MARBELLA, HOTEL DON CARLOS

Let's get back to Spain for a moment again after my announcement about getting a blogging friend :-) Prior to the trip I did a fair bit of Internet research on hotels on Costa Del Sol. It turned out at least based on the options I saw that Marbella had the nicest hotels. I considered a few and ended up choosing one called Don Carlos for a couple of reasons; firstly it was located a fair bit away from the centre of Marbella, which suited me as it was in fact much closer to where the birthday party was held. Secondly they seemed to cater very well for children. There were others that looked better on their respective websites but these reasons were heavy enough.

As I arrived in Don Carlos I was first impressed by the pretty, tree lined roads leading up to it but then equally unimpressed by the building itself. It looked, quite frankly, pretty ugly. However it didn't matter for long as soon as I entered the lobby the staff welcomed me in a very friendly and eager manner plus the building looked much nicer on the inside than out. 

None of the hotel is super modern and could probably benefit from little updating here and there but it didn't matter. It was immaculately clean, very cosy and comfortable and every detail had been thought through. I had chosen a one bedroom villa for our stay. They have a few one or two bedroom villas in addition to the normal hotel rooms. I must say it was absolutely amazing! The villa had all the amenities a well equipped apartment would do. It also had its own private pool shared with the other villas. This, especially in October meant that it was extremely quiet. The pool was close enough so that you could dip in from your own private sunbeds. They also had a main pool area plus further pools down at the beach clubs. All of them, which looked very nice.  

To get to the beach you walk through the hotel gardens. They were beautiful. They also had ponds with frogs in them... that went down well with my daughter.

Don Carlos is the hotel where Nikki Beach Marbella is located at. However there was no sign of the Nikki Beach clientele this time. I believe that it was closed for renovations but will re-open for next summer.

The Don Carlos Beach Club looked like this. It was the perfect set up to enjoy my two days there.

I must also mention the concierge at the hotel who were absolutely brilliant! They had a very nice girl Camilla working there who had gone to university in Finland. Ylivieska (if I remember correctly) to be exact :-) So... I would, with pleasure, recommend Don Carlos to anyone travelling to Marbella. Their website can be found here.

Minna x