Hotel Playas de Torrevieja: My Honest Review After Staying

I went to the Hotel Playas de Torrevieja expecting more than from its sister hotel in Guardamar, and came away thinking less of it. It’s a budget three-star in the Poseidón chain with great scores online, but the reviews keep raising the same complaint: the food and the room.

We stayed in early September 2026 on full board, and we paid for the stay ourselves, out of our own pocket and with no invitation. Here’s the good, the bad and who I’d recommend it to.

The short answer: I’d only recommend it if you find a really good deal. Dinner and the bathroom hold up, and it works with very young children. But lunch falls short, the room is crying out for maintenance and the beach isn’t as close as it looks from the terrace.

My take on the Hotel Playas de Torrevieja in two minutes

I give it 7.2 out of 10. Its best scores go to what you’d least expect from a cheap three-star: the bathroom and the beds, both on 8. Dinner and breakfast get 7.5.

What drags the average down most is lunch. I give it a 6, the hotel’s lowest score, followed by what it offers adults, on 6.5: a new gym and not much else.

The detail that matters most: the reviews I read before going complained about the food and the room, and that’s exactly what happened to us. That’s why this review comes out more critical than the one for its sister hotel, the Playas de Guardamar.

The best and the worst of the Hotel Playas de Torrevieja

Where it is and what happened when we arrived

The hotel is in Torrevieja, in the south of Alicante province, very close to Cabo Cervera. It’s a tall building surrounded by gardens, with the pools in the middle and the sea in view from almost every room.

Reception, and the room we were offered

We had booked a double with a sea view. At reception, a very friendly young man told us it was our lucky day and that he was giving us a better room.

The upgrade was a downgrade. The terrace looked out onto the roof of some commercial premises crammed with air conditioning units, with no sign of the sea. We went back to reception, explained what had happened, and they moved us: we ended up in a family room, bigger than what we had booked and with the sea in view.

I don’t like being sold something worse as an upgrade. My advice: if you’re given a room that isn’t the one you booked, complain politely. They almost always end up giving you a better one.

The beach: the sea in sight, but the sand a quarter of an hour away

This is the most useful thing to know before you book. From almost every room the sea looks very close, so the hotel seems to be right on the seafront. But that stretch of coast is all cliffs: there’s nowhere to swim there.

Where to swim

There are two options on foot. About 8 minutes away is the Cabo Cervera cove, more sheltered and stonier. At 12 to 15 minutes there’s Cabo Cervera beach, sandy and much wider, which runs all the way to the beach at La Mata.

The beach itself is good: wide, sandy and lively. The problem isn’t the beach, it’s getting there, especially as a family. The cove is the closer alternative, if you don’t mind stones.

The walk

The walk is safe: you follow a kind of promenade or pavement, with the road alongside but not right next to you. There’s no dangerous stretch on the way there or back.

Even so, factor in the distance. With a parasol, sunbeds, bucket, spade and small children, a fifteen-minute walk at 40°C in July feels long. If you want to walk out of the hotel and onto the sand, the Playas de Guardamar, which has the same owners and costs the same, has it right in front.

The pools: decent, and made for little ones

The pool area does the job for a hotel of this size and category. There’s a main pool, a smaller one with a slide and a splash area with water jets for the youngest children.

The water jets are what children aged two to four enjoy most. If you’re travelling with children that young, they’ll have a whale of a time here, among colourful flamingos and palm trees that spray water.

The shade is well spread out and there are plenty of sun loungers and parasols: in early September we never had to fight for one. By the pool there’s a bar with normal prices: a beer is €3.20 (about £2.70) and a coffee around €1.80 (about £1.50).

When night falls, the pools light up and the bar terrace, with its straw parasols, fills with tables.

The room: spacious, comfortable and very worn

The family room we ended up in is much bigger than a double. It had four beds, two singles in one space and two pushed together in another, plus a small sitting room and a terrace of about 10 to 12 m², with a table and chairs for sitting outside.

For a family, the space works. You have room to sleep, a lounge area and a terrace to sit out on, and you never feel cramped.

The bed and pillow are comfortable, the bed even a little more so. However much the room falls short elsewhere, you sleep well here, which in the end is what you want it for.

The wear and tear

The problem is that the room is very worn. There are holes in the wall from a TV that’s no longer there, marker pen marks, paint where it shouldn’t be, and grey and black scuffs where the mattresses rub.

None of it, on its own, ruins your stay. What grates is that almost all of it could be fixed with a lick of paint and five minutes’ work, and yet it’s still there. The decor doesn’t help either: two pictures in the whole room.

The air conditioning

In the family room, the only air conditioning is in the sitting room, and the room has three spaces. To get it to reach the bedrooms you have to set it very cold, and if you close the main bedroom door, no cool air gets in at all: there’s no fan either.

To be fair, we only saw this in our room. We don’t know whether the others have the same problem.

The bathroom

The bathroom is the best thing about the room, and much better than I expected in a three-star. Marble on the floor and walls, a large shower with a good glass screen, and a bidet. It feels like the only part they’ve renovated.

The food: lunch needs work, dinner is far better

We went for full board, with buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner. Dinner is well above lunch, and breakfast does the job without any trouble.

Lunch

Lunch was what we liked least about the hotel. We missed some variety and better ingredients: the meat and fish we had were on the dry side, and a lot of the dishes came in sauce.

I’m telling you exactly how we found it, so you can decide with all the facts. It’s where the hotel has most room to improve, and dinner shows the kitchen can do a lot better.

Dinner

Dinner was the surprise, and a pleasant one. I went in expecting more of the same and found more variety and well-cooked dishes: steamed mussels, clams in sauce, pork in tomato, beef ragù and chicken fillets.

The salad bar is well stocked too, with beetroot, tuna and various vegetables. And the dining room was cool and never crowded, which you appreciate in September. For dessert I missed something homemade, like a plain yoghurt.

Drinks are extra. At dinner, a small bottle of water cost €1.60 (about £1.40) and a 33 cl bottle of Mahou €3.20 (about £2.70), according to the receipt we were given.

Breakfast

I liked breakfast: it has a bit of everything. There are healthy options, sweet things, waffles, cold meats and decent coffee. No big surprises, but no slip-ups either.

A tip: if you go down early, have breakfast on the terrace, because it’s lovely at that time of day. There are shaded tables among the plants, and in the morning the heat hasn’t kicked in yet.

If you prefer savoury, there’s plenty of choice too: fresh tomato, salads and fruit such as peaches, for anyone who doesn’t want to start the day with something sweet.

For kids: good for the youngest

With children aged between two and four, this hotel works. Between the children’s pool, the slide and the water jets, little ones have enough to keep them busy all day without leaving the hotel.

But it isn’t a fully fledged family hotel. It has a few things for children, but other hotels we’ve tried at a similar price offer a lot more. If you want something more complete, have a look at our guide to family hotels on the Costa Blanca.

For adults: a gym, a laundry and not much else

For adults, there’s nothing here that would make you book it, apart from the price. There are bar areas, the odd quiet corner and a reading room that didn’t look as if anyone had used it this year.

The gym did surprise me, in a good way. The machines look brand new, there’s air conditioning and separate men’s and women’s showers, and a glass wall looks out over the pool and garden. There are no dumbbells, but the machines cover both strength training and cardio.

As well as the bar, there’s a lounge with armchairs and a games table, and the reading room, with books, sofas and big windows. They’re quiet corners for reading or whiling away some time, if you fancy getting out of the room.

And one practical detail: there’s a laundry, and a wash costs around €2.50 (about £2.10). If you’re spending several days with children, it’s one of those things you appreciate more than you’d think.

The staff and the atmosphere

The staff are fine: they neither stand out nor let you down. They work well and were polite to us, but we didn’t feel a personal touch, and there was nothing memorable apart from the business with the room.

In early September the hotel was roughly half full, with as many Spanish guests as foreign ones. We saw no crowds in the dining room or at the pool.

Hotel Playas de Torrevieja scores, category by category

Category	Score	Why
Overall	7.2	The average of the twelve categories
Cleanliness	7.5	Clean throughout, but dated, with forgotten corners.
Bed and pillows	8	Comfortable: you sleep well.
Bathroom	8	The best part of the room: marble, a large shower and a glass screen.
Room size	7	The family room is big, but the air conditioning doesn’t reach every corner.
Breakfast	7.5	A bit of everything, waffles included, and a lovely terrace.
Lunch	6	The weakest point: little variety and rather dry dishes.
Dinner	7.5	Much better than lunch, with mussels and clams.
Pools	7	A main pool, a children’s pool with a slide, and water jets.
Kids’ facilities	7	Good for ages 2 to 4; not much for older children.
Adult facilities	6.5	A new gym and quiet areas, and not much else.
Beach	7	Lovely, but a 12 to 15-minute walk away.
Staff	7	Polite and efficient, nothing more.

The average of the twelve categories is 7.17, which rounds to the overall 7.2. The highest are the bed and the bathroom, on 8, and the lowest is lunch, on 6.

Who the Hotel Playas de Torrevieja is for, and who it isn’t for

It’s your hotel if:

• You find it on a really good deal.
• You’re travelling with children aged 2 to 4, who’ll love the water jets and the slide.
• You don’t mind a fifteen-minute walk to the beach, or you like coves.
• You’re going outside the height of summer.

It isn’t your hotel if:

• You want to step out of the hotel onto the sand: the Playas de Guardamar has it right in front.
• You choose hotels for the food.
• You want a fully fledged family hotel, with more than a children’s pool.

If the Hotel Playas de Torrevieja isn’t for you

• Hotel Playas de Guardamar: the same Poseidón chain, the same price, and the beach right in front.
• Family hotels on the Costa Blanca, the ones we’ve stayed in along this coast.
• Family hotels in Spain, every one we’ve stayed in, scored out of 10.

Do I recommend the Hotel Playas de Torrevieja? Only on a good deal

I wouldn’t recommend it, unless you find it clearly cheaper than the alternatives. If it costs the same as better hotels, I’d pick another one.

That doesn’t mean you’ll have a bad holiday here. It can suit you if you’re travelling with very young children, if you like coves or if you’re going outside the summer, as long as the price is right.

But if I’m choosing within the same chain, I’ll take the Playas de Guardamar. It costs the same and has the beach right in front, and with children that changes a holiday.