Iberostar Selection Albufera Playa

“Great hotel with excellent selection”

Excellent hotel, the food choices are great, particularly the Spanish restaurant. Our server Tolo was exceptional. WiFi works all round the hotel and a great selection of things to do. My only criticism would be the sound proofing in the room could be better as often can hear other guests in the co… more

Excellent hotel, the food choices are great, particularly the Spanish restaurant. Our server Tolo was exceptional. WiFi works all round the hotel and a great selection of things to do. My only criticism would be the sound proofing in the room could be better as often can hear other guests in the corridor. Other than that I would be happy to visit again.

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“Thoroughly enjoyed our stay and would gladly head back!”

We're just back from a 6 night stay at this hotel and thoroughly enjoyed our time there. We're a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 teens) and booked 2 rooms which were next door to each other, which worked out really well. We went for the 'standard' double deluxe rooms which were in block 7 and overlooked t… more

We're just back from a 6 night stay at this hotel and thoroughly enjoyed our time there. We're a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 teens) and booked 2 rooms which were next door to each other, which worked out really well. We went for the 'standard' double deluxe rooms which were in block 7 and overlooked the road at the side/ the national park. The road was actually really quiet and I think this was preferable to overlooking any of the pools/ bar/ restaurants. Beds were very comfy and the room had everything we needed. Absolute game changer was the wristbands which opened the doors, no need to constantly check who had their keys! Also loved the filtered water machines dotted round. Just a few slight niggles, the rooms were always really warm despite the air con being on the coolest setting. I'd also asked for the rooms to be configured as one double and one twin. There was reference to this when we checked in (very late at night) but when we got to the rooms they were both doubles. Beds were plenty big enough for the kids to cope with sharing, so we didn't bother asking for this to be changed. They'd also set the wristbands up so the doors they opened didn't correspond to the correct names and room numbers on the app. Not a huge issue, just when I wanted extra pillows for our room, I had to get the kids to request via their app log in. Could have got it changed but just didn't get round to it. Another niggle was that our rooms were at the end of the block where the housekeeping storage rooms were on all levels. Housekeeping staff understandably started early, but a combination of carts being rolled out and chatting staff on all 4 levels (there are open spaces between the levels) pre 8:30am each morning each morning started to grate...... The app is really useful, gives details about restaurant opening times, you get notifications when your room has been cleaned, activities etc and you can use it to book the 'non-buffet' restaurants. Unfortunately, due to it being late in the season, the Greek, Mexican and Spanish restaurants weren't all open every night. When I went to try and book there was no availability for any of them during our stay. They are all smaller than I'd expected, at a guess, I reckon they could probably each seat approximately 100 people, possibly a little more with outside areas so it's no surprise they get booked up quickly. I asked at reception and they managed to secure a reservation for the 4 of us on our final night. We really liked the feel of the place. Everything was clean and well maintained, staff always pleasant and happy to help. We enjoyed the food from the buffet, there was always a good selection. Loved the rooftop terrace at any time of the day! Great ambiance and views, made even better by having a selection of drinks up there. It's the first time we've done AI and I was sure we'd get stung for plenty of extras but was actually pleasantly surprised. Yes, in there evening there was an optional 'premium' wine list but there was never any push for this and there was always the 'standard' red, white and rose wines, cava, beer, soft drinks etc on offer. During our stay we paid extra for 3 paddle court bookings and just over €13 return for the 4 of us on the bus to Alcudia (local buses are fab, tap on and tap off with your debit card etc for the best price, you can use the same card for multiple people, the more people, the cheaper) but that was it! The beach is just lovely, just a few minutes walk away, not 'owned' by the hotel so sun loungers are extra. We didn't hire these but I read that they were €14.25 for 2 loungers and an umbrella for the day. Beach is sandy, sea shallow and was a lovely spot. Would also recommend a walk through the national park at the side of the hotel. You can walk through the forest and cut down and back along the beach, did this a couple of times. The Playa and Park are billed as 2 separate hotels, truth is, they're really one and the same. There's no separation, you can roam freely and everyone uses all of the facilities. The Park is billed as more family orientated and the kids pools are round that side but there were plenty of families with young children staying in the Playa. There was a good selection of pools but I have to agree with previous comments that they are COLD. I am a bit of a wimp when it comes to these things but my husband and son, who are both pretty hardy, found them to be very much on the cold side. The sea was definitely warmer. Indoor pool is heated but it's pretty small and gets busy on a rainy/ cool day, again I found it a little on the cool side! The weather was a little mixed during our stay, and at the start of our week the hotel was at approx 70% capacity, but there was never any difficulty getting a sunbed throughout the day. I'd assumed the rooftop terrace would be rammed a couple of times when we headed up but we always found loungers/ seats. We didn't do a lot of the activities, I'd read that there were 3 ages of kids club up to and including the age of 17. Had hoped the kids might find something they fancied. Our stay was at the end of the season, albeit the UK half term, the kids clubs on during our stay were 4-7 and 8-12 nothing specifically for the older age group. We all thoroughly enjoyed the evening digital quiz and the various music acts though. Thought I'd mention the food with regards to gluten free options as my husband is coeliac. I'd contacted the hotel in advance and they responded to say they could accommodate and he would be given an allergen card on arrival. We also took our own GF cereal and bread. The food was mostly labelled in the buffet restaurants, sometimes the wrong label was clearly on show though. He mostly managed with the buffet, they were happy to prepare things like a spag bol with GF pasta on request. The buffet seemed to be well managed with plenty of serving utensils. The bakery goods were in a separate area, meats cooked on the grill were 'plain' and they only things cooked there, salads plentiful, baked potatoes some evenings. It was a little worrying to see small slices of baguettes with various toppings labelled as GF (presumably the toppings themselves were GF but not the baguette!) and some of the puddings in little bowls were marked as GF but then had something sprinkled on the top that looked like oats/ flapjack/ nutty crumble. My husband just navigated his way around this and thankfully had no ill effects during the week. We did decide to cancel our reservation at the Mexican though, looking at the menu there were very few GF options and those that were GF either didn't really appeal to him or left me wondering if they really were GF looking at the menu (as in one giant taco was marked GF but not the others, cheesecake for dessert marked as GF along with a bizcocho roto crumble.......) so decided not to chance it. Special mention to Angela on reception who always remembered us (no doubt because we arrived very late at night a day later than we should have done due to a cancelled outbound flight). All in all, we had a fab time during our stay. I definitely ate far too much and thoroughly enjoyed way too much cava! Would we go back? Absolutely!

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