Hotel Bell Aire

Good things: * Lovely staff. Always helpful and willing to try and put the effort in. * Spotlessly clean despite age of the place. * Unintentionally wonderfully retro. This place is a 50s-60s dream, lost in time (with all the entails!) * Surprisingly excellent free wifi! Really good speed - could stream netflix just fine. * Nice breakfast in the courtyard :) * Lovely views from the balconies on upper floors of hills and the sea. * Secure washing and drying area for scuba gear Not so good: * No aircon! Every room does have a small but powerful desk fan provided, but it was end of June and we really missed not having a/c * Limited menu at the restaurant in the evenings. Plenty of other places to eat very close by though. * If you're diving and don't have a car, be aware it's a bit of a walk (~15min) to the marina where the dive boats tie up. * We were a couple and booked a double room but got a twin with the beds pushed together. Not great but I think all the rooms might only be set up as twins... def added to the retro feel!

PROS - Location is amazing, a very short walk to the beach, shops and restaurants, this cannot be faulted! The hotel grounds are really lovely, very clean and welcoming, a lovely pool bar available Breakfast included, basic but ok, more continental. Friendly staff, everyone was so very welcoming. Cleanliness, rooms were cleaned and fresh towels were provided daily. CONS - Rooms, the room we had 106 was like an oven, no air con which for August was very uncomfortable. There was a ceiling fan but did nothing to cool room down, there was also a table fan provided which was definitely better than nothing, however the heat made sleeping difficult, the beds were also very hard, this is of course a personal view as some people will appreciate a firm mattress. The bathroom shower was not particularly good, I found getting the shampoo out of my hair difficult, I do however have very thick hair! The bathroom was ridiculously hot, no ventilation. No safe in the room either. The noise from outside was also an issue, I believe from bins being emptied around 5:50 in the morning, however this is not the fault of the hotel. All said I do believe this hotel has great potential with some modernisation. I hope this review helps give a balanced view.