Castillo de Santa Clara Apartments

The Santa Clara is in a superb location between La Carihuela and Torremolinos beaches, with numerous restaurants and shops close by. I love staying there and the views are spectacular and it is lovely.

One problem I found last year was with a dog owner who did not clean up after her dog, but hopefully that has been sorted out since my visit. Unfortunately it is not suitable for anyone with walking disabilities as there are 40+ steps from the promenade up to the building and no lift and although there are lifts in the building it is a long hilly walk to and from the beaches.

This was our second stay here. The first time was at Easter 2004. We had just missed two solid weeks of rain. The hotel is showing its age (built 1970s). There are many areas on the levels below the gardens/pool/patios that are showing water ingress.

The hotel is mainly privately owned or timeshare apartments. The hotel has some apartments, all north east facing according to the reception desk, in the levels above the pool but facing in the opposite direction towards Malaga. You catch the sun first thing but after mid morning it is gone, around to the pool side of the building. At Easter the rooms were cold so we had to have the AC unit on max heat and the oven on with the door open to keep warm at night. In the summer the AC was adequate, though noisy.

The pool and bar/cafe were closed at Easter but were ok in August. The food was nothing special but compared to that available along the Carrihuela sea front. There is a small shop selling milk, fresh bread, drinks etc. Watch the dates on the milk, they don't seem to mean anything to the shop owners. You could probably scrape a meal together out of what's for sale but you really need a trip into the town or Malaga to stock up.

Forget the tennis court, the surfacing is all over the place. The parking is used by the local townsfolk during the day so if you take your car anywhere don't expect to park again until the shops close. The hotel has access to beach level via lifts, a security monitored door and a flight of steps and also to the town level (or almost) by use of lifts and a gentle uphill walk (around 750 metres) to the bars and shops in the town centre.

If you accept that you are not staying in a high rating hotel then it presents reasonable value for money. It wouldn't suit everyone and we only used it twice because it was handy for the beach for our four year old, without the mountainous steps everywhere else in Torremolinos. Other guests seems to be mainly Spanish so don't expect to keep to a UK style sleeping time. Stay out or awake or on your balcony until the early hours and forget the morning exists otherwise the other parties will keep you awake. La Roca Chica was far better, though without the AC. It gets a 7/10 for being competitively priced, although basic.