Our party of ten (six adults and four children aged 8 - 13) had a wonderful week staying at this villa in August. Despite arriving in thunderstorms, we had perfect weather the whole time. It was very hot, was around 31 degrees for the entire stay, so the ceiling fans and window shutters are very useful!
We didn't have a car and took a taxi from the airport. This was around 50 euros and took about half an hour. We used the supermarket Mercadona website to book a couple of online shops for groceries. They arrived on time on both occasions and had pretty much everything we needed for our stay. Would definitely recommend this as there isn't a supermarket walkable from the villa.
The villa itself is great for families. The pool is perfect on the hot days (it isn't heated but that is not a problem) and there were several inflatables and floaties in the pallero (little outhouse at the back of the property with beer fridge, washing machine, wood bbq and storage). There are also parasols to use with the sun loungers in here too.
We used the table tennis table constantly and played badminton and tennis too, though this area is in the sun most of the day. Upstairs on the terrace is a multi games table with foosball and pool proving most popular with us!
The villa is spread over two apartments over two floors, each with a separate kitchen and lounge. This was great for us as we were able to spread the families out and people had plenty of space. Wi-Fi super fast.
Tips:
- Boiler must be turned on and up high to get hot water, and you have to wait a while for it to get hot.
- Gas to the cookers must be connected and turned on before use.
- There were some basic condiments, such as salt, pepper, olive oil and we left some balsamic vinegar too! Also plenty of toilet roll. You will need toiletries and hand soap.
- A couple of us were targeted by the Spanish mozzies! So some kind of repellent would be useful.
- There are some friendly local wasps, but we managed to keep them at bay by burning citronella incense when we ate outside.
- We recommend the terrace BBQ, we used it a lot!
We used local taxis (booked via Whatsapp with the help of Google Translate) to visit the nearby village of Marines. You could probably walk it there in about 30-40mins but with the heat and the kids, we decided to go by taxi. It was 14 euros each way and about 10 mins. Marines is traditional village with a few small shops (little grocery shop, butchers, fishmongers and a couple of bakeries) and a pharmacy if needed. There is a little market on a Saturday morning, which we went to, but it really is bijou, only about 8 stalls. We had a coffee at the one of the MANY cafes. Recommend having some basic Spanish as it will be needed in cafes and small shops as this area isn't on the tourist track. There is also a lovely park not far
from the town square, with play equipment, a MUGA and a little stream.
We went to Bar Dos Rodes for lunch one of the days. This is walkable from the villa - took about 20 mins. The staff were really friendly and the food was very reasonably priced. My dad highly recommends the swordfish!
There is a small local shop about 15 mins walk from the villa, stocked with ice creams, water and other basics that we went to a couple of times. They don’t sell bread though!
We enjoyed our time at the villa very much! Thanks Paul and Paula who were great at communicating with us and
answered any queries quickly.