Hotel Sol Principe

Brilliant hotel. Brilliant holiday. The children were well cared for and the apartment, although quite small, was clean and well fitted. The majority of the staff were friendly. Plenty of things for the children to do which was great for us. Two great swimming pools and a spotlessly clean beach opposite (although it sloped quite steeply after entering the water so we had to watch the children closely.) There is a wonderful `paseo´ (promenade) at the front where you can walk to the marina in Benalmadena. It is flat all the way so great for prams and wheelchairs.
Torremolinos centre has some great shops. We went on bus trips to Mijas and Ronda (too hot in August) Prominently a large Irish favourite as there were several Irish entertainment bars, but we found a brilliant family friendly bar/restaurant alongside the hotel supermarket, called the Royal Oak. (check out the size of the Dutch owners´ hands!) It was spotlessly clean, the staff were friendly and the food was excellent (the only place the children would eat) and very reasonable. Although busy we never waited more than 15/20mins for our meals. They also had karaoke nights and live entertainment which was fun. The prices for drinks were very cheap compared to the Irish bars or hotel bar which we found overpriced. Completely rested. We will definitely return.

In general, the hotel is impressive from the inside and around the pool area. We went as a young couple and found it suited either elderly people or Spanish families. The children did not want to stay in the kids club because of the language barriers. The entertainers mainly spoke Spanish because of the majority of Spanish kids which left the other children feeling slightly isolated. Nevertheless the staff seemed friendly.
The entertainment in the evening is the usual Butlins style solo singer with a keyboard. The older people loved it and tangoed the night away which is great for them! The apartments entertainment is geared towards the children which is nice if you are a family. Young couples would not really be catered for here but the hotel bar is comfortable enough to relax and enjoy a drink.
Maid service is impeccable! The maid cleaning our room was lovely and made every effort to leave the room tidy, beds made and fresh towels every day. The air conditioning was a blessing also. The view from our balcony was lovely and we could see the pool and the sea from it.
We booked the hotel as half board but only had breakfast and dinner once. The queue for getting into the restaurant was absolutely ridiculous and we felt we were being herded in and out like a bunch of cattle. This put us off eating in the hotel for the rest of the holiday. The food is not bad but it was a little bland and predictable. A lot of the food was the same every night.
Outside and around the vicinity of the hotel, there is not a lot to do. There are the same old restaurants presenting the same food to be found up along the beach so not much choice. The main street and centre of Torremolinos is about a 20 minute walk away and it is an uphill journey. We didn't mind the walk but many people we talked to dreaded walking up the hundreds of steps.
Take a trip to Granada and visited the fantastic Alhambra palace! It made our holiday. If you have children, there is a crocodile park and a marina park which may keep them interested!
If you like a big juicy steak or grilled meat head to Rincon Argentino! If you come out at the beach entrance of the hotel and walk left along the road you will come to it in 5 minutes. There are signs directing you to it and it may look simple from the outside seating area but the decor on the inside is impressive. The staff are really, really nice and they have traditional dancers and musicians on a Saturday night. Great if you want a romantic night out or even a family dinner. Highly recommended!

1 reader found this review helpful

The Sol Principe is a beautiful hotel, the rooms have air-conditioning, very welcome when it is 42º. The dinners were good lovely soups and an excellent selection for the main course, great desserts also.
The hotel complex is made up of the hotel, shops and apartments the latter overlooks the main pool, where there seemed to always be children’s activities going on (with the adults joining in to).
It is about a mile to torremollinos centre, if you are fit it is a slight climb of a walk, if not go out the hotel main door turn left, cross the road fifty yards up there is a bar called the bus stop, from there you can get a bus into the town centre for 1.05 euros, meant to be every half hour but I think it comes when it feels like it, a little further up (at the roundabout) there is a taxi rank for 5 euros it will do the same journey.
The bar at the bus stop has a quiz and bingo every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday Alan and his wife Sue are the owners who will make you feel more than welcome, incidentally Alan was in the sixties group hedgehoppers anonymous, song "it’s good news week". The hotel has a quieter pool at the front mainly for adults or a minute from the beach, if you have children this hotel is ideal, and if you don’t it is still A1

Brilliant place and very good entertainment! Liked the acrobatics in water! It’s a bit more for children.
The locals were very friendly and the staff were very helpful! Air-conditioning was very good and the beach is lovely! The accommodation is very well known here and is huge! The four storey apartments are best though!
We went to a restaurant beside hotel called The Royal Oak and it was the worst service we ever had which was very slow. The dinners were poor with false advertisement about the dinners! The waiter was very rude and not helpful whatsoever! Service was lazy and lacked luster!

I have to say brilliant holiday! I'm just turning seventeen and I went with the family and two other families. We all had a brilliant time. Ranging from the ages of 11 to mid forties everyone had a ball! You’re bound to make friends no matter what age you are.
The pool is nice but you have to get down to get beds pretty early so it can get a bit annoying. The great thing though is the beach is right across the road and we spent most of our time there because it was extremely hot at the pool and the sea breeze was nice and the sun loungers were only 2 or three euros! There were loads of different water sports on the beach just about a five minute walk down from the hotel.
There’s a disco downstairs but under sixteen’s are thrown out after half twelve. It's a good laugh if you've made friends!
There’s a good few bars along the sea front, Molloys, Copacabana and dream is around the main entrance. One bar I suggest is the Irish Affair! Its brilliant for a bit of craic we had a laugh with our friends there!
We stayed in the apartments and they were very clean but the balconies were a bit small. The hotel was nice too there were internet facilities and buffet style meals which was a bit expensive if you weren’t fall board or anything but it was lovely food! The bars in the hotel were good too. We got taxis into Benalmadena twice and there’s a brilliant restaurant called jacks that we ate in both times. The town there is a bit more expensive then Torremolinos though.
San Miguel Street! Brilliant for bars and shops and the likes. There’s really nice cheap shops and some expensive but they have good stuff there are stalls too on the way up and you can haggle a lot it works wonders. There’s not much point getting a taxi like we did the past two times we’ve been in Torremolinos. There’s a good few steps or a lift you can go up to get to San Miguel Street and its only about a 20min walk so its grand. All in all I had an excellent holiday as did the rest of the families. Recommended to anyone! We're going next year!

We found are holiday in this hotel a fun and exciting one. With a small child the fridge in the room was of real use, and we found the cleaning staff very helpful when we needed anything. The room is a bit on the small side once a cot went in but was ideal for our use.
The entertainment and the staff were excellent also and really added to our holiday. The day time activities were a lot of fun and there was always lots to do and with all the activities being free it didn't cost us anything additional.
The children’s club for the babies was also excellent it was in a cool room with plenty of toys ideal to take a little one out of the sun. At night time there was also entertainment sometimes provided by the staff other times a professional show always highly watch-able.
We would thoroughly recommend this holiday to anyone, with it being located on the front the ground is flat ideal for anyone with a buggy, wheelchair or has walking difficulties.

We where travelling as a family of four with two children aged 5 and 2. This complex is fantastic for children plenty to do , some activities incur a small charge. We where staying in the hotel our room was fantastic .we had a king size bed and two singles and there was still loads of room, the bathroom had double sinks, we had a very large balcony area. We were also on the first level, the hotel staff are very accommodating. The food was good but very repetitive ! I would say they cater for all ages the pool around the hotel was mainly for the couples, however the apartment pool was very lively for the families. The entertainment was average ,the entertainment staff mainly done all the shows but gave their best. The hotel had a singer on every night mainly for the older generation.
We would go back to this hotel again.

My husband and I stayed at the Sol Principe in Torremolinos for one week this summer. I was very disappointed in the fact that the air-conditioning was not very effective. We could hardly feel it when it was supposed to be switched on.
I was amazed when I enquired why the air-conditioning was not switched on at night when I was informed by the Panorama rep that this was typical of hotels in the Cost Del Sol i.e. AC is switched off at night at the discretion of the hotel manager. I then asked reception to enquire from manager re this matter and they reported that yes it is switched off at night as it may be too cold for elderly people staying at the hotel. What about people like us who paid top price for this hotel on the assumption from Panorama brochure that it was air-conditioned-not ‘partially’ air conditioned!
So I would just like to warn people who are planning to stay there to check this out in advance as we found it very unpleasant as the weather was extremely hot when we were there.
Apart from this, our stay was ok but I would not stay at this hotel again.

All we can say is the hotel is really really nice ,the staff are very helpful, the location is fine. And for people with kiddies it seem to be perfect with all the work that was being done on making an area for eating, playing, swimming etc in to a Flintstones caves was coming on great.
As an aparthotel the supermarket was in the grounds, Plenty going on fun games computers, etc etc, And the beach and the sea opposite. Overall it was very good and we will be back in October,