Universal Hotel Castell Royal

From the moment we walked into reception to the moment we went to the restaurant and bar we were greeted with happy friendly welcoming staff. They wanted us both to have a great holiday and they achieved that. Everything was perfectly clean and tidy. A big special thank you goes to Ricardo the life guard who made our trips to the pool such fun with loads of laughter. To Loida and everyone behind the bar who looked after us so well. The food was amazing for the whole stay. Emanuel the chef had such a huge smile and so welcoming every morning for breakfast. Our stay was so good we have already booked whilst at the hotel for next year. Thank you all so much.

The food was way too good and we both have at least 2kgs to drop after a 10 day stay. 😄

Amazing location

Beautiful beach and pool , food good

Felt a little for the older crowd

Great Location for a Beautiful Cove Beach, but the Hotel Itself Was Just Okay ⭐️⭐️⭐️ We stayed at Grupotel Cala Marçal Nature Hotel for just one night. Overall, it was okay, but I probably wouldn’t choose to stay at the hotel again. For us, the real highlight was definitely the location and the absolutely beautiful beach nearby. The beach is only about a one-minute walk across the road, and it’s a gorgeous little cove with beautifully clear, calm water. It felt much quieter and more relaxed than a large, busy beach, and we spent the entire day there from sunrise to sunset. Two sunbeds and an umbrella cost us just €17 for the whole day, which we thought was very reasonable. There are also plenty of places nearby to buy drinks, water and snacks. We particularly loved the organic restaurant just up the steps to the right of the beach. As a plant-based family, we found the menu there much more appealing, with plenty of fresh, organic, plant-based options, so we chose to eat there rather than at the hotel. The location in general is excellent, with other bars, restaurants and shops nearby. I also loved that the hotel is surrounded by a nature reserve, with lots of trees and greenery giving the area a lovely, rustic feel. We were on the seventh/top floor and had a really lovely view over the nature reserve. The bed was reasonably comfortable, although the room was quite basic. One thing that surprised us was the lack of toiletries — there wasn’t even shower gel provided, just hand soap. We didn’t use the hotel swimming pool or restaurants, so I can’t comment on those facilities. We really used the hotel as somewhere to sleep while spending our time enjoying the surrounding area. For a short stay where your priority is location and access to a beautiful, peaceful cove beach, it does the job very well. For us, though, the beach and surrounding area were definitely the stars of the stay rather than the hotel itsel:::

The biggest issue for us was transport. This isn’t really the hotel’s fault, but if you don’t have a hire car, getting a taxi for a short local journey is practically impossible. We wanted to visit friends in nearby Cala d’Or and it became quite stressful trying to find a taxi, as most drivers seemed to prefer longer, more expensive journeys such as airport transfers. A huge thank you, however, to the lovely young lady with dark hair on reception whose name I unfortunately can’t remember - Raysee maybe?. She was absolutely amazing! She phoned so many taxi companies and simply wouldn’t give up until she eventually found someone from another area willing to come and collect us. Without her, we wouldn’t have made it to see our friends. She was a credit to the hotel. The other downside was the air conditioning. Our room took a very long time to cool down when we arrived, and the corridors and communal areas on the accommodation floors were extremely hot, with seemingly no air conditioning. There were also very limited toiletries in the bathroom just hand soap and no shower gel, which was surprising. We didn’t use the hotel pool or restaurants, so can’t comment on those. We chose the beautiful cove beach nearby instead and ate at the lovely organic restaurant overlooking the beach, which had much more choice for us as a plant-based family. Overall, nothing disastrous, but I would strongly recommend hiring a car if you want to explore beyond the immediate area, even somewhere relatively close by.