28/07/2007 – 11/08/2007

We returned from the Los Principes on the 11th August after two lovely hot weeks there, and not for the first time; that was our fourth visit over the last 9 years and I am sure it won’t be our last. We are a family of four with children aged 22 and 18 still tagging along. We love the place it’s like our second home. It does seem to be mainly Germans, but some are very friendly, many of them like ourselves returning year after year stopping up late and socialising with us. We see a lot of familiar faces each time we go.

It’s perfectly situated directly on the beach of Munro, with only a footstep out of the hotel garden and you’re on the golden sand. The sea is very safe and crystal clear, perfect for young children. The beach front bar is nice to sit at looking out over Alcudia Bay with a glass of Sangria in one hand! In previous years we have hired sun beds on the beach as we found there wasn’t enough sun beds in the hotel grounds available, but we never had that problem this year and managed to find a sun bed and space every day and that was without getting up at 7am, normally between 9 and 10. There are a few trees in the grounds which provide shade in the afternoon which can be greatly appreciated.

The hotel is spotlessly clean, rooms are cleaned daily. There was one day where one of our rooms were missed but a quick call to reception and it was sorted straight away. This year we were lucky enough to be placed on the fourth floor over looking the pool and out to sea.

The food is very good; there is always plenty of choice you would never go hungry, with show cooking taking place both at breakfast and evening meal, with dishes being constantly refilled. The displays in the restaurant are pretty impressive too all made from food and very detailed.

Entertainment could be better. During the day the hotel has its own entertainment crew keeping all the children happy and busy, I think there have been better crews in previous years but overall they do a great job. Evening entertainment was ok I would defiantly recommend you to watch out for Liam Live who does a tribute to Robbie Williams and We Will Rock You, they where very professional.

Los Principes is a very friendly hotel the staff are always happy to help, and make your stay even more enjoyable, they have remembered our faces each time we’ve been back over the years and always want to chat. Even members of staff who have left and gone to work else would often call in to see us on an evening.

All in all we have never had a bad time at this hotel and it will be a hotel we’ll always visit for years to come.

Our Holiday 29th July - 12th August 2007

We have just returned from the Los Principes and had a fantastic holiday. We booked the hotel through their Grupotel website direct, the flights through flybe and a car through Centauro. The cost came to £1900 (2 adults and 2 children) including the flight and the car which I thought was excellent seeing as we were going the first 2 weeks of the school summer holidays. I only had the option of booking a garden apartment online as it seems the sea view ones are block booked by German tour operators. However I requested an upgrade if possible and sure enough on arrival we were upgraded for free to a fantastic room with pool and sea views from our bedroom and sea views from our balcony at the rear too! Have a look at our pictures to appreciate the view. The apartment had its own 8 steps or so down to the pool and about another 20 steps and you were on the beach! I hope you find this useful if thinking of going to Los Principes as when I booked there weren't alot of reviews to make a judgement.

Beach

Fab beach, almost white sand, shallow turquoise water (really child friendly), two sunbeds and and an umbrella cost 8 Euros a day (no problems with availability). Keep an ear out for the fruit lady and her hubby, you will hear them before you see them! A coconut, pineapple or water melon all cut in front of you for around 2 Euros a slice - delicious

Pool

Yes, people put out towels around 7- 8 am even though the hotel says not to in their booklet. Having said that, although the poolside sun loungers were popular, there were more than enough on the grass area by the beach. Towels can be borrowed at 10 Euros deposit each and returned daily to reception for clean ones. We found it easier to get them on the way back from the beach or pool each day to guarantee they had clean ones available. The pool was very refreshing and all areas kept spotless.

Food

We were self catering and therefore did not use the restaurant. We did eat at the snack bar during the day and it was very nice and reasonably priced. Staff are very friendly (especially if you tip) and you will find the same ones from the snack bar working during the evening in the main bar.

Entertainment and Eating Out

We only stayed a couple of nights for the entertainment as we love visiting new restaurants and experiencing the Spanish culture. The entertainment staff are great (I think they were Dutch) and although it is geared for German holiday makers, all their songs for the children etc are in English and nearly everything is translated into German, Spanish and English. You must try to see the 'We will rock you' band. They are a young group of british singers and dancers and are fantastic. Another good night is a chap who can be found on [--]. We visited lots of lovely restaurants, two in the port of Alcudia (worth a visit), all you can eat buffet chinese in Alcudia (good if you are wanting a cheaper meal out) and Las Delicias and the restaurant next door both in Playa de Muro are worth a visit, the Sangria is lovely too. At the end of the two weeks we even went to The Swan (a british pub) which is behind the Principes. We normally steer clear from British pubs etc when abroad but one night we decided to give it go. The entertainer Paul was hilarious and we had a fab night and our food and drink all evening only came to about £30 for all 4 of us.

Location

Couldn't be any better, right by the beach, far enough from Alcudia to retain some character and peace but close enough to it if you wanted to visit. The hotel is situated by a small cluster of shops and places to eat. The pier is sitiuated right on the beach by Los Principes and our boys bought rods and caught a couple of fish which they loved. The boats pick up from here for the excursions too.

Days out

We went to Aqualand in Maguluf and Marine Land near Palma Nova. Both were great days out although it will only take a couple of hours to get around Marineland. Watch the Dolphin and seal shows though - fantastic.

Summary

Yes, the hotel is mainly German tourists but we didn't mind that as they were all very friendly and made an effort to communicate even though our German was exetremely limited. Our boys and and my hubby even organised a friendly football match with another english family we met on the beach against some German Dads and their sons. They all had a great time and our lads made some German friends.

Would we go again, definately. Our friends we met on the beach were staying at the Eden Playa and they said they would book the Los Principes next time as they prefered the hotel and location. A fantastic location, we said we could have been in the Carribean for all we knew, only for half the price!

We stayed at this hotel (in an apt) for 12 days. The location was great, the beach very nice, clean and excellent for children. You could take a short boat-trip from the hotel's beach to Port of Alcudia - were you can find several shops with more interesting stuff than in the shops located near the hotel... The buffet in the restaurant was good, plenty of food. The staff friendly and englishspoken. OK club for kids (escpecially if they like to make drawings) 4 hours a day.

But I just have to say - we were in Spain, not in German??? The entertainement at the hotel (had to watch it because of our children..) was most of the times in german (don't speak a word), the staff spoke german to us before we corrected them (we're norwegian!!!), there was some kind of pool-exercise in german too. Oughhh!

And - as usual - be aware of thiefs, don't leave any of your stuff outside the apt at nights or when you're sunbathing/lunching at daytime. There are organized groups of people sneaking around.. (Heard this from another guest at the hotel)

All in all - I recommend the place - escpecially if you travel with kids.

hotel appeared on arrival to be very nice indeed. clean, bright, and spacious.When we reached our room we went on to the terrace to view. What did we see? The roof of the reception.What didnt we see? Sea, sand, street, pool,people.Back in the room it was stuffy, the air con did not blow cold air, so the room never went below 28 degrees all week, nor did the corridors. When we went for dinner the dining room was as hot as the bedroom, not a comfortable place to eat, although the food was excellent.(breakfast not so good).Although we were half board we still had to pay 2euros for a drink of water with our meal!!!! It is 95% german guests. It should be 100% as we were greeted in the restaurant by the staff EVERY TIME with "guten morgen" etc.We like an international mix. If we wanted brits we would go to magaluff, but here it was like being in germany for our hols.We found it a very unwelcoming hotel with no atmosphere of fun or friendliness from staff or fellow guests. This is the first 4 star hotel in mallorca we have stayed in, but found it struggled to match the 3 star hotels we have used on our previous 5 visits.