San Jaime Complex

just got back and can't wait to go again. we stayed in zone 5 and it was fantastic. every night there was a tribute act at the main part of the complex. fake that were by far the best, they are so fit! il divo voices had the most amazing voices. the only let down was elvis, he really should leave the building. all the staff are polite and try their best to do what they can for you. it was a bit expensive to eat but at the moment everywhere is! the appartment was great, always cleaned and tidied. the cleaner around the pool always says good morning when you have to queue early for your beds, which was the only bug bear. the train to the centre is a good idea and runs till quite late. it's very easy to use the bus service and very reasonable. i have read some bad reviews about the complex and wonder whether people went to the same place as us, my boys are 17, 15, and 13 and even they had a ball. only bit of advice, watch out for the sprinklers.

My wife and two boys aged 6 and 10 stayed at the San Jaime complex for a week in early July and on balance had a great holiday. We moved from the first apartment we were given in zone 3, into a better located one in zone 4 on the upper floor. The accommodation was basic but acceptable. The beds were OK, the bathroom clean enough and plenty of equipment in the kitchen.
The apartment had balconies at the front and rear with a large clothes drier. The front overlooked the palm trees in the gardens and the back had views of the gardens and villas on the hill side. Laundry was changed mid-week when the staff came into the rooms during the morning. Despite the warm nights, the ceiling fans did an adequate job keeping the rooms cool enough to sleep. Ants were not a problem in the apartment, only one or two appeared on the balcony occasionally.
The San Jaime (pronounced San Hymee) apartments complex is quite large and divided into three zones: 3, 4 and 5. There are pools and restaurants in zones 3 and 5 owned by the complex management. Here the sun loungers are free, but as reported elsewhere there are too few for the size of the complex. Between zones 3 and 4 is a small block containing a laundry room, scuba diving centre, kids club and bakery. There is also a privately run medical centre which charged 50 euros for an appointment.
Further along is a small square with a supermarket on one side and the Club San Jaime pool and restaurant on the other. This is the nearest pool to zone 4 and probably the better of the three. However this is run by separate management to the apartment so there is a charge for the sun loungers. The Club San Jaime also serves slightly better food, but to be honest you need to look elsewhere for quality. At 10pm every evening the restaurant hosts tribute and variety acts. By 11pm it has all finished and the complex is relatively quiet.
A road train runs in the mornings and evenings around Son Bou and stops at the beach. The alternative is a lengthy walk if you are staying in zone 5. Once again, sun loungers and parasols need to be paid for. There are also a few small bars in the dunes. The beach itself is as you would expect, clear water and golden sand. The nudist area is too far away to be a problem.
Menorca is a beautiful island in many places, and I would recommend a visit to both Cuitadella and Fornells. We also visited the water park in Calan Blanes. The trips Thomson organise are very expensive and it is cheaper and better to hire a car to get the most out of your holiday.
I would also recommend checking the apartment first before carrying your luggage to it. We were given probably the worst located accommodation on the complex that overlooked an Irish bar and a bowling alley. We asked to move and so had to return all our suitcases to reception. However, from there a van took us to the better apartment.

Just returned from a great family holiday at San Jaime Apts. Overall, it is perfect for families with children under 10 years. Our boys, age 7 and 4, loved it and for the adults - it is a very sociable atmosphere (we met some lovely people!). Thomson were excellent and well organised. OK, things you should know before you book:
1. The apartments in Zones 4 and 5 are a much better standard and there is far more flat space for kids to play safely. (When we arrived we were allocated an apartment in Zone 3, nearest to the resort centre/beach, however we asked to move as our apartment was facing onto main road with no space for kids to play. We were moved to Zone 4 the next day. As a result I can tell you that the standard of the accommodation is quite shabby in Zone 3.)
2. Eating out in Son Bou itself is expensive and the food overall is really much the same in all restaurants - chips are everywhere! We could not find a traditional Spanish Restaurant. However, the apartments are well equipped for cooking simply (and cheaply) and supermarket and bakery on complex are good. (TIP: take washing up liquid, travel handwash, scourers and plastic cups for the kids).
3. The 3 pools on the complex are all good - you can use the middle pool (within Club San Jaime) and just lay towels/lilos on grass so no need to pay for sunbeds.
4. The entertainment on every night at Club San Jaime is very good - really varied and aimed at the whole family. However - it starts really late - not until 9.45pm each night. So no good if you like to keep the kids to a routine bedtime. Zone 3 does a puppet show on a Saturday night at 8.30pm which was very good too.
5. It is really worth taking a trip to Mahon. Only 2.5 euros each way on local bus and takes about half an hour. You can take a trip on a glass bottomed boat (25 euros for whole family) lasts an hour and is a real treat.
6. The beach is stunning - take lilos to lie on - the sunbeds are now 17 euros per day!
In sum, a great choice for a sunny family break.

We have just got back, and we went half board, eating at the 11gonderlire, it was absolutly awful, There was no change in the menu the whole fortnight it was the same in the morning to night time. The food was so salty i nearly gaged,i complained a few times, but no-one under stood what i was saying, The broushure stated we get 1 free drink with evening meal, but failed to say you have to buy the first drink. its your 2nd drink that is free. You do have a choice of 2 resturants to go to, but the gardens is even worse. Every one but every one was complaing about the food. Other than that the appt was great. Basic, but clean. The walk to the beach is a long way a good 15 mins, there is no short cut. We were in zone 5. Prices on the beach were hurendous 11euros... yes 11 euros for 1 sun bed and 1 brolly. Most people buy a brolly and sit on the lovely beach. The complex has great evening entertainment, for all. kids had a good time and there was plenty for adults as well. You need to know it is very expencive in menorca. Lots of familys were complaining about prices. Wont be going there again, even thou its a beautiful place.

Before we went I read some unfavourable reviews on here.
We found the apartments to be decent, the shower was hot and powerful, the kettle worked and the maid came in every other day. For us a family it's all we require when we go away. The place was clean and it had a decent view.
The complex at the San Jaime is huge, there are 2 zones for holiday guests plus another 3 for residential guests. There are 2 pools and 2 places to eat, these have a deal on for 16euros you can go from self catering to half board - getting a breakfast and a 3 course dinner or evening meal. All in all its a good looking deal although we didn't take it up
Twice a week they had entertainment on, if you have been to Spain before you will know about the local tribute acts!
In between the 2 San Jaime pools in Club San Jaime, which is owned by different people, they have a nice big pool, waterslides and tend to have better acts on. We saw acrobats from China there and they were really really good.
The only downside to the facilities onside for me was the lack of lifeguard at the pool. The deep end is 2m+ and they don't provide any pool staff.
Further a field there are loads of places to eat, we found that during the evening these places wouldn't let you in for just drinks. There are plenty of bars though - The Kit Kat English bar is very friendly and its just like being at home, there's an irish bar, a hawaii themed bar, which is a good experience as you all come out with loads of lei's around your neck (pardon the spelling!). There's a place called Josephs and we spent hours and hours in there, he's a top bloke, great with the kids great range of cheap food and drinks.
We went for the last 2 weeks of June and all of us at some time got sunburn, despite using SPF 40! There is a medical centre on site, the temperature reached the 30's and one thermometer in a shop read 40 degrees!
Overall we enjoyed it, we have 3 kids under 12 and had plenty to do, the beach is clean and well supervised, the sea is awesome to swim in.
We'd go again.

This holiday was brilliant i went with my husband & 1 child (12)i went with my husband & 1 child (12)couldnt fault where we stayed in zone 5,we had amazing apartment over looking the pool.The apartment in itself was fantastic ,beds was ok and the apartment was very spanish there is all the basics you need in the apartments, balconys very spacious back and front must warn you cleaners come very early. Everything there is safe and child friendly evrything is so clean and everyone so nice. Son Bou is a very quiet place.i must let you know you there is a few beetles and lizards.Weather was fantastic all in all i would reccomend you stay there we had a great holiday in the san jamie apartments .....

Looking at some of the other reviews from the around the same time I think we must have been to a different place. This was our worst holiday. The weather was dreadful - 9 out of 14 days was thick cloud or rain.
The first apartment in Zone 3 we were in was dreadful - awful tiles in bathroom and kitchen straight out of the 70s, damaged floor tiles, cracked window pane, damaged patio table. Thomson brochure had said they had been "restyled in 2007" but this just meant a lick of paint which I had assumed was standard practice anyway! We moved to another apartment in Zone 5 and that was much better as it was privately owned but still no microwave. Originally self catering but found it soooo expensive in resort - avg 70 euros for two adults, two kids and a toddler! We ended up going half board which was a better deal but the food was a bit monotonous. All the restaurant menus in town are the same and must have been written by the same bloke - and chips with everything (even breakfast). Las Dunas and Atalis were the best we thought - Arthurs (which was packed every night) was definitely the worst meal yet the most expensive. We found the staff at the San Jaime fantastic in the Zone 3 restaurant and the San Jaime club - the waitress in the Zone 5 restaurant was soooo miserable. The pools were very nice but no where near enough sunbeds at the Zone 5 pool and people were queuing in the morning waiting for them to be unlocked. If you didn't get a sunbed then you had to sit on a plastic chair all day! Not my idea of fun. You get charged 5 euros per sunbed on the San Jaime Complex - cheek of it. Water slide great but v expensive. Supermarket was well stocked. If you are after cigs there is a machine in the San Jaime Club bar that sells cartons of 200 but that's the only place we could find.
The complex overall I found to be OK but not particularly safe considering its geared towards families - you access the apartment from the balconies. Downstairs apartments don't have any railings/walls so its not enclosed. In the upstairs apartments there's a gate that is very easy to open with no lock so our 2 yr old was out at the first opportunity. There were sloping grassy areas that ran to walls dropping down a couple of feet - I got so much exercise chasing after our 2 yr old who would have fallen down the drop if I hadn't caught her. The Thomson kids club only had 16 places - they have 145 apartments aimed at young families so you do the math. I thought the reps were rubbish - I've seen more life in a graveyard, no personality and no common sense either. Didn't seem willing to do anything for you particularly - certainly didn't want to put themselves out.
This was our 4th time on Menorca and it was really disappointing. Previously been to Santo Tomas (Victoria Playa which was fantastic) and Salgar. We definitely won't go back to Menorca as it is far too expensive and we definitely won't go on a package holiday as we got no value from having a rep on hand.

i went on holiday with the rest of my family and it was great so much to do the entertainment was great i loved it would defenly go there i got back friday 6th may we went for a week wish it was for two it was great so book your holiday to son bou . the apartments were clean and the island was so tidy and green the beach is lovely the sea
clean and warm , and the waitresses were so good at handling all the food at once
we all loved it and we had new sheets every 2 to 3 days
molly mansell 8th may 2008

We have just had a week at San Jaime and what a lovely week it was. We had a two bedroom ground floor apartment which was great for the kids because there was loads of room for them to play without disturbing anyone else. Beds not that comfortable but rest was all good iron/ and board in room. Doc surgery/ Supermarket/Bakery/launderette all available in apartment village, A park in Zone 3 behind Gardens restaurant(would't recommend this retaurant had a bad meal in there) Three really lovely clean pools. Although they do charge for sun loungers by the middle pool not sure about others. The entertainment was good everynight mainly tribute acts in the main bar area. The food was lovely as well. The only downfall is that it did seem a little expensive but saying that your on holiday so!!!! The beach is about a 10-15 min walk away depending where you are but its all flat no up hill. In the same direction is the main bars and shops lots to chose from. Everyday there was more and more opening the water shoots 4.50 euros for 6 slides. The giant maze, down in the resort centre bouncy castles and trampolines and few other bits. This is a very family geared place the people are so polite and helpful. The beach does have currents so check the flag system out of 4 days we went down there we couldn't go in one day as there was lots of jelly fish washed in buy the current. 17 euros for 2 sun loungers and parassol prob cheaper to buy parossol for the week. Good transport links aswell to other resorts 2euros back to mahon where the market is we paid 15 each to go on the excursion there and didn't realise bus stopped outside. Would definatly recommend for familys with kids my 3 loved it there will be going again.

basic apartments but everything you could need, iron, ironing board, kitchen well equiped. cleaned 3 times and we were only there for a week!
my son would of liked a tv but i am quite relived it did not have one.
there are 3 pools on the complex that were spotless and clean, but yes they are freezing lol. but we did go in may.
the entertainment at night was tribute bands but a lot of fun, i only disliked elvis, but the others were good.
the resort is lovely, its clean and quiet, the slides and maze had not opened yet but i think they were opening the week after we left, also the land train was not running yet but the walk to the beach is very pleasent and all on one level no steps or hills to climb.
the restaurants are ok, but i recommend arthurs and the one next door i think its called dunas or something like that, the only basdmeal we had was the restuaraunt next to the kit kat bar, but the kitkat bar itself was good.there was also a restaurant called bonis which was fab.
the hawian bar is great but be warned its expensive its ok for a one off treat, cost us 33 euros for 5 drinks.
we took a bus to mahon one day and from there you can get buses to most other places so next time we will explore more.
the trips from the reps quite expensive.
did not use kids clubs but they do have them.
i would go back but maybe a little later in the season as it was still cool on certain days, but all in all a fab first holiday abroad, kids ages 11 9 5.