Villa in Benalmadena Puerto Marina by the beach

The location was not excellent, nice and private and secure and Marina on doorstep.

Nothing

The outside was spacious, but with more than six people it probably wouldn’t feel it. The villa’s location means you’re just a few minutes’ walk from the marina and the Paseo Maritimo – but that means a lot of traffic and a lot of noise (see below).

It’s worth nothing like 3,000+ euros a week. It was lacking basic amenities, such as a corkscrew, toaster, knives (there were only steak knives!), saucepans, oven trays and clothes pegs. After complaining (on two occasions about the absence of a corkscrew) most of those items were delivered on our penultimate day. The crockery looked very old and there were hardly any wine glasses or coffee mugs. We found food that had been left in the freezer. The only table in the lounge was actually a stool and the one outside table (with three chairs) was in a rear alcove. All the bedrooms are on the small side, with one twin room having room for only one bedside table/lamp. There’s not enough wardrobe space in the property and no drawers. One of the bedrooms/bathrooms is accessed via a narrow spiral staircase. Even four people could make the place feel cramped, never mind eight or 10. On top of all that is the constant noise from traffic (the villa’s on a main access road to the marina) and, worst of all, the 24-hour ‘bang bang’ as each vehicle goes over a ‘cattle grid’ grate right outside the door. Oh – and we also had issues with ants inside, including in bathrooms and bedrooms. Even with emptying bins daily, mopping/sweeping floors and not leaving a crumb on any surface they still appeared constantly.