Sunrise Monica Beach Hotel

I had a great holiday at the Monica Beach and so will you! Monica Beach is excellent value for money; the staff are very friendly and the location is good. I stayed in Room 88 from 10th to 24th January 2008. I asked for a quiet garden room when I booked online with Travel Republic. The Travel Republic website is very easy to use and well-recommended.
My up-front costs were:
Ryanair flight Liverpool to Fuerteventura £53 round trip
14 nights all-inclusive at Monica Beach @ £24 = £336
Two weeks parking at Liverpool airport £55
Transfer from Airport with Resort Hoppa £25
Total = £469.
Why is it so cheap? Monica Beach belongs to the Sunrise Hotel Group, who own five large hotels at Costa Calma and several more down the coast at Jandia. They are feeding probably 5000 people every day, so their costs per person are very low.
My room was a bit shabby, but remember this is a three-star hotel, not a four-star. The dividing walls were paper-thin. The room had a good ceiling fan. I would have liked a reading light. The room cleaners work hard every day. The food was very good, self-service with plenty of choice. Fresh fish, good salads and custard flan to die for. Guests are expected to wear long trousers in the restaurant in the evening. All-inclusive guests at the Monica Beach are welcome to use the facilities at any of the other Sunrise hotels, which are mainly four-star.
The main pool had heated fresh water and was a good size. I was surprised there was no lifeguard. The Pool Bar was very popular, as was the African Bar down by the beach. The smaller toboggan pool was quieter and nicely sheltered. The toboggan bar was closed during my stay. The Animation Team worked hard to make sure people enjoyed themselves, with activities in the daytime and entertainment every evening. I heard that the Miniclub was very popular. The on-site Mini-market was well stocked and more reasonably priced than Netto.
Most of the guests at the hotel were German. They were polite and well behaved, but they were not all that friendly. I guess you have to make the effort first. There were also British, Dutch, French, Spanish and Polish guests.
Location…. Costa Calma resort consists mainly of large hotels in a well-landscaped setting. I had stayed in Corralejo six weeks before and Costa Calma was much quieter. There are several shopping centres nearby, but not much else. The main attraction is the beaches.
Beaches….The beaches at Costa Calma are beautiful. Steps from the hotel lead down to the main resort beach. The beach sunbeds are not owned by the hotel and cost 3 euros per day. The resort beach extends for about a mile, and then you cross some rocks onto a succession of gorgeous beaches, right down to Morro Jable, 15 miles away. All the beaches apart from the resort beach are nudist, and most of the nudists were elderly overweight Germans. (Sorry about that, but you need to be prepared!). The beach at Sotavento is stunning, and one of the best beaches in Europe. Windsurfing and kite surfing are popular and good spectator sports.
What to do there….. Long walks along the beach and eating too much food are the main activities. The walk across the isthmus by the wind farm to the other side of the island is very popular, and you very soon leave the built up area behind.
Take a walk up to the up-market Rio Calma hotel, which has superb gardens, but no real beach.
The Costa Calma Sunday market was worth a visit. The small town of Morro Jable was a good day out on the bus, with a nice waterfront and some popular restaurants.
The bus ride to the island capital Puerto de Rosario was also popular for shopping trips.
Getting around….One week in Costa Calma without your own transport is long enough. I stayed for two weeks and hired a mountain bike for 12 days from Volcano Bike, tel: 639 738 743. Highly recommended. They deliver and collect the bikes from the hotels. The rough cliff top tracks are great for mountain biking and deserve to be much more popular. I used the Landscapes of Fuerteventura guidebook, which has excellent maps and includes useful day trips around the island.
Car hire is very cheap and many visitors hired cars for at least three days. The roads are generally excellent.
In summary, Monica Beach offers a great low cost holiday. If you’ve already been to Corralejo, it makes a nice change away from the crowds. Don’t expect four-star facilities. Enjoy the beaches and have a great time!

We stayed here the week before Christmas - could not fault the place, the food or the entertainment. The whole week the kids were busy day and night as were the adults. The staff were the most friendly people you could meet. The food was nice and there was always plenty to chose from. The shows in the evening were all very entertaining.
The rooms were always clean and tidy and serviced every day. The pool area was always clean and as for the Germans they were friendly and polite as were the English.

When we arrived at hotel/Apartment not very pleased. We thought we were going to a hotel like stated in brochure but it was a apartment.
First night it rained and water came down bathroom mirrors like Niagara falls, we had to be moved to another room but that was at 2pm Sunday, we had to unpack then pack again to move room so we lost a day’s holiday we were not pleased.
Food awful - rice beans cold chips ,never had a hot meal while we were there, we used to go a 50 minute bus ride for a English meal hot.
Entertainment same every night, rubbish for the price we paid for our holiday, the apartments all want knocking down and re building.
The place was running with with Germans, towels on sun-beds every day then just left so other people could not use them.
There was nothing to do in Costa Calma at all. It was just sun and drink. if you like that sort of thing every day, nowhere to go at all.
It was a good job we only booked for a week we were bored stiff after first day. No air conditioning just a fan, that is a waste of time blows warm air. We even had to use a waste bin to catch water leaking from room ceiling.
Monica Beach apartments not Hotel, as stated in brochure. Would not go back if you paid us.

Hotel very clean but rooms very tired. Position and views excellent.
Food excellent good choice varying most days... chips most days for children. Evening meal table allocated. Staff very helpful.
Plenty of entertain during the day for all ages. Although large hotel never crowded around pool...but be prepared to get up early to put towels on beds!
Costa Calma resort very quiet. Evening walks along beach fabulous!

My girl friend and I spent 14 nights at this hotel. We are 28 and 32. We wanted a completely relaxing holiday with loads of time on the beach and maybe the odd excursion. Monica Beach fits this perfectly.
I read most of the reviews on this hotel before we left and was a little concerned by some.
We arrived at the hotel on Saturday night. Food was laid on for the late arrivals.
Much appreciated. We had a wonderful time. The Animation Team led by Clare is fantastic, Jose is hilarious. They were all so friendly and fun. The Bar staff do a great job and always kept us supplied with beer, spirits, shots and plenty of tequila. The Entertainment was different each night.
All the hotel staff were great, always responsive and helpful.
With the sea and beach so fabulous we did not spend any time in or around the pool area but it looks great. There is always something to take part in such as Archery, shooting, volley ball, darts, table tennis………etc.
The hotel is built on a hill but unless you are disabled or have trouble walking this does not cause a problem.
The Monica Beach is the oldest of the Sunrise hotels and it does need an overhaul but our room was fine and very close to the beach. There is no air-conditioning just a ceiling fan so it did get a little hot at night.

I’m a fussy eater but every night I left the restaurant satisfied.
We only did one excursion, 50 mile Quad bike trek, brilliant. The trek was a private company but reception organised it for us.
I would not normally go back to a place once visited as there are too many places to visit in the world for a holiday, but I would go back here. We were made feel so welcome, met some great people and were sad to leave.

When we arrived at the hotel our room wasn't ready and after a day of travelling I wasn't too happy to hear this, though we were only left waiting for about 1/2 an hour. When we got to our apartment, the doors were hanging off the sliderobes and there was no air conditioning except for a fan that was practically hanging off the ceiling and which spun so slowly it was absolutely no use at all. The TV had about 14 or 15 channels but the only one which was in English was CNN, and at times when you want to go to bed for a few hours or just get out of the sun you end up watching programs in a different language.
The resort is over-run by Germans, whom I never had a problem with until this holiday. Our rep informed us at the welcome meeting that the hotel did not tolerate people claiming sun loungers and leaving them idle all day and that if any were left idle for more than an hour the towel would be removed. This wasn't the case as I saw several of the sun loungers already had towels on them in the early hours of the morning.
You can only get food at certain times of the day and there is pretty much nowhere to get anything to eat outside the resort when the restaurant isn't open. The food itself was quite nice with all of the meat, eggs, etc. being cooked in front of you. Apart from that, it was mainly pasta and fish, and as I don't particularly like fish I was disappointed at this.
The alcohol is so watered down there isn't really any point in drinking it and I have a feeling the beer was alcohol free as well. I don't know if this has anything to do with people getting too drunk on all inclusive drink and causing trouble in the past, but that is not the point, I paid the money to go all inclusive and I expect my alcohol to actually have alcohol in it.
If it wasn't for the entertainment I would have gone mad in this resort. There is absolutely nothing to do but lie about and burn, or pay to go on overpriced trips with your rep.
The resort itself is very clean and the rooms were cleaned daily. I didn't see too many cockroaches or ants and thankfully there were none in our room. Although there were about 9 cats living outside our room.
I would not go back here and am glad I only went for a week as there is nothing much to do outside the resort or when the animation team aren't doing anything.

Took my family - one 19 and one 12 - both really enjoyed it.
Fantastic, animation team were great fun. Could not fault the holiday, the rooms were cleaned every day, evening entertainment was good. Food was good but got a bit repetitive, very relaxing holiday. Multinational entertainment catered for all languages every night.
Beach excellent. Fed the fish - had them eating out my hand, along with the chipmunks that could be found along the beach.
The airtours rep was very helpful. Looking forward to going back next year.

If first impressions counted then we would have been disappointed with our holiday because the hotel has seen better days.
The room was basic and in dire need of redecoration and finishing touches (light bulbs and shades). The communal areas of the hotel were the same with broken floor tiles and holes in the ceilings and poor cleaning. The room cleaning itself was good. But then you don't spend a lot of time indoors so you get over that bit.
Don't worry about wearing long trousers for dinner, no one does! You will put on weight as food is plentiful and good. Not so good for fussy children, but good old chips and ice cream on menu every day. 80% German in resort so get out early (6am!!!) to put your towels on the sun beds.
Not a lot of excursions available but would definitely recommend trip to Oasis Park a brilliant day out (get there early as lots to see). Sub Cat trip was also an experience (a pricey one but work it). Overall we had a good family holiday and our two children 6 & 8 loved the pool and evening entertainment.
If you are with MyTravel we would not recommend the rep's night out. It was an hour plus coach journey there and the food was awful. The show itself was good but then you have the journey home again!

(I’m 15) I just got back 2 days ago and I absolutely loved it the foods good, and you can just go and get up to get your drinks at the bar your self which is good.
The beach it's situated it on is class. The best bit though is the animations team I joined in with loads of the stuff Jose was well fit and I used to join in with the maxis doing volleyball, water polo, darts, ping pong ect.
With him and I used to do stretching, water aerobics, yoga, power walking with katka (I don’t no how to spell it) but there are plenty of other stuff to do with the animators for adults and younger children.
On the night time in the bar there’s a mini disco for younger children then there is the nights entertainment sometimes from outside the hotel but other times the animators would perform and in my opinion it was better when they did performances such as Grease, Saturday Night fever, The circle of Life and Metro police which were brilliant and really well rehearsed.
Later on after the performance they do the club dance which also happens at lunchtime on the bridge across the pool.

The best holiday I’ve ever had I would definitely go if only to see Jose because he's hot!

After spending 6 months of research online for the best holiday places in Fuerteventura, Costa Calma, I, and my boyfriend decided to go to Monica Beach which seemed to be the one had everything - all inclusive programme, near the beach and great facilities.
We read all the reviews in hotels in Costa Calma and Monica Beach had high ratings and good feedbacks on Holiday Watchdog and other similar websites.
We stayed at Sunrise Monica Beach Hotel for 15 nights and enjoyed our stay a great deal. Definitely value for money if you go for all inclusive.
Room and facilities:
The room was basic as 3* standard but the entire hotel is quiet during the night so guarantee a good night sleep - we chose a garden-view room and glad we did - as if we had chosen the sea view rooms we would have ended up too close to the main pool, and during the day and night there were loads of people around, we might have not enjoyed our stay.
When booking the hotel, specify Garden view rooms on the ground floor, as it gets too hot in the rooms on 1st floor.
Our room was big enough for 2, had a lovely patio facing the garden. Lots of German programmes on TV, so we watched BBC and CNN every day...
Being in a hot country unfortunately you will see some cockroaches, flies, and lizards in your room but the room is cleaned daily. I am a bit obsessed with cleaning so I brought my own cleaning stuff just in case the room was not clean. If you can, get one of these cleaning wipes they will become quite handy.
The hotel facilities - bars and pools were really good and clean, and great for families as entertainers were there near the main pool with music, dance, and games.
We loved the entire gardens and surroundings of the hotel - unlike other nearby hotels, apart from rooms on the main building, Monica Beach Hotel has rooms outside so it feels like you are living there in a block of flats but in a tropical island. Every passage, garden, plant and everything were well maintained.
All inclusive guests could use sister hotels facilities as well, so we went to the next door 4* Crystal Beach Hotel. We were treated in the same way as Crystal Beach Hotel's guests and you can also use the pools in other Sunrise Beach Hotels too.
Other facilities - 2 PCs: €8 per hour Gaming areas: pool tables, table tennis, arcade types of games and PlayStation (which most of the time out of order) entertainment area in basement and basement bar.
Every day the programme is displayed in the main restaurant and catered for children, family, or adults. Its great fun and well organised. Sports facilities were also great - tennis courts, mini golf, gym, sauna, massage (some of the services were chargeable) you can hire tennis equipments €1.50 each.
Food & Drink:
We were given wristbands which indicated all inclusive programmes. You have to wear the bands at all times until you check out, a bit annoying that you have something on your wrist even sunbathing but if you take it off, you won't get any food and drink.
All inclusive was the best choice - there are shops like a supermarket but we found food and drink were very expensive outside the hotel. We made the most of all inclusive plans - breakfast, snacks at the bar, (sandwiches, cakes, ice cream) lunch and dinner.
Fresh food and wide range of choice for all meals, the chef cooks fresh veg, fish, or meat for every lunch and dinner. Fuerteventura has a large German tourism market hence the food can be catered for them too. Buffet style and you can eat & drink as much as you like - pasta, meat, fish, fresh bread, fruit, desserts, salad, etc.
For dinner, Monica Beach Hotel guests can use the 4* Crystal Beach Hotel's restaurant, Capriccio - you book it at Reception at least 1 day in advance. Food is different every 2 days, so we booked Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. As part of all inclusive we only had to pay for the drink consumption.
Food was amazing and service was great as well, so highly recommended to book the restaurant. We also went to the bars in other Sunrise Beach Hotels. Again as part of all inclusive plans we were able to enjoy the same drinks as Monica Beach Hotel bars.
Location:
Monica Beach has one of the best locations - close to all the local shops, all walking distances maximum 5 - 10 minutes, 2 minutes to the beach. Very quiet, safe (security guy walking around the area during the night) and close to the public transports. Costa Calma is the best sandy and clean, well maintained beach in Fuerteventura. Also best in terms of safety, as Lifeguards will be there between 8:30am to 6pm.
Staff:
Amazing - every single person in Reception, Restaurant, and Bars speak fluent English, Spanish, and German. They are friendly and helpful. Room attendants and Maintenance staff didn't speak much English but they were all friendly.
Monica Beach is great for families, although it was good for us, we would stay at Crystal Beach if we went back next time - as a couple we feel that Crystal Beach or other 4* hotels are more suitable.
Great Late Deals:
If only I had known this website before booking the flight separately - it is one of the best holiday websites for Spain and definitely for Fuerteventura. They offered the best available price for all inclusive for Monica Beach and it was cheaper to speak to them than booking it online. They were helpful and explained all the facilities and all inclusive plans over the phone. Highly recommended!