Caleta Hotel

We were married just over 2 weeks ago at The Caleta Hotel, Gibraltar. We arrived the day before the ceremony but unfortunatly our rooms we not ready so we left our baggage and went to explore the local town. We had seen a bus stop a few minutes walk from the entrance, so we decided to leave our car at the hotel and try the local bus. Not knowing exactly where to get off we had a very long bus ride! After a few hours shopping we decided to return to the hotel as family were due to arrive some point in the early afternoon. The return trip to the hotel took longer than the first. The bus looped several times before leaving the town. Back at the hotel we were told by friendly reception staff that our room was ready and some of our guests had already arrived. After freshening up, and getting familiar with our room, we headed to the bar and terrace to meet with our family. We ordered tea and coffee for 7. 20 minutes later we returned to the bar to check on our order. No appologies were made for the delay, which was a shame, as it was one of the few blights of our stay. The afternoon passed quickly until it was time for my nail appointment. Not something i would normally do, but as it was for my wedding i thought i would treat myself. The cost was far more than i was expecting, and although the beautician was obviously practiced, I am not sure it was a fair price for a manicure and polish. We met with family again in the early evening for a small meal on the terrace. I have to say it was exactly that! One of the meals didnt arrive and after checking once again with the bar staff, we were told it would be along soon. We had all finished eating when the missing meal arrived. The morning of the wedding is, to be honest a bit of a blur, but the wedding its self will stay with me forever. Everything went according to plan, in fact it was far better. There were 16 of us in total making the hotel garden the perfect location; just enough space to have it busy but not in the least crowded. The ceremony took place at midday, and the weather was perfect. I stayed in my room with my 2 10yr old bridesmaids and my mother until the the phone rang at 11.55. This was the call from Judy, the hotel manager, to tell me it was time to come to the garden. Our room was a delux sea view on the lower floor,(the only delux rooms fitted with full length mirrors) so i needed the 5 mins to get there. There were no lifts! Just before the entrance to the garden there is a room they call 'The Green Room'. I met Judy there. The other guests including my mother were all seated at this time, and Judy went to the garden and started the music. My bridesmaid`s entered the garden through glass doors, down the steps, and i followed. The garden wasn't large, but that morning it seemed huge. As you enter the garden there is a small semi-circular pond/fountain built to the side if the wall, just beyond, there is a raised circular flower bed with various large ferns etc and a few feet further brings you to the start of the carpet and 4 steps leading up to a red phone box. You enter the ceremony area here, under an arch of ivy and climbing foliage. The seating area was sheltered from the sun by a large canopy. My groom was waiting at a long table covered in white cloth. The ceremony itself lasted about 8 minutes. We exchanged vows and then rings. We each signed the register, then our 2 chosen witnesses did the same. The next hour was taken up with social drinks and photos, though we did slip off for about 20 minutes with the video man who had filmed the entire ceremony. The dvd he gave us later that afternoon was well worth the £150 as it was far better alternative to a professional photographer - a brilliant last minute addition to our day. We were then able to watch the dvd later that evening with our guests in the green room. We chose Nunu's, the Italian resturant inside the Caleta, to hold our wedding breakfast. Sea views and med sunshine. It was stunning! We chose a buffet, though it was like no buffet I have ever seen. We had horse shoe seating, 4 on the top table the others in equal numbers either side. We spent 3 fantastic hours here and the service was excellent. We were given a sword to cut the cake, an unusual extra that looks wonderful in the photos. We spent the rest of the late afternoon , through sunset and into the night on the terrace. A perfect ending to a perfect day. We stayed one further day and night before checking out for our return home. In conclusion, I would recommend the Caleta as a wedding venue. It has all the ingredients to make a magical time - though it would serve the hotel well to invest in a large tin of white paint for the garden, and the staff could perhaps learn to smile once in a while. P&D

I stayed with a group of 2 other adults (who shared a double room with sea view) and a child aged 6 (with whom I shared a twin room). On the first night, after a smooth check in and a rather insanely expensive one course meal at Nunos, the Italian restaurant below the hotel, I received a total of 2 hours sleep. This was as a result of a wedding party booking; a few of the guests were obviously booked into an adjacent room and proceeded to make noise from 1am (from below the rooms on the hotel's restaurant terrace and then from within the room next door) until they finally checked out later the next day. I calmly and politely complained the next morning that both myself and my son had received very little sleep as a result of their other noisy and selfish guests, and the member of staff on the desk grudgingly apologised with no attempt to rectify or make up for the lost night's sleep! I suppose there was nothing she could do, but some decent customer service wouldn't go amiss in the Caleta at times. The rest of our stay was no different, really, in terms of noise. The rooms have very little sound proofing between them and you can hear almost everything in any adjacent room. If another guest has their television turned on at any time, no matter how low the volume you can hear it clearly through the walls. This is especially annoying when it occurs in the middle of the night! However, I can only speak of the rooms on the sea view side. As far as the rooms go, these were of a very good size in both the double and twin rooms. The bathroom was more than adequate with shower/bath, sink and WC, and plenty of clean towels at all times. The standard of room cleanliness was high and the room was kept well made up and towels replenished daily if required. I was very pleased with the room and the general standard of service. The balconies can be very small in some of the sea view rooms, but all offer a spectacular view. I recommend waking early to watch the sunrise across the sea from your balcony. The staff ranged from friendly and efficient albeit struggling a little with the English language (surprisingly - Gib is very much an english speaking country), to downright surly, blunt and un-welcoming. The bar staff at the hotel's main bar (just inside the lobby area) were all efficient enough, but this seemed to involve being blunt and monosyllabic with it! I wasn't impressed at all with their level of customer service and general attitude, and my fellow traveler's received the same treatment from said staff independently of my experience of them. You have been warned. The food in the hotel main bar was good. Breakfasts were also good, with plenty available for everyone and served until 10am. Nunos, the Italian restaurant on the lowest floor of the hotel, was poor. The house red wine was repeatedly sent back by fellow guests for being 'corked' or for tasting foul, on differing nights, yet Nunos' head waiter simply replaced these each time with another equally foul-tasting glass of house wine and went on his merry smiling way without properly resolving the complaint. He didn't seem to have much of a clue about wines! The food was of a good standard for the most part, but the prices didn't match the standard. Prices in Nunos are ridiculously high, so do not eat here unless you are happy to pay a fortune for a simple enough Italian meal. The pool is a sea water chlorinated pool, which may well not be suitable for a lot of people. I found it unpleasant to swim in, as the slightest bit of water leaves a nasty taste. This pool wouldn't be very enjoyable for children to swim in, either, because of the sea water and because there is a sharp drop from adult height depth to very deep, with no shallow area. The area around the pool has plenty of sunbeds with freshly laundered towels laid out each morning. The entire pool area isn't too large, however, and may feel crowded and claustrophobic. The beach next to the hotel isn't very big but is adequate. There is a huge litter problem, in my opinion, in Gibraltar (as you will see for yourself if you visit) and sadly this problem equally applies to the beach next to the Caleta. There will be no blue flags around here in the near future! Happily, the sea is still clean enough and pleasant to swim in, in this area, and the beach didn't seem to get crowded at any time (mind you this was in early October, when the weather has calmed down some). One note I would like to make here is regarding the hotel beds. These are incredibly uncomfortable, and for anyone suffering any kind of back injury these may well be a serious problem, as they were for me! By the second morning I could hardly walk and was in serious pain as a result of desperately trying to sleep on a very hard and unsupportive mattress for 2 nights. We complained at the desk and asked if we could use a sunbed mattress on top of the hotel bed mattress. The staff at the desk were very understanding and indeed swiftly indulged us by providing a sunbed mattress which turned out to be so much more comfortable than the hotel bed's mattress! I would have preferred to be offered an alternative room with a better mattress, as I would have thought a good night's sleep on a decent bed was a standard requirement of any hotel room, but maybe I'm wrong? Take an inflatable mattress if it's really going to be a problem, because my understanding from other guests was that many, if not all, of the hotel beds at the Caleta were somewhat uncomfortable and caused a few back problems to occur! Buses run regularly around the island and will stop to drop you off at a point not far from the hotel. To catch a bus into town involves a 5 minute walk away from the hotel and past the local beach. There are a few local restaurants along this side of the hotel, which open on at least a couple of evenings each week, so there should always be somewhere local but outside of the hotel to have a decent evening meal. Whilst we were there, major building work/construction was being carried out right next to the Caleta hotel, which made for a noisy and dusty time of it during the day. Hopefully, you will be off having fun elsewhere on the island to notice this too much. I'm not sure how much of a disruption this would be first thing in the morning if you are on the road side of the hotel! There is a gym and salon inside the hotel, and other facilities, which I didn't make use of and therefore cannot review. All in all, I would not rate this hotel 4 star - more suited to a 3 star rating - and I don't think the rooms should be priced quite so high. If you can find a booking for the Caleta at a lower price, however, and if you're prepared to eat outside of the hotel if you don't want to pay the high prices inside, then I would recommend the Caleta as a short to medium stay hotel for adults and older families. Children will most likely get very bored staying at the Caleta as, to my knowledge, there is no play area nor any facilities specifically designed for children, which is a shame.

I stayed there around 15 times in 2005 for business reasons and once with my family (paid by the company). The hotel (Formely called Caleta Palace) is completely isolated on the beach on the Catalan bay. Communication with the center is by taxi or bus (frequent) with a stop not far from the hotel. Rooms are OK. I had the possibility to sleep in all types of rooms from the Deluxe sea view (the best there) to the normal road view (old room showing its age). and "suite" with 2 bedrooms Surprisingly, it can be noisy both sides (but seaview is better): - seagulls are very unpleasant and can be an irritating source of noise (both sides) - in summer, street side, until very late in the night, young Gibraltarean are driving full speed in what must be a motorway for them given the size of the country - Streetside, also the lorry collecting the garbage at 6:00am can wake you up if you sleep with the door open. - The airco is noisy - I slept there in February in the middle of a storm and the waves are crashing on the rock under the building, making you feel as if the building (and yourself) will head south. The swimming pool surroundings are old and really need an upgrade. There is free internet access in the lobby. Breakfast not good and choice very limited Restaurant downstairs OK but expensive. You can find within a short walk a good spanish restaurant (La mamella) and down on the beach two tapas bar serving fish,... The beach is right down the hotel. Overall, hotels in Gib are very expensive and I would rather stay in La Linea (Iberostar,..). If you have to pay yourself, it is a much better deal (1/2 price).

Having read many reviews on this hotel we were a bit sceptical. We needn't have worried - it was much better than expected. The food was good, the prices were reasonable, the hairdressers fantastic and the staff couldn't do enough for you. For £1.50 you can have a pass on the bus which lasts all day so you can get around without any trouble. The rock view room we had was large and well kept - we needed the ceiling fan on all night as we were warned about the monkeys coming in the room if you left the balcony door open. Our balcony was large enough for 4 chairs and a table should you need them although we only had 2 chairs which was fine as there were only 2 of us! Wouldn't pay extra for a sea view room as we understand from others that they were much smaller and balcony only held one chair. This was our first trip to Gibraltar and it certainly will not be our last. We most certainly will be staying at the Caleta again.

This trip for me and my husband was a disaster from start to end. When we arrived in the middle of the night the service from the morrocan receptionist was appalling he did not have a clue what he was doing. Our room was not fantasticly decorated and was a bit shabby. The service we received at breakfast was appalling we were seated at a dirty table surrounded by clean ones which confused us!! The management team were very unhelpful, on several ocassions my husband asked them questions that they either could not answer or could not be bothered to answer properly. The whole hotel is rather shabby looking and is defintaely not of a four star quality however much they insist that they have been graded fairly. I would not reccommend this hotel to anyone especially not at the prices they charge as well!!! Good luck to anyone who has the misfortune of visiting!!!

This is a reasonable hotel in a unique setting with exceptional views out across the med. Service is good, the rooms are fine and although without aircon this shouldn't be a problem on this side of the rock because of the sea breeze. The food lets the hotel down enormously. The swordfish came deep fried with a tin of mango and crisps!! Breakfast was fine and the staff are very nice (so long as you tip, if you are english and don't tip them, don't expect service, you might as well slap them in the face as not tip). The onsite restaurant Nuno provides massively overpriced dishes. But you have to set this against an exceptional view. The pool is great. Never overcrowded with a nice breeze to keep you cool. As with the rest of Gibraltar the food is the real let down. But then if you are staying in Gibraltar you'll struggle to do any better elsewhere for something to eat so factor this out. On balance I would certainly return, you cannot really compare this to the elliot or rock hotels because its in a different setting and offers a different experience.

There was no air conditioning in the bedrooms (which in August is not good!!) so we had to leave the french doors open at night to try and cool the room down...which meant that we regularly woke up to monkeys in the room in the morning!! The hotel eventually provided room fans which were inadequate and the staff seemed generally unsympathetic to our problems. The public rooms were good and with the exception of the restaurant staff we received reasonable service. the restaurant however was, in our opinion dire. Mistakes were made with our orders, staff were rude and officious and the quality of the food was poor.

Arrived Monday 19th June to be greeted by an efficient young lady behind reception, who volunteed plenty of information, for which we were grateful. A clean comfortable room with only a ceiling fan (can't complain about that as it's what we booked, by acting on the weather forecast). A pleasant view over Catalan Bay, and an ample choice of victuals for breakfast. the number 4 bus passes the hotel 2 or 3 times an hour (I think) and costs 60 pence (although you can get a day ticket for (I think) £1.50 - and there are reductions for children and seniors). Found Gibraltarians to be friendly and helpful. Plenty of good shopping -(including 'duty-free'). Had a wonderful time going on trips up the rock - to Morocco, dolphin gazing, and others. Always glad to arrive back at the Caleta each night fulfilled but exhausted, but resolving to stay at the hotel again. Everything was great - until the evening of 22nd June - the day before we were returning home. We had the misfortune to encounter a rude and derisory duty manager when we asked for directions to the 'English Bar'. Forget going back to the Caleta - but thanks to everyone else!

I have just returned from an enjoyable stay at the Hotel caleta. We were here for 2 nights for a wedding in June. The bedroom we stayed in had amazing views out to sea, the only draw back was there was no air conditioning only a ceiling fan. The bathroom in the room was functional but nothing special. The room was fine for 2 nights but an longer and I think I would have needed an upgrade as it lacked quality furnishings. The public areas of the hotel are lovely. Comfortable seating areas and marble floors in the reception. The main bar was very nice with plenty space for a peacefull drink away from others if you wanted. The biggest asset this hotel has is the location and the views out to sea. The veranda's and outdoor patios have the most incredible uninterupted views of the sea. The pool area is small but it never got overcrowed. The pool itself is fed with water from the sea, it is extremley salty but there are two showers nearby to use after swimming. The pool is a little unsafe for children as it is very deep and the sides of the pool are very high. I can't really comment on the food as we were guests at a wedding and the hotel supplied a buffet for us on the first night which I found adequate. On the day of the wedding the hotel provided a barbeque which again was just alright. I'm not a fan of barbeques so I think it would be wrong of me to comment. I would have liked an opportunity to eat in the hotel restaurant but alas time did not permit. Overall I enjoyed my stay at the hotel and would return if I was in Gib again. I think this hotel really has the potential to be something amazing. It is in a glorious position and if a lot of money was spent upgrading the bedrooms and making the general feel of the place a little more exclusive it could warrant a 5 star grading. Right now I would say the hotel is more of 3 star hotel bordering on 4 star, it does not quite get 4 in my eyes and that in my opinion is honest and realistic.

My family and I just spent a lovely week in Gibraltar.The Caleta Hotel made it wonderful. The staff were really kind and friendly, nothing was too much trouble.The view from the window out to sea was spectacular and the situation of the hotel on the rocks overlooking the sea was great.The restaurant nunos on the ground floor offered great italian food.I look forward to going again soon.