SALT of Palmar

Came here for coffee whilst staying elsewhere as we’d heard it was the best bakery in the area, and it was! We were superbly looked after by Pravesh and Bhesave, the coffee is excellent and the croissants and pastries were delicious, lovely and light and buttery. Wish we had come earlier in the holiday as we would have been back every day!

Amazing hotel , the staff was super professional and friendly and with good energy !!! Always there to support and accommodate you in the best possible way!!! The hotel was very beautifully designed, colours, aesthetics . The spa was great !!! The food at the restaurant , breakfast, lunch, dinner was like eating in the best restaurant !!!! Hope to revisit soon !!!

We stayed for a week at the beginning of October so maybe a bit of a windy time of year?

My husband chose here because of the food reviews . He is vegetarian and a coeliac ( no gluten ) which tends to be quite hard to cater for. Being adult only was appealing too

From the moment we arrived to when we left we were made to feel special. Everyone was so friendly and kind and wanted the best for you. If there was ever a problem they went out of their way to help. This stay wasn’t without its problems as most places aren’t ( is there anywhere that is perfect for everyone ?) but they did their best to address them.

We stayed in a bang on the beach room number 111 which was on the ground floor and looked out over the beach ( no access directly to the beach as it was slightly raised up making it private ) The only fault I have with the room is the doors leading out to the balcony don’t have a great seal so when the winds were up it was rather noisy. I did report it and they tried to improve it but on our last night it was very noisy. ( the rooms face east from which the prevailing winds come). Hopefully they have solved the issue( personally I think a new door was needed ) Other than that the room was lovely. Plenty of storage space for clothes in the wardrobe and shelves and a lovely walk-in rain fall shower. The bed was super comfortable. There was a kettle and some tea, coffee and decaf coffee. And two bottles of water every day. A DAB radio was the entertainment which is all you need. The wifi was good too

The location was on a small peninsula and it was quite exposed on the beach rooms side to prevailing easterly winds. They were quite strong for some of the time we went so the seas weren’t very calm They do have a seaweed/ algae issue which they do try to clear but it did seem a bit self defeating as they would move the seaweed to the far side where the boat house was but this would get washed back in on high tide. There was only one day we were there when the sea was clear with no seaweed on the shore because they had made a good effort to move it all and it made a big different to the appearance. Much more inviting. There are rocks there too so don’t go there expecting to swim easily off the beach. If you go around the corner where it is calmer the swimming is better there. I did snorkel but didnt see many fish by the resort so do get the daily snorkel trip if you want to see a good lot of fish nearby ( about 15 minute boat ride ) but make sure you book the day before. There are plenty of sunbeds on the beach but the sun goes over the building and a lot are in shade after 2pm. There are a few around the pool but these get ‘reserved ‘ by early birds and their towels. It was a lot more sheltered from the winds there. By the pool there was a station with water or sparking water on tap and spf 50 sun lotion which we thought was a great touch. We used it every day and it worked well. There was a beach bar on the beach open from 11 and you could press the button under your parasol to get Pravesh to come for your order ( bit hit and miss ) We couldn’t get enough of his ‘Pravesh special’ cocktails. ( mine alcohol free ).

Now to the restaurant. We went all Inclusive which I would highly recommend ( or full / half board) as the food was quite expensive. We had breakfast, lunch and dinner and also afternoon tea of cakes and pancake if we had room! It was à la carte and everything freshly made on ordering to reduce wastage. This did mean the wait could be quite long but when you’re on holiday there’s no hurry. The staff were very good. They had a computer system where any allergies or dietary requirement were recorded so when they came to take the order they could see my husbands requirements ( as long as they had a tablet which did seem to need charging too much so often they couldn’t use ) It did take a while to remember to bring him some gluten free bread instead of the normal stuff. On Sunday lunchtime it was a fixed bbq menu which was not very suitable for him but that was the only day where we had issues. The amazing head chef Shiva said they can make gluten free pasta or pizza and make other items gluten free so they did try hard to accommodate my husband. All the waiters worked hard. I am sorry that I can’t remember everyone’s names but I do remember Rewa as he seemed to be there all the time often with a smile and laugh and Med one of the managers who seemed to work as hard as his waiters. The food was lovely. Could get a bit monotonous with choice if you were vegetarian or vegan. Great if you like seafood. We did venture up to the roof top a couple of times but no one was there. It was rather windy so I guess that was why. We did have one meal at the tek tek restaurant because it had great reviews. You get 25 percent off if you’re all inclusive. It was a good experience ( we hadn't been to anything like it before so couldn’t compare it to anything ) but we were a bit disappointed. There were 9 diners and it took 3 hours for the whole experience! Way too long. ( there are supposed to be two sittings. One at 7 and one at 9 so we assumed we’d be finished after two hours. ) The chef was clearly good at what he did but a lot of the time was spent in silence and his English was hard to understand at times. But that’s a personal opinion.

Other facilities -We didn’t try the gym or any of the boating equipment like kayaks, paddle boards and peddle boats but it was quite choppy. They do have a glass bottom boat which I’d recommend if you don’t want to snorkel. There was a spa there but we didn’t use it in the end

I would recommend having a walk along the beach north of the resort when the tide is out- up to belle mare public beach. Such stunning scenery (and no seaweed - they remove the seaweed rather than shovel it about). We wished we had done it earlier. Takes about a 40 minute stroll past a few resorts to get there and is much better at low tide. Much more sheltered too. Or get a taxi.

So would I stay there again ? Yes. I would probably try a less windy time of year because its location is exposed. ( we previously stayed in the south west which was much more sheltered ) Reason why? Quite good value for money compared to other places. Adult only. Very good sustainable ethos. Amazing staff. Very laid back but nothing is too much trouble. Thank you to Rishi and his team for making our stay a very memorable and happy one.