The Hotel Condesa de la Bahia in Alcudia: A review

Back in June we discovered a gem of a hotel in Mayorca for our family holiday.  I drafted a review.  In fact I drafted a series of posts about the hotel, the resort and various towns on the island.  Why didn't I post them?  Because word has got out about this particular hotel and we were struggling to re-book for next year.  But now we have our reservations for next year confirmed and so I can happily get sharing with you, my loyal readers.  Keep the secret though, eh?

It's the first time ever; and I mean EVER; that we have even considered re-booking the same place for a holiday.  No matter how good it's been, we've always considered that there are just too many places to see too waste a holiday returning to one.

The Hotel Condesa de la Bahia in Alcudia, Mayorca, changed our mind.  It is a great hotel for families with young children like mine (Ages 6 and 3 respectively).

From the clean spacious accommodation, to the perfect splash pool and slides.  From all the food you could possibly want, with ice cream included, to a perfect location right on the gorgeous beach.  This is a resort that I highly recommend.

The Pool Area

The pool area was spacious, well designed and with plenty of sunbeds to accommodate guests. The management were running a new system whilst we were there.  Their staff were reviewing the use of the sunbeds through out the day.  If you were absent from your sun bed for more than 2 hours your towels were moved and kept for you to collect.  The system worked well, as there were many people that were previously doing the old "put the towels out at 7.30am and don't come back until 11am" trick.  It's a highly irritating trick for those of us down at the pool with excited children at 9am, looking around at towelled sunbeds and no folk insight.


There were enough sunbeds, as there was never a moment where you couldn't find one empty but for a towel, so the 2 hour rule worked really well.  Amusingly there were often uncollected towels left at 9pm.  We wonder whether those people even realised their towels had been moved!  I find the reservation of sunbeds highly irritating if it's for any longer than a short break for lunch, so I welcomed the new rule.  It worked really well for us.

And frankly; just look at that pool!  Do you see the palm trees behind the pool?  That's the beach that is.  The beach!  Right next to the pool.  It's actual sand (not shingle) and the water is only about 30 centimetres deep for a long way.  It means that the waves are small and perfect for little ones to jump about in.  It also means that the water doesn't come and in out much with the tide, so you can sit right on the very edge of the water and not need to keep moving your towel.  Perfect.

Accommodation

The rooms are perfectly adequate, clean and spacious.  We did have a problem when we booked, as the pictures on the Thomson website were misleading, and we initially thought we were getting a family room that had a separate lounge. It turns out that was a Suite.  But that really wasn't a problem as we were rarely in the room anyway!  Here are my pictures of the room we did have.

The sofa bed actually extends out and converts to a double bed at a consistent height, so the children slept on that, leaving a spare bed (on the right) for us to basically keep my clothes as the storage space isn't great.


I would suggest that you anticipate keeping many of your clothes inside their case, as there isn't enough wardrobe or storage space for a family of four's clothes.  I'd also say that, if the children were older, we would have started to struggle a little for space.  But; as it was, it was perfect for us.

The fridge was great to keep water bottles and snacks cool once you've retired to the room for the night.  You don't need much as you can basically eat and drink whatever you like all day on all inclusive. (see below) 

The bathroom is lovely to look at, but the glass sink wasn't very practical for those with a small family as it is just the right height for them to walk into.  Having said that, our girls managed to avoid an accident as we ensured to keep the door to the bathroom wide open so they weren't squeezing in.

The bath was amazing!  It had jets, and was really comfortable to lie back in, so I enjoyed a lovely spa bath one evening.  The children also loved it, as their bubble bath increased 10 fold!

We also had a balcony, but must admit to only using it to dry clothes.  We were going to sit out in the evening on it, but leaving the door open let the insects in at night (we are a bite-ridden family), so we kept it closed, stayed inside and enjoyed the air-conditioning; and as a result limited any bites to the minimum.  Had we had a sea view room we may have been more inclined to sit out.

All in all, the room was just right.

Land view from our balcony

The Food

Then we come to the food.  We went all inclusive and I wouldn't bother doing anything else.  This management team know what all-inclusive actually means.  Any time of day you can order any drinks or food that you could possible want.  There are official mealtimes for breakfast, lunch and dinner in the main restaurant, but in between those times you can eat in the smaller restaurant overlooking the beach, or if you just fancy a burger and chips (though how you'd need any more food I don't know) you can order at the new burger bar next to the splash pool.

All drinks are included (unless you want some very particular specific brand) and plenty of different fruit juices and slushies are available, as well as everything from wine, to sangria, to Sex on the beach cocktails.

I have more pictures of food than you can imagine, so here's just a little selection.  Fish, beef, chicken, pork, a different paella every day, rice dishes, vegetables and more salad that you can possibly imagine; and that's before I get started on desert.  Safe to say I put weight on!

To conclude....

I cannot recommend this resort enough.

The management team did a grand job coping with a short power cut during our stay.  The restaurant opened later than usual, about half an hour after the power was back up, but the food on offer was no less impressive.  There was a little less choice than usually, but huge trays of sandwiches then also appeared.

In the power cut the corridors were dark around certain corners between the back up lighting, and the staff immediately went through the hotel wedging open internal see through (glass/plastic?) doors with small shower gel bottles so that you didn't walk into them.  These doors were usually open anyway, so you wouldn't have known to look out for them.

They also went to great lengths to apologise for any delay.  As if it was their fault the power was out!

They certainly knew what customer service actually was.  To take the time to actually apologise.  It was the manager stood by the restaurant door apologising.  The manager.  I take my hat off to him.   



A fortnight all inclusive for a family of four at Condesa de la Bahia, booked with Thomson and flying out from East Midlands Airport in June 2013 would cost approx £3,500 (including Thomson's on line discount). Prices during school holidays rise to approx £5,000 in August.  That's if they have any rooms left.