Occidental Isla Cristina

Lovely clean hotel. Helpful staff. Most comfortable bed I've ever had abroad Vast choice of food & all edible. Clean pools. Lots of indoor & outdoor communal areas. Find a map before you go. Beach very good but a good walk from hotel. Not as easily accessible as I'd thought

Average hotel in a terrible location. Isla Cristina is the dirtiest rundown place we've ever encountered in Spain. The hotel itself is OK on the surface, however be warned, if you want a hot meal, you'll be disappointed. We were there for 10 days on half board, didn't matter what time you turned up for your meal everything was either cold or luke warm. The other thing to be wary of was the chefs on the cooking station could not follow basic food hygiene and consistently used the same tongs and spatulas for raw and cooked meat, chicken and fish. After we'd been there for 6 days I discovered a microwave near the kitchen door that I think was for warming baby food in. For the rest of the holiday we plated up what we wanted to eat and then microwaved it to warm it up. The pool is icy cold, makes your teeth chatter even on the hottest day. There is nowhere to go out for a drink or anything to eat. No shops apart from small supermarkets which only open for a short time in the morning and a short time in the evening. Beware if you venture outside the hotel as you have to watch every step you take as the people of Isla Cristina seem to have no civic pride and just let their dogs do their business all over the pavements, on the boardwalks to the beach and on the beach as well. There is a stadium directly opposite the hotel which has live events going on, sometimes music, nonstop day and night. Anywhere else we would have made a complaint, however, as none of the staff spoke English, even ordering a bottle of wine with dinner was a challenge, so I don't think they would have understood what we were saying. If you want a quiet holiday where you can get nice hot food, walk out on an evening, stroll round the marina and eat or drink at a nice bar and lie by the pool and peacefully read a book, this is definitely not the place. We've travelled extensively around the world and I can certainly say this is the worst holiday we've ever had. So glad to be home.

Great hotel, very clean, very Spanish, superb staff. Great experience if you wish to practice your Spanish as very little English is spoken but that is half the fun trying to understand one another. This is the real Spain. Don't go to this hotel if you wish to have peace and quiet as it is full of children and I mean lots of them. If you wish to have a daily long swim, forget, go to the beach as it is always full of children shouting, falling out, playing etc. etc.