Spent a week in this hotel during the last week of August with my daughter and my brother and his son. I had requested a sea view room for myself and my daughter and was slightly dissapointed to be given a corner room with a side sea view on the fifth floor - the room was a bit on the small side so my brother gallantly let me have his room which had more space and a larger balcony and a lovely mountain view. A lot of the reviews on here say that the corner rooms are large so perhaps the higher the floor the better and to be fair the receptionist did her best to put our rooms close together. We arrived late evening and a cold supper had been kept for us - you will always find this with servigroup hotels. We were full board - you will often find that the difference between half and full board is minimal in Spanish type hotels and the buffet food was always delicious - trouble was the desserts were to die for and you can help yourself to delicious ice cream from a machine - we love to eat out when we go abroad but the food was just so good that we just didn't get round to it !! I would have a bottle of wine with my evening meal and I liked the fact that I could take it out with me to finish at leisure on the patio where we liked to sit and chill for a while after dinner.
Having stayed at the Gran Bali a few years ago I knew what to expect from the location and chose it purposely as we wanted a quiet holiday this time. The fantastic thing about Benidorm is that you can be totally in the thick of things in the new town - or you can be in the hustle and bustle of the picturesque old town or you can be in the location of this hotel in a much quieter Spanish area. I personally prefer the Spanish hotels along with the Spanish clientelle - if I stay in the new town I prefer the Pueblo hotel as a large proportion of their clientelle happen to be Spanish even though they are in the so called "English Section" of Benidorm !! If you want English entertainment every night then this hotel is not for you - you need to look at hotels such as the Ambassador etc - however that is not to say that the animation team at this hotel weren't friendly to the English - quite the opposite, they always made a fuss of my 8 year old nephew and my teenage daughter and the couple of nights that we stayed at the hotel we enjoyed. I loved that fact that there was no sunbed bagging - the Spanish simply don't do it and there was always plenty of sunbeds and the pool was lovely for our children to play in and for me to have a much needed swim ! I read in an earlier review that you could reach the beach down some steps - so off I went for an afternoon walk - I really don't recommend doing this unless you are very fit - they go on for ever - I think I would have had a heart attack if I had taken the children with me as there is no rail and they are very steep !!! If you walk past the gran bali and follow the road you will find the supermarket - it shuts on a Sunday though as I found out to my dismay after hiking down there to buy water for our room !!! Its a great supermarket though and if you like a tipple on your balcony you will find Cava for less than 2 euro's and good prices on spirits and beer. When we stayed at the Gran Bali we went to the beach nearly every day - its a lovely walk, however in the Torre Dorada we liked the pool area so much we tended to stay there. You can walk along the beach to the old town and as stated in earlier reviews there are bus stops right outside the Gran Bali - we found the taxi's really reasonable though - I have been going to Benidorm for many years and have never been overcharged by a taxi - do pay a visit to the high point which is between the Levanti and Ponienti beaches - the views are spectacular and in the evenings have lovely stalls and crafts going on all around. A last mention for this hotel has to go to the staff - always pleasant and friendly - even when rushed off their feet !