Playa Bella Apartments

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1 reader found this review helpful

Just got back from these apartments (27/8/11) and have to say we were extremely disappointed. On entering the apartment you are greeted with the back view of a very rusty microwave. The living area is quite small and on entering the bathroom you have to close the door to sit on the toilet as it is so tiny. We stayed in a 1bed apartment and, according to others, it was spacious compared to their tiny studios which were supposed to accomodate 2 adults and a cot.
The freezer door inside the fridge was hanging off. The toilet was not fixed properly and swayed everytime you sat on it. The bathroom tiling was clearly done in the late 70's with grout missing and black mould (pics to follow). The kitchen is supposed to have been spacious and 'designed with the self-catering family in mind' but it was less than 2 square metres, no oven and a two ring electric hob which I didn't bother to try to be honest. The living/bedroom area door naturally opened straight onto the corridor but ours was at the bottom of the stairs too, so it was very busy and noisy as the door barely fitted the frame and had large gaps. We were woken almost every day by the bins being emptied at 4am, and then at 5am with some kind of delivery van or one of the workers leaving on a quad bike. At the end of the week we had had very little sleep.
Do not pay for half board! We made the mistake of paying £14 each day for half board and the menu costs don't even warrant this. You don't get to choose off the main menu either. There is a 'special' menu for half board payers and it is very very limited in choice. One night my chicken was so overcooked that it looked like wood. The vegetables had plastic wrapping stuck to them. The sweets consisted of ice -cream (a small carton the size of a baby yoghurt), fruit (a slice of melon), sorbet and one other option which I can't remember but no doubt as dull. We had been told there were two restaurants to choose from but there was only the one so you had no option to eat there unless you went out and paid again elsewhere (which we did).
Sunbeds are not a huge problem as the staff monitor it. You can go down on the terrace to put towels on those at 8.30am. You can't put towels on the poolside beds until 9am and it's pot luck whether you get an umbrella as there aren't that many. We have been at worse places for this.
The bar area is straight on the side of the beach. This would be lovely if there wasn't some kind of sewage block there too. The smell made you heave at times as it wafted up off the beach. My friends had been here before and hadn't noticed it so I can only assume it was worse because it was so hot every day (32degrees). The entertainment was mostly fine and one night was very good (Emma-Samantha Double D's was very amusing). A couple of the acts failed to generate any enthusiasm though (a hypnotist and a black male singer I can't remember the name of). If you like family pubs, try the Mad Cow bar up the street behind the apartments. It's much cheaper and they have a free bull ride and bouncy castle for the younger ones and loads of pool tables and other amusements. They also play 60's to 80's music which suited me fine but perhaps not the younger ones. My 15yr old liked this bar a lot.
They sell you this hotel as being 'right on the beach'. What they don't tell you is that the beach is mostly rocky and very sharp, and extremely dirty. The Spanish use it as a doggy toilet and bathing area and I only wish I had my camera out when a chap actually stood and watched his dog poo in the sea right in front of the restaurant, and then swam in it himself! If you walk around the three building sites to the right of the hotel as you look at the sea, there is a better looking beach but it has some kind of health warning sign on it so we didn't bother to stay there either.
Just along the beach is the boat across to San Antonio. It cost you 2.50 euros each way and runs every half hour to midnight. Go across and watch the sunset from the sunset strip. The atmosphere was brilliant. Perhaps take your own drinks though as the bars were very expensive.
We wouldn't go back there at all, but I suppose if you get a mega cheap deal it would be nice for a week slightly out of season. Perhaps budget the 5euros a day to go across the bay though?

just like to say, have been to the play balla three times before and enjoyed my stay each time. public beach is a little narrow in places but, the water is warm and clear. the beach itself is clean and tidy. great bars and restrants and plenty of shops nearby for all those important little things that you would normally need or leave behind. would suggest you don't eat from the chinese, the food from the restrant is best. plenty of evening entertainment on the front, with shows of all
kind. the kids will love the parrot show.
the location could not be better at playa bella, with views over the bay. what with the hills in the distant and the town to the right, it is the perfect place to sit and relax on the beach in the evening with a drink watching the sun go down.
the town of san antonio is a short bus ride away, about 10 mins. if you rather walk into town, it will take about 20-30 mins. on the way you will walk past plenty of shops and bars not to mention beautiful beaches and the route into town is easy to follow. you could however go by boat, which is at the far end of the beach to the left. there at the pier, small boats from the town will ferry you to the town and back again for a small fee. they normally run well into the evening, so you have plenty of time to enjoy the town and not rush back.
in a nut shell, the playa bella has something for eveyone, from entertainment, bars, restrants great views and not fogetting all the staff who work hard to make your stay somthing special.

2 readers found this review helpful

This was our second time at the hotel. On the whole it is a nice place to stay, basic rooms but clean, very child friendly and in a good location for the water taxi or to just walk to the restaurants and shops at the bay.
Staff at Playa Bella are great, one morning at around 6am there were some people being loud and talking outside our room. We phoned reception to tell them, to which they responded straight away by sending a member of staff up to the room to tell the people to be quiet, which worked.
The only downfall of this place, which was not like this 2 years ago was that if you were not up at 9am to get a sun lounger and umbrella around the pool, then you weren't going to get one for the whole day. As a group of 4 young people who went out into town most evenings, it's a real pain in the backside. In the end we were on a rota, taking it in turns to get up at 9am our loungers. It got a bit embarrassing at times, seeing and being one of the people hanging around the pool at 8:50am, ready to race for the lounger and umbrella. By doing this however, we were lucky to get both loungers and umbrellas for the whole 2 weeks we were there. For this reason howver, we won't be coming back as i like to sleep on my holiday, not get up by the alarm every morning- that's what work is for, not a holiday!

2 readers found this review helpful

myself, partner and 2 children (1 and 4 yrs) stayed at these apartments for 1 week at the end of July 2010.
the nightmare began when we went down for breakfast at the apartments restaurant as we were staying half board. i would not recommend anyone to stay half board. the choice is very limited to the point were we had to eat the same thing everyday to get our moneys worth. It was either a full english or 2 toast to choose from at breakfast. and the evening menu isn't much better. you had to pay extras for anything else which we ended up doing most days.
when we decided to settle at the pool area we couldn't because evry single lounger was taken. therefore we decided to try the beach for the first day and go to the pool the following day but when we went down to the beach the kids could not even walk on it due to all the stones and rocks. and the beach loungers were 5 euros each with an extra 5 euros for a parasol..no thankyou.
in the morning we decided to go down to the pool area at 9am (as they opened at 8.50am) to make sure that we definitely got loungers. how wrong was i. every loungers was gone by 9am... (10 mins?) yes. so day 1 and 2 were spent walking around the shops, very disappointing, especially for the kids. day 3, went down to pool before they opened the pool area. shock, horror, there were queues of people all around the pool area waiting for it to open. when they opened it everyone and i mean everyone ran as fast as possible to grab the loungers to put there towels down. it was an absolute joke. the parasols were locked in a box so again you had to stand in a huge queue to have any chance of getting one as they only had a small supply for the size of the pool area. we only manage to get one 3 days out of 7. not good when you have young kids. but finally after getting the loungers we could chill out at the poolside. oh no. we had the pleasure of being pestered to death by lucky lucky men every 15 mins. brilliant.
but maybe the half board evening meal and entertainment could make up for this. and guess what, no. we had to leave the pool area early just so we could go to our room, have showers and get ready for tea at 6pm to guarantee a table to eat it at. if it was past 7pm we had no chance. all tables were taken by then. the entertainment was good but there were loads of people who had to stand up to watch the evening entertainment on the footpath on the beachfront as there was not enough room for everyone. will we be returning? no.

2 readers found this review helpful

just back from two weeks stay at the playa bella, the staff are all friendly, entertainment is brilliant chip makes the kids and adults at home, with lots of places to eat in the complex you are spoilt for choice, the bar staff are also very friendly i would recommend this holiday to every one, our appartment was ecellent with a sea and pool view and loads of space. the new splash pool for the young kids is great.

1 reader found this review helpful

Only home from a one week stay at the Playa Bella. For the fantastic price we paid these apartments were great!! I was one of 17 in our group and we all got great apartments! If anyone had any concerns reception responded within minutes of a telephone call! Restaurants within the complex offered great value for money and staff were again extremely helpful and friendly. Being so close to the water taxi across to San Antonio meant we were able to benefit from a quieter environment but also were able to travel to San Antonio for the night life.
Overall I would def recommend the Playa Bella as the staff, the rooms and the food was fantastic.

2 readers found this review helpful

Just got back from a weeks holiday at the Playa Bella, with my girlfriend..
We are both in our early 20's and on our arrival we found checking in, and the staff to be very easy and friendly..
We got lucky in the fact we got a perfect room location on the ground floor, next to the swimming pool, and 20-30 yards from the beach, which was great!
The room was ideal for the 2 of us, very basic but couldnt really moan. We had asked for a double bed, but had to settle for pushing 2 singles together..
You can get a decent fry up, from the one of the 4 surrounding restaraunts, also drinks, ice-creams, snacks etc..
So for a young couple this was pretty much perfect, as we were only a 10-15 minute water taxi ride from San Antonio which was only 2.50 each, one way..
However, as a young couple, I personally found the entertainment at night awful, with cheap caberat acts, bingo, and out dated music being sung every night. The beach which i mentioned earlier was very small, stunk, and had to pay for the privalige, 5 euro each just for a bed, and a further 5 if you want an umbrella. The plus point being that the pinet beach is just a 5 minute walk and that had everything from decent resteraunts, and water sports on offer and was also very clean!
But my main issues were the lack clean towels, and the room was only cleaned on our first and last days! Also being constantly pestered by the lucky-lucky men for hats, wallets etc was extremely annoying, but the worst was being offered drugs on your doorstep most nights, and finding them sitting on your terracing wall (as we were ground floor!)
So seeing as this was ment to be a family place i was very shocked that the hotel allowed this to go on!

Having read the reviews before I went I would say this site is very accurate. Apartments adequate entertainment very good 4 out of 7 nights, Excellent location wiyh enough to do at nights. You can get a boat to san antonio every half hour from 930 till midnight for 2 & half euros.Buses to ibiza town are less than 3 euros and it is easy to get anywhere on the island. The old tavern is a nice place to eat. Best beaches are a 10 minute stroll to the right. Loads of watersports available and the sunset in san antonio is well worth watching. Basically go you will enjoy it.

1 reader found this review helpful

Just returned from a weeks holiday to Playa Bella with two teenagers. Fantastic holiday. Apartments very clean and regular change of towels. Entertainment excellent and very friendly staff always willing to help. Everything to hand and kids entertained. Brilliant position to the beach couldnt have asked for more so much so we hope to go back next year.

We stayed at the Playa Bella in June 2010, 4 adults and a child. The room was a 2 bed appartment and it was very spacious, clean and tidy. The Playa Bella is in an ideal family location with many shops and restaurants nearby with games, rides etc to keep children entertained. Whilst also being a 10 minute taxi ride to the lively San Antonio west end. The Playa Bella is situated on a small beach, but 5 minutes to the right is a lovely beach with a reggae bar and restaurants. I would definately go back to the Playa Bella as the prices were reasonable, the staff were very helpful and friendly, the location was superb for families and we had a great holiday!!!