H10 Rubicón Palace, Playa Blanca

We arrived at the Rubicon Palace around 10pm at night and from the bus it looked very impressive. Walking in through the doors the reception is to your right hand side. We were checked in very quickly and efficiently and our upgrade to All Inclusive was very smooth. Within around 10 minutes we were walked to our room with a staff member who was very informative about when the pool bar opened and closed. There is a safe in the room which costs 30€ ...
...be hired for 10€ and cost 50 cents to change them.

Walking in to our room we were more than happy with the 2 double beds and chair bed. My in-laws room had a king-size bed and a fold away bed. Although we should have had a garden view and some people would have complained we had a very nice view of the sea and the walk to the beach and could see the playa flamingo beach from our rooms too. The rooms were bright and looked fresh and ... more

We arrived at the Rubicon Palace around 10pm at night and from the bus it looked very impressive. Walking in through the doors the reception is to your right hand side. We were checked in very quickly and efficiently and our upgrade to All Inclusive was very smooth. Within around 10 minutes we were walked to our room with a staff member who was very informative about when the pool bar opened and closed. There is a safe in the room which costs 30€ for 2 weeks with a 6€ deposit. Towels can also be hired for 10€ and cost 50 cents to change them.

Walking in to our room we were more than happy with the 2 double beds and chair bed. My in-laws room had a king-size bed and a fold away bed. Although we should have had a garden view and some people would have complained we had a very nice view of the sea and the walk to the beach and could see the playa flamingo beach from our rooms too. The rooms were bright and looked fresh and were very clean and the maids did a good job every day. There are fridges in the rooms which can be hired for 3€ a day or you order 6 drinks from the mini bar instead.

We headed to the pool bar for something to eat and we weren't too impressed by the sight of hot dogs and hamburgers and chips. But we found toasties and a toastie machine and got some water. The deputy manager stopped to speak to us and welcomed us and explained how the pool bar at 10.30 had more hot dishes etc.

We set about exploring the next morning. There are 2 restaurants to eat in. Having tried both, the one on the side next to the toilets and to the steps seems to have less choice and wasn't that great. We mostly ate in the other restaurant where we found much more choice and happier staff. I know a lot of people have complained about the food and people did complain in the airport queue but I thought I had fussy children but having spoken to others it appears mine aren't so fussy when it comes to food. There is always soup, chips, pasta with a wide range of choices for fish. chicken, pork. They do have a wide selection of fruit at all meals but Puddings aren't spectacular. For breakfast made to order omelettes are available and the pancakes were lovely. My only complaint was the kids buffet, the tongs got very hot and on 2 occasions I burnt myself painfully. But otherwise the food was pretty good.

There are plenty of pools and the first week we had no problems at any time getting beds but just towards the end of the holiday our nice quiet pool seemed to be full of people. You could always get a sunbed but not necessarily in the shade or with a parasol. But the pools were regularly cleaned and yes they were cold but get yourself under and it could be a lovely refreshing swim. All around the hotel you constantly found cleaning staff or maintanence staff. In fact one night we had a power cut until 1am. Thank goodness for mobile phones and nintendo ds's to get round the hotel.

We didn't discover the spa until the end of the holiday but some lovely treatments were to be had. The actual spa cost 15€ to go in and had a range of things to relax you as a Turkish bath steam room, Sauna, Jacuzzi, Pebble Walk and relaxation rooms. The idea's are fantastic but sadly the pool had some missing tiles and I feel a refurbishment for new tiles and a lick of paint wouldn't go astray. They have a kids hour for 5€ per person. Beware though some parents deliberately send their child in with you making it look like you have 2 children with you when really you only have one because the child wants to go in but not the parents. We had that situation and it was only because I queried why we had 4 towels and I hadn't got 5€ change.

My only complaint about the hotel is that the Spanish really have it in for Brits and can be down right rude and there were a few fights in the taxi queues between the Spanish who felt it was their right to walk into a taxi that the brits had ordered. Standing in the bus queue for a while was very interesting viewing in the taxi queue. We found all the staff to be fine and we made an effort to speak Spanish and got served with ease as well as smiles. So learn how to order your drinks in Spanish and all will be ok there. Oh another small moan is the sprinklers. They stink of poo and my hubbie ended up walking through one to which my son called them the stinklers. So bewarew of the stinklers.

The entertainment team always made a good effort. They regularly spoke to our children outwith the clubs and the entertainment and the shows may have been "that anyone can sing along to a tape!" but take a moment to look at all the choreography that Erika and her team put in and they really work hard for the 12 hours they provide entertainment. They don't force you to join in, but they make things fun.

Nearly every night there are stalls of some sort in the foyer next to the restaurants. Saturday/Wednesday is market nights and mostly jewellery stalls the rest of the week.

We really enjoyed our 2 weeks. The first night I wasn't sure but there is so much to do round about the hotel as well as kids clubs (we rarely used as they weren't run the way I'd want them to be run but that's a professional thing with me), the golf, tennis courts and play park. It's a short walk to the rock pools as well as about 40 minutes to an hour into playa Blanca. The most we every paid for a taxi was 4€.

I'd definitely recommend this hotel to anyone and believe a holiday is what you make it and it was a really good holiday which all 6 of us enjoyed. 

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