Las Marismas De Corralejo

We stayed for the first time here for 10 nights. It’s a stunning complex and the grounds are well kept.

Location - perfect location. 10 minute walk to the top of the strip with a pleasant stroll down to music square. To the other side is El Campanario which is lovely. They have a craft market twice a week with live music and shops and lots of eating places. We loved Tasty Corner for lunch and the cherry tree. Lots of shops down the strip and lots of eating places. Our favourite was Tandori Garden at the top of strip and La Tasca half way down. I read reviews about some places to eat and some were ok, some not. In my opinion, everyone’s tastebuds are different, so just give them a go. Music square is great for a vibe!

Pools - There are three pools, one is a round children’s paddling pool with a fountain in the middle. This is heated with sun loungers around it. This pool was very quiet with lots of older people around it (think they were escaping the hustle and bustle of children in the other pools). The two other pools are lovely which is joined by a bridge and decorative rocks. The lower pool is considerably warmer, however the other one is certainly bearable and lovely to cool down in. There are plenty of sunbeds but people reserve beds as early as 7:30am. We would watch from the balcony as one person would receive multiple beds. Sometimes they would not use there beds until midday. Saw a lady once removing towels before ten. If you are not down by 10am you would struggle to get a bed. People would go off into town and not remove their towels which is not acceptable. The hotel are clear about no subbed wars but this is not managed or monitored.

Rooms - we requested by email a first floor pool facing room which we got. Dates with old style furniture, but very clean. Impressed with the amount of time the cleaners came in. We were apprehensive about the break ins, so used the safe and made sure all valuables were in there, even at night. There are ceiling fans but does not provide much relief in the strong heat. To cool the room, we would leave the front door propped open and both balcony doors open. Evenings were hot for sleeping and we did not get much sleep due to this. Air con not needed, but suitable fans are! The double bed is comfy, but my 17 year old son had to sleep in it with his dad as the sofa bed was not suitable. I would say it is ok for a young child, but certainly not for a teenager or grown adult. It’s a little camp bed which I took the mattress off and put on top of the sofa to make it a little more comfy. Next time, we would get two rooms and hire fans.

Food- thank god we went self catering. We tried the breakfast twice and not for us. Was like a school canteen! Fried breakfast was cold and very poor quality. The juice is watered down and not pleasant. How people can eat there every day is beyond me. We bought food at the food bar a couple of times. It was edible but not the best. We didn’t try the evening food based on breakfast and lunch. I would not bother with all inclusive. Very repetitive and you’re missing out on lots of lovely cafes and restaurants in the area.

Staff were lovely and it was useful to have a supermarket on site for water etc. reception can book taxis very quickly and can help with booking excursion's. We easily filled ten days without the need of a car. But will hire one next year to explore the island.

Overall, we would def stay again, already looking for next year. The complex is well kept, and the location is perfect, but just be aware of the all inclusive options (not worth it) and the bed and heat situation.

The complex is within walking distance of the main strip, beaches and sand dunes, however, if you are less able to walk much regardless of the reason this could be an issue especially on really warm days. There are buses and taxis or car hire, but these all incur additional costs. The complex has a desert like garden and a few cats live here, with a designated cat feeding station. The cats are very friendly, there's a grey one with big eyes like Puss from Shrek, who often came into the apartment, so be prepared to coax it out with a saucer of water. If you have cat allergies be prepared. There's lots of lizards too, the cats bring them as gifts and other not pleasant things.

The atmosphere was good although the entertainment was dire, 2 hours in the evening a singer/s warbling 80s songs. It is stated on the website though that there's no real entertainment. I don't recall seeing any children's entertainment over the two weeks, but it does say there is.

Staff were exceptionally friendly and helpful couldn't fault them at all. My daughter had a different apartment to us, and when she left she forgot her sunglasses. The cleaner came looking for me to pass them on. She didn't have to take time out of her day to do so but she did!

Rooms were large and spacious, they are very dated though and furniture could do with updating. Think Travelodge.... Unfortunately, there's no Aircon (as stated on the website) just ropey old ceiling fans that are not very good and make a fair amount of noise, we thought they might fall on us they wobbled like the jelly at an 80s kids party. You can leave the patio doors open, with fly screens shut, for extra air. However, the fly screen in the sitting area does not lock. There's been a lot of legitimate reports of burglars on the resort, las marismas included. We paid for a safe €1.80 per day, but this didn't remove the anxiety especially being on the ground floor. This means that when it's hot, as it was when we were here, sleep is uncomfortable if you manage to get any. (Side note) The additional bed in the lounge is designed with the Hobbit in mind, great if you're a small child with a liking for sleeping on a brick. We were fortunate to have adjoining rooms so we had an extra mattress for our son who, is 11 and just about fit length ways.

The rooms were very clean and cleaning staff were in every day to make beds, our towels were renewed every two days and beds changed three times in 12 days. The grounds were well maintained and cleaned regularly although we did notice a few issues with the upper pool and the odd bit of rubbish left around the pool area. The bottom pool and kids paddle pool were heated, but do not think they are warm by any means, it takes a couple of minutes to acclimatise to the water. Sunbeds were not supposed to be reserved but the staff only removed towels sporadically and only before 10am so people were putting their towels out and one person would sit with them until 10am then they would leave them all day so others couldn't use them.

There's a mini supermarket on site which has the basics but it sells out of pastry's etc very early, also staff are very laid back so be prepared to stand waiting for a while before getting served.

The gym is well equipped and there's Aircon in there.

The mini golf is free and actually really good.

Laundry room easily accessible €3 per token, so €6 to wash and dry one load.

Now for the negatives food, unfortunately I don't agree with the reviews saying that it's great. Unfortunately, we had to go out nearly every evening to get food as the food in the hotel was poor, they have theme nights but the salad bar etc was the same food every night, soup choice was limited to either cream of tomato or cream of vegetable and didn't taste as the name would suggest. Overall the food was full of salt and oils with little or strange flavours and Luke warm or cold. Breakfast was mostly mini pastries, cereal (stale) fruit and bread with fried options ok but very repetitive, juice was heavily watered down.

Noise was as you would expect for a large complex, they do state that any noise after 10:30pm should be kept to a minimum as they do not allow noise that disturbs other people staying there, unfortunately this was not the case for us. We had disturbed sleep every night, people allowing children to play and scream outside past midnight, the room above us were exceptionally noisy, especially after they had been drinking and rows would ensure early hours. We did try to contact reception on a couple of occasions but they wouldn't answer the phone and would often engage the call.

Disregarding the food the hotel is value for money if you are self catering or would eat anything. Unfortunately, the lack of sleep and food issues have put us off returning, but I would say to others if you want to book here then do so as the complex is lovely. Not everyone has the same experience or tastes, so opinions are just one person's/families experience, yours may be completely different.