Primavera Park Hotel

“TOP MARKS TO THE PRIMAVERA PARK HOTEL AND IT'S STAFF. PERFECT STAY (BOTH TIMES) FOR US!”

A group of ladies have just returned from the super Primavera Park Hotel (PPH). For most of them, it was their first trip to Benidorm; my second visit! We’d chosen it for a 60th birthday celebration. Some of us stayed for a week, others came just for a long weekend. But, I was a little worried … lisää

A group of ladies have just returned from the super Primavera Park Hotel (PPH). For most of them, it was their first trip to Benidorm; my second visit! We’d chosen it for a 60th birthday celebration. Some of us stayed for a week, others came just for a long weekend. But, I was a little worried about choosing Benidorm, so I decided to go, with my husband, to do a recce, back in June. We stayed at the PPH – it was perfect – hence us choosing it again! PPH is in an ideal location. To the right is the Old Town, to the left is the New Town. A 10-minute walk away and you have the beach. You really are in the middle of it all! The hotel is spotless! Every toilet is so clean, including the pool toilet and rooftop toilet. Check-in isn’t until 4pm. We arrived around Noon, but already knew to pack clothes at the top of our case, so that we could quickly change and walk down to the beach, for lunch. Your cases are kept in a safe room, if your actual room isn’t ready. The Selvatico Rooftop Terrace is lovely. It is privately owned, so the prices up there are double the price of the Oasis Pool Bar, but it’s lovely to go up for the early morning sun, where there are around 20 sunbeds. And it’s lovely for an early evening drink. They allow the general public in after 7pm. And, as it has one of the best rooftop bars in Benidorm, it does get rather busy, with lots of young ‘posers’, but it’s fun! There is a Mercadona, 5 minutes up the hill, where they sell litres of water for under 50p per bottle. The supermarket is large and you can get everything you will have forgotten, or need. We booked deluxe pool view rooms, so my report is on that room only. There is a kettle and a small selection of tea/coffee/small milk cartons. But, take your own if you prefer. And, you can get milk from the Mercadona! There’s also coffee available, by way of machines, near reception. There is a small fridge, which houses the bare essentials. There are two bottles of water, in the fridge, on arrival, which are free – after that, they are chargeable. There’s a good safe, in the wardrobe, which is free! There is no iron in the room, but the PPH does offer a laundry service. Our room had a lovely seating area, the bedroom being divided by a wall. Obviously, the seating area, which had a sofa, doubles up to a family room. There was no mirror over the dressing table, so we took a small, portable one. There wasn’t a dressing table in the bedroom and there is little by way of drawers – infact, just the one. And, there aren’t a lot of hangers, so we took some spares, which certainly came in handy. The bathroom was great – lovely and spacious – shower only, but a large walk-in shower with a powerful shower – loved it. Shampoo, condition and bodywash only. No shower caps or tissues. The hairdryer is attached to the wall in the bathroom, but with two women sharing, I took a spare hairdryer. Also, there aren’t many hooks in the bathroom, but as I’d been before, I knew that, so we bought some suction hooks to hang our toiletry bags, shower caps, etc.. Lovely white towels too! There wasn’t any USB points, so take a conversion plug with you. Our double balcony was lovely and large and had a nice 4-barred line attached to the wall. The aircon was great – not that we had it on much. We also had a long mirror by the front door. The main buffet restaurant has a lot of selection for breakfast and lunch. We did book half board and you are allowed to exchange lunch for dinner. We liked the lunches, better than the dinners, as we liked walking out of an evening. Wine in the restaurant is reasonably priced too – working out around €18-20 a bottle. Water at lunch and dinner is €3 per bottle – it’s free at breakfast. And, the restaurant staff are all great. Leo made our stay very comfortable – thank you, Leo. Oh, and for the girls that only booked B&B, they were able to pay in the restaurant for both lunch and dinner, at €16 per person – we all thought that was a great deal! With regard to dress code ….. the buffet restaurant isn’t for those going straight from the pool ………….. stick to the Oasis Pool Bar if you want to go and sit, in a wet bikini or trunks!!!! Evening dress doesn’t require long trousers, but smart/casual and lots of people dressed up, which was nice! The Oasis Pool Bar is very reasonable for drinks. We mainly drank jugs of Sangria – the white Sangria is lovely! And, the toasties, salads and sandwiches are nice – again, very reasonable. If you don’t want to pay …. You can always walk up to the Mercadona, where they sell a selection of sandwiches, pastries, etc.. The cabanas around the pool are chargeable at €40 per cabana for the day, but ………. You redeem that €40 for drinks and food at the Oasis Pool Bar! And, the sunbeds do not have big sponges on them, but we found them more comfortable than the old plastic beds on the beach! The sun doesn’t hit the main pool until around mid-day, so people don’t really reserve beds. The pool itself doesn’t open until 10am, so none of that malarkey where people put towels on beds early, although people did still put towels down at 10am and not return until mid-day. But, not once did we have a problem with getting beds – always available on both occasions. There’s a section, behind the Pool Bar, where the early morning sun comes up too! The Wifi, for us, was great – never had a problem. The hotel doesn’t have any shops, but there are so many shops directly outside the hotel; a 5-10 minute walk away. No cats or dogs about – phew! You collect two tickets for your pool tools, on check-in. You have to leave €10 per person, which you get refunded on check-out, but do remember to keep the ticket they give you as proof. We took photos on our ‘phone, in the even the tickets got lost! As mentioned, I’ve now been twice this year. Both times there weren’t many children and, because it doesn’t offer the all inclusive option, you don’t get many drunken people or large groups at the hotel, which was nice! I can’t comment on the gym or small spa, as we didn’t use either. We didn’t need late check-out, so I can’t help on that one. I always buy my father cigarettes, and they were just as cheap at Duty Free (Alicante) as they were in the Tobacs! Airport is clean, but it was very busy when we landed early, so be patient. And, the Duty Free at the airport is big and there are lots of eateries, but we waiting until we had to go to the gate and there is an array of sandwich bars/coffee shops when you actually go through security. Oh, and the shops in the New Town are a lot cheaper than the Old Town! The staff at this hotel are super. Friendly and helpful. Vanessa (on main reception) was exceptionally helpful, with perfect English. A big shout out to Vanessa. And, Inga was also so very helpful – they work so hard. Oh, and not forgetting Michaela (at the Oasis Pool Bar) …… she certainly is a live-wire, who made us laugh on many occasions. If you are a beach person, as mentioned, it’s only a 10-minute stroll, but there are no toilets on the beach, so you have to go into a local restaurant. The beach gets so packed and make sure you sit in the right area, because there are quite a few flat rocks and the sea is hard to get into. Sit, sort of near, the floating structure – it’s easy to get into the water there. Two beds and a parasol were €18 for the day. I think I’ve covered everything?! We had a fabulous time (both times) at the PPH. It’s definitely one of the better hotels in Benidorm. I would highly highly recommend it, as would our friends, but if you do want a pool view room, you will have to book it – and pay accordingly, unless you are lucky enough to get an upgrade. Benidorm is such a fun place – something to do for everyone. We avoided the main strip (and chaos) over the weekend, as after 11pm, it can get rather mad. But, for us and seeing the shows (Sinatras was our favourite), if you get in around 9.30-10pm, you should get a seat. When we return to Benidorm, we will definitely go back to the Primavera Park Hotel – thoroughly enjoyed our stay. No complaints whatsoever!

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