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| Sahara Sunset Club |  |  Address: Avenida Rocio Jurado S/N, Benalmadena 29630, Spain
The resort is well situated being only 100 metres from the beach. Tivoli World amusement park is only about 1km from the resort and the new Selwo Dolphinarium is only a 3 minute walk away. Lots of restaurants and shops within a few hundred metres. Coastal buses stop within a couple of hundred metres and the station for the coastal railway is about 1km away. It is a low rise and not too noisy so is ideal no matter when you want to go to bed or get up in the morning.It is very close to the beach, shops, public transport and local attractions. | | Some of our readers photos of Sahara Sunset Club / Benalmadena
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| | Details: | | Male Adults: | 1 | Date: | March 2008 | | Female Adults: | 1 | Tour Operator: | DRI | | Number of Children: | 0 | Board: | Self Catering |
| | Comments: | Sahara Sunset Club Benalmedina Spain
March 8th to March 15th 2008
I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by this holiday. I have had an image of the Costa del Sol as being extremely packed and people crushed like sardines everywhere. I know we came away out of season but the excellent weather certainly made it a very enjoyable holiday. Every day bar one we had blue skies and temperatures fit for June, low 20’s throughout week.
We arrived at Malaga airport early on Saturday morning, having collected our cases we headed off to find the train station using directions that we had been given from the forum. Having got to the bottom of a fairly long walkway over the main road we then had to face the ticket machine. Easy enough once we got past the first hurdle of what type of ticket do you want in Spanish. We purchase 2 single tickets to Benalmedina at the huge cost of €2.80!! and duly waited for the train. We didn’t have to wait long before climbing up 2 steep steps to board the train. Luckily there is an announcement before each station in both Spanish and English giving you plenty of time to get off the train. Having reached Benalmedina station we then found the taxi rank and got a taxi for €5 to the resort.
Upon reaching the reception we found a small queue of fellow guests waiting to check in. Arriving early meant that some rooms were not ready. We had received a very pleasant email 2 weeks previously informing us of different activities etc and asking us our arrival time so that if possible our room would be ready when we arrived. We responded to the email and our room was indeed ready for us. One thing to note ask for 2 key cards as you need one to keep the electricity on when out. We were then taken to our apartment by a Bell Boy, very novel for someone else to struggle with your suitcases especially when going up stairs.
Our apartment was D2 in the Royal Sierra block, which meant it was on the top floor so the poor lad had to lug 2 heavy cases up three flights of stairs. Once inside the apartment, which incidentally is a studio apartment, we were amazed by the size, very high ceiling and a big living area. The room opened up on to a balcony with views down to the Casbah restaurant and pool and through to the sea. The balcony was in full sunlight from dawn till dusk, well equipped with table and chairs and loungers. The kitchen was well equipped with everything you need. There are now alarms in each of the apartment and all you need to do is ring reception and they will give you the code to use it, well worth using as it is free. I have to say the actually resort actually was very security conscious as there are locked gates at every entrance which you need your key card to access. I like this as you know then that only Diamond Resort members are the only people on site. We had a look at the Benal Beach hotel where we wondered around inside without being challenged by anyone.
Once unpacked and settled in we decided to go and have a walk along the beach which is just down from the reception across a very busy main road. A word of warning if you turn right on reaching the main road just past McDonalds on the corner you will be accosted by touts trying to get you to do scratch cards; they are very persistent and very annoying.
The welcome meeting on the Sunday was a pleasant affair and informative, they do warn you about the touts and sellers. We were informed about several free trips, but beware, if you go on the Blanket trips you will be taken to a room where you will be asked to listen to a presentation on their fantastic mattress and blankets!! Which takes up the majority of the time with the promise of free time at another place, be it an out of the way garden centre, which is no different from England or some other place. Needles to say having booked for 3 of these once done one we didn’t do the other 2. Having said that there is a free trip to Mijas which includes a talk at the diamond centre which is fairly short and once this is done you then have a lot of free time before the coach goes back and if you don’t want to go back on the coach the local bus service is very good.
There is a very nice park at the back of the resort opposite the entrance to Benal Beach hotel called Parque de la Paloma, which has a big lake, lots of wildlife including hens and chickens and rabbits running free. Towards the top of the park there is an exceptional Cacti garden which is quite amazing especially when the peacock started to show its feathers off.
We would also recommend the Marina which is very pleasant. Here you can wonder around just looking at the boats or popping in to the shops or just sitting at one of the many restaurants, with a drink of course, people watching! We walked here a couple of times but take it slow as it is quite a long walk although once again there are plenty of bars shops and restaurants along the promenade to tempt you in to break up the walk. Or you can walk along the beach.
Places to eat are in abundance and a couple that we tried were the Restaurante Brasserie, you can’t miss it as it has a big monk outside, along the promenade were we had the biggest piece of steak that we had ever been given, which was a good as it looked, for the price of €14 for 2 thoroughly recommend this. We also tried a Chinese restaurant, unfortunately have lost the card with name on but if you go out of the resort and turn left, walk along the road past the roundabout with the sails and start to go upon the hill it is on the left hand side just set back from the road, were you could eat for just €4.95 each, again a very nice meal. As we are both football supporters we found the Wolves bar were we could listen to the match on the Tuesday, sad I know especially as we lost! Although you have to be a diehard fan for this bar. I also have to recommend the Casbah which is on site where the food is very good especially the Sole with seafood, absolutely perfect.
I have to say we came back a lot browner than when we went due to the lovely hot weather we will be going back next year to hopefully do some more sightseeing as opposed to sun bathing in March!! I am now looking forward to next year .
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