Elba Castillo San Jorge and Antigua

If you read just one long and thorough review in full, I ask you make it this one.

I’ve just returned from a week’s holiday at this hotel with my boyfriend, and I have a lot to say about it. This review is long and detailed, but please give it a read if you want a full, honest opinion on this place – both the good and the terrible.

I would like to start with the positives, as they do deserve to be highlighted…

• Firstly, the staff are stellar. Everyone working there was really nice, aways said hello and with a smile on their faces no matter their role – cleaners, waiting staff, animation team, reception, maintenance. * When we arrived later than expected due to delays in the airport and with the transfer, not only were we exhausted from a long day of travel but we had missed the evening food slot and were ravenous, we fully expected we would need to go back out to find a shop open late to grab some snacks. However, after checking we were handed a small pack up each to ensure we had something to eat! Although it wasn’t much – just a sandwich, an apple, some water and orange juice each, it was a very much appreciated gesture, and we were so grateful for it.
• The room was very… lacklustre, as I will touch on later in my ‘cons’, but it was very spacious. We had a 1-bedroom apartment, with a huge balcony too (just a shame about the view, which I will touch on again)
• The beds were super comfy, and sizeable. As usual in hotels, it was 2 single beds pushed together, but the beds felt much bigger than standard singles so that was pleasant.
• The shower was fantastic, great power, and the bathroom again was very spacious.
• The drink selection was pretty good. We went all-inclusive so were able to help ourselves to a wide range of soft drinks or go to the bar to get a nice array of cocktails or spirits – by boyfriend was happy with the Cruz Campo on tap!
• The pool areas were great, lovely big pools and plenty of sunbeds to be had – we never struggled to get any.
• The hotel grounds themselves were lovely, there were a few different areas to sit and enjoy your time across the grounds, and it was well kept and clean. * The location of the hotel is fab as well, we walked down to the harbour and the beach a couple of the days, and it only took around 20 mins (and that’s me being a slow walker!). The walk along the coastline was really nice, seeing the chipmunks and cats along the rocks while we walked.

For me, that is where the pros end unfortunately. There are a fair few negatives to be said about this hotel in my opinion, of course it is always down to opinion, but I do believe this hotel could do with a lot of improvements before I would even consider returning…

• First things first is the biggest con of all – the lack of aircon. Now, I only realised there was no aircon after booked the hotel and seeing reviews about this – I wish I had read them properly before as if I knew it didn’t have the air con I wouldn’t have booked it. When I saw the reviews though, people were still positive and said that the breeze was enough when you opened the balcony doors and that the rooms very cooled easily. This is a complete lie. It was horrid, it was stuffy, it was red hot, and it made it hard to breathe in the room. No matter if we had both balcony doors and bathroom window open, the breeze was nowhere near enough and for the first few nights without a fan, I barely slept a wink and spent a lot of time sat out on the balcony to catch my breath. It wasn’t until the 3rd day out of 7 that we managed to get a fan, after going back and forth from reception multiple times to be told they had none available, we finally got one on that 3rd day. And thank goodness we did as I was ready to pack up and go home I was so uncomfortable and exhausted form barely sleeping, as well as my eczema on my neck flaring up massively due to being so sweaty every night. It was a 20 euro deposit (that had to be paid in cash) and 3 euros per day. It didn’t make the room cold in any way shape or form, but it certainly made it a little more comfortable to sleep, and to get ready morning and night.
• The room, although spacious, was lacklustre. Reviews do say it is dated, but I would say it is way beyond that. The furniture mostly looked like it was on the brink of collapse, the tiles across the floor were badly chipped and wonky – a few of them were loose when walking around, the bathroom ceiling was yellow and stained so I assume there’s been leaks previously. The photos of the rooms online are, in my opinion, heavily edited to appear in a better condition than they actually are. What got me was we saw staff up on the top of the building painting the wooden accents, yet the rooms seem to be forgotten about – it seems a bit backwards that they care more about the appearance of the top of the building that nobody looks at than they do about the rooms that people are actually staying in.
• The rooms were clean enough, but then again there was a bug squashed into the wall with a very obvious shoe print covering it so maybe need to take that with a pinch of salt. Sometimes the towels they gave us had holes and tears in them too – they were clean but really could have done with being replaced.
• The balcony was huge, which was great, but it was quite frankly a let down with the view. It does list online that the 1 bed apartments are either a garden or hotel view, but when it says hotel view I didn’t expect that to mean I was staring directly into other people’s balconies within about 2 metres. We never once opened our curtains due to the lack of privacy, just slipped out through them to get outside, and when we did sit on the balcony it was just a bit awkward being so close to others and if you look around you just look like you’re staring into their rooms. It also meant that when people were smoking on their balconies (which is fair enough, it’s their balcony) it did just blow over right into our room so that wasn’t ideal as a non-smoker.
• The room also was directly over the main walkway between the 2 buildings that the hotel is made up of, so it was just noise noise noise all through the day and night. People walking through it all hours of the night shouting and yelling without a care in the word, staff pushing trolleys full of plates and kitchen ware clattering in the early hours of the morning. All this could be heard through closed balcony doors by the way.
• 90% of the chairs around the hotel, especially all of them in the entertainment area, were so uncomfortable and tight, I have ended up with bruising around my hips and top of my legs from how badly the arms dug into me. I may be a bigger than average gal, but even looking around at the average person, they were nearly filling the seats themselves. At one point I measured the chairs width and as it narrowed inwards toward the back between the arms, it was just 14 inches wide which is absolutely shocking. They are also made of like wicker material so even if you are slim and find the chairs easy to fit into, you then have the suffering of wooden wicker lumps and bumps digging into your legs if you want to wear shorts/skirts. I ended up taking a towel down from the room to sit on to at least alleviate that issue to try find some form of comfort.
• From what I could see during my week away, there was no actual designated smoking areas so that meant people smoked anywhere and everywhere. I don’t want to be “that” non-smoker because it’s completely your prerogative if you smoke or not, but when you’re lying by the pool trying to relax, and someone lights up a cig right next to you, it isn’t very pleasant. Theres also loads of young children playing in and around the pool and hotel with again just smoking everywhere. A few people did seem to have some consideration and moved away to a less busy area to smoke, but unfortunately the majority didn’t. It also meant there were cig butts everywhere, even though there are signs to say no throwing them, many people seem to just completely ignore than and throw anywhere besides the bin.
• The sunbeds around the pool, while they were plentiful, the parasols were not. Many of the sunbeds remained uncovered in the blistering sun all day. So while we didn’t struggle to get sun beds, we did struggle to always find a parasol. On the few days we didn’t get any parasol shade, I made sure to periodically move in and out of the sun to avoid burning (I’m a pale girl) which was a bit of a hassle moving my sun bed around chasing shade under trees, other people’s parasols and the buildings.
• On top of this, the sun beds are near enough on top of each other. They are so close together with barely any room to separate them that you have to be happy and comfortable laying so close to other people that you can essentially feel their body heat. We tried our best to at least make an inch or 2 gap but it was difficult. If you enjoy playing footsy with strangers when sunning by the pool, you’re in luck!
• There was always something on, day and night, but that doesn’t mean what’s on is any good. The entertainment was mostly not great in my opinion, I wasn’t expecting show stopping performances don’t get me wrong, but some nights were very boring we just went up to our room to play cards. One night was a movie night, which I found lazy to be honest, I’ve not come on holiday to watch a film, but each to their own. We had to laugh as it was the smallest projector screen ever for starters, and then because the wifi is poor it just buffered all the time and you could see everyone was getting bored.
• Finally, the food. Oh dear, the food. I understand the hotel is a 3 star rating, so I didn’t expect gourmet food, I knew it would be the classic buffet style food, but my god was it lacking. The choices were limited and repetitive, and the food itself was just not good quality. Themed nights were a stretch to call them a theme, for example the Mexican night was just the same usual crap as every other night with a few tortillas on the end and salsa, borderline offensive really. Food that should have been moist was dry as a bone, and food that should have been dry was wet… it left a lot to be desired let’s put it that way. If we hadn’t have already paid for the all inclusive, we would have eaten out instead but we aren’t made of money unfortunately so had to just make do.

Overall, we still had a lovely holiday as I strongly believe it is what you make it, and we made sure to not let these negatives get the better of us. I completely get it is a 3 star hotel so it isn’t going to be incredible, but it was lacking and what we experienced was that you would expect of a 2 star in my opinion. The staff was easily more than 3 star and more, as was the pool and the drinks service, but the other points I have made really drag it down. Obviously, things like this are all personal views and opinion based, and plenty of people come back here time and time again as they do love it. But it was not for me, and although we made the most of it and had a lovely week away, I can confidently say we wouldn’t return.

We had a week here and I was hoping for a nice stay with all the reviews. But was really disappointed the hotel is in a good location. The hotel inside needs a revamp rooms pools all areas. Food was bad got by on a little breakfast then me and my wife eat out every night. Entertainment was rubbish aspects the lady who do the water aerobics she was really funny and great at her job. The drinks was pretty good. There was no air-conditioning in the room some nights it was unbearable. So for me it will be a BIG NO to return here.

The ocean view from the room was stunning, and atmosphere was very pleasant. The hotel staff provided exellent service-always smiling polite, and helpful. Thr rooms where well-maintained; ours was clean and smelled fresh. The entertainment program for both children and adults was very engaging. The meals were varied and delicious. I highly recommend it. I am writing using a translator; I apologize for the mistakes.