Fab choice of hotel (Sunrise Monica Beach Hotel (Fuerteventura))

Member Name: frankie1984

Product:	Sunrise Monica Beach Hotel (Fuerteventura)
Date:	04/08/08 (214 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good all inclusive package, set right on the beach and good food selection

Disadvantages: Resort may be too quiet for some outside of hotel

I stayed in this hotel back in the beginning of November 2006 with my then Fiancé. We had a great time and so I will share my views on this hotel.

Location:
The hotel is set on the beach in Costa Calma which is one of the quieter resorts in Fuerteventura. It is set back from the road slightly and has a small selection of local shops just around the corner from it.

The hotel:
The hotel is quite large and is an all inclusive property. It is popular with German tourists and tends to be fully booked throughout the high season with coaches coming and going with guests all day! The large complex is no more than 2 storeys high and as mentioned is set right on the beach.

Check in:
Check in takes a little while as each person checking in has to be issued with their all inclusive band and then given a little map of the resort so they can advise you where everything is and to also give you directions to your room. However staff are as efficient as they can be and are friendly and polite so there are no complaints from me!

Rooms:
We had booked a sea view room and were located quite far away from reception down towards the beach area. It was a good size with a large bedroom area and decent sized bathroom that had a hairdryer too. The bathroom had a tub with over shower. The main room besides the bed which was actually quite large also had a TV, wardrobe area, safe and sofa bed. The balcony was pretty big with lots of space for the two of us to sit and play cards before going down to dinner whilst enjoying the sunset. I imagine if there were a family in the room it might feel pretty cramped but for just the two of us it was brilliant. The room was cleaned every other day and the maids always left a nice towel design on the bed which was always a nice little touch!

Facilities:
The hotel has 2 swimming pools both with a bar around them and the smaller pool has a slide attached onto it too. The bar at that pool is the one that stays open later in the evening whereas the bar around the other pool is just for in the day. All together though the resort has 4 bars, 2 around pools, one down near the beach and the big main one in the bar/disco entertainment area. In the day the bars have cakes brought out to them at lunch times that you can help yourself too but you can order food as well like hotdogs and toasties etc. At the pool ones you can help yourself to tea, coffee and beer but have to ask the bartenders for the spirit drinks - also at the beach one you can help yourself to ice cream from the freezer which are only the small tubs of plain ice cream but quite nice with three flavour to choose from.
The resort has a good entertainment programme for in the day and evening and these are separated for adults and children. The children have a programme made up games and normally done all in the building or around the pool. The adult programme consists of games such as range shooting, archery, volleyball and many others. The entertainment team who take care of all these games are very good at what they do but, are not pushy and therefore you have the best of both worlds and only have to join in if you feel like it.
In the evening there was also entertainment on in the main bar which was located below the main restaurant and this normally was in the form of children's entertainment early on followed by the main show which was sometimes the reps doing a show or an act brought in to perform.

Food:
Breakfast was always a good spread with hot and cold food and a good mix of juices, tea, coffee etc. Breakfast ran from about 7-11 and you could just go the restaurant whenever you wanted and help yourself to the hot and cold buffet.
Lunch was the same as breakfast with it running between the hours of 11.30 - 2pm and a choice of hot and cold buffet foods to help yourself to.
Evening meals were slightly different as the hotel has two sitting times. The reason is that because the hotel is that big that they wouldn't be able to serve all at once! When you first check in you are given a sitting time which is your time every evening then. The first sitting was between 5.30- 7pm and the second is between 7.30 - 9pm. This gives the staff enough time in between to clear away any of the remaining dishes and clean up for the next sitting. The food was different everyday and in the week we were there we didn't eat the same food twice which we thought was very good - The staff were excellent too and if you got up to get seconds or desert by the time you got, back the table was cleared of dirty plates. They always had a good selection of deserts too and always a good choice of salads.
At all meal times you could help yourself to the drinks from the machines from a selection of hot and cold and this also included wine and beer.

Price:
We stayed for 1 week and paid £440 each. This included the accommodation, flights from Manchester with MyTravel and transfers and was based on all inclusive.

Overall opinion:
We loved this hotel as it had everything we needed for a relaxing week in the sun. It had a quiet location, decent sized rooms, lots of facilities, it was right on the beach and the all inclusive package had everything we needed including entertainment and great food. The staff were always polite and friendly and the only fault I can honestly find with this hotel is that it probably wouldn't be suitable for people with walking difficulties as the hotel resort is on a slight incline so walking up and down from your room or to the beach would be quite tiresome! Other than that it is in a peaceful area and so ideal for those either looking to get away and relax or families who need a hotel that has something for them as well as the children.

Summary: A good chice for those that want to relax for a week or two and have everything to hand