Castillo Del Sol Apartments

1 reader found this review helpful

Just home from the Castillo del Sol Apartments, there was 7 of us ranging from 19-28 and including our father who is in his 50's and we went for 9nights from the 25th of August.
All I can say about our trip was NEVER AGAIN!!
I stayed in the Gloria Palace hotel in Peurto Rico a few years ago and loved it (it was amazing) but I will never return to the Castillo Del sol....it was terrible!
The apartments were grand for the price you pay and they were a good size and included an oven. But if there is 3 in one apartment 1 person will have to sleep on the couch as they will only give two beds per room.
Also there is no air con, but you can rent a fan from reception for around €1.50 per night and this will also help to drown out the noise from the center (which is really loud).
You can also rent a kettle and toaster for around the same price.
The apartments were fairly clean(not the best but grand), but we could have done with more clean towels as they were only changed every 3 days.
The hot water in the shower also only lasted for 2mins before it went freezing (not good when you have long hair to wash).
We had 3 separate rooms and each rooms found cockroaches!
The pool area was kept clean but was very small for the amount of guests and there was also not enough sun loungers or umbrellas for everyone, so you have to be down at 10am on the dot to get a bed.
The entertainment was also SHOCKING, the worst I have ever seen!!
I was actually embarrassed for Lorraine the entertainer as she was terrible(very unorganized) and both the day and evening entertainment was totally useless!
There is also a sun care adviser who will try to sell you small over priced products, but its worth getting a pink advice sheet from her and buying the same products down the market in the Paris shop, as their bigger and cheaper!
The pool bar also closes at 10.30-11pm at night, so don't expect any banter after 11pm.
The staff were also extremely rude and would take care of the Spanish first and completely ignore you if there was a Spanish guest needing attention(except the two male night porters who were lovely).
The pretty black haired receptionist actually laughed at a Scottish lady when she told her there was glass in the pool and told her it was fine and there was nothing she could do about it....this happened at 10am in the morning and they only told people there was glass in the pool at 6pm when a load of people cut their feet and complained.
The shop next to the center is very expensive and so is the spar at the center, but the yellow dino marts are very reasonable and their fresh donuts are amazing.
A lot of the food at the center is crap, but the Chinese buffet upstairs in the center is lovely and its €6.65 for all you can eat with desert (that was the only place we liked).
But if you take the short walk to puerto Rico beach you'll find lots of yummy restaurants and id highly recommend El Grcco's (they have 3 different restaurants and there all lovely) and the one on the outside left did the nicest steak and canary potatoes,it was great value for money.
If you go to the Europa center the Little Italy restaurant is on the ground floor and the staff and food are amazing.
The Aqua center in Maspalmas is also brilliant and defiantly worth a trip.
You also have to pay for sun loungers and umbrellas on both beaches and its €3 for a bed and €3 for an umbrella for the day.
There is also a mini water adventure park in the water on Amadores beach (it looks crap but its really good fun for both adults and kids) its also only €5 for an hour and its worth doing, but you will be knackered after it.
Overall we loved Amadores beach and the perfumes and drink is really cheap over there, but we would never go back.
You will only need a week to do everything there is to do over there and we all thought the apartments were terrible especially the rude staff and awful entertainment.
Grand if you want a really cheap holiday, but frankly id rather spend a little extra and get quality.
P.S. the steps down to the center are grand and not half as bad if you use the ones on the right side of the apartments and the apartments either side of the castillo del sol looked 10 times better and there was very little difference in the price.
I have been very blunt in my review as I was expecting a lot more from these apartments from reading other reviews.

4 readers found this review helpful

i just got back from my holiday last night, stayed there for two weeks and its amazing. Its beautiful and the reteptionist Raquel is amazing look out for her, she had VERY long black hair always smiling, beautiful! Dont beleive what the others say its great i'd deffo recomend it, and will be going back next year, so lorraine, get the games set up, the champ is coming back!!!!

3 readers found this review helpful

I stayed at the Castillo de Sol in April 2011 with a friend. We weren't sure what to expect after getting such a cheap deal but we were more than happy and would definitely choose to stay there again.
The receptionists were very welcoming and the room had everything we needed for self catering. It was cleaned completely, fresh towels and bedding every other day and we had no complaints whatsoever.
It was clean, friendly and we had an absolute ball! Can't wait to go back

3 readers found this review helpful

me and my 7 freinds whent over in november for twelve days appartments we clean and we had a ball i think it would have been boring if lorraine had not been there she was one of the highlights of the holiday pool was always clean pints only 2e on happy hour and its b.o.g.o.f so happy days

2 readers found this review helpful

we have been to puerto rico 18 times and only twice to the same apts but i have to say these apts were the cleanest and definatley the friendliest by far that we have stoped in. Lorraine the entertainments manager was fab, never pushy and extremley friendly. My husband was poorly while we were there and she always came over several times a day to see how he was, it was his birthday too while we were there and he recieved a bottle of bubbly to everyone singing happy birthday to him, i must say this cheered him up a bit. We will definatley be going back here, i`m already looking to book up again.So to anyone looking for a clean friendly value for money holiday this is the place to go.

1 reader found this review helpful

I was there with my boyfriend on 2nd January 2011, we had a great time, the apartment was so clean, maid in every day, and the view from our balcony was just amazing, could'nt believe it, the pool was lovely, the place was so clean, everyone was so nice and made you feel so welcome, i'd recommend the Castillo as it really is a lovely place to stay...Lorraine was there to welcome us, she was so nice, and the woman on reception who we saw every day, was so nice, always had a smile. We forgot to leave our room key, so i have posted it on, so sorry.. Thanks again. Alastair and Angela.

1 reader found this review helpful

Just returned from the hotel as i went for my 18th birthday. Hotel was basic and staff were really friendly especially lorraine who got us to join in all the sun bed exercises and games like: table tennis, bowls etc. The only down point was that there was no kettle in the room. Not far from the town centre and the best eating place has to be "The Royal Oak" which u will find in the centre itself.

3 readers found this review helpful

We have been coming to stay at Castillo de Sol for many years and always look forward to returning. Anyone who wants a budget holiday won't go wrong here. If you want to join in there are plenty of activities provided by Lorraine. If you want to relax, sunbathe and chill out you can do that! The staff all work very hard and are always helpful and courteous which is more than can be said for a lot of customers! The pool bar provides food and drinks at a reasonable price and for the more discerning palate there is a wonderful Chill Out Restaurant- Minanas - a few steps along from the apartment entrance. The shopping centre and beach are close by without being intrusive. Everything you could want and more than should be expected for a budget holiday.

To the naked eye it looked like a nice place to stay...however thats not how it was...myself and 5 of my friends stayed here last week, lorrainne was lovely trying to get us involved in the activities..but it wasnt our cup of tea so we just watched on from our sunlougers(few that there were), the 1st few days as far as the accomadation went were fine uneventful, however on day 3 we decided to try the poolbar for breakfast...after paying and taking our seat, 15 or so mins later a couple joined at the next table and after 30 mins were served even though we had been sitting there longer and my friend approched the counter and asked where ours was she told him 'oops she forgot' no apology and we got our money back no breakfast...
on our last night we had been out at a local bar it was late enough returning to the hotel, upon approching out apartment door on the balcony was only what i can discrible as a small cat sized rat that wasnt afraid of people we were all quite alarmed and tried to open out apartment door, after we got it opened the rat ran under my friends legs and into the bathroom where we locked him in...the night porter offered us the room next door for the night...however who would want to be inthe next room to a rat....so he put us on another floor for the night until the pest control came the next morning, we had no belongings for the night, the next morning we were informed the apartment had been scrubbed and the rat removed...when we got back the towels from showers the night before still stood on the floor of the bathroom along with our stuff which had been in the bathroom with the rat all night. We approcahed the reception desk to ask for the toiletries ect to be replaced as they were now contaminated, they laughed literally in our faces...we were mortified and asked again...we wanted our stuff replaced and they offered to wipe them for us, this got us for annoyed as they were being very condecending about the whole thing saying we let the rat in we had our door open ect...this all got us very annoyed so we stood our ground until they offered us 100 euros to replace goods worth in excess of 300 euros as there were shoes, clinic face creams, razors, toothbrushes an toiletries for 3 people in there that night. We accepted this as we were due to check out anyway.
I would never stay here again and i wouldnt allow anyone else i know or care about stay in this hotel.

1 reader found this review helpful

just came back off a 2 week holl and stayed at the casillo del sol . peeps say no kettle there was thay say no toaster there was . had a very good time there first time i have stayed on that side of the hill was nice to have sun of a nite with a drink by the pool. and must say lorraine was great she is a very nice and kind person. will deffo go back . thay even done my washing up 4 me .thanx cleaners.