Happy Sunday! I just thought I would follow up on my last post of holiday outfits with a new post on where we stayed. This post won't be a very detailed post on Murcia as it was our first time there so been honest I saw very little of the area as it wasn't an exploring type holiday but I will talk about the two hotels we stayed in which might help some of you thinking of visiting the area in the future. First up how did we end up going to an area that we or no one else seemed to have ever heard about. It was bizarre really how we ended up here for the last few years we have gone to different parts of Portugal which I must say I love visiting. We - well actually my boyfriend won a three night golfing holiday in a competition he entered online which included a three night hotel stay and some rounds of golf so thats how it initially came about. We decided we would make it our main holiday this year it just made more sense with money in mind to add on extra nights and flights at our own expense. And to be honest it probably worked out just as expensive even with the competition win as we still had to pay for flights, transfers and the extra hotel nights. We flew from Dublin into Murcia which is such a tiny airport we flew out with Ryanair and flew back with Aer Lingus.
As we were adding in extra nights we decided to split our time between two hotels, the first hotel been the InterContinental Mar Menor Golf Resort and Spa. This hotel caught our eye when we googled hotels in the area and the reviews were more or less good so we went with this hotel. I must say before we booked we thought the second hotel would be the nicer of the two but actually this hotel for both of us was definitely our favourite. This hotel is a short distance from Murcia airport which having drove from Cork to Dublin during the night and the flight over to Murcia was a godsend as we were both exhausted at this stage! This hotel would suit someone looking for luxury, a peaceful holiday with amenities like a shop and restaurants on your doorstep. If you prefer a more lively holiday this is not the hotel for you I feel.
The hotel itself is well kept, clean and has alot of character of new and old charm the interior inside would definitely have more Spanish character whereas outside by the pool area with the four poster beds by the pool give a more luxurious feel.
Luxury by the pool - I may add though there was a charge on these beds of €15 per day which you need to be mindful of obviously all other ordinary loungers by the pool are free just these ones there is a charge on. We did pay it one day just because your on holiday - you might aswell enjoy every little luxury you can!
The pool area is well kept and had two lifeguards on everyday and children's activities if you do have a family with you so it always felt safe. They also did Aqua aerobics in the mornings that catered for all ages. I preferred to lounge by the pool though!!!
The interior inside the hotel.
The hotel was spotless as you can see here...
The grounds of the hotel have private houses and apartments too which were lovely as you were walking around.
On the grounds of the resort.
The hotel has a few different restaurants on site including an Italian which we had dinner in a few evenings and was definitely my favourite restaurant there. There was also a Mexican restaurant which was lovely to eat in although the menu choice wasn't very varied. They also had a Japanese restaurant, the hotel restaurant, steakhouse, Irish bar, club house and the usual poolside snack areas. On site there is also a small shop that sells most of the bits you would need on holiday they also had fresh bread daily which everyone seemed to be mad for. So overall would we go back to this hotel? - In a nutshell we would it had everything we look for a little bit of luxury, clean, safe, restaurants, shop, good Wifi, not lively and the opportunity to relax! As I said this hotel won't suit everyone but we really enjoyed it.
Next up we moved to a different resort about 40mins away in a taxi to the Principe Felipe Hotel this was the resort he had won the three nights away in the competition. He had originally won the three nights in the apartments on the resort we ended up staying only two nights there as you might had seen on my instagram the safe was broken here and when you think of iPads, passports, money etc to be carrying around with you this was not ideal. So we moved to the hotel part a night earlier than planned. It probably sounds like alot of moving but the apartments and hotel are in the same area so in reality we moved to just two different resorts.
Here's me with my backpack(I wasn't joking) with all the valuables as I said previously moving a night earlier couldn't come quick enough with the safe broken two days of carrying everything especially when he's gone golfing and your carrying all the valuables in a heatwave to breakfast, the toilet, the pool you name it!!!!!
Again I will say the hotel is well kept and clean. I loved the interiors as in my house at home I have lots of creams and browns so I'm always watching out for ideas and inspiration wherever I go. And certain pieces in this hotel caught my eye.
I especially loved the prints on the walls.
The grounds of the hotel
Both hotels are golf resorts which might put off some people but it didn't bother us and plus he had won some rounds of golf on this golf course and ended up getting rounds in in both hotels. So anyone reading that might have a partner who plays golf you might be interested in these hotels they might suit you both. There was also couples and families at these hotels not just golfers. I will say I think we were the only Irish or a small minority here it was mainly English and other nationalities quiet a mixture of nationalities actually.
Breakfast at the hotel as you can see from the pictures had a mixture to suit everyone from pastries, fruit, meats etc as well as hot food like sausages, eggs, fried potato things like that. We did find though it got very busy from about 9 onwards so we tended to go down before things got too manic.
Perfect holiday to relax and zone out...
Kept me alive during the first week of the heatwave...!
Unlike the previous hotel the pool area had some similar beds which had no charge to stay on plus they had loungers around the pool which had the cushions on. Another plus of this hotel was you could take as many towels as you needed to lay on or have by the pool there was no limit per person. Another bizarre thing was the lifeguard would come around midday and hand out facecloths to cool you down - how I've ever come back to normality I will never know!! But it is these little touches that make you remember a place. As I said there was a lifeguard on duty everyday by the pool so again it was very safe and they were always so helpful in general. As I said above in regards to Mar Manor I would go back again would I say the same for La Manga? I don't think you can ever say never but out of the two hotels I would honestly say I would definitely go back to the Intercontinental golf resort but in regards to La Manga Principe Felipe Hotel I wouldn't be rushing back for a number of reasons mainly because we expected more from it considering for what you pay also I may add the gym and spa area were up by the apartments which was abit away on the shuttle bus which we thought was bizarre considering in most hotels the gym/spa area is always in the hotel part, but overall it did have some good points too.
Again as it is a secluded resort theres restaurants in the hotel and around it. La Manga resort is very spread out for instance the hotel is very far away from the apartments so shuttle buses go between the two all day everyday which means alot of the restaurants are spread out also the restaurants are that more expensive because you are in a resort and they will get away with hiking up the prices! If you do ever end up in this area a must visit is the Italian restaurant Luigi's which you can get a shuttle bus from the hotel too. We had dinner here alot of evenings as I don't eat meat of fish I can be very limited on holidays as to places to eat. I more or less lived on pizza and protein shakes while I was there!
We also got takeaway one of the nights from a local restaurant at a small shopping centre down the road which had a few cheaper more affordable restaurants and bars than what the hotel had, it also had a big shop that you could get most snacks from at a fraction of the cost you would pay at the hotel. On site at this resort as I said theres the small shopping centre with restaurants and at the hotel and surrounding areas you have an Italian, Indian, Irish bar, club house, snack bars etc and more to name just a few. But bar the Italian I was disappointed with the food in general here the pastas for example can be very bland and not very varied compared to say the food I've had in Portugal or Italy which I was surprised by but again maybe that was the area we were in. We did go to a lovely restaurant in a shopping centre one of the days that did have a great selection of pastas and every type of food really.
As far as drinks it was no cheaper than what we have at home a cocktail was still the same price as was the wine.
Cheers...
The little shopping area and when I say little I mean little don't be expecting a Zara or Primark its basically a handfuls of restaurants, bars and a shop.
Now having said that I did locate a Primark it wouldn't be right if I didnt ha! On one of the dull mornings we got a taxi into the Espacio Mediterráneo shopping centre(hope I'm pronouncing that right). This centre had a Primark, Zara, mango, H&M to name a few. My first stop was the primark for a browse it had very similar to what we have at home really so I didn't buy anything in fact I bought nothing full stop here(shock I know). I was most impressed with H&M especially the homeware section which was only a tiny section of the shop but they had some nice pieces - its a shame we don't have it at home.
Forget crazy cat lady - I'm crazy mug lady! This one was in H&M.
I spoke on my instagram about the fabrics and prints that I spotted in H&M and this is what I mean. The aztec designs, prints and tones really caught my eye. They had lots of candals too very minimalistic.
The colours - H&M home
Blush and grey tones...
I spotted this scallop detail coat in H&M - a different take on a winter coat with the detail and colour.
This jumper also caught my eye in H&M, I've since seen Pippa wearing it.
Military vibes in Zara
This was a little cove we visited a short few minutes away from the hotel on the shuttle bus. As you can see from the pictures it was a dull day and the cold it was an experience to say the least - we didnt last long here!
So just like that it was back to reality and back to normality after a lovely two weeks away. I hope you found this post somewhat helpful there was no point me writing a post on Murcia as I didn't explore it enough to do a detailed review on it. So instead I wanted to focus on the parts I did experience and more importantly review the two hotels as honestly as possible. As always thanks for reading. But... Where to next...?? Mexico maybe :-)... I wish....
Thanks for reading
Caitriona
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