We have just returned from a week in this resort booked through RBS. There was no mention of 'timeshare' however we were quickly invited to a 'welcome breakfast' with a salesman. He turned out to be a nice guy and there was no problem. Just beware if you are not a CLC member - they will try to sell it (which isn't necessarily a bad thing).

Positives :-

1) It was 30 degrees throughout.
2) A huge balcony with a fantastic sea view.
3) A pleasant resort with a good poolside bar (sunrise) and evening restaurant (sunset).
4) Easy access to surrounding Las Americas and Toviscas areas with lots to see and do.

Negatives:-

1) On the steepest hill I have ever seen. Taxis back up are about 4 -9 Euros. Then there are two lifts and some steep stairs (depending on where your apartment is).

2) No bottled water, soap or 'welcome back' in apartment.

3) Apartment only cleaned/changed once in a week.

4) The pools are very small and, although not busy, there is little room for babies learning to swim, boisterous teenagers, olympic swimmers (you know the ones) and people that want to cool off/chill out!!

Advice:- This is not a good resort if you want to walk out to see Las Americas. The distance, heat and hills make this difficult even for fit people. We learned to stay more on the resort or to walk down to some nearby bars restaurants which provide everything. 'Scotch Corner' is on the way down to Toviscas and provides a fantastic scottish breakfast. Further down you can now get to the Toviscas beach which provides great beaches, bars, restaurants, shops and water sports.
We did parascending and jet skiing for 100 Euros and I, personally, thought it was a bit disappointing.

stayed at the ROYALE complex of the monterey with in laws on their vacation club points.
complex is situated in mountains approx 20 mins walk from las americas or a couple of mins in a taxi.
Hills are horrendous but after a few attempts we actually found it quite novel walking up them every day and it kept us fit.
There were two pools with shower facilities, bar etc and a main a la carte rest. web access etc and a small shop called sams pantry for those essentials.
on arrival we had juice, milk, water eggs etc and then the nextday we did a massive shop that was only 60 euro incl alcohol.
out apartment was gorgeous. deff 5 star. hot tub the lot. it reminded me of a city centre apartment it was that facilitiated.
but, the washer, dishwasher, shower, lights and hot tub all packed in in first day and it took days to mend so we didn't have use of hot tub etc for a few days.cleaners came in every day and replaced your bathrobes and towels.
we ate at the rest a la carte one spanish dancing night. very expensive and when i got pork instead of lamb i was .. well disappointed but ate it anyhow. little did i know pork could be cooked rare, med or well done like beef and i got rare. Waitress should have asked my preference, especially when the main cost 17 euro.
all in all this complex is great. not for the faint hearted with the hills.
however las americas was a let down. you got charged stupid money for a voddy and lemonade and diff prices everytime you went to the bar. touts yanked at your arm desperately trying to earn their commission and timeshare and holiday reps constantly in your face. we walked to los christianois and apart from the lovely beach front places and white sand it was full of ex pats with no teeth and black eyes... say no more.

stayed at monterey mar 08




rooms are amazing, depending on what birth room u have booked obviously depends on size of rooms,


we had 2 singles in livin room, 2 singles in 1 bedroom and a double in other room which also had en suite and tv,




livin room, ok size plasma tv with bbc1, itv1, c4, sky 1 euro sport, and most prem football matches that was on.




kitchen very nice, dishwasher large fridge, + u got extras included like diswasher tablets, and other cleaning stuff, and a food welcome pack in fridge.




balcony massive, and if u stay in the monterey royal, (next door) u get jacuzzi on balcony also,




complex resturant, very nice, complex supermarket is small but stocked well,




staff very nice all over hotel,




very very clean,




beach 10 min walk 5euro taxi


bars 8 min walk 5 euro taxi




main night life in las americas on veronicas strip, 15/20 min walk 10 euro taxi max




but as on a steep hill, it will take breath away when u walk back up so cab back recommended.




water park 8 min walk or 5 euro cab.




hope this helps, Chris

Just stayed at Club la costa over new year. We were in a three bedroom penthouse, which unfortunately as yet has not been refurbished so the apartment was quite tired. Disappointing since we thought we were staying in Monteray Royale (the part with the hot tubs). However this aside the apartment was very comfortable and the balcony was huge, infact you have two huge balcony's but we never used the top one.

The location of the apartments is slightly out of town, however a 40 minute walk takes you to the Mare Nostrum resort where the best restaurants and shopping can be found. Or alternatively this takes 5-10 minutes in a taxi.

We hired a car since we had small children and wanted to go to the main beach near the Mare Nostrum. This is by far the best beach and well worth the extra distance.

My only real complaint with this resort was the four lifts we needed to use to get to our apartments and the noise from the cleaners either talking very loudly or dragging their noisy trolleys, normally before 08.30 each day. On a positive note the apartments are good, the pool is nice, the views are fantastic, the pool bar is excellant as is the food. We never did dine in the restaurant but it looked good.