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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.
