La Zambra Hotel

Fantastic and peaceful place out of life, surrounded by the blue hills of Fuengirola and Mijas and the green of the golf courses. Whether you enjoy golfing or simply soaking in the stunning views, this location provides a tranquil retreat where you can rejuvenate your mind and body.

Overall the stay at La Zambra made for a magical Christmas. The experience provided by the staff truly highlighted the luxury status. The rooms are beautiful and spacious, and maintained twice daily by housekeeping. The staff around the hotel are friendly and helpful, and the concierge, particularly when communicating through WhatsApp, is extremely knowledgeable with recommendations as well as convenient with booking time in the spa, yoga classes, golf or ordering taxis into town. The biggest negative is that the pools are not heated. It was 18C and beautifully sunny but the pools felt like an ice plunge. The spa pool was slightly warmer by way of being inside but still not worth a dip. The hot tub was warm, but even that could’ve been hotter. Aside from that the spa was beautiful and well maintained, with waterfall pools, sauna and steam room. The cocktails at Bamboleo were delightful and the food at Picador was exquisite. The breakfast at Palmito was pretty good considering the European audience. The resort itself had amazing views but was also located about 15 minutes from local village of Mijas which had stunning views and great local shops and restaurants. 15 minutes towards the sea was another little town Fuengirola, which was a bit more touristy but still worth a quick trip. Malaga was about 35-45 minutes away by car, so pricey in a taxi, but worth it if you want to have a proper tourist experience of seeing the history of Malaga, their more popular promenade, with boat tours and cocktail bars as well as quite a few Michelin restaurants. Would definitely recommend

The hotel is gorgeous but there were a few glaring and fixable issues that you wouldn't expect at a 5 star: 1) The kids pool was inexplicably closed 2) The main pool was unheated and freezing. Very few guests used it as a result and it just isnt acceptable for a 5 star hotel to have such a cold pool (and I like cold water swimming). 3) The kids club was quite good but was a bit understaffed, the play area could be improved 4) The food was ok but there was a real lack of vegetable / salad options, particularly for the kids, and the prices were gratuitous. Bambolo was also understaffed/quite slow at times. A few points were amazing - the valet was incredible. They took our bags from our room and packed our hire car with the bags when we were checking out. It would have been a 3 star review were it not for this - incredible service.