El Cortijo De Los Mimbrales - Almonte, Spain     

I researched this trip thoroughly and placed quite alot of importance on it (it is our last holiday before we become parents in December). Mimbrales was recommended by Guy Hunter-Watts in his book about small hotels in Andulucia. We booked for 8 nights but stayed only 5, which says alot. The really bad stuff first...... The room was dark, small and a bit depressing, with a sad, dated bathroom (hot water intermittent) and an ill-fitting mosquito net (good luck getting it to tuck in). The pool area WAS really pretty (see more on the good stuff below), but there was a fly problem the like of which I have never seen before anywhere. You couldn't go for more than about 15 seconds without one landing on you, and they seemed to go right for one's face. If you didn't flick them off, you would be sitting there with as many as 6 or 7 on you. I love late afternoon snoozing in the sun, but it was impossible at Mimbrales. And whilst not the hotel's fault, the flies did seem to be unique to it (there were none down the road at El Rocio). The pool itself was an OK size but it was more of a pond, with alot of life in it! There were at least 100 little (what looked like) water beetles in the pool at any one time, which was a little off-putting. The main problem for me though was the restaurant. Whilst the staff were lovely, the food was expensive and the restaurant way too formal for a quick break from the pool at lunchtime (and there is no casual alternative at Mimbrales). Plus, the menu (limited to a handful of mains) didn't change between lunch and dinner (and neither did the prices). We had quite a pleasant (if overpriced) lunch on our first day, but dinner was a grim affair. I ordered chicken soup, which was served into my bowl at the table from quite an ornate and OTT urn. It was poor but edible. About 4 spoons in, I spooned up a dead fly. I alerted the waitress who took my bowl and spoon away and gave me new ones (the apology was very casual). She then served me a new bowl of soup at the table again and there was another dead fly in it! Since both flies were very dead at the time of discovery, I can only assume the soup was left to stand uncovered for some time in the kitchen, which is just careless in a place with as many flies as Mimbrales. We left the table soon after that (although they did, wearily, try and give me a fresh bowl and spoon for another go. I suspect they see dead flies in the food as something one should just tolerate) and had a sad mini-bar dinner of Pringles and chocolate (we don't have a car so couldn't nip down the road to El Rocio). The good stuff..... The gardens are gorgeous and well cared for (there were a number of staff toiling away in the gardens at any one time). The staff were generally nice. Finally, the breakfast was really nice (although you needed to sit inside to escape the flies). After 5 nights we decided our holiday was too important and told the desk we were leaving before our reservation was up. They were OK about it and were fairly helpful in getting us a cab. Overall, Mimbrales is fine for one or two nights if you get a discounted rate. Any more than that, and your patience with the insects and the overpriced, grandiose and mediocre restaurant will thin. If you are wanting to visit the area and do decide to stay here, the Toruno restaurant down the road at El Rocio is lovely (and if you have a car it is only a few minutes away) and the villas at Mimbrales did look alot better than the rooms (and you avoid the restaurant that way).

I recently traveled to Los Mimbrales with my wife-to-be for a quiet week-or-so in the sunshine and came away slightly disappointed. Whilst the grounds and staff are charming there is a spartan quality about the hotel which is unexpected at 140 Euro per night. It almost seems as if the hotel is a bizarre combination of boutique character and roadside motel; style magazines and upmarket toiletries adorned our room and yet the bathroom suite looked like it was last updated twenty years ago and hadn't been given much attention since. Similarly, the pool and gardens are beautifully designed but there's not much attempt to keep leaves out of the water nor stymie the presence of flies around the patio area. And the bar/restaurant is extremely well presented but with a very limited menu. There are around a dozen bedrooms at the complex and maybe four villas which I understand sleep up to six people each. The bedrooms are arranged in clusters of four around shared gardens whilst the villas have private outdoor space and extra facilities. The small tree-lined avenues between the living spaces are well kept and pretty and all the facilities in the complex are no more than a two minute walk away. Those facilities, beyond the slightly unkempt pool, consist of a bar, restaurant, breakfast room and salon. All of which are really well presented and (under)staffed by friendly and helpful locals. There's always one English speaker on site in the form of the duty manager but it's certainly worth making an effort in Spanish with the bar and restaurant staff. I think it's in the balance of staff that the problem lies with Mimbrales - at any one time there are maybe sixteen staff on site and yet twelve of them will be attending to the upkeep of the central garden area whilst guests will struggle to get a drink between the hours of four and eight pm. For a little relief from the limited menu and opening hours, the town of El Rocio is just 3.5km away and is a charming place on the edge of the national park with a couple of restaurants worth visiting. You'll need to drive however as the walk 'through' the national park consists of a roadside hike - the alternative is to take a taxi to take you into town but because of the scarcity of cabs available be aware you'll be basically 'hiring' one for the evening which could set you back between 25 and 35 Euro. So, without being too negative, I doubt we'd return to Los Mimbrales. Perhaps we simply had an unlucky experience, but between the flies (which suddenly disappear once you get 200m up the road), the limited culinary options and the disappointing bedroom, there's just not a lot to recommend it. If you're looking for a 24hr stop over on your way to or from the coast, or if you want somewhere unquestionably safe and are traveling with a big group, then it might be worth a look - but otherwise there are much nicer small hotels in the region with more to offer (we left after five nights of a proposed stay of eight.)