Cabogata Jardín Hotel & Spa

Feel compelled to share our positive experience at this lovely hotel! Whilst the hotel is perhaps, in some respects, more geared towards Spanish guests, there is no way at all that the staff are biased or rude to English guests. We found all the staff to be warm, friendly and happy to help out. They even patiently let me practice my (terrible) Spanish! (Side note: I’m not sure why we should expect hotels in Spain to be geared towards English people. Why bother leaving England if that’s what you want?) Our room was spotlessly clean and stylishly decorated. We had a great view over the pools and sea. The food was good - even when the evening buffet shifted to an à la carte offer for the last few days of our stay. I assume this was because the hotel was very quiet. The options were still varied and tasty - the Castilian soup was incredible! We arrived quite early due to the short transfer from Almeria airport (15mins). The lobby was calm, clean and smelled great. We had an hour wait for our room but were able to leave our luggage and sit in the sunshine by the pool. I was more than happy to dangle my feet in the pool whilst sipping my cocktail del día! We are quite independently minded travellers so we were fine to have no TUI rep and had no need for organised entertainment/excursions. In fact, we preferred it that way. In short: it was the ideal place for a couple in need of peace, quiet, rest and relaxation. We hired bikes from the hotel and rode out into the nearby UNESCO nature reserve. We also caught the express bus (the stop is opposite the hotel, 25mins to the city centre) into Almería city to see the Alcazaba and cathedral. I also spent a blissful 1.5hrs in the hotel’s spa. I admit that the Striker Sports Bar was not great and it definitely needed fewer bossa nova cover versions of rock classics. But these are minor criticisms of what is a lovely hotel, offering a great value experience of this beautiful hidden gem of a region. We are seasoned travellers who have stayed in everything from 2* B&Bs to trendy 5* luxury hotels - we’ve seen it all! Cabogata Jardín is genuinely up there in our favourites. We hope to return to Cabogata Jardín soon. Thank you to the team for a great stay.