San Fermin by Dorobe

Stayed here 6 days and 5 nights room only. Had room 531 on 5th floor with a pool and sea view. Room was clean but needs redecorating. Maid in daily which was good. Shower powerful and hot with free shower gel and shampoo. Hairdryer in the bathroom was also quite powerful (rare for hotel Hairdryers). Mini fridge is a decent size as we were room only. Kettle also in room and we borrowed cutlery from restaurant as we stocked up on bread, ham, cheese and salad for lunch. Free tea and coffee sachets provided for day 1 (then you have to provide it yourself). Only other criticism of room is balcony walls need a bit of attention as paint is peeling off but balcony was usable. No airer on balcony so have to use handrail. Bring clips as we had a few breezy afternoons and evenings. Three pools (including kids). Main pool is large and deep. Lots of sunbeds and no sunbed wars. At 8.30 only a handful of towels down and at 10am you can still get a bed in height of season. Pools are roped off till about 10am when lifeguard turns up. No balls or inflatables allowed in any pool which is a shame as the main pool is large enough. This is due to the lifeguard not being able to see if a child goes under a lilo if there are lots of inflatables in the pool. Seems to be a Costa del sol rule as we had inflatables in a pool in July in Majorca. No daytime entertainment and nighttime entertainment very limited and sporadic. Lifeguard does a 12+ hour day and collects glasses from sunbeds. Even during her lunchbreak she was watching the pool. Very attentive. Hotel staff are excellent. Very helpful. Place is spotless and constantly cleaned. Bar is well stocked and cocktails are good. Good range of food served at pool bar including pizzas, club sandwiches, toasted sandwiches, salads and burgers. Hotel is situated 5 mins walk to beach and is on a hill so probably not best for anyone with walking difficulties. Didn't put us off though. Lots of supermarkets close by including a carrafour. Nice walk on the boardwalk to the marina where there are lots of bars and restaurants. Overall a very pleasant stay!

We stayed at the San Fermin Hotel and, overall, there were definitely some positives, but unfortunately the issue with the balconies and air-conditioning units had a big impact on our stay. The hotel is in a decent area, with a corner shop very close by. However, it is located on quite a steep hill which the hotel itself refers to as “Cardiac Hill”. To get down towards the beaches and restaurants, you have to walk down the hill and then down around six flights of stairs. This is something to bear in mind if you have young children, pushchairs or mobility issues, as getting back up is quite a climb. The hotel staff were lovely and this was probably one of the best things about the hotel. When we raised an issue with our room, they were accommodating and did move us, which we appreciated. However, the balcony situation was a major problem for us. The balconies are very small and, on around 90% of them, there are air-conditioning units positioned so that the hot air blows directly onto the balcony. Wherever you sit, you can end up with a constant stream of extremely hot air blasting at you. Our particular balcony had two air-conditioning units blowing onto it, making it completely unusable. It was especially frustrating because we had specifically paid extra for a balcony. We had to ask to be moved rooms because we simply couldn’t sit outside. The staff did accommodate us, which we appreciated, but we were moved to the back of the hotel, meaning we lost the decent view we had originally paid for. Ultimately, we preferred having a usable room and balcony over being stuck inside, but it was disappointing to have to make that compromise. It also seemed as though this wasn’t an unusual complaint. The staff appeared to understand exactly what we meant when we explained the problem and seemed familiar with guests struggling with the air-conditioning units on the balconies. In our opinion, this is something the hotel really needs to address because a balcony that you cannot comfortably sit on because of hot air constantly blowing onto it isn’t really usable. The rooms are small. With two adults and one child, our son had a camp bed placed in the room, which made the space feel quite cramped. The air conditioning inside the room itself, however, was very good. Breakfast was also good. We originally booked self-catering and then paid €91 for four days of breakfast for two people, and we felt it was worth it. The pools are good, but we were surprised by how unsuitable they felt for children, especially during the summer holidays. There weren’t many children around and the pools seemed to be geared much more towards couples and adults. One pool is very small and only 0.4m deep, the medium pool is 0.93m, while the large pool is 2.1m deep. There are also no slides or similar children’s facilities. We felt that our five-year-old couldn’t properly splash around or swim freely in certain areas because of the depth and the number of adults using the pools. The bars were also quite slow. There was usually a queue of around 4–6 people, with only two people serving behind the bar, so it could take a while to get a drink. On the positive side, the hotel itself is lovely and clean, the TV is good with plenty of English channels as well as channels in lots of other languages, and the staff were friendly and helpful. Overall, there are plenty of good things about San Fermin, but for us the balcony/air-conditioning issue was a significant disappointment. If you’re booking specifically because you want to sit out on your balcony, I would strongly recommend checking the room and balcony arrangement before booking, because the hot air from the external AC units can make some balconies virtually unusable.

Very good clean hotel, nice pool area no trouble getting sun bed, only went room only so can’t comment on food but looked nice, only criticism would be the service at the pool bar, this was very slow not unusual to see 6-10 deep in queue..

Family break – 2, 11 and 14 years The hotel is in a great location, just a 10-minute walk from the beach, although be warned, it’s situated on what is known locally as “Cardiac Hill” — and you’ll soon understand why! The staff were very friendly and welcoming. They always made a fuss of our 2-year-old, giving him a high five whenever they saw him, which was a lovely touch. We stayed half board, with plenty of choice at both breakfast and dinner. There was also a good selection of drinks included at breakfast, but strangely, drinks weren’t included with dinner. The restaurant was always clean, as was the hotel generally. Our room was fairly small but modern, clean and perfectly adequate for what we needed. The shower was excellent and the air conditioning worked really well — just make sure the sliding doors are fully closed, otherwise it won’t operate. We paid extra for a balcony/terrace, but I’m pretty sure all rooms have one, so I wouldn’t pay the supplement. Our view wasn’t anything special and, to be honest, we barely used it because it was far too hot to sit outside! There could be queues at the bar at times, but they moved quickly. We only had lunch from the snack van once and, unfortunately, the €14 pizza really wasn’t worth the money. There were always a few people who had clearly got up early to reserve the front-row sun loungers, but overall most guests seemed to respect the hotel’s no-reserving policy. By around 10am, most of the loungers with umbrellas had gone, so get down early if shade is important to you. The guests were a real mixture of nationalities, although there were lots of couples. Of the British guests, most seemed to be from the north of England. One thing that surprised us was how many people smoked, particularly around the pool areas. Overall, we really enjoyed our family break. The hotel was clean, modern and friendly, with good food and a great location. The only real downsides were the hill, the lack of shaded sun loungers later in the morning and the expensive snack-bar food. For a family holiday with children aged 2, 11 and 14, though, we’d definitely consider staying again.

Lovely people and staff and live music with wayne ward the guitarman on Thursday at 9pm was a fantastic night.