We have just come back from a two week stay. We have had the best time! If you are booked to go - lucky you!

Resort: This resort is an upmarket spanish holiday resort, very nicely kept. The lovely shopping centre is five minutes walk from the hotel and has a decent supermarket (no English Brands) and loads of shops with lovely jewellery, bags, beach stuff, clothes and pick and mix sweet shop etc all reasonably priced and on the upstairs where loads of restaurants and bars.

Weather: averaged 26 degrees perfect with a very slight breeze - we chose this resort as we did not want to boil in Greece. Evenings perfect not hot and sweaty but no need for jumpers - just right.

Hotel: Really well laid out, it was kept immaculately clean, every morning they clean the whole hotel (an army of cleaners) amazing! Towels are 10 Euros deposit and you take back whenever you like for clean ones. Safe in room £10 a week. To keep room on till 3pm an extra £14 otherwise you have to be out by 12. You can keep till 6pm for £22.

Room: We had a family suite - this consisted of one door that opened to two doors leading to each room. The main room had a living area with sofabed loads of cupboard space, kingsize bed and gorgeous bathroom. The second room had twin beds and ensuite showeroom both had bidet and toilets. The rooms far exceeded my expectations. The pictures in the brochures did not do them justice. I would say the rooms were worthy of 5 star. We were pool facing oon the second floor. You could hear the entertainment (which all finishes now at 11pm) but only if it was music on the terrace (twice a week) and we did not mind being sung to sleep! It was not loud and not a problem. Fridge in each room.

Pool: The main pool is huge but nobody had mentioned that the shallowist part is 1.4metres! Luckily our son had learnt to swim last year otherwise he would have had to have worn armbands - he can swim very well now! Cleaned daily.

Sunbeds: This was my biggest fear having read the previous reports. We arrived the first day and at 3pm we walked out to a choice of beds with parasols.... We woke up the next morning in a panic as we had slept in till 9am my husband ran to the window to see if there were any left - it was a sea of blue - not one bed reserved! This was the story the whole two weeks. Fantastic. Only one family let the side down - and guess what - they were English! Made us laugh though the whole pool area and beds and tables are washed every morning at 830, hosed down, their towels were soaked!!! All the beds were fine and looked as new.

All Inclusive: We were dubious as we had never done in Europe. No worries here. All drinks included all brands there were a couple of expensive wines you had to pay a small supplement for but the wines were fine. They have a self serve system at the pool bar (to save you waiting) but if you prefer they will serve you. I think this was to overcome previous comments about queuing for drnks (we did not have to at all). Bottled water free. Soft drinks from tap or bottles (whichever you prefer). Also snacks midmorning and afternoon, cakes, rolls etc. We were looking for a catch but there wasn't one - any bar, any time (bars closed at midnight) Ice cream free - freezer by the pool bar with lollies and tubs. magnums etc you had to pay for. Excellent.

Food: Another one of our worries but no need. It was very good. Huge selection for breakfast, english bacon and eggs, pancakes, rolls pastries. Lunch buffet. Dinner buffet - most nights a theme, chinese, italian, mexican all excellent. There is a microwave which as there is so much to choose from it can go cooler as you go round. There was a good choice for kids, pasta with selection of sauces, salad bar and chips - these were always there as back up! Most nights a roast - we were not bored after two weeks ( but had learnt in the past not to have a bit of everything every night) Perfectly cooked. Also a good selection of fish. Excellent desserts always ice cream - profiteroles my favourite with the hot chocolate sauce!

Kids Club: Mini Club 4 - 7 years and Maxi 8 - 12 but they are flexible. Anna and Peter fantastic - really got on well with all the kids and worked so hard - great variety of stuff for them to do and the kids could come and go as they pleased. Mini Disco at 830 every night.

Day Activity: This was run by Leo - he is amazing - spoke all languages and a really good sport. No pressure to join in but surprisingly we did! All stuff goes on from 1030 till 1230 then 3pm till 5pm.

Evening Shows: These were proffesional acts for 6 nights and the animacion team for 1. All sorts a magician, fire eating, ballet etc brilliant mostly in the theatre ( be there 5 minutes before for a good seat). Show from 10pm till 11pm. No disco.

Overall an excellent holiday. Really enjoyed as no nationality was in the majority and everyone got on together. Staff so friendly all knew our childrens names by the end.

Car Hire: We hired a car from economy car hire - a brooker for Auriga Crown - they are five minutes walk in the shopping centre. Very cheap no excess or additional driver charge. We did not use it much as kids happy by the pool but much cheaper to prebook than buy locally! Be warned parking is at a premium over weekends - you really struggle to find a space in the resort.

Money: Do not take sterling travellers cheques! There are no exchange places as most clients are from Europe and have Euros. Do not plan to use credit cards as most places did not take them.

Golf: My husband visited four of the local courses - no need to prebook- he used the hotel golf desk as cheaper through her but you had to pay cash! Loved the golf. About 45 euros a round included buggy.

Beach: Very busy, nice but too busy for us! Sea a bit chilly.

Transfers: Thomas Cook did a minibus for us - took 1 hour.

Hope this helps you!

Overall, the hotel is nice, recent and the rooms are very spacious. Family suites made of two connected rooms are just perfect. The hotel crew if very friendly (remember : try to speak a few words of spanish and they'll be happy ; that's just a matter of politeness). The swimming-pool is very nice and everyone loves it, kids and adults. The hotel is not on the first line in front of the beach, but it's really at 150 meters from it and 400m from the golf ; overall a very nice location. The club for kids is great and kids do love it. The downsizes are the following ones :

Diversity of food for dinner is low (no enough variety for vegetables, meat too cooked, fruits too young and green, no yogurts for children). Breakfast is excellent. Lunch is much better than dinner, with wider diversity. The food at the pool's bar is too expensive for what's it's worth. Price of drinks is ok, very affordable. We did not take the "all inclusive" program, thiking it's far too expensive for our needs. Of course, if you're on a booze trip, it's made for you.

The hotel is VERY noisy and you should strictly refuse a room facing the swimming-pool on the first or second floors. If you really want to sleep before 2am and have a family room, request a room on road's side and 4th floor... Otherwise you'll have to deal with music starting in all the hotel lobby at 8am, and noise of the bar or shows between 8pm and 2am. Nice when you're used to live at spanish hours, but awful if you come from northern Europe and all you need is vacation and rest. First floor on pool's side is so noisy even children cannot sleep. Warning, the concert room is just below the 1st floor of the left aisle...
If you're without children, ask for rooms 354 or 454, they don't see the pool but see the beach and the sea :-)

The space around the pool is clearly insufficient given the number of rooms in the hotel. There are not enough sunbeds and umbrellas. During our last day, we left our towels and stuff for 45 minutes for lunch and the hotel crew removed them to give our sunbeds to another family ! That means you cannot even go for lunch (or even stay in the pool!) w/o risking to lose your sunbeds !!! Because many families (from UK, France, Spain, Sweden, Ireland) complained about it that day, all rooms received the day after that a sheet of paper explaining reserving sunbeds is forbidden before 9am, and sunbeds can be reassigned by the hotel crew if nobody's on them ! How to turn something simple (you have no seat around the pool ? No problem, you have the beach at 150 meters away only) into a gigantic mess. Seriously, this is a shame and abnormal for a 4 star hotel...

The sunbeds and umbrellas at the swimming-pool are of poor quality. They're not replaced at all when broken, even when they are dangerous.

The swimming-pool is not cleaned enough. One day, there were papers and insects floating between waters and despite of our remarks, the pool crew did NOT clean the pool until the next day.

The safe available in your room is not free of charge. It's even too expensive, about 14 euros per week !!! There's a deposit of 10 euros per beach towel ! Access to the internet through the two computers in the lobby costs 4 euros per half-hour. Soaps in the room were not replaced once in two weeks, but showers contain a liquid soap dispenser.

In conclusion, this Iberostar hotel is probably an excellent choice for mid-may or september. Probably not for july and certainly not for august. Just in front of our hotel was the Puerto Antilla Grand Hotel, on the beach front line, and that one is clearly a better if more expensive choice. Islantilla in itself is a great place, quiet and lovely, not far away from Portugal (don't miss the incredible Tavira island).

Stayed here for a week on all inclusive basis and thought that in general hotel was very good. My two young kids certainly enjoyed it and hotel is very much geared towards families with young children. Majority of people staying at hotel were spanish and many staff did not speak English which was a bit of a pain but we got through okay.
Food is repetitive but good quality. rooms are excellent in size and well maintained - we had a family suite (two connecting rooms) and found facilities excellent. Pool is massive but area around is too small at busiest times with limited numbers of sunbeds. Weather was very hot so did not do too much exploring except to say that resort seems to lack a centre and everything seems to happen around the hotels. Beach is great with excellent facilities - about 400 metres away. Golf at Islantilla is nearby but course is difficult. Tip - book direct with Golf course as they offer better rates than hotel. golf courses are better standard in algarve. All in all i think Royal Marina Palace in Bulgaria (we went last year) was better and i would go their before Islantilla. however if you have booked here you will not be dissapointed!

Stayed here last week with the family. Facilities are fine, and there's a good choice of food. Cleaning was excellent and staff friendly. The location is good, not far from some brilliant, if busy, beaches. Also, the resort itself is quite "Spanish", great if you like that kind of environment, rather than the British and German influenced other Costas.

There is a downside though - the property has many clients on all-inclusive and can't cope: meal times are extremely busy and there's no room around the pool, unless you are up at 7am to claim your sunbed. Entertainment is patchy.

I'd say it's good for families, not so good for couples wanting some peace!