Me & my bf have just come back from Sol Balmoral, Mallorca yesterday. Our holiday started off on a bad note but fortunately became a lovely holiday.
We found this holiday package with teletext holidays- a couple of weeks before, which was booked through the agents of media travel, originally we paid £360 for half board, transfers, early morning flights with thomson fly and a one wk with stay with hotel sol mastines/chihuahuas. we got sent out flight and accomodation tickets however less than 2days before we were due to leave we got told from mediatravel that abcbeds had overbooked us with that hotel therefore they have changed us to sol balmoral. to be honest my first reaction was gutted and i could not believe how useless the agent were. firstly they had advertised the holiday as £270 not from £270! and charged us £60more plus £30 for transfers return. so the change of hotel did not make me happy at all. the pools on the other hotel looked much nicer and it seemed to have better reviews, we tried to reason with the agent for all inclusive as most people had paid less than us, but they did not comprimise as they said this was already an upgrade, so we just had our fingers crossed that they were right and our holiday was worth it.

we arrived at the airport waited for a transfer that didnt take too long as we had to wait for anotehr couple who were going to our hotel. this was at 2.30am as our flight was delayed by an hour. transfer time to this hotel by minibus took an hour.

we were greeted with a welcome and were told our room, we were on the 7th floor but there were lifts (very small) which took us straight there so it didnt take more than a few seconds.
our room seemed very nice, clean but basic but thats what i expected. i thought our room was rather spacious with 3single beds even though there were only 2 of us, so you could push the two next to one another to form a double. there was a ceiling fan no air conditioning but that was ok better than nothing at all it gives bit of a breeze. the bathroom is quite spacious with a bath and powerjet shower built in plus a spacious sink area.
we had a balcony by the looks of it everyone seems to have one, but not everyone gets a good view. fortunately we were on the top floor with sea view and you can hear the sea too which is lovely.
having got to our hotel at half 3am and once we checked in and got to sleep it was about 4am, we then were told to be at reception by 10am to get our half board cards for breakfast.

the weather for us was 30.c all week which was great, so hot and as its windy you get a lovely breeze so its not so humid. there are a few minisupermarket shops and bars just outside the hotel, and around the corner just a few minutes walk there are lots more restaurants, karaoke bars, mini golf, shops, kids parks- kids go karts etc.
we only saw one medium sized swimming pool at our hotel plus a small one for the kids, this is quite busy, but there are umbrellas and sunbeds next to them which are usually available.

there is a small sandy beach across the road of our hotel and down some steep steps, once you get down there there are umbrellas to hire for about 7-8euros and sunbeds included, this beach is less noisy and less busy which is nice, but the bar only has a few drinks, lollies and snacks, they do not sell lunch so for that you have to go elsewhere. but the sea is beautiful nice and clean and clear.
there is another slightly bigger beach more busier and noisier about ten-15minutes walk to the right called calas domingos, this was a lovely beach but more expensive and crowded. the umbrella & sunbeds here cost 10-13euros for the day and unless you get here really early your more likely to be at the back. here you get a man who comes and sells a big watermelon slice for 3euros and pineapple chunks for 4euros. the bar here sells lots of drinks, baguettes, hot dogs, ice cream, lollies, water etc. the 2l bottled water here costs 2euros where as the 2nd shop next to the hotel it costs 0.75euro cents.

the food at the hotel is delicious, a buffet you can help yourself to, a huge variety, breakfast consists of scrambled eggs, poached eggs, boiled eggs, fried bread, sausages, bacon, beans, cereal, fruits, ham, cheese, crossiants tea coffee, orangejuice apple juice etc, dinner consists of chips, pasta, steak, vegetables, salads, fruits, cakes, ice cream, wine, beer, fizzy drinks, and lots more, it varied each day. there are lots of tables and seats and the staff always seem to clean the tables once someone had left.

there is a bar around the corner next to the hotel with sky sports so you can watch premiership football matches, or there are lots more bars down the road with all the shops about 5mins away where you can go to instead.

we played mini golf on my birthday in the evening which we paid about 7euros for mini golf 18holes plus a delicious cocktail or its about 5euros for a game. we also went to a chinese restaurant called chinatown which was delicious, they also gave me a free fan as it was my birthday. the hotel also sent me a bottle of bubbly and a letter on my birthday which was lovely.

we hired a car- ibiza for 38euros a day and we had it for 4days. perhaps a day too many as we had run out of places to go. we liked the mountanous trips with the scary roads so we went to cap de formentor and sa calabra and salvador all of which i recommend going to! we also went to cuevas del drach, caves with stalagmites and a a river underground its spectacular and a must see, costs 9-10euros for a one hour guided tour each.

we also went on the glass bottom boat trip on my bday which cost 18euros each for 2hours return trip to porto cristo and back. you could stop off at porto cristo and return before the last return boat trip, im not sure if id recommend this, i liked the views from the boat and it is relaxing, however i was very disappointed in the glass bottom boat, for me this was jsut being on an ordinary boat as there were no fishes at the bottom of the sea i saw about 2 small fishes throughout the whole two hours. so perhaps just go on a normal boat trip which maybe cheaper.

we also could jsut walk through the other two hotels sol mastines/chihuahuas that were next to us and use their swimming pools etc i think thats what people do as we noticed people form our hotel using their pools too. therefore being in this hotel i found much better and we got to use their facilities too.

overall we had a lovely holiday, despite the early on hitches with the price of the holiday, the rubbish travel agent- media travel who i would not book through again! and perhaps abc beds too as they were the ones who had overbooked us, then we had over an hour flight delay- but apart from that i had a great birthday and relaxing holiday, no trouble once we were here, it would have been nice if there were bigger beaches and less busier and air conditioning in the hotel as it did get quite stuffy at times. id defintiely recommend this hotel for fmailies though as there a re lots of kids and activities for kids and they all seem to be having a great time. i dont think there was much for us adults to do, me and my bf are in our early twenties and we got quite bored some times as there wasnt much to do, so hiring a car is a must. its great to see the spectacular views!