Cala D Or Playa Apartments

7 adults and 2 young children all had a great time. We have been before, back in 2003 and nothing has changed what so ever.
Apartments are still clean and fresh looking the staff are warm and welcoming any time of the day or night.
The pool is great fun whatever your age our children never came out of the pools or the splash park. We felt safe letting our children run round playing in the park area or the pool as the only people around you were from your apartment anyway.
As for the area what can I say about it apart from tip top. everywhere was clean, people nice and friendly pubs and clubs were fab they let children in and had areas for them to play and things to keep them busy.
We really have nothing bad to say about anything regarding the apartments or the area itself. Infact we have booked already to return in May 2008.
Go on book a holiday to Cala dor you won’t want to come home.

Just returned from a good holiday at these apartments, based on these reviews.
Three people aged 49, 48 and 24 Last minute deal at £140, not expecting too much, but pleasantly surprised.
Arrived early evening on bus with no Rep. Apartments located at end of cul de sac, so no noise. No noise allowed after midnight anyway.
Not a problem for us re the Rep, but for a 1st time traveller, this may have been a bit daunting. Met by cheery bloke on reception, booked in within 3mins!
Directed to our room, which was 317, top floor at end of corridor. No noise. Room quite large and bright, with all mod cons. Microwave with grill apparently according to my wife, toaster, coffee machine thingy. Nice touch. Apartments very clean and in good decor order. Possibly just had a lick of paint.
Pool quite small, but loads of beds. No one claims them, but we were possibly slightly out of season. Pick them wisely, as loads of trees create loads of shade. We like the sun.
The place is very family orientated, so beware. Loads kids and noise around pool (Not a problem for us). Pool area could do with a clean, but overall, pleasant enough.
Short walk to town and supermarkets. Loads restaurants, so lots choice.
Overall, nice place and recommended for families. Enjoy. PS, it was 72 - 86C.

I have visited Cala d'Or playa apartments every year since 2002 with my husband and 2 children, sister and her boyfriend, mum and step-dad.
We ended up staying there by accident, the apartments we had booked were not ready, and First Choice moved us here instead.
Needless to say, we were not disappointed!
We always vowed never to visit the same place twice, but this is like a second home, the staff are fantastic, especially Hugo who always makes us feel welcome. Jaime the head bar-man makes us super cocktails and surprise shots!!
The apartments are always spotless, comfortable and are equipped with everything required for a self catering holiday.
My children, now aged 9 and 10, always have an excellent time, they are never bored and we all love the kids disco! They are kept entertained from morning to evening, if not by the great entertainment teams, then by the pool, Splash Park, or parks.
Around and about there are many things to see and do. The marina is a short walk away and well worth a visit. The beaches are both lovely, but we usually prefer to leave by the rear entrance and go to Cala Gran Beach.
There are also many different restaurants and bars, we have only once been disappointed, The Duke is great for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as is Walshies.
We haven't broken tradition and have booked to go back this year, and as our friends have seen photos, and know we always have a great time, have booked to come with us!
I would definitely recommend Cala D'or Playa Apartments.

Cala D’or Playa apartments are very well maintained, clean and spacious. Each apartment has a very large balcony with patio doors on to it from both the living room and the bedroom. The kitchen area has a combination microwave with oven and grill facilities, a two ring hob, kettle and toaster plus ample cutlery and crockery.
Towels were changed 5 times a week but sheets only once. All the reception staff were pleasant and spoke good English. We did not use the bar facilities on site as kids disco, bingo and silly games are not really our cup of tea so we cannot comment on bar prices etc. The pool area is well looked after but has too many loungers squashed very closely together like sardines in a can. It has good children’s play area and fun water area too.
The apartments are well located in the resort with a supermarket which sells fresh bread only a short walk away from the front entrance, although the stock there was very limited and it may be better to go to the large Capabro Supermarket at the entrance to town if you want more variety and much cheaper prices.
From the rear entrance of the apartments it is a very short walk to Cala Esmeralda, a beautiful but very crowded (even in October!) small beach. Cala Gran beach is also a few minutes walk from the rear entrance. The resort is fairly sprawling and covers a large area stretching from Cala Egos in the south west to Cala Serena in the north east, the apartments are centrally placed between the two so it is possible to walk to each extreme of the resort, passing all the small beaches en route.
The Marina is worth a visit, it is full of very luxurious boats and has a selection of upmarket looking restaurants on its fringes where the prices are actually fairly reasonable.
We were a little surprised by the centre of the resort itself as reports we had read before going there tended to say it was a quiet, more upmarket resort with very little in the way of entertainment. We did not find it upmarket in any respect apart from the Marina area. In fact the centre is packed with restaurants serving English breakfast and showing Eastenders, UK football etc. There are numerous Karaoke bars, cocktail bars, entertainment venues, children’s amusements etc. Although this was not what we expected or wanted it did not in any way detract from our holiday or impinge on it in any way as it is an area that can be avoided if you want to. We would however suggest that you go there to eat at Aquamarine restaurant which is on the street leading to the Marina, the food was really excellent and incredible value, staff were charming, portions were large and well presented, the menu had options which suited all tastes, there was a superb children’s menu too.
The best place we visited was S'Aramador beach in the Mondrago National Park, it was truly stunning and unspoilt with glorious swimming. There is a public bus service from Cala Ferrara, close to the apartments, to the neighbouring beach, also in the park, then you can walk along a lovely path around a headland to S'Aramador.
All in all we felt that the apartments were an excellent base from which to discover the area although we felt that the elderly or infirm, perhaps even families with several very young children in pushchairs, may find the resort beaches difficult to access as they are all in deep inlets with steps down, many do have ramps but we did see people struggling with small children. Also we imagine that in summer the beaches must get unbearably crowded as even in late October they felt crowded to us.

Me and my mate aged 16 got back to Brum yesterday! We already want to tell everyone how good it is. The hotel is immaculate and very pretty. The entertainment is superb, and so are the entertainers there selves; Gideon :p Debbie, Jessie and Stijn.
Managed to become great friends and felt very sad to leave but we are still keeping in touch and will be going to Holland to see them very soon!
Families will love the holiday and the area as there is a wide variety to suit everyone. Not too loud and mad at night, plenty of restaurants (loads of choice) and bars are brilliant mainly all competing with good offers, that get you drunk.
Big up mad cow braaapppp! If one night you feeling a bit adventurous and silly. That’s the place to go situated amongst all the other bars at the square.
Flares, is as equally as good with loads of fantastic cocktails to choose from, our favourite had to be the Pink Panther. The bar staff made all the difference very friendly and keen to make conversation.
If you are a lover of Chinese you are in the right place Shangri-La’s everywhere, we vote 10/10 for the best Shangri-La in the centre not far from Don Leone’s Italian restaurant on the corner.
Beaches are beautiful our favourite was the Esmeralda, where we landed ourselves on the very first morning because it is so close! The beach has many bars around the out - skirts to buy refreshments, and a very bubbly, fruit man chanting all day long.
We went on excursions which were good and would recommend the Rancho Grande to anyone who likes horses, cowboys, line dancing and Sangria! It’s very reasonably priced too! We booked these through our hotel rep Marc, who was always happy to help.
The supermarket is literally two minutes away a stroll down the road a harder stroll back with bags in the heat, cant complain, with good prices.
The Marina is very charming and lovely to look not far away really worth the journey. You must go on the train takes you exactly where you want to go and you can catch it from the back of the hotel gardens right by the fountain :) We found the whole experience quite amusing :)
We are so pleased we ended up at Cala D’Or Playa Apartments as there is no possible way we can fault the holiday. Thanks to everyone especially the entertainers.

After being in Mallorca ( palma nova) a few weeks beforehand, mum and I decided to go to somewhere which was a bit more upmarket. The best option seemed to be Cala D'or. When we first arrived, we were told our room wouldn’t be ready for another hour or more.
Being in the holiday mood, we didn’t mind and left our cases in reception and headed off to get something to eat! The first few nights we thought it was paradise, relaxing and the heat etc etc, but after the first few days it all seemed to become clear. There was nowhere to go! Most of the bars had to be closed by 12am, now we weren’t looking for mad mad nightclubs, but an option would have been nice.
We went to The Square where we had been told to go for the later nightlife. It was empty with a few teenagers and background music. I had my bag stolen with the key inside, luckily we had taken the plastic keyring off with the room number and hotel name, or i dread to think what would have happened!
We arrived in reception and because I have lived in Spain before, I explained all that had happened in Spanish, to be told they didn’t have a spare key. We had only taken one key and were told we must have taken the second. This was about 2.30am, we were told we had to wait until 8am until the techno (technician) started his shift, which we were not happy about at all. My mother got very upset and demanded we were let into our room. We were left sitting on the sun beds until 8.15am in the clothes from the night before and we were absolutely mortified.
People had started putting their towels on the beds at 6am. We felt like two teenagers in magaluf!!!!!! But at 25, even I wouldn’t stay out until that time we went to reception and the attitude of the girl there stank! She shouted "it’s not my fault you lost your key" blah blah. I explained it had been stolen and she didn’t even flinch, just in a really rude attitude shouted to the techno" these girls lost their keys, go open their door!" I said excuse me, not girls...mother and daughter and my bag was stolen not lost.
Anyway, we spoke to a lot of people whilst we were trying to fill in our 2 weeks , which was hard and everyone had the same opinion "Cala Bore" not "Cala D'or".
A few families loved it, but in my opinion the entertainment was despicable. The team just shouted verbal diarrorhea down the microphone that didn’t even make sense.
They ran round pushing people into buying bingo, which I think they pocketed most of the money themselves. On more than one occasion they tried to joke about transferring money into their bank accounts to see them through the winter, which was the only time he spoke clearly enough to make him out. At night they just made really stupid noises and played literally about 10 seconds of a song then changed it, to the annoyance of ALOT of people.
Previously living on a holiday island for 6 years, I know what treatment people should be getting on their holiday, and this was one experience I will never forget. The entertainment team seemed to single out a few kids and make more of a fuss of them than other children and it was very obvious, the other kids ran round them trying to get their attention without any luck!! Most of the staff in the supermarkets were more than friendly, but the big spar out the back on the right was a disgrace.
Basically, he didn’t realise I spoke Spanish and said to a delivery driver, eff her shes on holiday the foreign B** she can wait, to that I just threw my money on the counter and said this effin B** speaks Spanish too. I have never had anything more than praise for the Spanish all over, but I really found the attitudes in Cala D'or to be disgusting. I expected it to be like that in magaluf where it is crazy, but not in a family resort.
Needless to say, we won’t be returning to the east coast again, actually I think this experience has put me off Mallorca completely!! Which is a shame because I had considered moving there.
One thing, don’t think that all Spanish slag you off behind your backs, this is the first time I have ever witnessed this, and I wont even go into what happened on the beach with two old ladies sitting under a tree . I think I’ve rabbited on enough.
Overall a big let down of a holiday and I'm not the only person in our complex to have the same opinions.

We have just returned from a two week break in Cala Dor Playa and I am so sad:-(.
It was the best holiday we have ever had, we had our Son 5, and Daughter 1 with us and they enjoyed every minute of it.
The accommodation has everything you need including air conditioning (at a cost). Large balcony which was nice in the afternoon as our daughter slept for 3/4 hours in the afternoon it meant you could lye out on the balcony and catch some rays!!
They had a kids club in the morning and afternoon daily which kept our son occupied and the entertainment staff which made our holiday what it was worked so hard every day starting at 11 in the morning till late at night keeping both the kids and adults entertained.
They had a kids disco every evening from 9-10.30 which was great as all the kids got involved both of my kids fell in love with Jessy & Debbie (entertainers) they were brilliant, the guys Giddian & Sty were great too!! Bingo every night and then a show, light entertainment but really good.
We are planning to go back next year again and would recommend the Playa CalaDor to anyone especially if you have kids. Walshies Bar around the corner is excellent for food, especially the steak pie or burgers are real proper meat (just like home).

My wife myself & our 10 year old son returned last Saturday from a weeks holidays in Cala D’Or - where we resided in the Playa Apartments. Firstly, I think that the two star rating given to this accommodation is fairly accurate, as I did not see anything that really struck me as it being worthy of a higher grade. It wasn't a case of the complex being dirty or having a lack of children’s activities - but it was fairly basic all the same. Luckily we managed to find ourselves on the 3rd level (of a 3 story building) with a fantastic view of the med' sea from our balcony.
The rooms were clean enough (& also kept clean with two sheet/towel changes during the week). It had all your basic kitchen utensils & two ring hob, microwave & fridge, plus toaster & kettle etc. The balconies were also fairly spacious - which helps.
In the first choice brochure it advertised the apartments as children orientated - which happened to be correct. Although, I think it is more designed to cater for the under 8's as a lot of the older kids (our son included) did not seem to be very interested in the day & night time entertainment.
We spent the first evening within the complex to see what it was like & to generally mingle. I must admit that the bar staff were somewhat unfriendly & surly! They had a happy hour on between 8-9pm & when my wife went up a few minutes prior to 9 she was informed that prices had resumed to the normal prices. Now, I’m not making a deal about the price increase (as they are still cheaper than our drink prices in Dublin!), but it was the way they didn’t even try to accommodate her & offer an explanation. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but I found them a touch ignorant & as that was my first impression it kind of remained. Then the entertainment commenced until about 9pm - which was for the infants. After that they played some bingo, then they had Mr. Cala D’Or - whereby four lucky fellas got to go head to head for the prestige of being crowned king of the complex!
We also stopped in during the forth night & they had a greatest hits show of all popular songs through history - which was put on by the entertainment staff - which I found very lightweight indeed. Without wanting to sound like an old man & killjoy (as I’m still going strong at 33!), I just felt that they have much room for improvement if they want to ensure residents stick around of an evening & not go out - although with toddlers most parents have no choice. They can certainly think about how to involve the adults more so if they expect them to frequent the place of an evening.
Pool was big with plenty of space for all the kids & adults. I didn’t try the food their as I was informed by a friend last year that it was very substandard. Safety deposit boxes which are kept in a security room are payable locally @ €15 per week - with a €5 deposit. Never availed of the air con as we managed to all sleep well enough the first night & just didn’t feel inclined to pay for it as a result (even though it was still warm enough through the night).
On to the first choice reps & company in general. As we wanted to break up the week for our son we decided to avail of a couple of excursions. We booked both the sea world & western water park trips. They both worked out at around €95 each (for 2 adults & child). Now, the first trip to sea world was a 8.45am collection from the supermarket just a few hundred yards from the apartments. From their, we had one stop at the side of the road somewhere about half an hour into our journey to let on other travelers from another bus. By the time we arrived at sea world it was around 10.30am. From the bus you are given your passes & dropped off outside & told to return to the bus by 2pm - 2.10pm latest.
Once inside sea world there are lots of interesting areas to visit, which for myself & wife were just as enjoyable as was for our son. You then have the dolphin & sea lion show at 11.30 which lasts for around 45 minutes (& by the way is very good), then the parrot/bird show which is on around every 20 minute & lasts for around the same. Now, in-between the two shows there isn’t that much to do apart from eat (at the expensive food outlets) if you have already seen all other areas of the park. To be honest, for €96 it isn’t worth a 3 hour round journey on a bus/coach from Cala D’Or - & you get about the same at the sea world (which is more than enough). It’s not just about the money & obviously it’s about the kids, but a lot of your day wasted traveling for a minimal amount of time on entertainment
The same applies to the water park - which is situated even further away (in Magaluf). This was again a 8.45am collection from Cala D’Or, with about three collections from other resorts along the way. My wife was told when making the booking that it would take an hour from Cala' D’Or, but we soon discovered that it was an hour after the other collections were made & these collections were off the beaten track so not directly on the route the west. In a nutshell, the water park is great fun & not to be missed (although bare in mind that there is another one called Aqua park right beside it, so do your research). Yet, you must take into account that this trip again cost €95 through 1st choice for 3 of us, & it was a 4 & half hour round journey for a total of 5 hours in the park. Also, when you take into account that at the height of the silly season everybody & their kids are present so the queues for the slides are fairly lengthy, so your time spent on the slides reduces.
What I am trying to point out is - that the excursions through first choice can be organised a lot better. I know logistically it would mean organising a couple more mini buses/coaches, but the emphasis should be on people getting value for money & a longer day out of it, which would make the travel aspect of it a bit more enjoyable. Now, this is considering you opt for these day outings & are over on the south east coast in Cala D’Or. Please shop around & take into account the journey time!
On to the resort: Cala D’Or is a very friendly & worthwhile place to visit - especially if you are a family or a couple. This is as far away from the 18-30 crowd as can possibly be.
There are numerous restaurants (varying in standard & price range), & a number of decent bars & cocktail bars (although €15 a cocktail makes it more a once off novelty visit than a
regular haunt during your holiday!). Plenty of outside pool tables for kids & adults, plus a crazy golf course. Also, a few minutes past the town centre you have the marina, which is worth a visit for checking out the plush cruisers - which apparently frequent the place by the rich & famous on occasions! Make sure if you do go down to the marina & you have kids to bring some bread - as there are numerous big fish swimming around close to the banks.
I know this is going to appear as if I have a vendetta against First Choice holidays (& in general we all had a great weeks holiday in Cala D’Or), but they really need to pull their finger out when it comes to relaying accurate information. On the morning we left (which was two days after the arrests of the intended plane bombing suspects) we asked about the hand luggage situation as we were flying into Dublin - & obviously not the U.K. I asked the rep at the apartments & he told me that no hand luggage was permitted on flights to Ireland. So, at a slight inconvenience I had to open my suitcase in reception & stuff my hand luggage in. Now, the reps could have put a notice somewhere on notice board or ensured that travelers were informed as we awaited the bus - but no! It transpired, that when we were checking in the assistant at the check-in desk informed us that there was no hand luggage restrictions into Ireland, & that we could after all carry it onto the plane. Surely first choice would have known this from reps at the airport check in - & as a result advised all travelers where they stood.
Moving onto the bus for our trip back out to the airport. This arrived & turned out to be about a 25 seater mini-bus, which in-turn could not facilitate all the luggage in the back/boot. Four people had to carry on their suitcases & place them in the aisle of the bus (which is a fire hazard in itself). I would have thought First choice had the intelligence to arrange & estimate in advance how many people were traveling, & then organise a suitable vehicle.
I gave this review an overall rating of 7, but this is an individual rating of the respective.
Cala D’Or apartments: 7 out of 10.
Entertainment for kids/adults: 3 out of 10
Cala D’Or resort: 8 out of 10.
Cala D’Or beaches/coves: 7 out of 10.
First Choice holidays: 2 out of 10.
We renamed First Choice Last choice, as due to their incompetence I would not use this company again in the future.
Although, if booking through them do not let this review put you off the resort, as I would revisit Cala D’Or one day in the future!

I went to the Cal D’Or Playa with my wife and our two young children (aged 5 and 2).
I had read many reviews before going and thought that the place sounded too good to be true. When we arrived, we were not disappointed. The reception staff were very friendly and had us booked in very quickly. The room itself was of a good size and had all the facilities - hob, microwave, kettle and toaster. It was a bit of a hunt for the toaster. Found it in the sideboard tucked away with lots of other dishes etc.
We went in the last week of July when the whole of Europe was having a heat wave. The daytime temps. Must have been in the low-mid 40's. I particularly remember the temp at 7.30 pm on one night being 37 degrees!
We shelled out for the air con. In the room, a must with the temps. As they were. It cost us 70€ for the fortnight (about £50). Not too bad I suppose. We also rented a safety deposit box. This was 30€ for the two weeks with a 5€ deposit. The only draw back was that the safe room was closed between 11pm and 8am so make sure you have enough money for the day!
Our First Choice rep. was great, always happy to help and very friendly (10/10 Marc, cheers).
Our 5 year old daughter joined the kids' club and went on a few days. The two reps were fab. Always happy and had the kids' interests at heart. Tara and Karen, thank you.
We hired a car for the first half of our holiday. We went to the north of the island and also to Marineland and Aqualand. Both good days out. If driving abroad isn't for you, there is plenty to do at the hotel. The entertainment team were top class. I don't think I've ever met people like them. Debbie, Jessy, Stijn and Gideon. They were there all day and always happy. Lots for kids and adults to do from rifle shooting to football and my personal favourite, water polo.(Bring it on Gideon!)
If you didn't want to join in, they were not pushy and would leave you in peace. If you want to spend your day around the pool, I would recommend getting up early to get a good spot on a sun bed. I went out most mornings around 9.30 and most beds were taken. One of the hotel rules is not to reserve beds as towels will be removed, but this never happened.
The mini disco was a favourite for our kids. Our two year old, was a right character and made friends with nearly everybody! Jessy and Debbie loved him to bits! He also charmed the bar staff in particular Daniella who always had a cuddle for him. All the bar staff seemed to be there all day every day, but this didn't stop them from being very friendly. The hotel is about a ten minute walk from the main resort centre. There are plenty of places to choose from for something to eat. There are also some good places close to the hotel, about a two minute walk is WALSHIES. English owned and run, it is brilliant. Fantastic breakfast and a wide choice of meals for dinner. Fairly reasonable too, about 35-40€ for the four of us.
Close to Cala Gran beach is Marfil. It doesn't look much from the outside, but I highly recommend it. Fantastic food, brilliant waiters and it never got very busy, so you weren't waiting for long. Also very cheap - average 25-30€ for the four of us including drinks.
I cannot praise the Cala D’Or playa enough and at the end of the holiday, none of us wanted to come home. Our 5 year old cried her heart out when we had to go. She was particularly fond of Debbie. I think everyone was crying when we said goodbye.
We made lots of friends at the hotel and we all intend to back next year at the same time.
My only grumble, is that on our last day when we were picked up, it was a bit disorganised. There was no rep - just the minibus driver who couldn't speak English and didn't have names of people he needed. It did go without a hitch, as between those of us waiting we managed to work out who was on that particular pick-up.
This holiday was worth every penny and it's a shame it had to end.

Literally just got back this morning from Mallorca and honestly didn’t want to come home, I'm only 16 and went with my family, aunty and friends.
The room was so clean and had great views of the sea and pool it was absolutely gorgeous. The shows did go one late and you could still hear them but they didn’t stop us from sleeping!
The staff were friendly and always willing to help, they work so hard its unreal one of the blokes on the reception desk would be there right through out the night and most the day, but was still willing to help.
Found a great restaurant down the road called PP Chaves and what can I say, the food was gorgeous the ice cream fab and the staff were so friendly we couldn’t have asked for better service we did go to other restaurants but became so friendly wit the staff here that we ate there practically every night even had a photo with my younger cousins and the main guy there!
But what made the holiday so brilliant was the hard work of the entertainment team. they were brilliant with the kids and work long tiring days constantly and yet still put all their energy into everything they did, they put on shows at night in which adults and kids could join in with, they played pool games and really got the kids involved. Gideon and Styn just didn’t stop along with Jessie who became a good friend, only wish I had a number or email to keep in contact with her to see if she gets to where she wants and Debbie who was always willing to help and play with the youngsters I couldn’t say a bad word about any of them they were truly amazing!
Wish I could go back tomorrow!