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Hi All
We have just got back after a week R&R at Vera Playa, herewith a brief trip report...
Weather: hot (V HOT at times) mid to upper thirties during the day cooling off to mid twenties during the night. Humidity varied, particularly at night. For a couple of nights, sleep was difficult! Mostly clear blue skies, for one half day there was very high thin cloud, just the sort of situation its very easy to get fried in! (Keep applying the old factor 20)
We stayed at La Menara inside the naturist zone. It was very quiet (less than 50% occupied) as its significantly second home owned and the local holidays haven't started yet but noticeably busier over the weekend. The people there were mostly Brits, Dutch and Spanish - all very friendly, there was always someone to chat to if you wanted. The area is substantially residential, so there was little reason for late night/early morning revelers to disturb your beauty sleep.
In an earlier post I asked for recommendations for decent places to eat, other than a beach bar (Son et Luna) and a couple of places up on hotel street, the options were very limited. A dusty walk to Garrucha or (a taxi) avoided risking the local drink & drive laws (even more onerous than the UK and quite right too) bit that was a bit disappointing - but never mind.
The pool at the resort was (solar?) heated and ranged in temperature from first thing in the morning 08:00 at a very refreshing middle twenties to evening when it was like a warm bath.
The sea was a different matter; up to knee height it was great. From knee to nipple level, (which if wading out is about 4 foot, as it shelves very quickly), it just about passed the 'big toe test' beyond nipple depth it is NO WAY JOSE - perhaps best described a bracing. There were life guards situated about every 50 yards or so along the water edge. If they hadn't been there I wouldn't have even got my feet wet. The sea was quite rough with a big swell then heavy surf from about 10 yards out. I saw one lady supervising two 8 or 9 year olds playing in the surf, she had them both tethered using a pair of those heavy duty retractable dog leads, the ones for rottweiler sized dogs, and she was pulled off her feet once.
If I wanted a swim, it was well worth the 300 yard walk back to the pool!
Overall impression - Great, can't wait to go back.
Cheers
Peter
We promised we would post a report once we got back to England, after 10 days holiday at the hotel. Overall, it is a wonderful hotel, which is fully naturist inside and outside from 8 am to 8 pm. We thought that by going when all the British schools were gearing up to return (I've just retired as a primary head teacher), it would be pretty much adults only. However, Spanish schools return later, so for the whole time we were there, there was a cross section of pretty much every age you can image - lots of families with children and teenagers, plenty of young couples, plenty of mature 50+ (like us!), and quite a few older couples. A couple of male/male couples, but nearly all either couples or families, and all this made for a very safe feeling environment. As our time went on, and the families started to lessen, it became clear that most new arrivals were in the 60+ age group - I guess as September and October move on, this might reflect the trend? English speakers were in a tiny majority - about 5 English couples and a couple of American couples - dominated by the Spanish, followed by Germans, and then French.
The beach was disappointing - apparently there has been a lot of coastal erosion - the postcards show a 50m strip below the dining room, which just isn't there now. Rather pebbly shale in parts, although the sea itself was gorgeous! The pool was great, with plenty of sun-beds, and plenty of space among hundreds of palm trees. There were several activities run by the Animacion team - water volleyball, water aerobics, even diving lessons. Also naturist mini-golf, table tennis, shuffleboard, etc. and a children's playground.
The food was excellent in quality, and you could eat as much as you like! Well worth a visit is the nearby village of Majacar - it nestles on a hillside and is beautiful place (thanks for the tip, Mike!). There is LOADS of building work going on around the area - mostly apartments, including a complex right next door to the hotel itself, which is connected to the hotel, but which doesn't seem to be naturist...... As you walk along the beach, towards Garrucha, passing all the parts of Vera Playa there is the same cosmopolitan mix of nationalities and ages - well worth a walk or two.
Any other specific questions - please ask, and we'll do our best while our memory is still fresh ......
Julie and Phil
1) How did you book? Agent or direct?
2) Looking at the web site of the hotel, it is very difficult to work out the tariff. Do you have any other pointers?
3) Is there any Internet access? I don't expect it to be free!
4) Another report said that the Vera Playa beach is somewhat depleted by erosion these days?
From the
http://www.playahoteles.com
website the price for a single room per day
(minimum of 5 nights) between 12/9 and 15/10 is:
Bed & Breakfast 65€
Half Board 80€
Full Board 94€
All Inclusive 108€
And same dates per person in a double room:
Bed & breakfast 39€
Half Board 53€
Full Board 68€
All Inclusive 81€
They also have apartments for self-catering.
However, Mike said that he preferred to book through
http://www.find-rooms.com and
gave the following guidance...
- at the 4th question 'Travel to': enter Almeria Coast
- confirm that's where you want
- scroll through the list of hotels offered until you get to the
Vera Playa Hotel.
He went on to say that he had always found them much cheaper than booking direct (or anywhere else), one can stay for less than 5 days without paying an extra premium and there is an 8% discount for repeat bookings. He has used the company for about 3 years, for Vera Playa and for other hotels, without problem.
There is Internet access in the main reception of Vera Playa Hotel (1 € for 10 minutes) but there's also Internet access at a bar less than 100 yards from the front door of the hotel (1€ for 30 minutes) - April 2006.
The sand has been washed away from the front of the restaurant terrace, but I'd be surprised if there isn't plenty left elsewhere along the beach; Julie & Phil might know otherwise.
In a further follow up Mike commented that ...
... in his experience http://www.carjet.com/ had proved reliable, but in the last couple of years I've he had found http://www.amigoautos.com/ rather more competitive, perfectly reliable and also responsive to direct contact by responding to email questions within minutes.
He also suggested a beautiful un-spoilt and naturist-friendly coastline drive to the Cabo de Gata Natural Park together with going to San Jose and taking the un-surfaced road south to Playa de los Genoveses, Playa de Monsul and Ensenada de la Media Luna (probably the most nude-friendly of the 3 beaches). He concluded by saying that there is lots of other attractive coastline to explore elsewhere in the park, but warned to allow plenty of time saying it will probably take at least an hour or longer from Vera Playa - make a day of it.
Another contribution came from Painter.
We have just come back from our second trip there this year... as the others have said it is a great place, the food, service and accommodation is excellent. There was also a good mix of people of all ages from families to older couples, a good portion Spanish, as well as a mix of other European, German, French and British.
The beach was washed away to a large extent in a series of storms over the winter and at the start of the year, however there appears to be some efforts to rebuild / re-sand the beach. But with coastal erosion and global warming you have to expect a few changes - that said there there is still a lot of beach and it is all naturist.
Try the markets at Vera and Garucha, there is a good bus service that cost 1€ per trip
It should be noted that the Hotel closes some time in October until about a week before Easter next year.
If you have any comments about this report or wish to add further information
please email them to:
neffupdate @ ada-augusta . demon . co . uk
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