Iberostar Vell Mari Hotel

This is a perfect spot if you intend to stay in your hotel, and not visit the town or the beach. The hotel has a nice architecture, and building 5 and 6 are the best. Studios on top of these, have large private sundeck. Other buildings have larger rooms in the ends, xx01 and xx18 are much larger than normal appartments. The hotel webpage show pictureof a bar, I wonder where this is, because the only bar in the hotel, is the pool bar where you fetch the drinks, and sit down outside by the pool or the show area, that is if you can find a vacant chair or sundbed. Germans (majority of the guests) tend to reserve all the sundbeds, and there is not enough space for all the guests of the 211 appartments, the area around the pool is too small for the number of guests in this hotel . The hotel webpage also mention a free bus to the beach, - this was never mentioned by the recetion, and i never saw one. I had a rented car, which is a must if you like to get outside the hotel, and the distance to Son Baulo beach is 1,1 km. The nearest shopping center is down the highway with no sidewalk, about 15 min by foot. The hotel is situated in a nice residential area with lots of villas, and a few hotels from the 1970 down by Son Baulo beach. Son Baulo is a nice small place, much nicer than Alcudia and Puerto Alcudia. The beach is also nice for both children and adults. You can walk along the sea to many good and cosy restaurants, but the distance from the hotel is about 30 min by foot. The bus runs often, and it is about 20 - 30 minutes into Puerto Alcudia, price euro 1,30. Taxi from Palma de Mallorca airport to the hotel is euro 70. I would recommend this hotel to families with small children only. To me this was not a 4 star hotel because facilities could simply not cope with guests of 211 appartments. Compared to Riu 4 stars hotels, I would rank this just as a 3 star hotel. Beds were ok, and rooms were clean. Also a quiet place, and no disturbance from next room guests.

I stayed here with my 3 year old daughter in september 06, this is a lovely hotel, clean and tidy and well looked after. We went half board but upgraded to all inclusive when we got there as you don't pay for under 5's, so for myself and my daughter it cost me an extra £80 for the whole week, 3 meals a day, drinks, snacks ice cream etc etc. Well worth the money. I would recommend upgrading also as the only down side to this hotel is that the beach and town are a good 20-30 minute walk both in different directions so it is really out in the sticks. I did venture out a few times as you get abit bored of the same surroundings day in day out so we did take a walk to the beach which is where you will find most of the other english holiday makers!! The hotel i must warn you as well ( which i think that Thomas cook should also) is that the hotel is very much catered for the Germans. We did have a few problems with this, when the kids club people only spoke in german so my daughter could not understand a word they were saying, but after i had a little word they were only to happy to speak in english as well !!! Over all we still had a good relaxing holiday and the entertainment team did there best in the evenings to keep us entertained so all was not lost. Just don't expect to much of a lively place as you wont find it here and the entertainment stops at midnight so you still get reasonable early nights with no noise.