Alegria Colonial Mar Aquafun

We have returned from a 5 day holiday break. Children 12 & 13. Cleanliness - 100% Food - plenty of choice/variety however if you don’t go when the doors open you risk queing for a long length of time. Would have been nice to see a snack bar that runs throughout from 12-5 with more variety so you don’t feel you are watching the clock to go to dinner for when it opens. Water park - 100% - plenty of sun beds. Entertainment - catered mainly for young children. Didn’t really cause us issues but would have been nice to have some night entertainment aimed at teenagers to give them something to do. Football pitch - 100% Thank you for an enjoyable visit.

We are a family of 4 - 2 adults & 2 kids age 12 & 8. We stayed all inclusive in 1 family room with 2 double beds. Hotel is nice & clean. Our room was nice. Enough clothing storage for all 4 of us. Had a fridge, kettle, safe & hairdryer. Large bathroom with a walk in shower, air-con worked fine. We had a balcony with table & 2 chairs with a pool & sea view. Food was ok. Everyone found something they liked even with picky eaters! Breakfast - sausages, eggs, smoked bacon, pancakes, omelette, cereal, bolied eggs, yoghurts, croissants, donuts Fresh warm baked bread for lunch & dinner. There is chicken nuggets, hotdogs, hamburger & chips served in the restaurant 11-1pm then reopens for lunch at 1 .30pm. My advice is go early for lunch & dinner at opening times to avoid queues . All inclusive was 11am-11pm. Obviously breakfast & breakfast drinks are included . You can ask for water at any time. Alcoholic drinks include 3 different cocktails, beer, wine, and local spirits. There are slushy drinks, cornetto ice creams , sandwich ice cream, crisps & nuts that can be asked at either of the 2 bars 11-11. Queues are massive for the bars and all inclusive stops at 11pm so you can buy drinks after this time or get water only. You get water in small bottles, all other drinks in a mixture of glass, plastic & cardboard cups. The pools are great: a quiet pool at the back of the hotel, a splash pool, toddler pool with slides , a jacuzzi area, a pool with 4 different slides sectioned off from the main pool area . Not too deep my 8 year old could stand up on her tiptoes . There was plenty of lifeguards on and all doing a great job. Watching constantly. Pool opened at 10am and slides opened at 11am. If you put towels on sunloungers before 10am and leave them they will be removed unless someone is sitting with them. Kids club was 11-1 & 4-7 my 8 year old enjoyed it. They put the English kids together. There was games during the day for juniors & adults. They were aimed at Spanish people mainly. We all got up and joined in but entertainment crew mainly only spoke in Spanish. There was an instance where my husband, 12 yr old and I was pulled up by a female entertainer to join in on archery which we joined however when the male entertainer wrote names of people joining in down he looked at us and ignored us purposely. We asked him to join in and he ignored us again. We had to write our names on the paper ourselves . This was just plain rude! Entertainment every night was quite late 9.30pm for kids disco onwards . It was all in Spanish . We didn't mind as could still enjoy it. You can access the beach via a gate. It is a shingle beach and gets really deep a few metres in the sea that my husband couldn't stand up in so need to watch the kids in the sea . We did a pirate ship tour- went out to sea and jumped off boat into the sea. Couldnt see any fish unfortunately. You walk along the promenade takes about 30mins with kids. There are a few bars with food places but no other shops along the beach. If you walk into the town 15min walk you can visit a market on a Thursday and there is a shopping centre with a supermarket, primark and other shops. There is 1 souvenir shop across the road from the hotel and a little shop in the hotel. Overall we enjoyed our holiday. If you don't let it annoy you that they mainly cater for spannish then you will enjoy your holiday . At the end of the day we were in Spain at a popular spanish resort for locals.

We travelled as a family of 4 and like other people we were nervous with the hotel due to some of the reviews but there was absolutely nothing to worry about. We arrived mid afternoon, was checked in and in our room within 30 minutes. The rooms are spacious and cleaned everyday. The pools were amazing and the slides were a brilliant bonus. Both my boys 7 and 5 could use them all. Waterpark up the road but you do not need to go with the slides on offer here. Lifeguards very aware and brilliant. There was a man who removed the pool towels before 10am if you left them on the sunbeds, this was perfect as no one could reserve them and no racing to get one. One of the best hotels for this compared to previous we have stayed. Staff - amazing and helpful. Food - like every all inclusive but we always found something we liked. Very clean and all the staff worked so hard. Always something to eat throughout the day. Entertainment - the entertainment team worked so hard all day and yes it was mainly Spanish in the evening but we enjoyed this. There is a football pitch just by the side of the pool and this was a big plus for our football crazy child. Area - right on a beach. If you walked up the beach a bit there is cafes etc. Also the grand plaza with fast food restaurants and other restaurants only a 10 minute walk away. One of the smallest airports we have been too and this was brilliant. Quick getting out and no ques to check in etc. Transfer only 30 minutes. We very rarely return to a hotel as we like to try different places however, we would 100% return here.

We have just got back from a week at this hotel and we very nearly didn’t go because of some of the reviews !! I am so glad we ignored them. We got there early afternoon and the reception staff were lovely, efficient and spoke great English not like the other reviews suggest at all. We were in our room within 10 mins and it was lovely, spotlessly clean, lots of storage space with a lovely bathroom with large walk in shower, TV, Fridge and tea and coffee making facilities. The maids came in every day and cleaned and made beds ( they were not changed daily but does anyone change their beds daily at home? NO. The towels were changed if you put them in the shower cubicle. There were staff all around cleaning etc all the time in communal areas also. The pool area is fantastic - the pictures on the website do not do it justice at all it’s fabulous with areas for all ages and the pools are plenty big enough. There are adequate sun beds and there are lots of umbrellas but they are fixed and due to the heat it may be worth having some mobile umbrellas but it wasn’t a big issue at all. There is food available pretty much throughout the day and yes it can get a bit samey but show me any all inclusive that doesn’t - there was fresh cooking, fresh bread and salads and lots of different desserts etc- all being replaced all the time even up to closing. Staff worked really hard in the restaurant and it was busy at times but we never waited more than 5 - 10 mins for a table ever. There is self serve drinks (soft and beer and sangria). It was hot in the restaurant - there is air con but it’s a high ceiling building but it wasn’t a big issue. Entertainment was good and people saying it’s “too Spanish” need to go somewhere else then - I think it shows how good a hotel it is if local people go there. The staff all spoke adequate English and maybe us brits need to learn a few words in Spanish and stop being so ignorant - if you want Britain abroad go to Benidorm - if you want a beautiful place that has a plethora of cultures and is a Spanish hotel this is wonderful. The beach is lovely - not sandy but great. The kids club is good- our little girl went a few times and it was great. We honestly nearly changed our hotel because of the reviews but all I can say is please ignore them - there is always a few things people may find difficult etc but we have had a lovely holiday and would definitely go back. Our only suggestions would be: - - more vegetarian options in the restaurant- there was plenty of food but maybe some actually dishes such as veg paella or lasagna etc. - air con to be looked at in communal areas. - a few areas around the pool were a bit rough on your feet

Fantastic place! We booked as a last minute getaway and after reading the reviews it was safe to say I was a little worried- by the end of the first day those worries were no longer! The rooms are spotless, cleaned everyday. The aircon was abit temperamental but a quick visit to reception it was sorted ( it was me doing it wrong) The pool area was fab! Great for kids and adults too if you like water slides- I sure did! The staff team were polite, helpful and always smiling which is nice too see. Food was good- I'm not picky, I stick to what I know but never went hungry. The sea was a little rough travelling with 2 small children but if you walk down a little it was much calmer and less seaweeds tickling your feet and legs! Overall such a lovely break, I would recommend over and over again.. Will definitely return in the future!