Hotel Paraíso Playa

We visited this hotel in late September to early October which is pretty well at the end of the season in this part of the world. For example, the beach restaurants and cafes such as Oceano are noticeably less patronised and so cannot really offer the same service and choice as they did up to the end of September. However, the weather is still perfect for the beach ( 28-32 ) and there is still a welcome laid back feel to the place.||As to the hotel, the location for a beach holiday is superb; the sands are but a few minutes away. The rooms are very clean and comfortable and ours had a small balcony which overlooked the pool. Towels were changed each day and Senora Trini ||spoke enough English to deal with any requests, since we had no problems. Iwould rate this hotel at the very top of its star rating. The coffee was good, the breakfast bread was fresh and there was always fruit, cereals and yoghurt......and the toaster worked! The reception area is quaintly furnished and has a comfortable Spanish feel to it. In fact Isla Cristina is very much geared to Spanish visitors - most of whom would have cars - so expect a bizarre experience while trying to find one at e.g. the bus station, even if you speak some Spanish! However, the hotel always managed to find one. Expect a welcoming, family-run hotel with unobtrusive but efficient service and you won't be disappointed.

This hotel is excellent value out of high season. Not sure I would say the same in August when costs are higher. It is scrupulously clean, well run, and address the needs of most beach loving tourists. Room is average but offers a small safe, TV, air-con and decent bathroom. No frills here though. No fridge. Comfortably hard bed. Breakfast very average. Don't expect high fibre, fresh coffee or a range of fresh fruit. It is old style Spanish - aimed at the majority of its guests. However, it is acceptable. Pool was clean and inviting. Off road parking. But the reason for choosing this hotel - apart from its cost/quality ratio - is its proximity to one of Spain's great sandy beaches. Local restaurants in the vicinity or a 20-minute walk to the centre of the old town and port, and lots of restaurant choices.

This hotel is in a fantastic location - about 250m from a beautiful sandy beach which stretches for miles. Staff at the hotel are very helpful. I speak a little Spanish which was useful as the area generally attracts Spanish holiday makers, not foreign tourists. The hotel is clean, and rooms are a decent size. The air conditioning has a 'quiet' mode which makes it possible to leave on during those very hot nights!

This hotel exceeded my expectations. I had a room to myself which was spotless and cleaned daily and had plenty of storage space, a comfy bed and a nice small balcony though no outdoor chairs. The air-conditioning was very good, in fact it took me a while to get it so it wasn't too strong, a very low setting. ||Breakfast was continental with the usual ham and cheese as well as fruit and yoghurt and bread and small cakes but the best part for me was hot baguettes and mini croissants and good fresh coffee (or tea if that's your thing) brought to your table. They also had cold water which is not always a given.||The building itself was nice with lots of charming touches all around making it feel like it's run by real people unlike some other soulless places. The pool area which we had all to ourselves had beautiful tiles and was very private and quiet.||The family running the hotel were helpful with any query we had. You do always get further speaking the language of the country you're in but they dealt with many things asked by others in English and my own Spanish is extremely basic. ||The hotel is very close to the beach and some restaurants but is a fair walk from the centre and because we went off season to avoid excess heat and crowds this produced some challenges for us. Firstly, the nearby restaurants seemed to be closing down for the season and so were not open at night. I am not able to walk far and was expecting to have to get taxis into the centre for dinner. However while we could get a taxi into town within 10 or 15 minutes of someone phoning for us it was not so easy to get home again and twice we were actually given a lift home from restaurant owners. This seems to be an ongoing problem during low season in the town and is frustrating for visitors and hotel/restaurant owners alike. It did mean though that we were shown real kindness by the locals. Also the beach has no loungers to rent so we ended up buying some chairs and parasols from the shop a few minutes up the road and did as the locals do. ||Of course none of this is any fault of the hotel but it is useful to know if you are planning a trip here. I very much enjoyed my stay in this hotel, we always had lots of room on the beach and there are a number of very good restaurants in the town. It is a good choice if you want to have a less touristy and more Spanish experience.

***** five stars|Location. It's a stone's throw away from the beach. If that is what you want. There are a few places to go and eat and dine at but nothing or no place that's even worth mentioning. The walking distance to the city centre where you can find good restaurants are 20 minutes away. And there are no taxis or bike rentals (besides from one, but those bikes are valid for the day). So if you're looking for the great fish and seafood that Isla Cristina offers- this is not the hotel for you.||**** four stars|The poolside. Absolutely gorgeous Andalucian style with white-blue tiles and jasmine trees that smells like heaven. This and the fact that all hotels were fully booked are the reasons why we stayed.||*** three stars|The staff. Good people. Also the other guests. Here people come back year after year. We met a group of older women who celebrated their 35:th vacation here. That's cool.||** two stars|The shower. No pressure at all. Also the breakfast goes under the two stars. They do offer gluten free bread but nothing is marked with wether or not it's gluten free. So the very very poor buffé is just that - poor.||* one star|The room we stayed in and the rock hard bed. It felt like a luggage room renovated to be a room. There are no balcony nor a place to sit on during the evenings in our room. Don't stay in room 16.||The keys are also too dated to be true. A big chunk of plastic that makes it hard to close the door. ||You can smoke in some rooms which is also so dated. Definitely a one star reason. ||In total:|Stay here when it's not high season and ask for a room with a balcony. Don't go here if you're not here for the beach. And don't stay here without a transportation system like a car or a bike.

We chanced upon this place quite late on a dark December evening and felt lucky and relieved to have found anything at all open for accommodation in the peak off-season, when most hotels in the area seem to be closed. It turned out to be a clean, comfortable, family-run establishment in a eucalyptus-lined road just minutes from a lovely stretch of sandy beach. Nice breakfast, secure parking and a friendly welcome, too. Would happily return - if only to try out the small but enticing swimming pool at the back, and even though perhaps at the height of summer it may be less tranquil. BYO toiletries, however (a couple of pieces of crumbly soap is not enough), also check bar prices before ordering, as we were surprised to find that we had been charged 40 euros for a plate of ham, 2 beers, a glass of terrible (sorry folks) white wine and 2 brandies. But these are relatively minor shortcomingsand still it's immeasurably better than any one of those personality-free, vast, industrial-scale "fun factories" that dominate much of this coastline.

The staff are helpful & pleasant, and well mannered.i believe its a family run business 😃 Clean rooms and spacious. This is my 2nd time Ive stayed here and there is nothing to complain about. This time time round I stayed in a family room and the time before that was Oct '16 which was a double eoom & the bathroom was bigger

We were pleasantly surprised at what a nice -well equipped hotel Paraiso Playa was!!! Very close to beach and walking distance to some very nice restaurants. But the best part was the family who owns and manages hotel- they are super nice and helpful and go out of their way to help English speaking customers like us. Highly recommend to Americans wanting a terrific stay in Isla Cristina!