Firstly, I must say I agree with a lot of other reviewers regarding TUI bookings! It is a bit cheeky that you essentially don't know which hotel you get till you get to the resort despite the booking page only showing the link to Cala Verde!
Despite this, we arrived at Cala Blanca with little to no expectations. Greeted by the lovely Inez who checked us in and gave us two sea view rooms near the restaurant/pool, it was a great start although check in took quite a while (others also had the same complaint).
The rooms were clean and spacious, lots of storage space, good bathroom set up, shower was a good pressure and the mirror was close to put my lenses in! Bathroom has a hairdryer which was okay, not very powerful but did the job. TV had two channels in English, BBC1 and Channel 4 (which never seemed to work). The sofa bed is comfortable enough and there are lots of plug outlets for charging devices. Small fridge had some drinks provided and water as well as a kettle with two mugs and tea selections.
View was lovely and if I was to return I would ask for the same rooms/block (1103/1104) as we felt it was in the best location.
The resort is huge and fairly hilly so take this into consideration when booking. There is a sports centre on site with tennis and padel available, then all the pools, gym and indoor pool. There is a small arcade bit which is good value for a euro for each game and a ping pong table and pool table near the stage area.
You can walk to Cala Verde but we got the impression from their guests that there wasn't much to do there.
The staff were all lovely and all work extremely hard. The restaurant and cafe staff especially, always busy and always serving with a smile. Bilal at the cafe was great at explaining what was included in All Inc on the first day. The chefs were all lovely too and always answered my queries as well as they could. Pier at the restaurant was also always lovely and made an effort with the little one.
The entertainment staff are clearly all extroverts because wow do they have energy!! Great with kids, got people involved, kept the activities going throughout the day and I hope some of those lads got paid extra for how tight some of their costume trousers were....
The pool area was clean but the pools were freezing so this could be somewhere they could improve by heating them a bit. That said the pools were busy most of the time. I like that they have a strict sunbed policy regarding towels. We never struggled to find beds at any point of the day.
The beach the hotel has access too is genuinely stunning, soft sand, clear and calm water and you can walk out quite far! We couldn't see any sunbeds for the beach but it could be as it's not quite the high season.
Now for the important bits, food and drinks!
Food: very impressed and unsure what other reviewers are saying in regards to variety. There was loads!! I am a vegetarian and try to avoid dairy and had loads of options for me. At breakfast there were several baked goods, pasties, fresh churros, pancakes, savoury items like eggs, sausages, mushrooms, beans and hash browns plus a whole section of breads, jams, yogurts, fruit, cheese, ham, cereals and granola. Plus every milk you could think of: cows milk, soy, almond and oat, amazing. Coffee is from a machine but it was fine and the juices also were nice enough from a machine.
Lunch and dinner always had a massive variety of salads, cheeses, hams and always had paella plus loads of different options like fresh fish, fresh pasta etc
Dinner each evening had a different theme; American, tex mex, Spanish, Italian, Oriental etc and again I never struggled to find something to try. Drinks in the restaurant were self serve soft drinks and then there was a bar for wine etc.
By the pool, there was a bar/cafe which you went to go and get your drinks/ice cream. Soft drinks were Fanta lemon and orange, coke, coke zero and spite, as well as two non alcoholic mocktails and then there were lots of cocktails Inc as well as beers, ciders, wine etc. Hot drinks were also available as well as iced coffee (could be made with oat or soy milk too) all made with actual espresso which is fantastic!! Ice creams included were mini twisters, tubs of ice cream, a choc ice style thing and an ice lolly called a piggelin. Plentiful and nice enough.
All in all we really enjoyed the hotel and while it's not luxury, it's a family hotel and that's where it excels.
I will note that there isn't much to do in the vicinity although the hotel offers bus journeys to the hippy market and other shopping places. There are also local buses you can take to explore the island.
We had crappy weather for two days which really puts the location into perspective as we were essentially trapped in the hotel. So when the weather is beautiful, it's a great place to be, especially for families w kids. When the weather turns, it can seem a little claustrophobic.
Also be careful when it's wet as the tiles can get slippy, I slipped and badly hurt my arm just walking to breakfast.
We would come again and would recommend :) solid 4/5
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