Prepare to be VERY pleasantly surprised!!! (Hotels in Costa del Sol)

Member Name: lil-ms-muffin

Product:	Hotels in Costa del Sol
Date:	13/11/01 (738 review reads)
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Advantages: HUGE drink measures ; ) , Something to suit everyone, Never a dull moment

Disadvantages: Many cliques already fromed, Taxis could become expensive if using them all the time, but there is always the bus for daytime use

Villacana is a small villa complex to the South of Spain, lying between Marbella and Estepona. It succeeded in restoring my faith that there are fantastic holidays to be had outside of America. I didn't think that anywhere would be able to live up to the amazing, magical experiences that I have had in the USA but my holiday here was totally unique.

I was a bit dubious when my Mum first told me that we were going to be staying in a villa instead of a hotel this year. What?!? No pool? No other guests to make friends with? No men to ogle?!?! But then she told me that there was a pool and that there would be other people near to us. Plus, the offer of bringing along my best friend was hard to refuse. Perhaps we could make it fun.

We left Newcastle Airport (after numerous delays) on July 14th and arrived in sunny Malaga Airport three hours later. Then, after having to wait what seemed like days to actually find our bags, the nightmare continued as we had to wait another hour to get our hire car. At this point it was quite late and Rach (my friend) and I were both gagging for food. You can imagine our delight when we saw the big yellow 'M!' We ordered our McDonald's (quite skilfully in Spanish) and then headed off to the villa. Immediately what I noticed was that the Costa del Sol is a very youthful area with hundreds of kids meeting and enjoying themselves quite late at night. It was after 12 and it seemed that everywhere was buzzing.

At the complex, I realised the mistake I had made, prejudging an area! Our villa was in a huge complex; a community in fact! It was like a neighbourhood with little streets and great potential for meeting people. We wheeled our little (or huge as Rach's case may be!) suitcases to the villa and collapsed on our beds.

Waking up next morning we explored the villa. It was gorgeous! It was very spacious with two bedrooms (one twin and one double), a bathroom, a kitchen, a lounge area and a
patio. The only bad thing I could find was that the stairs were made of marble and were extremely narrow so I was bound to cause myself an injury after a fun night out! Exploring the rest of the complex we discovered there were four small pools (belonging to small groups of villas) and one large pool for use by everyone. Adjoining the pool, there was a huge grassy area (which became known to us as the grassy knoll) where everyone topped up there tan during the day. Villacana is situated right on the beach and there was easy access to the sea, the pedalos and jet skis. There were two beach bars (both of which served food), one posh restaurant (Casa Felipe's) and one bar (The Piano Bar). Just up the road, outside of the car park, there was a mini supermarket where you could buy all of your food and basic essentials. Tennis courts, a gym and a pool hall, as well as a hair salon and a laundrette were all in the nearby vicinity. WOW!!!! This was better than I could ever have imagined!

So, what else could we do other than to change into our bikinis (it was too hot for anything else!) and go down to the grassy knoll to sunbathe. One thing we noticed straight away was that everyone seemed to know each other and everyone seemed to be Irish. This was obviously not the case but, as we found out later, the majority of the people had been coming to Villacana since they were born, if not before that. This was one of the main problems; it is very hard to break into a group when they have been established for 18 years or more! However, we did succeed eventually and met some great people, including all of the great barmen and waiters! They were all SO friendly and so funny! If you go, make sure that you meet little Diego - he may seem tough on the outside but he's a softy really!

Rach and I basically fell into a rut after that; my mum and dad would go off and explore some random mountain or something whilst we would sunbathe for the day and then go out at
night. My mum assures me that there were loads of great places to see, which there must have been because they went to a different place every day! We did leave the complex once or twice to go to Puerto Banus (known to everyone as The Port) and Marbella. Both places were great for shopping and The Port's night life has a fantastic reputation. For our nightly entertainment, we were spoilt for choice. We had the beach bar (open until 12), the Piano Bar (open until 3), the Robin Hood (a quaint little English pub just a short taxi ride away, open until 3) and the Exotis (the club next door to the Robin Hood, open until the early hours). All were great, but be warned, things don't get going until late because of the late opening so you need lots of stamina. We also had a great time at the three Karaoke nights which excellent entertainment. The best has to be a Tuesday night at the Piano Bar, hosted by Steve who has every song you can think of on his books.

Overall, Villacana is an excellent place to go if you're looking for a holiday that will suit everyone! Although very popular with the older teens, there was a huge selection of people spanning all ages. There were hundreds of things to do and there was no chance of anyone getting bored. Everyone is friendly and helpful and the complex is totally safe, with 24 hour security. The majority of the people in Spain speak English and, therefore, you will have no problem with language barriers. The villas are greatly ranging in size and price so you will easily be able to find the ideal villa for you. I had the time of my life here and, to prove it to you, I am now planning to go there for my holiday next year.

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