We visited this hotel for our honeymoon and were a little disappointed when we first arrived due our room on arrival.

We opened the cupboard to put our shoes away and it broke, the cold tap was not working in the bathroom at all and the floor was absolutely scruffy. However, give the hotel staff their due on speaking to the rep David from Thomson Holidays s who I shall mention later, those problems were fixed immediately and I mean immediately.

The hotel apart from that was spotless and modern looking it had just undergone refurbishment over the winter and looked very nice. We were self catering however we did try the evening meals twice which were very nice and reasonably priced at only 8 euros per person. We ate breakfast there every day however this was an interesting experience as some of the days there was things like onion rings potato wedges and cauliflour cheese on the menu! The waiters were all very pleasant. The girls working on the reception desk were also very nice and helpful and spoke really good English.

Getting back to the rep, David. He was quite honestly the best rep I have dealt with abroad, lovely with the kids, very knowledgeable of the area and full of good suggestions and ideas. The welcome meeting was actually quite enjoyable for once! We booked to do the Barcelona "Football and Fountains" trip, highly recommended. The rep was a Spanish-Australian but spoke very good english. The New Camp is very good those who like football, Barcelona itself is a lovely city and the fountains were spectacular! Also there is a place called Marineland nearby which we did visit however with it being early season it was very quiet and lacked atmosphere but in a busier time of year I am sure it would be bustling, though the dolphin sea lion and parrot shows were very very good.

Tossa itself is a pretty resort but there is very little to do as families on an evening, though some nice restaurants to eat in. It is a good job our hotel had entertainment on, the kids had their own resident entertainer called Lionel who was French and excellent with the kids. There was a mini disco on every night followed by adults entertainment at 10 pm. Also during the day Lionel ran pool competitions, volleyball etc and every night would present certificates to the kids (and adults) which was a nice touch and my little boy was certainly proud to collect one.

All in all it was an okay holiday possibly because the weather wasnt that kind to us at the time. I recommend a trip to Lloret de mar the next resort down either by bus at 1 euro 20 each or by water taxi which you can get from the beach but that is a lot more expensive at 10 euros each. Lloret is bustling and lots more to do for the kids, however the beach isnt very nice, the one at Tossa is definitely better. There is a fab waterpark just outside of Lloret which a courtesy bus takes you to from the Lloret bus station however we didnt get there because of the weather. It is called Waterworld and is apparently one of the biggest in Europe. On speaking to the people who went from our Apartments it is well worth a visit.

All in all I personally think this resort is a little too quiet however if the hotel has good entertainment like ours did then it is worth a visit but Im just pleased we were only there the week. Hats off to Thomson Holidays s though excellent company. Oooh one more thing, if you are on a night flight from Gerona home please note the duty free shuts at 10 pm - yes 10 pm so you are up the creak without a paddle if you get there after that, infact the only thing open was one pokey little cafeteria. So any spare euros, spend them in the resort or on the plane!

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Aparthotel Esmeraldas - Tossa de Mar

Operator and Date: (Thomson Holidays Direct) Skytours September 2004