Aparthotel Esmeraldas

We went on holiday with our friends to this fabulous aparthotel, we were quite sceptical about the holiday as it was extremely cheap and a last minute booking.
We had a brilliant time. The staff in the bar, reception, the cleaners were all really friendly and ready to help at all times. The hotel was spotless the rooms were clean and had everything you would need. We travelled with 3 children and a baby in our party and they had a ball, in the park, swimming pool and the evening entertainment kept them well occupied as well as the amusement arcade. We enjoyed it that much we are going back next year.
It is also a lovely place to explore if you get bored with the holiday theme, it has a real Spanish feel to it and the town is beautiful, with the castle and the little streets full of shops and restaurants.
Most people you speak to at the hotel have all been there before and feel the need to return for the great service that you get for such a reasonable price. All I can say is roll on next year so we can enjoy yet another great holiday.

The resort of Tossa is fantastic, but I wasn't too keen on this accommodation. The public areas are all nice, but the pool is small and very overcrowded. The rooms are shabby and very noisy, you can hear everything going on all around you. We had endless problems with the lifts, and reception failed to give us our wake-up calls.

I travelled here on a last minute deal with my 2 children (8&4).
Quite disappointed when we arrived but it was dark, 2am! Felt & smelt liked Butlins in the sun! Next morning pleasantly surprised, good breakfast, nice pool area with plenty of beds and no need to reserve with beach towel.
Pool area was thoroughly cleaned every morning and pool checked every day. Separate pool for young children. Brochure says entertainment twice weekly but there was entertainment scheduled 4 times a day at specific times both for adults and children and entertainment every night (flamenco, bingo, quiz, etc).
The receptionists, bar staff and waiters were fantastic always there to help and they were great with the children too. The hotel is in a residential area and quite quiet but the room walls are paper thin (you can hear everything!)
Would definitely go back again, we loved every minute.

Aparthotel Esmeraldas
The hotel was very basic but clean.
We stayed in a studio which for the 2 of us was okay as we spent little time in our room anyway.
A 3rd pull out bed was located under the main bed to pull out and use and the location of the bed had obviously been changed to allow use of this 3rd bed as the wardrobe could not be opened fully as the bed was located very close to it.
The Hotel’s one bar is okay if you are a smoker but as we are not it was absolutely awful as everyone around us seemed to smoke when we were there. If you don’t smoke and can’t stand being around those who do then avoid this hotel completely, although the bar area has ‘limited’ air conditioning it does not operate as it should.
The female reception staff were really nice as were the bar staff and the entertainment girl was excellent, although she was working with equipment that was completely worn out and out of date!
The entertainment highlight is the Mr Esmerelda’s competition which providing you get 5 blokes who are up for a laugh and an audience of hecklers to match was absolutely hilarious – the other entertainment becomes very repetitive after a while though as it’s mainly the same thing repeated.
Note that on arrival that your room will not be ready for you until 1.30pm no matter what time you arrive you will just have to wait for it! We were lucky and had a pool view, it will pay for you to request this when you book, if you are really unlucky, you may find that you get one of the apartments overlooking the small playground, finding yourself looking at the local’s washing hanging outside the residential apartments a few yards away!
The outdoor pool was very cold although we both braved it – but the depth markings on the poolside have worn away and so beware here. For some strange reason the pool has 2 sets of steps both into the deep end. If you like me are not a strong swimmer get someone who is to test the depth for you before you go in as it’s not a simple shallow/deep division.
If you go with Skytours check how long you may be on the coach for when booking an excursion, for instance a trip to Port Aventura is 4 hours travel each way, something the Skytours Rep conveniently forgot to tell us, we found out quite by chance before we went and got our money back. The rep gave none of this type of information to us at all at our welcome meeting so it will pay to check.
Tossa De Mar is nothing exciting as a resort either, no nightlife, a limited selection of food seemingly identical on all menus in all restaurants, virtually no where to find a breakfast early morning and very expensive for what you get.
The little Noddy train which travels around the resort is excellent value at 2.8 Euros if you go right round as we did you get a 30 minute ride and it’s really fun.
The hotel needs complete refurbishment inside and out to bring the worn out 1970’s décor up to date, the use of some modern furniture and air conditioning in the rooms would also be a good move along with a complete revision of the entertainment programme and for Playa Med who own this Hotel to give the poor entertainment girl some equipment that works!!
A no smoking rule in the bar area would be a good idea so non smokers can also enjoy the entertainment programme for an evening in some comfort.
We would not recommend this hotel to anyone and at the end of our stay were pleased to be going home and will not be paying a return visit either.

I decided to design my own holiday using my computer. First I booked flights from Aberdeen to Barcelona via Easy Jet. This cost less than £100 per person. Then I went look for the perfect resort. Tossa de Mar seemed to have it all, not too busy, lots of good food and views. I was not disappointed.
The water was glorious, great snorkelling and chasing the fish. Plenty of good food. Avoid the beachfront, as it is pricier, have a wander up the narrow side streets and get a bargain on your lunch. Try and eat like the Spanish; good breakfast, large lunch (less than 7 euro including your wine), smaller evening meal.
Tossa was easy to reach from Barcelona by bus and acted as a great base as we visited Gerona, walked along the wall that spans a great deal of the city. Also hired a car (very easy to do) and drove up to visit Dali's castle and his museum in Figueres.
The hotel was basic. Clean, comfortable and with enough equipment that we could eat in when wanted. There was a pool, but we avoided it, as the beach was only 5 minutes walk away. There was entertainment each night, which kept the kids amused.
All in all Tossa de mar is a lovely resort, nice beaches, clear water, and small interesting streets, walled city area. Great as a base for further exploring and easy to reach from Barcelona.