I will start my review by explaining I had worked on the island over twenty years ago as a holiday rep for a large but now defunct UK holiday company for two summer seasons. For this reason I have always had a fondness for the island and have returned a few times since, but my most recent visit was my first proper holiday there in a considerable time. Whenever I have visited in the past I have chosen Cala'en Bosch because it is perhaps the resort with the most amenities and choice on the island. I booked a week's holiday at Sol Falco since it was actually a really good deal. Originally I was going to take the half board option as it was similar in price to self catering for the same dates, then I saw it was only only £20 a day more for all-inclusive, so it seemed a no brainer even if we were out exploring during the and ate lunch elsewhere, then we would still have our evening drinks included.
We arrived via coach transfer in the early afternoon of the 27th of September. Our transfer did have a number of stop off's but that isn't a reflection on the hotel. We were checked in, given two card keys to our room, an all-inclusive band and two cup tokens as well as a map to our room. Being a couple in a family complex, I had emailed in advance to ask if they could allocate us a room in a quiet area or by an adult pool if they had one. The room they allocated was on the first (middle) floor of the Hacienda block just outside of the main block and did have a view of the small pool and even a little bit of sea in the distance.
The room was very simple. Two single beds, a sideboard with mini fridge, fold out chair/bed and a side table. The balcony wasn't very deep, but was the full width of the room and had a table and two chairs. The patio door lock was a little tricky but we got used to it. The black-out curtains in our room didn't quite meet in the middle but the sheer curtain did, so the light still woke us in the morning. The wardrobes were large, with a few hangers, but I bring my own as back-up. Instead of doors, your clothes are hidden behind a curtain.
The bathroom had a narrow glass partitioned shower cubicle with hand-held shower or rainfall function. The floor in the shower cubicle had no grip at all, it was flat slippery plastic and you really had to be careful. We had a sink/vanity with plenty of storage beneath and a toilet. Plenty of toilet paper provide. The hotel do have pump action bottles of shower gel and shampoo if you want to save space in your luggage. The maid tidied round and replenished what might have been required, but one morning she knocked at 08:45 which I thought was too early, and when I say knocked, that's all she does, you don't get chance to even reply, she knocks and then she's in the room. So it does pay to use the do not disturb sign, but I didn't think I would be disturbed at that time. The room had good air-conditioning and the do not disturb/clean my room sign was inserted in the slot meaning it was on when we returned to our room without the need for leaving a key.
There is one large buffet/dining hall for all guests to use, off from that was a hacienda style semi-open air patio with water feature. We ate all of our meals there, as the main dining room was large and the noise travelled. I managed to eat three meals a day, there was always something, it wasn't amazing, but it was ok. I liked that it wasn't all burgers, pizzas and nuggets, there was a variety and there was always meat or fish being cooked directly from grill to plate. You could help yourself to water on tap or the fruit juice machine even when it wasn't a breakfast service. I tried a number of soups as there were always two options at lunch or dinner, and I did find them to be bland and tasteless, as was the butter margarine that I would spread on the bread rolls - it was like a waxy nothingness. If you were all inclusive you could get wine and beer from a small bar at the end of the buffet near the desserts. There was also a self service soft-serve ice cream machine.
There is one central bar that serves the whole hotel daytime (including as a pool bar) and night up until around 10:30pm when the evening entertainment finished. There are usually only two bar staff serving at any one time and another staff member running about getting stock. There wasn't really a defined queue, so it was pot-luck how quickly you were served. I will say though this hotel needs a specific coffee bar. All coffee is freshly made and it isn't time efficient to have two bar staff making cups of coffee whilst the queue is growing larger. A separate coffee bar away from the main bar for hot drinks would in theory reduce the queue and also time stood when queuing.
The all-inclusive drink system works on a token system. You are issued with one each. You take the token to the bar, request your drink, you are given your drink (in glass in the restaurant), in a plastic tumbler in just about any other instance. You return glass/tumbler for your next drink or your token to be returned, simple way of reducing wasteful plastic. However it's a bit sad that you end up drinking beer, mixed-spirits, wine or cocktails all out of this rather child-like plastic tumbler.
There is a snack bar behind the main bar where all-inclusive guests could help themselves to sweets, crisps, burgers, hot dogs, nuggets and chips. Very often these were sat out for a long time and were dry and inedible.
The hotel has a massive family pool with some small water slides and a tipping bucket. There are daily activities for both adults and kids. There is a swimming pool for lengths as well as smaller/quieter pools in outlying accomodations blocks, it's a really large complex. Something that I did notice about the complex was the number of access points from outside, meaning kids could literally walk out of the hotel or someone could come in very easily. It's not particularly secure. You can walk straight from the family pool area out to the road bypassing reception very easily, so if you have wandering kids, you'd have to be very vigilant.
There was a gate in front of our block that leads down a path to the Son Xoriguer beach in five minutes. This gate could be opened by anyone from 7 years of age, it wasn't locked. I can't say that I really noticed much in regards to security. I think a complex of this nature, attracting large numbers of families would be set up more securely, with all access being limited to a central point.
On the note of families being the bread and butter of the hotel, I expected to see many families during our visit, that isn't an issue for us, but I did see questionable parenting practices, that isn't an issue the hotel can be held to account. To give some context to this, I saw numerous people who thought it was appropriate to face-time their friends and families on speaker phone from their table whilst eating their meals, paying no attention to their kids who were usually propped in front of an ipad. I have no place telling anyone how to bring up their kid, that's their business, but having the most inane and vapid self-indulgent non-conversation at volume whilst others are just trying to have a pleasant meal says a lot about the kind of clientele that gravitate here. Had this been a one off, I probably wouldn't even have mentioned it, but I really got tired of seeing people do this at the table or walk around the hotel with with their phones not to their ear but on speakerphone at arms length conducting their private business in public. I didn't see any of the well-mannered Spanish or French doing this, it was actually embarrassing. Paying all this money and you can't just be in the moment and enjoy your surroundings.
Other than that, the hotel manage to cater to those who want a one-stop shop of everything on-site for all their needs and who might never actually see anything of Menorca. Having lived and worked there, I did hire a car and got out to check out more of the island, which I recommend anyone to do, it's a stunning place. If you can't do that, there are buses regularly into Ciutadella for a change of scene or the lovely little marina where you will find the central resort amenities of Cala'en Bosch, it's around a twelve minute walk.
At night the hotel do put on a show, I saw two. The Mongolian dance troupe/acrobats and also a magic show, both of these were impressive, but basically it's 45 minutes and then it closes. On the Tuesday after our third night of our stay, I received news of a family emergency at home, so we had to cut short the trip there and then, it was a shame as apart from some of the negative points about the bar/token system and some of our fellow countrymen, the hotel was growing on me. I never even made it into any of the pools.
In summary, I would recommend this on a bed and breakfast or half board basis, all-inclusive could be good value if you are a budget-minded family but as a couple I really wouldn't. At its heart this hotel is really geared up for families, it's not dreadful if you are a couple or a group of friends, so don't rule it out if you get a good deal, but I think there are other options in the area that may suit better
ES