Zoraida Garden

2 readers found this review helpful

Well what can I say, since reading the previous comments I must say I was a bit wary about going but I have to say this hotel and whole holiday really was the best I have been on!
Firstly when we arrived the weather was tremendous and this was at 9:00am, I think it was about 35degrees! We got to the hotel and were amazed with both the inside of the hotel but mainly the pool area. The pool was huge and just over a little wall you could see the sea as the beach was just behind the hotel. The beach was great, we went there every day at about 2pm at siesta and the waves were massive we all had real fun there. The one downside of the pool is that you can’t have inflatable’s, which annoyed me a bit as I had just bought a lilo, but I took it on the waves anyway so it did come in handy.
The food at the poolside bar was really nice especially the cheese and ham toasties and as we was all inclusive we could have as much as we want. The men working behind there are great we got on really well. The restaurant food was also great with quite a varied choice considering it was all inclusive. The best about the all inclusive must be the wide variety of drinks available there was quite frankly anything for anyone, we was drinking from 10am all the way through until 2am.
Downstairs where the arcade and disco, which was quite fun if you like dancing. The bar staff here are the same as the ones behind the poolside bar so it is good as they know you and talk to you, so when we asked for a song they would put it on straight away! The arcade as well was great for both the kids and us we had many games of killer pool there!
The entertainment was ok in the day, we joined in many of the games which included darts, waterpolo and bowls (I won this one and got a certificate). The night time entertainment was not to the best as it was mainly Spanish but they did translate, however we would always find a way of being entertained, just a tip I would advise people to take about a 10 minute walk where there is a little fair and lots of shops by a big monkey which was just along the promenade.
The staff was extremely friendly and warming to all of us, especially Olga who done the water aerobics in the day. She was really fun and friendly to all of us and I would enjoy have a joke around with her she was also really good looking!!
Anyway I hope this review has helped people and all I would say was do not be put off by the bad reviews as the hotel is a great family holiday.

We have visited this hotel for the past 3 years and went in both July and October this year. We being myself my husband and 8 year old son.
We really enjoy the resort and hotel. This is a very Spanish orientated hotel but that is to be expected when coming to Spain, we have found everyone very nice.
The entertainment is really good and well worth joining in with. Most staff speak several languages so there isn't much of a language barrier however trying a little Spanish does help even if it’s just "hola" "por favor" etc.
I will say go here and decide for yourself the hotel is lovely and well kept i.e. clean. Most staff are friendly and helpful the only not so great ones are reception staff but everyone else is lovely.
The hotel is right at the beach and there is a small park just at side of hotel on beach.

1 reader found this review helpful

I would not rate this hotel to anybody! This is the worst holiday I have ever been on.
I booked in April 2007 for this holiday; I booked from the summer 2007 brochure, which advertises various activities, International Hotel, family orientated, etc. This is not the case. Activities were supposed to include a gymnasium, sauna, ten pin bowling, disco, children’s entertainment. With a local charge payable for some of the activities.
Me and my partner booked, thinking this will be great for our two year old daughter and ourselves. The disco and bowling were not available. When I asked reception, I was told 'out of season'. I didn't pay £1100 for out of season. I was then told 'read your contract, October 1st is out of season'. So by this stage, customer service was rated 1 out of 10. In the brochure it is stated activities are available till Oct 31st and I do not have a contract, neither did the other angry and the odd happy customers.

The gymnasium was shut for 5 days, along with the sauna. The children’s entertainment was face painting and a children’s club on a Tuesday for aged 4 and over. Great, so my two year old was extremely upset as you can imagine. Outdoor bar was closed, sunbeds were taken away daily and also the sun umbrella's were taken away daily, I suspect because the hotel is 'out of season'.
FOOD - Spanish, Spanish, Spanish. Don't get me wrong, I didn't go on holiday to eat a full english breakfast or sausage and mash, but I also didn't want to eat a trout with its head attached, or oil on toast. Some days the food was great (to taste, not on the stomach). When it was bad, I'd normally eat a ham and onion sandwich. I do recommend the Hake cooked by preference from the chef if he/she is working that evening. Although it did upset all three of our stomachs.
FELLOW GUESTS - Apparently told by our rep that in October OAP's (Spanish) get a free holiday from the Government. So we originally were staying in the sister hotel Zoraida Park but were offered to move to the Gardens as there were more English and the Spanish maybe quite loud and there would be more Spanish entertainment and food in the Park. I was happy with doing this, but it shouldn't have been needed if this was advertised in the brochure.
If you are offered this option, be warned of the 'contract' the hotel holds. Its states the following ' We have a large amount of Spanish pensioners staying here in the Zoraida Park. It may well be the situation could be overwhelming for you, and you may find that the Zoraida Gardens has more of an International atmosphere. You agree not to claim any type of compensation from your travel company on your return to the U.K. Under no circumstances, will any compensation be offered’. After numerous calls to Airtours customer service, I signed as I was told; this will not be a problem to claim or complain with Airtours. Finally I received my key!
STAFF - Maids are well mannered. Although my child was ill and was sick on a sheet, even though the maid was told, that night I found the dried sick as my 'clean' bedding sheet.
BAR STAFF - In the Gardens you could not fault the bar staff, very pleasant and happy, manners were brilliant. In the Park, it was totally different. Not a single smile apart from a young barman, who kindly gave my daughter 'bumble bees' for her drinks all the time.
RECEPTION - This rating is minus 100 out of a million. If the hotel was English, they would have been fired by now. In the Gardens, I had the most trouble.
This is only the main complaints I have about this hotel. And I have gone on forever, so much so, my fingers are hurting. Don't get me wrong, we met people who loved the hotel, not so much the Spanish, but we heard more complaints than praises. Maybe it was because of the time of year, who knows, but I'm never going back to see, and neither are a lot of people I met.
It was that bad, we all complained, so hopefully this hotel soon won't be advertised as International as this is not the case. I read these and a lot more reviews about the hotel before going on holiday, and I still went. I hope you don't make my mistake, because holidays as you know are special and expensive, the pictures may look good and the black and white print might sound good, but for to me it was lies.
We stayed in Mojocar for 4 nights, which I would recommend anytime. Unfortunately we stayed with family, so I can only say the accommodation was excellent. And the town is amazing.

I booked this holiday last year and was abit weary of it because of the bad reviews, but this really was a fantastic holiday. The hotel was extremely clean with the maids cleaning your room every day. The pool area is also cleaned every morning by the lifeguards and the whole of the resort was really clean with no cockroaches or mosquitoes, which was great.
My children loved it because the pool was very big and also the beach was just outside the hotel so I would allow them to go down there. The snack bar was lovely and we were able to get as much food or drinks as we would like. The food at the snack bar was lovely and typical English food, hamburgers, hot dogs, chips etc. The hotel restaurant was also nice, I wasn't expecting the food to be as good as it was because of the bad reviews but it really was nice and we always found something we liked to eat every day. Also both the alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks were great value, we could basically get any drink we wanted and of much of it as we wanted.
The entertainment of a night could have been better because it was mainly aimed at the Spanish and it didn't start until about half 10. There is an arcade downstairs, which kept the kids happy and also a club for the hotel guests, which seemed good although we never went because the sun of a day was that hot we were just too tired!
The daytime entertainment was also fun with both my husband and my two children joining in all the activities such as quizzes, water polo, darts, bowls and many others. We were also kept entertained by the water aerobics, which was fantastic, with a different member of staff everyday but I’d have to say that Olga was the best.
This hotel overall was honestly one of the best hotels I have been to. Don't let the bad reviews put you off because it is such a beautiful and family orientated hotel.

In our party there were 16 of us and every single day without having to get up too early we got a bed each right in front of the pool in the sun with parasols for shade! The pools were amazing. The poolside bar food was excellent as was the restaurants.
The hotel is very family friendly with its own section of the beach. Our rooms had breathtaking views of the sea and pool area.
We stayed all inclusive and the cocktails, sangria beer wine and champagne were all wonderful and free! The entertainment was all in Spanish but however the water aerobics in the day were excellent!
This was our second time visiting the Zoraida Gardens and we loved every second of it. There were lots of cheap shops right out side our hotel and a little way along the prom an English bar with all the football on! After the entertainment stopped at 12pm the party started down at the disco downstairs by the arcade!
You got free drink, and spirits, all the drinks you could think of really were free until 2am!
However in your room you could not hear the disco as it was downstairs in the fully air conditioned 'basement'. The hotel had 4 bars including a poolside Snack bar open from 11am - 7pm.
Our rooms were spotless and the maids come everyday. All the staff were polite and spoke good English. We would recommend this holiday to anyone and look forward to going back next year!

I went to Zoraida gardens august this year. There were 16 of us so we had a proper laugh. We had a nice room with a brilliant view we could see the pool and the beach so it looked lovely.
The staff were friendly and are really hard workers, except there is one man who wears a brace on his teeth who is not very nice so watch out for him.
The entertainment is mainly Spanish based but the have a disco downstairs, they play allot of Spanish music but if you request English songs they will play it. I enjoyed going the discos on the night.
The pool is fantastic it is really big and they do aerobics every day in there and it’s really good. Everyone does it so it’s really funny.

The snack bar is rite by the pool and cos we were all inclusive we could keep going up and getting food and drinks all day.
The beach is like a minute away and the waves are boss.
I recommend this holiday to anyone. Except if you don’t like Spanish people.

I will start with my only criticism of the holiday and that was the resort is to out the way with not much around it in the way of things to do.
But saying that there is bus stop outside the hotel should you fancy a trip to the shops. The hotel has so much to offer that this was not too much of a worry. We travelled with for kids between 4 and 13 and each one of them loved it and want to go back next year.
The entertainment staff where great with adults and kids alike and its true, it’s mainly Spanish guests at the hotel but they got all nationalities involved cant praise the boys and girls on the entertainment staff enough they worked hard all day.
We ate well at the hotel there was always a varied choice of meals and the kids enjoyed trying new things each night. There is two pools to enjoy which are cleaned and looked after by a team of lifeguards. If you fancy the beach its right next to the hotel but it’s a
Shingle beach.
They look after the hotel and it is cleaned to a high standard and all the staff where friendly to us. I never had a problem with the staff they were willing to help all the time.
Overall we had a relaxing holiday for the adults and fun packed time for the kids I would go back again no doubt.

I travelled to the hotel Zoraida Garden in Roquetas de Mar this year and it really was the best holiday I've been on.
I went with my four friends, my two children and my friends 3 children. It was a really nice family holiday, which the children and the adults loved.
The pool area was lovely and clean with a big pool. Their was also a snack bar just by the pool which served delicious food which was all free to us because we went all inclusive.
Everything we wanted was free including the alcoholic drinks. The beach is just literally outside the hotel and is an extremely clean area. All of the staff were extremely friendly and the entertainment was good at night although, some parts was in Spanish.

This really is an amazing place to go. We loved it so much that we are booking to go back again next August.

I visited Zoraida Garden just last month and I absolutely loved it! This has to be the best place that I have been to because it was so family friendly.
The weather was lovely and the pool was absolutely beautiful. Also the hotel was practically on the beach all we had to do was walk out the back of the hotel and we was on the beach.
The snack bar by the pool was great, we could have as much food as we liked, which was delicious, but the best part of the snack bar and the other bars in the hotel was the drinks on offer.
There was basically every drink you can think of from champagne to cocktails and from hot chocolate to milkshakes, and it was all free because we were all inclusive.
The entertainment was also great because the staff were so friendly. My 2 children was entertained all day and joined in for many of the day and night time games. The aerobics in the pool was also fantastic with every1 joining in, which looked amazing.
Our family loved this hotel so much that we have booked 2 go again this year in August.

Party: 4 Adults, 60, 59, 37 and 32.
4 Children, 13, 11, 8 and 2.
Arrived on 17 June 2007 and Departed on 28 June 2007.
Flights cost £1200 and accommodation for 2 sea view rooms cost approximately £1000.
Transfer at other end was booked with a company called Shuttle.com. Very reliable. 8 seater mini-bus cost £140 return. Transfer time approximately 40 minutes.
Went to the same hotel in 2004 and decided to go again.
Lovely hotel, big swimming pool with water features, and paddling pool. Be warned, it is very cold when entering. Indoor pool was under renovation or something although it was open the first time we were there.

Along with the indoor pool some of the other facilities were unavailable on the odd night.
There is a gym, gift shop, hairdressers, arcade, and nightclub downstairs.
Entertainment was O.K. Flamenco dancing, karaoke and live music etc.
Happy hour was 8 p.m while 9 p.m.
Staff were friendly enough to us especially Joseph who ran the small bar downstairs.
Restaurant was fairly quiet for the first few days and then it was packed out. Not very nice when you have to put up with some very ignorant Spanish. The best time to go down was as soon as it opened otherwise you would find yourself queuing.
Breakfast was 8 a.m while 11.30 a.m. and evening meal was 7.00 p.m while 10.30 p.m.
Food was O.K. You wouldn't starve but the choice was a bit odd. Not big on desserts in this hotel I'm afraid.
Breakfast was the same every morning, cheese, meats, bread rolls, croissants, yogurts, cereal, fruit juice, bacon, eggs, etc. Just use your imagination and come up with some different combinations.
Clean hotel, rooms are cleaned daily, not to a wonderful standard but good enough. Pool cleaned daily. High season, don't expect to get a sun lounger around the pool. Be prepared to get annoyed watching people taking sunbeds for the day with towels and then not using them.
You could always beat them to it at an ungodly hour, either that or just throw their towels on the floor. (That's what I felt like doing) Or you could just go to the beach which is a stone’s throw away and always plenty of space.
Plenty of trips out. Some shops and restaurants facing the hotel. Plenty more in the town about a mile away.
Rubbish exchange rate at the hotel. Go to the town where the gorilla park is (for kids), just facing this is a bar/restaurant called Colossal? And they do a good exchange rate and there are a lot of English go there as well.
Amanda, Middleton in Manchester.