garden Club & Spa

BEACH: pebble beach, several hundred meters away. Not a dream beach but also not ugly or dirty, few people. Small and simple beach bar close by, many places with chairs and umbrellas, none that belonged to the hotel. An umbrella and lounge chair costed between 5 and 8 euros.

PROMENADE: set up very nice with wooden pagoda nad benches; from here, there was a great view at night over the water.

AREA: the closest areas were dry and boring; at night there was sometimes a small market along the promenade towards Retamar. A few simple restaurants, cafes close by, but nothing special. The only places worth visiting are accesable with a car (Almeria, Cabo Gata Nature Park).

RECEPTION: Friendly. Jefe at the reception spoke perfect German; the rest spoke English that wasn't very good. On the day I was leaving, I was allowed to stay in my room until 4:30 pm, no problems or even a discussion. (Cabogata Mar reception staff spoke good English, also very friendly, easy going, I could use the hotel although it was my fault that I had booked a different hotel)

ROOM: friendly cleaning ladies, room was mostly cleaned by noon

RESTAURANT/BAR: more unfriendly; the staff looked often stresses and unmotivated, only a few attempted to smile or talk, even when I spoke broken Spanish; service was ok though; dishes were leaned away quickly; by the bar we were served quickly

DINING ROOM: pretty large and uncomfortable without atmosphere, besides that, very loud and busy. Tip: go earlier, the Spanish eat later so around 9 pm it got realy full.

FOOD: don't expect any culinary high points! Certain things from the hotel, some from the buffet; food that sits out longer gets cold. There weer enough choices that came from the kitchen and were warm. There was 'typical local cuisine', the guest ratio of 80% Spanish influenced the cuisine, they liked the healthy foods, like fresh fruit, salad, olive oil, and fish.

POOLBAR: loud and lively, like in every Spanish bar; there was beer, brandy and coffee with milk instead of trendy cocktails. Tables were sticky and the ground was full of chip crumbs. It was served in plastic cups- not nice, but understandable with all the kids in the hotel and worried about the dangers of broken glass.

POOL AREA:the pool landscape was nicely arranged and taken care of (Cabogata Mar had a clear swimming pool, where you could swim your laps peacefully); the pool chairs weren't particularly nice, kind of dirty and no lining. There were too few places for all the guests, and especially umbrellas, so we saw the classic way of reserving a place by leaving a towel ona chair before breakfast. (Cabogata Mar had enough chairs, but not enough umbrellas).

ENTERTAINMENT: good or bad is the wrong way to describe it; it depends on whether you like it or not. There was definately something to do every night. After 9 pm the kids activities started, and every night the music was so loud in the kids disco, the parents should have given them little ear plugs. After 10 pm, the adults activities began and there was silly music, silly games, and really loud. Around midnight it all ended and everything became quiet very quickly. Tip: for those who want to avoid it- buy a bottle of wine and go to the beach promenade and find a place.

Large and especially clean; also no luxury here, set up poorly, but light and friendly. Some used marks around the bathroom and closets.

unfortunately the terminology in describing hotels isn't useful; this wasn't a quiet, relaxing, spa hotel where you find trendy guests. It was a large child friendly place where noice and friendliness can be found everywhere. I recommend it to families who want to enjoy some beach and sun, especially those with children.
If you want more than beach, pool, and hotel activities, you'll definately need to rent a car.