This was our second visit to the beautiful Cortijo Blanco and it did not disappoint. This is a long review. 29th May - 12th June 2026
Location - in a quiet area outside the main San Pedro town, a few other hotels, shops and bars just outside the carpark providing what you need for general living and the things you may not pack to save on space (toiletries, snacks, sunhats). Free bus service to Puerto Banús/Marbella in one direction and to San Pedro Town in the other. A short walk down the side of the hotel past their quiet Bodega Bar (where your drink is served in glasses) to the Cortijo Blanco beach which is shingle and then along the coast in any direction to wherever you fancy. We liked the beaches closer to Marbella.
The Hotel - rated as a 3 star but I would certainly put it much closer to a 4 star. It has kept it's traditional Andalucian style with mostly 2 story blocks, I think only 1 block has 3 stories. The gorgeous gardens, shared areas, and pools are spotlessly clean, well maintained and pools, restaurants, bars entertainment areas all easy to access once you get your bearings (I have no sense of direction, so it took me a couple of days even on my second visit).
Reception - are very friendly and helpful, they will do their best to accommodate you for room type preferences if you contact them in advance, but this is an extremely popular hotel and is almost always fully booked so it is not always possible. They will book your taxi's if you need them which arrive almost immediately. Blue beach towels available for I think it is €20 deposit and you can get a fresh one for €1 not refundable. I think you can also hire an iron but we bring our own. I don't think all non delux rooms had a kettle on our first stay but I think they all do now. A few euros tip is well appreciated and well deserved. They will also help you with change for tipping if they can and I like to tip all areas of support in hotels as now with AI a lot of people forget that most hospitality staff work for pretty basic wages.
I thank you so very much for the room you chose for us this holiday (25 Huelva) it was perfect and a much better location for us than the one we requested. I would come every year if we could get that exact room.
Rooms - our first stay was on the 2nd floor of Almeria which is beside the main, busy, entertainments pool. This year we were at the slightly smaller and quieter pool in Huelva which suited us much better. We booked deluxe rooms for both our stays which include free safe, fridge, I think you can also get robes and slippers but me and the husband are short so we don't bother. All deluxe rooms have a decent balcony which is the main reason I upgrade as sometimes we are unable to go much further than our balcony (we are old and have multiple health conditions) and we do 2 weeks. Some of the basic rooms have only a Juliet type balcony so make sure you know what you want and book appropriately. The housekeeping staff work hard and I found the rooms to be spotless. I believe most rooms have been updated to the colourful TUI branding and while they are not huge are adequate, no drawers so most of our smalls went in the bedside cabinets. I would say the same thing to every single hotel I have ever visited, you need double the amount of wardrobe hangers. Also a large mirror that is closer to an electric outlet would be appreciated, you will find a lot of especially UK people will be dubious about using dryers and straighteners in the bathroom and while there is a full size mirrored wardrobe door, it is too far away from outlets. There is a hairdryer in the bathroom but I always use my own.
Also please appreciate the housekeeping staff. Do you really need a full room clean every day? We often only ask for replacement towels and giving staff back that time is like giving them a huge tip, but this obviously should not replace an actual cold, hard, cash tip. We usually do a small tip often rather than a larger tip at the end so that the different staff are valued.
Food - this is where I have seen most of the few negative reviews, this is a 3 star all inclusive hotel catering to multiple nationalities. I don't understand why anyone would expect à la carte catering. The food is of good quality, well cooked and presented and a fairly good range. The restaurant have themed nights like Mexican or Italian which spices things up for the more adventurous diners (me not my husband who is bland) and the seafood/shellfish selection is the absolute best I have ever seen and my favourite. It is similar to if not better than most of the hotels I have visited in any country. If it is not as hot as you would like then use the microwaves provided. There were no occasions when we could not get a seat with a clean table nor where there ever a lack of plates. The only complaints I would have about the restaurants are in relation to the shocking lack of manners from other guests. The floor staff never stop and really, when they were trying to manoeuvre their large carts through narrow isles I would expect people to have the wit to move aside and let them pass rather than stand like a stone statue and watch them wobble round you. If you drop something while serving yourself or on your way to the table, pick it up or tell one of the staff so they can do this to save someone else sliding on a mushed chip or pool of goulash. I was behind one women at the tea/coffee dispenser, who overpoured hot water in her cup and poured more from her cup in the overflow tray, which caused the dispenser stop working. I followed her on to the dispenser on the other side where she did the same thing, seriously would it have been so hard to grab one of the many paper or china cups to use for her overflow rather than taking 2 dispensers out of action? Another woman was using the lemonade machine and flipped off the pouring lever then just walked off and left it on the floor, I stared at her while I picked it up and easily clipped it back into place after a quick wipe down (levers do not come into contact with the drinks) and she at least seemed to remember a few manners and thanked me.
My favourite thing to do with this type is to very loudly say "You're welcome" when I move to let them pass and don't get as much as a nod never mind a thank you.
A smile and a thank you go a long way and cost nothing, I always despair to see the inevitable grumpy faces, not making eye contact with those working their absolute asses off to provide you with a great holiday. You are on holiday, your food is being cooked for you, your room is being cleaned for you the sun is shining and you can drink and eat as much as you want. What is there not to be happy about?
Again, a few euros for floor and kitchen staff is absolutely appreciated.
We like the restaurant food and never needed to use the snack bar so cannot comment.
Bars - Lady Betty bar is just outside the restaurant and handy to both the large and smaller pools. Excellent staff and good range for AI drinks, San Miguel is the draft beer and I was happy as I prefer that to other Spanish beers, I don't drink wine but the gin, dark and light rums were good quality. Free cocktails are fine, but we treated ourselves to some of the other cocktails not included which were nicer. There is a drinks token system in place. You get a token per person on check in (blue dollars) you swap these for a drink and bring your plastic glass back to get your next drink then ask get your token back when you bring your final glass back for that session. We bring our own vacuum cups so didn't use ours at all for this bar, we visited the entertainment on a few nights as we like a quite drink on our balcony or the quiet Bodega Bar and earlyish bedtimes, but the entertainment seemed to be good quality most nights.
The Bodega Bar has outdoor and indoor seating and is quiet. Drinks are served in proper glasses and we did use our tokens here.
A few euros tip, every couple of drinks or even a few per day won't break your bank and is truly appreciated. I tend to tip even a euro each drink maybe a five at the end of the night.
There is also a smaller pool bar at the main pool but I don't think this opens until July.
The Pools - are fenced off at night and open at 10am. This is the only hotel I have ever been to where I would say they had an ample ratio of sunbeds to guests. We never had a problem getting a sunbed and while there was the usual towel reservations going on I don't really think it was needed. Life guards are attentive and helpful.
The water is tested and pool areas cleaned every day and the upper pool sides washed I would say on most days. These guys are probably on the lower end of the pay scale and least likely to get tipped so I always try to catch a few before we leave.
For us this trip was for a total relaxing break, we had everything we needed and more at the hotel, so didn't feel the need to leave the hotel much at all. We did go to the market in Puerto Banús which is a nice day - do you really need another pair of sunglasses or shoes? Of course you do. I broke a nail and needed to get a repair done in The Bardou salon in Puerto Banús which only cost €5 so we had delicious ice-cream and a walk. We went to Hogans Stand (Irish Bar - Live Music) in San Pedro on I think 3 nights, stocked up on Dalsy in the pharmacy and that was pretty much it for us. On our previous trip we did a few beach days in Marbella/Puerto Banús - went to the markets in both San Pedro and Puerto Banús, went to the Plaza Mayor shopping centre in Malaga and took the catamaran water taxi from Puerto Banús to Marbella old town and back so we are not always as lazy as we were this year.
To everyone in every job in the Cortijo - thank you, I appreciate how hard you work to make everyone's stay as enjoyable as possible. We will be back, keep my room for me, (it is my room now, I have claimed it and it must be so).
To the Globales management, we have stayed at various Globales hotels, some more than once, Cortijo Blanco, Globales Almirante Farragut, Globales Mimosa, Globales Santa Ponsa Park, Playa Santa Ponsa, Globales los Patos Park and I have always found them to be the best quality with excellent staff and services. I do and will continue to look for Globales hotels wherever I go.
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