Sol y Sombra

I recently stayed at the Sol y Sombra alongside 7 of my friends. We are all 23/24 year old English “lads” and were originally apprehensive given some of the reviews from other English folk. However, I can safely say our stay was very pleasant. The rooms are admittedly a bit dated however they do the job and are clean. Most of the guests are elderly Spanish people but they were friendly and along as we weren’t loud and obnoxious, we had no issues. The staff were excellent, spoke plenty of English and were extremely helpful throughout our trip. The rooftop pool is small however it has a great view and is not too busy throughout the day. The hotel is a half hour walk to the main strip and just around the corner from the coast. All in all, some of the reviews paint out this hotel as a “do not stay” if you’re English when in reality, it was pleasant and great value for money. Thank you to the staff on the front desk who really stood out and made their best efforts to help us with any questions (despite our lack of Spanish!)

Everything about the Sol y Sombra was very good. The room was clean, large-ish and with a large bathroom. Lots of hot water. There wasn´t a view from the window but that was reflected in the price. I was very impressed with the food. I was full board and I was pleasantly surprised to find that all drinks, including wine, beer and soft drinks were included. I´m hoping to return with my wife in the Spring. The location was good for getting to the beach - a 5-min walk - and for the Old Town. Levante end of town was a 20-25-min walk.

We travelled here for 1 night for my Daughter's Birthday as we wanted her to experience the other side of Benidorm, as we heard the old town was much better. Unfortunately we were very disappointed with the hotel/ room. Given the price we paid (€96) for the night, we could've stayed in a more modern hotel, in a better location and more importantly with a nicer room. The room was very outdated, compared to the modern reception area. The room was also noisy, it felt as if we were staying in the workers quarters. We had no terrace or balcony, instead a small window which faced a brick wall. The bathroom ceiling had a large patch of black mould (the size of a dinner plate). The air-conditioning did not work and the mains switch for this was hanging off the wall. With the small window facing a brick wall this provided little to no ventilation (likely the cause of the black mould, which is hazardous to health). We had a Quadruple room, which was big enough for our family of x3, however the lack of facilities made it extremely difficult. Apart from the plug socket that the tv was plugged into, there was only x1 other single plug socket next to the door. This made it difficult, basically impissible to charge devises for x3 people or to use other electrical equipment. There was a severe lack of simple facilities in the room such as tea/coffee making, the hair and body dispenser in the bathroom was full of water rather than soap, there were no hooks to hang your clothes whilst changing in the bathroom for privacy, so clothes had to go on the floor. There were reading lights above the x2 double beds but only x1 worked. The breakfast wasnt the best, we had to leave and eat elsewhere, we didnt expect much anyway given the dissatisfaction of the room but it would've been nice to have had a nice breakfast after an awful night's sleep, because of the room temp and noise. I would not recommend this hotel at all. The only good thing about this is x2 pools. However one is shaded on the ground floor and there's a plunge pool on the rooftop, which was lovely and a great little suntrap. Unfortunately we didnt use this as we couldnt wait to leave. This hotel left a bitter taste and we likely would return to the Old Town again because of it.