La Cala

Stay: 5 days / 6 nights (14th–19th July) Guests: Mother & Daughter Board: Bed & Breakfast Transfers: 20 mins from airport • 15–20 mins into Palma Hotel Positives * Lovely exterior with beautiful greenery. * Modern, air-conditioned lounge with plenty of seating. * Beach access directly from the hotel. Negatives * Public toilets were outdated and looked dirty. * Most plug sockets in the lounge didn’t work. * Tiny lift (fits two people) with an unpleasant smell. * Stairwells looked neglected and stained. Beach & Pool Beach * Beautiful beach with direct access from the hotel. * Gets very busy every day. * Best time to swim is morning to early afternoon when the sea is calmer. Afternoon waves became very rough and made swimming unpleasant. * During the last few days there was a huge amount of seaweed and some rubbish in the water. Pool * Quite small and warmed up quickly, so it wasn’t very refreshing in the heat. * Plenty of sunbeds, but they get reserved early (we went down around 8am each day). * Some loungers, umbrellas and surrounding areas were stained, damaged and poorly maintained - Rubbish left by guests doesn’t get picked up by staff. We saw the same rubbish for our whole stay by the pool. Room (Superior Double - Room 2208) Positives * Air conditioning was excellent. * Comfortable beds (extra pillows in the wardrobe were useful). * Nice balcony with chairs. * Nespresso machine with tea and coffee provided. * A large complimentary bottle of water was replaced daily. Negatives * Very limited storage - hardly any drawers or shelf space. * No main bedroom light, only bedside lamps. * Bathroom offered no space for toiletries. * Shower had nowhere to place shampoo/shower gel except the floor. * Fridge was very small and only moderately effective. Cleanliness (Biggest Disappointment) Unfortunately, cleanliness was well below what I’d expect from a four-star hotel. * Room and balcony floors were never properly cleaned and always felt gritty. * Shower floor wasn’t cleaned during our stay. * Bedding eventually felt gritty, making us question whether sheets had actually been changed. * Housekeeping twice forgot essentials (toilet roll, water and coffee refills), requiring multiple trips to reception. * Coffee machine wasn’t cleaned after servicing. * Pool area appeared poorly maintained, with dirty loungers, broken umbrellas and debris in the pool (including a clump of hair). Resort This wasn’t the resort we expected. * Very few shops. * Mostly cafés that closed by late afternoon. * Limited restaurant choice. * Overall, very little entertainment or evening atmosphere. * Random unnecessary DJ that plays very loud YouTube remixes for a few hours on a Saturday. Palma * Around €13 by taxi each way. * Beautiful cathedral, but due to the extreme heat and humidity we only stayed around two hours before returning to the hotel. Breakfast * Fairly basic selection. * Drinks included coffee, water, orange juice and chocolate milk. * Plenty of meat options. * Limited vegetarian and vegan hot choices. * Bread, fruit, yoghurt, cereals, cheeses, pastries and cakes available. Other Things to Note * Strong smell of sewage around parts of the pool, along with cannabis at times. * Breakfast staff were efficient but rarely greeted guests or appeared particularly friendly. Check-out * Check-out is midday. * Luggage room available. The post-checkout shower facilities were disappointing. Guests have to use the neighbouring sister hotel, where two showers and a toilet share one small, non-ventilated room. It felt like a sauna, making it almost impossible to dry off without sweating again. We’d honestly recommend using the outdoor shower by the pool instead. Overall The beach and air conditioning were the highlights of our stay, and the complimentary daily bottled water was a nice touch. However, the poor cleanliness, lack of maintenance, limited resort amenities and inconsistent housekeeping meant the hotel didn’t feel deserving of its four-star rating. We still enjoyed our holiday, but we personally wouldn’t choose to stay here again. Three stars at most. Recommendations * ‘The Plant Shack’ - Amazing veg options. Açai bowls, salads, toasted sandwiches, smoothies and coffees. 🌟 * ‘Che Gelats!’ - Lovely ice cream. 4€ small tub x2 flavours, quite a big portion, lots of lovely flavours. We went 3 times. 🌟 * ‘Avocado’ - Nice cafe with some veg options. Smoothies are nice. Açai bowls only in the morning. Nachos are nice. * ‘Alubia Plant Power’ - Palma. Lovely veggie options. Big portions.

Location : resort itself is horrible. Hardly any shops apart from convenience stores on a busy road, and eateries were pretty basic. No nightlife here if you like shopping, strolling and a nice restaurant. But, Palma is a quick taxi ride (about €12 in and €14 out) where there is an abundance. Location for the beautiful beach is perfect, literally walk from your sun bed by the pool and you’re in the sea within a minute Families/people are on the beach and in the sea until quite late, like 10pm, which is lovely. Beach slopes very very gently into the sea and you can go out quite a distance and still only be shoulder deep. Sea and beach was a highlight of the holiday. Hotel: boutique, so more individual than the chain hotels. We only had breakfast which was lovely and peaceful (adults only) and plentiful. We had a seafront superior with balcony. Compact room but nice. I wouldn’t have liked being in a room without the sea view, that makes all the difference for me. Cleaning done daily but judging by things being regularly missed, not very thorough (no loo roll, coffee machine not replenished) Don’t think the floor was cleaned in the week we were there as had sandy feet getting into bed all week. Bathroom has no privacy whatsoever as it’s open and glass. Good shower/hairdryer. They didn’t refill any of the soaps. Beds are very comfy and sleep came easily. We arrived 9am with check in at 3pm (and we didn’t get the room a minute earlier despite reception saying they’d call as soon as it was ready) First impression of only being able to use a rather grubby toilet in reception to change into beach clothes wasn’t the best intro Pool quite small (I’d guess it’s about as wide and long as a width in a swimming bath) but you are right next to the sea. Pool was clean and lovely and cool first thing, but like a warm bath by 3pm (it was in the 30’s). Pool area rarely cleaned, and rubbish not cleared by staff each day. Checkout at 12 but we didn’t leave until 11pm. Was able to use a shower room in the adjacent hotel on the last day, but lack of ventilation in there made it like a hot box, and was almost unbearable (but again the temps and humidity were consistently high) Overall I quite liked the hotel. Loved how peaceful it was. Only occasionally was the pool area what I would consider busy. Beds do get grabbed early but you could generally squeeze in somewhere. I wouldn’t go again as I hated the resort itself, but I did like the hotel.

2-week stay on half-board, "La CalaTo be Live" hotel from 6/20/2026 to 7/4/2026 We had to deal with several problems: HOTEL ▪︎ Room We had booked a superior double room with a sea view. The room we were assigned really disappointed us; it was very small for a superior room, the furniture was completely deteriorated, a table with 2 drawers that would not open because they had been blocked, a broken corner, wood all damaged. The wardrobe had a door that would not open; it was locked and the lock was completely broken. There was just a rod left to hang clothes and no shelves. The bathroom did not have any hooks or towel racks, and there was no space for toiletry bags. We asked to change rooms, but apparently there was nothing available. They suggested a room in the neighboring hotel that belongs to the group, and we took it. As a result, we ended up in a 7-story building with no "soul," even though we were looking for a small, charming, and intimate establishment. What a disappointment. Restaurants We had the option to dine in the group's 3 restaurants, but over 14 meals, the menus never changed. There were more elaborate menus for outside guests, but even with a supplement, it was not possible; if we wanted to dine with that menu, we had to pay the indicated price and therefore lose the value of our meal.