Kenia Nevada

We thoroughly enjoyed our family ski holiday here. Our young kids enjoyed all the facilities. It is an authentic Spanish hotel and we will definitely return next year. It’s close to everything however there are still lots of step’s, which is hard to avoid here. Few other points, rooms are gorgeous but a bit tight. Rooms are very warm, which is lovely but only way to cool down & sleep better is to open the balcony door and as it’s quite cold outside it can be tricky. Some nights were very noisy due to late night pubs & clubs. Overall experience was great & we hope to rebook here again next year.

Having read many of the reviews before we arrived, I was expecting to feel disappointed with our choice of hotel. On the contrary, we had a very nice stay there and would go there again. The hotel was nice and warm, but our bedroom was not too hot. The beds / pillows were comfortable and the bathroom had plenty of shelves and good lighting. There was one English TV channel - BBC News. We were on the 4th floor and we could not hear the nightclub that others have mentioned. The staff were very nice and we enjoyed sitting in the lounge bar where there was a good selection of drinks available, and they were reasonably priced for a hotel. Breakfast was good and the bar snacks looked very nice, though we didn't order any ourselves, as we had already eaten. The availability of 'snow gear' lockers was good. The information said that the garage was charged per part of day of use- we were at the hotel just under 24 hours ( over 2 days) and were only charged for one day, which we thought was fair. It is worth noting that the garage is small, so we were pleased we had a small car on this occasion. Also, you have to depart the car park by 2pm, which can be tricky if you're up on the slopes! Unfortunately, the spa etc did not open until 4:00p.m. which was a shame, as I was not doing snow Sports and had the whole day to entertain myself! ideally I would choose a hotel like the Kenia in ambience and facilities but with a Spa that I could use during the day. The hotel is situated close to the town center but you do need to go down approx 100 steps to get down to the gondola. We were able to check in early on our day of arrival, and feel we were given a 'quiet room' which we had requested - both much appreciated. Thanks Hotel Kenia!

Lovely charming hotel. Very close to the centre, staff were helpful, rooms nice, breakfast nice. Two negatives : The rooms were absolutely boiling in the nighttime and the dinner was awful. Would eat elsewhere but we got a deal with dinner included.

The perfect spot for your vacation in Sierra Nevada. Great views and some rooms have a terrasse approx 12 sqm.

Nice room with a lovely view. Beds very comfortable. Lots of hot water for bath and good pressure in shower. Swimming pool and games room nice for children. Not any information regarding meals and services. Hard to find the room had to go back down and ask to be shown. When the lift was broken no helo on stairs with my case just an apology about the lift.

The hotel was very nice. Reasonable rooms with bunk beds, hot at night but good double glazing for noise from the centre (no kettle or hot drink facility). We enjoyed using the small deep pool (take swim hats for this). The food was good and we have 3 kids, but the evenings meal started from 8pm which was challenging. The Resturant could have been better organised as we often struggled to get tap water, we just took our own in. The hotel didn’t ask for feedback but the one thing I would suggest would be a working clock at reception and some English guidance about parking options . They also have a games from which could do with a big revamp. We parked on the road outside for 12 euros per day.

The Kenia Nevada Hotel, Sierra Nevada, Spain.||Having booked for 7 nights half board accommodation, we visited to the Kenia Nevada on Saturday the 4th of March 2023. We had never been to the hotel or the resort before. |If you don’t read this full review then there are 4 essential things you need to know about this hotel.||1). It is in the same building block as the “ Mango” night club, which churns out dance music every night between 10.00pm and 5.00am and you can both hear and feel the thumping beat as you try to sleep and that’s with all doubled glazed windows closed. Around 5 am the club spills a volume of high spirited, young people onto the street outside the hotel.||2) it is true that the hotel is a short walk to the gondolas, 100 to 200 yards in total depending on which gondola you use, but as the hotel is on a steep hill you should be made aware that there are 116 (yes we counted) narrow metal steps down to the square and more steps into the square. ||3) The Kenia hotel is rated 4 star however the food is 2 stars at best but the kids will be happy with the selection.||4) Avoid going on a Saturday & Sunday unless you like to queue for everything including having a coffee. ||If you want more detail read on. |The first thing that struck us on our arrival was the volume of cars lining the route to the ski village, there were literally thousands. A three mile drive took 40 mins in endless queues of cars snaking up the mountain, we were soon to realise that this resort is subject to a massive influx of Spanish skiers every weekend. On our first night in the hotel the “disco” in Mangos night club in the hotel block was bouncing until 0600 hrs||The hotel advertises being just 100 yards from the gondola, What it doesn’t tell you is that it is 116 steps down two flights of metal stairs to get to the main square. When Carrying skies and equipment this is not a joy for anyone but especially the over 60’s. In addition the gondolas to the first station are standing room only, so after the stairs and the walk there is no sitting for the weary skier on the 10 minute climb to the first station. On skiing down from the first station I have never been as pleased to find a chair lift.||The hotel is clean and the beds were comfy & some might call the hotel “quaint” however in my opinion it is rather tired and in need of some refurbishment and or modernisation. Although it has great views over Granada, it doesn’t warrant its 4 star status . On entering our bedroom for the week “Faulty Towers” sprang to mind. The lighting was straight out of the 70’s with metal wall brackets & wonky shades and the central light had dark wires looped across a white ceiling leading to a large bare bulb. There were cracked tiles in the bathroom and on the Juliet balcony but it was cosmetic & nothing that was a threat to life or limb. There was a fridge in the room but no kettle, dressing gowns or bedside table, just shelving where the headboard is usually situated. Beware of the gap at the back! The rooms were very warm & the only way to regulate the temperature was by opening the balcony door. This wouldn’t have been a problem if it hadn’t been for the thumping music from the “Mango” disco next door, so you have to steam until after 5am.||The rooms were quite rustic with dark beams, the mirrored shelving in the bathroom opposite the toilet and bath served to remind you that a diet is necessary. The food in the hotel certainly helps with this! It is a buffet spread canteen style for breakfast and dinner. Sad to say the hot food was only ever mildly warm at best. There was a microwave to warm your food but really you shouldn’t have to do that in a 4 star hotel, should you? |The two occasions I tried the soup in the evening it was watery & tasteless, I actually couldn’t believe they would serve something so unappetising, it became a sense of amusement to several of the guests. On the up side I have to say the salads in the evening were plentiful and quite reasonable and all the waiters in their long black aprons were polite and helpful as were most of the staff. The dining room did however remind us of a school canteen with its rather sterile, sparse atmosphere.||In catering for coeliacs and others with dietary requirements they are able to tell you what you can’t have rather than provide something you can. Had I not taken my own gluten free bread I fear I would have been without carbohydrates all week although there was a rice dish one night, luckily the local supermarkets do have a variety of gluten free produce and most bars serve GF beer which is good. Most restaurants are also geared up for a gluten free diet so we never went hungry.||This is undoubtedly a resort for the younger skier. It is so exceptionally busy & vibrant at weekends it needs a strong constitution to endure the noise and volume of people and endless queues. For this reason we chose not to ski until the Monday. It was then pleasantly quiet during the day and we enjoyed the varied runs from the top back to the village. Owing to the exhaustion of having to carry our equipment up and down the 116 + steps each day/night, we hired a locker at the gondola station where we could store all our ski equipment. This can be booked online and at around €90 it was worth every penny.||There are lots of good places to eat & drink in and around the resort if you choose well, we know this because we ate out most nights for the reasons mentioned above re the poor hotel food. Prices in restaurants are quite reasonable too. There are a lot of places serving reasonably priced fast food which seems popular with the young clientele .||Sadly the weather over our 7 day stay was very varied with several days where visibility (low cloud) was too poor to ski, we also had several days/ night of quite heavy rain which made the snow very slushy especially on the lower slopes. Only 39 of 138 slopes were open on the Friday and 15 of those were nursery slopes. Needless to say this made the open slopes quite busy. In summary this trip was an experience, but I couldn’t recommend this hotel to anyone other than those who who want easy access to the Mango Night club and a short walk home. It is not a hotel for anyone seeking some peace and tranquillity or indeed for any skier with a bedtime prior to 5.00 a.m.

If you have little kids, then this is the place for you. They'll love the food and the plunge pool (falsely advertised as a swimming pool and only open from 16:00). But our experience was very different...||- The evening buffet-style meal is designed for kids (pasta/ mayo, pasta/ thin tomato sauce, cold fries, meatballs)... fine. But hardly 4*! The many little 'uns were happy. As a couple travelling with our grown son, we weren't.||- Breakfast is almost inedible. Undercooked croissants, stale bread, awful coffee, the list is a long one.||- The bedrooms in the photos on the website look great. And the hotel exterior is pleasing to the eye. But our 'duplex' was small, grubby and unmodernised. Its second floor was actually a stuffy and unventilated balcony/mezzanine that our 21-year old son unhappily occupied - de facto sharing the same sleeping space as his parents.||- We complained about the food and were offered a €200 rebate on our Half Board bill. When it came to 'settle up', this was denied by the manager who remained invisible throughout - preferring to communicate through his frontline staff. Fortunately Heidi.com, our excellent travel agent covered this broken promise. But the hotel was duplicitous at best. ||In short - our recommendation would be not to go to the Hotel Kenia Nevada. There are plenty of good - even great places to stay in Sierra Nevada. It's just that the Hotel Kenia Nevada ain't one of them.