Alua Village Fuerteventura

We recently stayed at Alua Village and overall I’d rate it 3 out of 5 stars. There were definitely some highlights, but also several frustrations that stopped it from being a higher rating.

Firstly, I want to mention some of the staff who made a real difference to our holiday. Javier at the upstairs bar was always friendly, welcoming and made fantastic drinks. Leo on reception during the evenings was a lovely guy and always pleasant to deal with. Samai was also incredibly helpful, booking our spa appointments and assisting our friends when they were given a very dirty room on arrival that simply wasn’t fit to sleep in. She handled the situation professionally and kindly.

A special mention goes to Lily, who was absolutely fabulous. She was so kind, friendly and genuinely seemed to care about guests. She really made our holiday and is a credit to the hotel.

We both booked the Tension Relief massage at the spa and it was incredible. At €60 for 50 minutes, it was excellent value for money and one of the best parts of our stay. I would highly recommend it.

Unfortunately, not all of the staff were as welcoming. Marter was quite rude on several occasions, and we found a few other staff members abrupt and unfriendly, particularly towards English guests. We understand that this is a hotel that caters heavily towards French visitors, which is absolutely fine, but at times it felt as though French guests were treated more favourably. Everyone is paying for the same holiday and should receive the same level of service and attention.

One of the most frustrating aspects of the hotel is the token system for drinks. You have to exchange tokens for your cups and remember to bring them every day. If you forget them, you’re expected to walk all the way back to your room to get them. What made this more frustrating was seeing other guests who had forgotten theirs still being given cups while we were told to return to our room. Consistency would be appreciated.

The pool bar situation also wasn’t ideal. There are two bars near the pool, but the one on the left-hand side was only open once during our entire stay. This meant queues could become quite long at busy times.

The pool itself was disappointingly cold for most of our holiday and only seemed to be heated on our final day. Before then it was almost too cold to enjoy comfortably.

We also noticed that the children seemed to be kept really entertained, and we hardly heard children throughout the day. We don’t mind children at all, but it was lovely to see that they were kept busy with a kids club and activities. They also have a separate little pool.

The food was generally good and both restaurants were always very clean and well maintained. However, the menu became repetitive after a while. For example, beef stew appeared almost every day for around five days straight. Breakfast never really changed either, and the sausages were always frankfurters rather than traditional pork sausages and often looked quite grey and unappetising. We actually preferred lunch to dinner most days. That said, there were some excellent themed evenings and occasional standout dishes.

Our room was nice overall, but the cleanliness wasn’t perfect. The floors were filthy and we had to wear socks constantly. White socks would quickly turn black from walking around the room. The bathroom could also do with some improvement. On a positive note, the hand wash and body wash provided were lovely quality and were always topped up before running low. We also found it strange that guests have to pay a daily charge to use the room safe. It’s also worth noting that there was no proper air conditioning in the rooms, more of a fan system, so the room never really felt cold and it was quite hot at night. Also note a basic kettle and amenities are not included in the rooms. Unless you are my favourite club.

If you’re allocated a room in the 2000, 3000 or lower 4000 blocks, be prepared for quite a walk. Our room was 2207 and while the walk down wasn’t too bad, the uphill journey back to the main facilities could be tiring, especially in the heat. The walk to the rooms is very hilly, so if you have asthma or heart problems you may want to request a room closer to reception.

The sunbed situation became increasingly frustrating throughout our stay. When we first arrived there were still some available around 10am, but as the week went on almost all of them were reserved very early. Even getting down at 8:45am, most had towels on them already. Some guests appeared to reserve beds overnight and not actually use them until late morning, which isn’t fair on everyone else.

Another thing worth noting is that bottled water isn’t included unless you purchase it. You can buy bottles from the hotel shop for around €1.50 or from the bar for €2.50 and then refill them at the water stations around the hotel. The sparkling water on tap was a nice touch and something we appreciated.

One thing to be aware of if you have a late flight home is that check-out is at 12pm and you will need to leave your room at that time unless you have arranged a late check-out. The hotel does provide shower facilities in the spa area, which is useful, but there is no shampoo, conditioner or body wash provided. We only discovered this when we went to freshen up before leaving, so make sure you keep some toiletries out of your suitcase rather than packing everything away.

Overall, Alua Village has some great staff members, good food, clean restaurant areas and an excellent spa. However, inconsistent service, issues with cleanliness, the cold pool, repetitive food choices, sunbed reserving and the feeling that some nationalities were treated more favourably than others left us disappointed. We still enjoyed parts of our holiday, but there are several areas where the hotel could improve.

Excellent trip again, we love the vibe of the place, we love the vast selection of food. Pool is very inviting (not cold!) and welcome as it can get very hot especially if there's no wind that day. Beach is a short walk and it's lovely to watch the sun rise up out of the sea. Can't wait to go back for another visit.

We had a wonderful family stay at Alua Village, Fuerteventura. The hotel is located on a hill side with a short walk to the beach. The hotel has great views of the sea. It's a clean hotel with the staff working hard to keep it that way. There are two pools which were more than adequate. Hotel rooms were sizeable, clean, had aircon, and we had a very comfortable sleep. The restaurant is sizeable with lots of seating. We went all inclusive and as we found at other hotels over the years the food can seem the same but the chefs do make effort to provide different dishes and themes throughout the week. There is a supermarket nearby that we used for essentials and it's more than reasonably priced. There is a nearby bus stop and we hopped on a bus to Morro Jable for some shopping for less than 1.40euro each. There is an animation team who keep the kids busy during the day and provide entertainment at night. Overall we had a great relaxing stay.