Iberostar Selection Albufera Playa

read before booking as a couple! ​We recently completed a 10-night stay at Iberostar Selection Playa de Muro Albufera. There is so much to love about this hotel, but also a few important caveats for prospective guests depending on what type of holiday you are looking for. ​The Highlights: ​Exceptional Staff: Every single staff member we encountered was warm, helpful, and attentive. Special credit to Tolo, Antony, and the housekeeping team—the service here is a real credit to the management. ​Food & Facilities: The food was top-class and consistently impressive throughout our stay. The facilities are brilliant—the rooftop Sky Bar is a fantastic spot—and the entire property is kept spotlessly clean. ​Location & Room: Situated right on a stunning, easily accessible beach. Our room was spacious and well-appointed. ​Points to Consider: ​Room Location & Noise: We booked a Deluxe Twin at a premium price, but our room was situated directly above the main bar. Expect zero chance of sleep before 11:00 PM. On 5 of our 10 nights, groups were drinking, shouting, and laughing outside until 1:00 AM. For a premium room, this was really disappointing. ​Not an Adults-Only Vibe: The marketing suggests a clear separation between adults in the Iberostar Selection and families in the Park/Waves side, but in reality, there are families with young children everywhere across both areas. ​Who it’s for: If you are a family with young children, this hotel is a superb choice. However, if you are a couple traveling without kids looking for a quiet, relaxing getaway, I’d suggest looking elsewhere unless the hotel introduces dedicated adults-only areas and evening entertainment tailored for couples.

We booked with Jet2holidays for a week at the end of September and for £3.5k for two, it was reasonable value on balance, although we probably won’t come to this hotel again. We arrived on a Sunday and having hired a car found that the popularity of the Muro beach meant there was no parking close to the hotel, I squeezed into a space a ten minute walk away, post the weekend the parking issues eased but the hotel does not have any of it’s own parking for guests. On check in Marta was lovely, and took us through everything as you’d expect. We opted for a Star Prestige room when we booked to have some adult-only space to relax, and the rooms occupy the top floor of the block directly under the Star Prestige roof terrace. Reaching the room involved walking out of the reception front and going around to a lift in the next block which took us up to our room 5301. There are no signs opposite the lift door opening, so we walked halfway down the floor to realise our room was the other way out of the lift. The room is small overall to what we’ve experienced with other star prestige offerings, and ours in particular was overlooking the hotel entrance so is noisy especially when they’re emptying the bottle bins! Apart from being small and having a balcony with no cover or sun loungers, the room is lovely and clean and well decorated. Personally - avoid the lower room numbers on either block 4 or 5, due to their position, 5305 / 4305 and above are fine though. The Star Prestige terrace is very mixed. It does not have sufficient sunloungers or Bali beds, and everyone “reserves” them with towels for the full day, so it’s impossible to have any time on them. The worst thing is the hotel don’t care at all - they told us we’re not allowed to reserve beds with towels but equally they were not prepared to remove towels or challenge those doing so; instead preferring to tell their paying customer to do it as the situation “was delicate”. So essentially, put towels down; the hotel don’t care. The bar here is staffed on the roof, which is great for getting cocktails, and they provide call buttons to allow you to order from your lounger - but no-one seems to use them. The staff just look bored up here and the attentiveness falls away the further you are from the bar for glasses being collected etc. The main Mistral buffet restaurant is exactly as expected, with a fantastic selection that rotates every day. The reserved section for star prestige guests is located at the back of the restaurant though, giving quite a long walk to tables and you’re right next to the kitchen wash-up door, which makes it a poor experience when you’ve paid a premium. Staff again were lovely, but given the location and layout of the premium section, they were not able to be as attentive as you’d expect and we found that meant the hotel’s main offering was actually better attended by the staff than the premium offering. Finally, the “a la carte” restaurants…that is a stretch at best. The food ordered in the Mexican tapas was small portioned, looked like it had been made hours before and we left there hungry. The worst part - and we’ve come to expect this - was the vegetarian offering - the mexican menu had plenty of dishes that could have been vegetarian or optionally with meat, but they chose to give so little here that my other half was left with either patatas bravas, another potato dish mostly the same and an aubergine dish. It really was atrocious and if you paid money for it - you’d feel robbed! Stick with the buffet, or at least only treat these side restaurants as a novelty. Overall, the hotel should stick to what it does best - catering for families. The premium offering is not worth it and often results in you experiencing a lesser level of service to everyone else.

It is a beautiful place Amazing the hotel Is very clean The food is the best The restaurant a la carte Martinete it S perfect The music in Martinete is wonderfull The waiter TOLO is the best he chiar the food for us and he are top 10

In summary, what can I say about this hotel? I hadn’t stayed here before, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I’d read the overwhelmingly positive reviews beforehand, but even with those expectations, the hotel was far better than I could have imagined. From the moment we arrived, the staff were fantastic. Every member of the team we encountered was friendly, attentive and genuinely seemed to care about making sure guests had a great experience. The entertainment team deserve a special mention. They were funny, engaging and put 110% into everything they did, whether they were performing, getting people involved or simply interacting with guests. A particular mention has to go to Adrian, who was fantastic throughout our stay and really helped make the holiday as enjoyable as it was. The whole atmosphere of the hotel was fun and relaxed. One thing that really stood out was how relaxed everyone seemed to be. There was none of the usual madness of people fighting for sunbeds first thing in the morning. Everyone seemed to have settled into the same laid-back holiday mentality, which made such a difference. The food was another highlight. There was plenty of choice, it was varied, and there seemed to be something different to try every day. You had enough options to keep things interesting without feeling like you were eating the same meals repeatedly. The drinks selection was equally varied. Despite the hotel having been around for a few years, it still felt modern, clean and very well maintained. The pools were excellent, the facilities overall were brilliant, and everything felt looked after. But for us, the direct access to the beach was a real game changer. It meant you could completely change the feel of your day whenever you wanted. One day you could relax around the pool, and the next you could be in the sea enjoying the waves. Having both options right on your doorstep made the holiday feel much more varied. We did venture out of the hotel during our stay, but honestly, we didn’t need to. There was more than enough here to keep us entertained, relaxed and well fed for the whole holiday. As for criticism, I’ve genuinely struggled to find one. If I’m nitpicking, there are always tiny things that could perhaps be improved, but nothing that came close to taking away from what was a brilliant holiday. For a family of two adults and a ten-year-old, this hotel was absolutely fantastic. It offered the perfect combination of relaxation, entertainment, great food, excellent facilities and the freedom to enjoy both the pool and the beach. We came here for our holiday, and we’ll definitely be coming back. Thank you to all the Iberostar Albufera Playa staff for giving us such a fantastic stay. We really didn’t want to leave.

This was our second visit as we enjoyed the holiday so much last year. However, we will not be returning mainly due to one small change…. No balls allowed in 3 of the four pools. You may think this is a daft negative, read on. The one pool you are allowed is unuseable for smaller children due to it being deep in the middle. Basically, you can only throw a ball in 10% of the pool area. Last year, balls allowed in ALL pools, we never noticed anyone have a problem. The bit that really annoys me, is they say the three pools on the playa side are for a quieter more relaxed holiday, therefore no balls, but 3 hours of the day the middle pool is taken over by water polo and loud dance music for the fitness activities, a large water polo ball coming at you 100 mile an hour is far worse than one 8 year old throwing a ball to his dad 3 yards away. Didnt bother me before, does now, rules are completely illogical. Not all families want to cram around a loud kids pool on the park side, some with young non swimmers want to relax and play catch with their young ones. The playa side of the hotel has lost its shine. Shame.