Where We’ve Stayed in Europe: Hotels We Slept In and Scored
By Javier Sobrino
Travel expert and founder
We are based in Spain, so that is where the depth is. Thirty-two hotels on the Spanish coasts and in Majorca, every one of them slept in and scored out of 10 across twelve separate categories, plus neighbourhood guides for the cities worth adding on.
We would rather cover one country properly than list a hundred hotels we have only seen photographs of. As we travel further into Europe this page will grow; for now, everything below is first-hand.
Spain
The bulk of our European coverage, and the country we know best. Start here.
Family Hotels in Spain: 32 We’ve Stayed In →
The full list, grouped by coast, from the Costa Blanca to Majorca.
Family Hotels on the Costa Blanca →
Benidorm and around: water slides, all-inclusive and a 45-minute transfer.
Málaga, the Granada coast and Mojácar. Our best scores in the south.
Our highest-scoring hotels in Europe
Everything we have scored 8.6 or above, which is the line where we would rebook without thinking about it:
Benidorm, Alicante
Our highest score in Spain. Ten-metre pirate ships sitting in the water, ziplines running from one to the next, and theming that never once breaks character — we gave both the theming and the children’s facilities a 10. What you pay for it is the cabin, which is tight for five, and giving up the beach.
Magic Natura Animal & Water Park
Benidorm, Alicante
A zoo and a water park inside the same reserve, which nothing else in Spain offers. What you are actually buying is the ultra all-inclusive: we scored it a straight 10 and it is what changes the holiday. The catch is structural — the beach is a ten-minute drive away.
Torremolinos, Málaga
The highest we have scored in Spain. It works best for children up to seven or eight, the food genuinely surprised us, and the all-inclusive does not leave you feeling overcharged.
Hotel Cap Negret
Altea, Alicante
A cyclists’ hotel in Altea that turns out to be one of the best places we have eaten in any four-star: garage, workshop and bike wash downstairs, a 9.5 for the staff and a pool nobody shouts in. Two things to be clear about — the beach is rock rather than sand, and it is built for adults rather than for children.
Almuñécar, Granada
The best-looking hotel on this list, with an infinity pool on a clifftop and a 32 m² room that genuinely sleeps five. The beach below it is the catch.
Albir, Alicante
A medieval-themed resort rather than a hotel, and the most complete place for children we have stayed in anywhere in Spain — we scored the children’s facilities a 10. Rooms take up to seven, and laser tag, a climbing wall and a medieval show are all in the all-inclusive. The catch is that there is very little for adults, and no beach.
Htop L’Azure
Lloret de Mar, Girona
A four-star superior that gets close to luxury: an adults-only rooftop with an infinity pool, one of the most complete spas we have used and a buffet good enough that we did not eat out once. It suits younger children — the water area is a paddling park with no slides — and the beach is an eleven-minute walk. Parking is limited and paid.
City guides
Where to sleep, neighbourhood by neighbourhood, and the areas we would avoid.
Neighbourhood by neighbourhood, and the areas to avoid.
A day trip from Madrid that is worth a night.
Where to sleep near the aqueduct.
Questions we get asked
Why is almost everything in Spain?
Because we live here and we only write about hotels we have actually slept in. Reviewing a hotel properly takes a stay, not a search. As we travel further into Europe the page will grow, but we would rather be genuinely useful about one country than vague about twenty.
How do you score hotels?
We score twelve things separately — cleanliness, bed, bathroom, breakfast, lunch, dinner, pools, adult facilities, children’s facilities, staff, beach and extras — and take the average. The individual scores are published on each review so you can see where a hotel wins and where it loses.
Are these hotels good for British families?
The Spanish coasts we cover are the ones with the best UK flight connections. The Costa Blanca is about 45 minutes from Alicante airport, Andalusia is served by Málaga, and the Costa Brava, the Costa Dorada and Majorca are reached through Girona, Reus and Palma. Entertainment in the big family hotels runs in English as well as Spanish.
Every hotel on this page is one we have slept in. We pay for our own stays; where a stay predates that policy and was an invitation, we say so on the review itself. If you book through our links we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.