The four star Hotel Playa Capricho in Roquetas de Mar is located on the main street of Roquetas, with shops, restaurants, cafes and bars both to the left and right of the hotel, and its right next to the promenade that runs the full length of the beach. It’s a perfect location for a beach holiday, as well as for someone who just likes to shop, drink coffee and eat at good restaurants.
We booked at the Hotel Playa Capricho for a month’s all-inclusive vacation. What this meant was the airfare, hotel stay, three meals a day at the hotel, several day trips, and all the alcohol, soft drinks and coffee and lattes you could drink were all included in the price. This is sometimes a gamble, as you can pay a high cost for all-inclusive, then find the food and drink at the hotel is awful. Thankfully, this was not the case for us at the Hotel Playa Capricho.
We arrived at 8:30 in the evening and were shown to our rooms with the warning that the dining room closed at 9:30pm, so if we wanted dinner we’d have to hurry. Two members of our party wer given a lovely room on the fifth floor overlooking the mountains and the street. We were given a room in the annex, which was down a long corridor away from the main lobby. We were dubious about being in an annex as past experience has shown us these rooms are not always the best. Boy, were we wrong.
When we opened the door to our room, we couldn’t believe how lovely it was. It was a large suite, with a small kitchen with all cooking facilities, a large bathroom with shower, bath, and bidet, a huge double bed and a large sofa and coffee table. When opening the sliding door and stepped out onto the balcony, on one side we could see the enormous hotel swimming pool and on the other the waves slowly breaking over the sand. The view was idyllic. The room was also quiet as it was away from the main hotel entertainment area, although overall the hotel was quiet anyway.
Our party met a few minutes later in the lobby and we headed into the dining room for dinner. Another surprise met us here. None of us had ever seen such a luxurious spread at a 4 star hotel before. It was an all-you-can-eat buffet, which started with an enormous salad bar with every kind of vegetable and fruit imaginable, mixed salads, olives, cheeses, cooked meats, vegetables in olive oil, pates, ten different kinds of bread and more. The main course had 12 different entrees then, in a side room, there was the grill. Here you could order steak, fish, chicken, omelettes, pastas, pork chops, sausages and a whole assortment of Spanish traditional dishes.
For dessert there was a dessert station with cheesecake, cakes, pastries, crème caramel and jelly. An ice cream station with toppings was also here, as well as a crepe station where a woman would make you a fresh crepe with any kind of topping you wanted. A carafe of wine and bottled water was also included with the meal.
On our first night, we rolled out of the dining room and into the bar for a drink. Here we presented our room cards to the bartender and could order anything we wished, all inclusive in the price. Most of us stuck to vodka and orange with a couple asking for La Mumba’s (the Spanish hot chocolate and brandy drink).
For the entire month we were there, we ate and drank like this three meals a day. The food constantly changed, and the variety was enormous. Some days we just had small salads and fruit for lunch as we couldn’t always face so much food. It was delicious though so hard to refuse.
The Hotel Playa Capricho was also excellent in other ways. It has a very large outdoor pool, jacuzzi, paddling pools, mini golf, bocce (the Spanish bowls game) and table tennis tables. The lobby bar is lovely to sit and people watch as you have a coffee or a whiskey, and the lobby itself is gorgeous – all glass, marble and greenery, it’s one of the most beautiful lobbies I’ve been in.
The location was superb as all the shops, cafes, restaurants, internet cafes and supermarkets were right outside the front door. A couple of golf courses were up the street and the beach was ten feet away. It was only a short walk into the Roquetas town center, and the bus to Almeria, the next main city, stopped right outside the hotel.
The Hotel Playa Capricho is true luxury. Everything was taken care of for us, it’s spotlessly clean, quiet, with superb customer service and even had some entertainment in the bar in the evening.
The one downside we found was the staff is not overly friendly to begin with. However, the longer we stayed there we found they opened up and were pleasant and kind once we got to know them.
The Hotel Playa Capricho is at Avda de las Gaviotas, Roquetas del Mar, Almeria.