Elba Costa Ballena Beach & Thalasso Resort

A huge hotel, close to the beach. A good choice if you intend to stay there with children. The rooms are clean and modern and quite spacious often with a nice balcony. Breakfast and dinner was fine, but could be busy at certain times.

Despite the modern building the walls between te rooms appeared not to be sound proof. You could hear the ‘neighbors’ talking. The layout of the restaurant could be reconsidered, since people dining and the ones getting food collided due to the current layout. A suggestion as well is to change the white led lighting into a warmer color in the dining area which will give another atmosphere.

The bed was great and the breakfast had a good diversity of choices. The Churros were delicious! The games room was also a nice venue to spend some time. The gym was well equipped with all the material of Technogym brand. The couple massage at the SPA was also good, as well as the spa itself.

It’s really hard to find a free parking space for the car, once they’re limited. Due to the time of the year, the pool was closed what didn’t allow us to enjoy the sun on one of the sun-beds available (enjoyable for cats only). The fruit available at the breakfast was in terrible conditions and the staff wasn’t enough for the amount of people around 10am. We waited a lot for a table on the second day, for example. The limit of 2 scrambled eggs per person was just ridiculous. The rooms don’t have slippers or robes available, and they took a lot to deliver them at the room. The thermal area of the SPA was always full. It’s always cold on the access to the rooms and air current. In the room, the cleaning of the floor could be better.

Amazing breakfast with fresh-squeezed pineapple, melon and etc. juices, freshly cooked crepes with various dressing, local cheese and meat specialties. Clean and very comfortable rooms with heating ( that was super good for November). Beach just in 2 minutes walk - Perfect.

Some stuff at the reception desk was hardly giving any explanation on facilities during check in. There were some special codes from the hotel to activate the safe, which should have been told in advance. That required several times going back to the reception desk. However, next day the receptionist was extremely polite and provided all information required. Spa is for additional charge (that’s ok), however many facilities were not operating properly ( Roman terms, saunas and hamam were slightly warm).

The room was very clean and the bed comfortable. The breakfast was great with lots of options to chose from. The location was great, only a short walk to the beach and boardwalk.

The A/C in our room did not work. If we left the patio door open to cool it down, mosquitoes were plentiful. We had no English channels on the TV. When we inquired, we were told a technician would be by to fix it as something must have been disconnected. We asked for 3 days in a row and nobody showed up so we gave up.

The resort overall was great! The price ended up being $120 more than what I was supposed to pay per the booking site (which was very irritating). After we finally got checked in and got over 2 hurdles it was fantastic. The staff at the restaurant was the best. The food was good and everyone that spoke was friendly. The swimming pool and spa was amazing.

The fact that I booked online and was supposed to pay $330 and ended up paying $451 when we got there. It took some time and being that we didn't really speak the language we can tell something was wrong when we were trying to check in. After being frustrated and getting to the room the cards to the door didn't work so we had to go back to the front desk and get them activated. After all that was over and we settled down we had a great time.

The beautiful beach was just a few minutes walk away. Restaurant had a good choice for breakfast and dinner, well presented and tasted nice. Good selection of wines with reasonable prices. Bike hire available for a small charge.

Pool bar in the quiet pool did not open throughout our stay, even though the app stated it would be open Gym area was ok but needed updating in some areas.

Lovely hotel. Good choice of food. Ideal location for golfers. Very quiet when we went as early May but busier at the weekend with Spanish visitors and a school trip.

Quiet area so difficult to find food and drink elsewhere if not all inclusive, which we weren't. However, we travelled to Cadiz, Rota and Chipiona and ate while there. This may be different in the height of the season.

The spa, the friendkiness of staff, the common areas, the room spacious and user friendly, the efficient way they delt with a problem in the air conditioning

At breakfast there was only instant coffe. To get a real expresso we have to wait until the pool bar opens. Of course this is a problem only for coffee addicts

The "adult only" (adults and older kids) pool, is salt water which is gentler on skin. Breakfast was good with a broad selection. Shame that they use grade 3 eggs though. Lovely room with lots of space.

The pool bars don't serve food and most people seem to do half or full board, the beach bar food was not great, so we ended up going further and further afield in search of places to eat.

Breakfast and evening meal was excellent, the restaurant was a little over crowded at times. The area was disappointing, as there was little to do .

The staff overall were very pleasant and charming, always had time to talk to you . However the staff on the reception desk did not want to be there . I asked about the television channels not being in the same order as the card supplied and there was no British TV , and it seemed they were not interested in giving a truthful answer. There were other instances as well , where they could not seem to care .