THB Los Molinos Hotel

My 10 year old son and I spent a week at half term at Los Molinos. For those who do not know, much of Ibiza closes down during October and by the start of November, there are few hotels still open. A walk round San Antonio on a wet day, is a rather dispiriting experience - many of the hotels, shops and restaurants have closed their doors for the season and the atmosphere is one of a ghost town. However a sunny day in Portinatx was very pleasant even though there was very little open.
Los Molinos is an exception to most Ibiza hotels in that it is open all year round. The hotel was a long way off being full but seemed to cater for a mixture of leisure and business customers. It has good function facilities and these seemed to provide some out of season trade including a shoe fair and a golden wedding party.
The hotel's location is excellent - approximately 20 minutes walk from World Heritage Site at Ibiza Town and about 15 minutes walk from the bus station. The beaches at Playa d'en Bossa are also within walking distance as are the smaller beaches at Figueretas. In the immediate vicinity of the hotel, there were several other hotels, apartments, shops, restaurants etc which had already closed down or closed down during our stay, which gave the neighbourhood a somewhat 'dead' appearance. As there are also residential apartments in the vicinity, some facilities did remain open so the area was not entirely without life.
The hotel is situated on the seafront. We did not have a seaview room as I decided that it was not worth the extra since it got dark at 6pm and hence we would not be in the room much during daylight hours. This meant we did not get a balcony; nevertheless the room was spacious and comfortable with reasonable size bathroom, minibar and flat screen TV. The safe costs 3 Euros a day, which is rather steep. A seaview would be worth it we spent longer in the room - the restaurant and large bar/lounge area adjacent the reception did have seaviews which were appreciated.
The extensive gardens fronting on to the sea are a real plus point with extensive planting, a good sized swimming pool and smaller children's pool and sun loungers. We used the pool, although given the time of year, it was rather cold. However the hotel does have a small indoor spa area, which we used everyday and provides a place to warm up after a cold swim. This consisted of a gym, small warm pool with two water jets, a jacuzzi and sauna. Towels are provided free of charge by reception. This facility was a real plus particularly on the two wet days!
The reception staff are friendly and helpful as are the restaurant staff. The standard of cleanliness was high.
The hotel has a large restaurant. Breakfast is buffet service with a reasonable selection of hot and cold food. However very few guests had evening meal, (there is a buffet in summer when there are more guests). Half board guests got the same menu every night - whilst the food was of reasonable quality and there were about 6 choices, I felt the hotel should have offered a different menu every night or alternatively allowed half board guests to choose from the al la carte menu perhaps up to a set amount. Vegetarians got a poor deal as there was only one vegetarian main dish, (Spanish omelette), although some of the salad starters were large. I do not eat meat but eat fish so at least had three main dishes to choose from. This was the main thing, which let the hotel down.
However overall this is a good hotel - perhaps a little dated decor wise as the last refurbishment was in 1999. But it is comfortable, in a great location, has good facilities and is open all year so is great for an off season break. I would be happy to go back.