To begin, in fairness to the hotel it wasn’t an absolutely terrible experience, but it certainly wasn’t just okay. After reading some of the Tripadvisor.com reviews my girlfriend was expecting a little luxury from this hotel as she booked it as a surprise birthday present for me. However, luxury was not really on offer at the Hotel Traina. To get to the point, this is very much a business hotel and should not be confused with anything else. Whilst clean, the room was not particularly comfortable (particularly the bed, which creaked with a synthetic sound whenever pressure was applied to the mattress) and it was too small (a three-quarter sized double). Our problems began as we booked in – the receptionist wasn’t particularly interested in us or friendly, and in fact took a phone call whilst dealing with us. I’m sure that the (about) three words that she said to us were well meant, but it was hard to tell. No bellboy, so we made our own way to the room. As written above, clean but quite functional. No views to speak of, just one of the nice looking hotel next door, as if to rub it in. The following morning we thought we’d make use of the pool so I went down nice and early to ask what time it opened (as the home-made hotel guide didn’t offer such information). The receptionist (a different one than the night before) said “About nine”. At about five past ten we made our way up for a swim, but it was all locked up. Back downstairs, another receptionist told us (but not before she took another phone call whilst dealing with us – no joke) that it opened at ten. She then walked away without another word. Back up to the room, then I convinced my girlfriend to just chance a trip up to the roof to see if they’d opened the pool (not that the receptionist told us that this was her plan or anything). It was open, however it was not the fantastic feature that they hotel website had quite made it out to be. It was small and not really enhanced by the faded white plastic garden furniture surrounding it. We went to the beach instead. However, the hotel is a long way from the beach and in a bit of a strange neighbourhood – lots of seedy bars nearby. On the night of our arrival we made our way down (eventually) to the beachside, expecting bars and restaurants aplenty. Now this may be because of the timing of our visit, but there was not a single restaurant of bar to be seen open (at ten thirty at night). On the seedy backstreets there were some bars – “a karaoke bar and an Irish bar”, as one excited Geordie that we asked told us. Alas, not what we were really after. So the location was rubbish as well!

Overall we weren’t massively happy with the hotel (as you might have guessed). I’m always reluctant to pay too much attention to reviews that other people have posted that are negative because of one problem, like a poor shower for example (which was actually the best feature of the Traina), but in this case our experience were of a catalogue of problems. If you’re going to Mar Menor and want to stay on the western side, go down to Santiago de la Ribella – lots of nice beaches, some restaurants (although only open sporadically, but this may again be down to the timing of our trip) and some signs of life. But DON’T stay at the Hotel Traina unless you're simply a business traveller after a clean room and standard breakfast.

A mile from the beaches at top end of the Mar Menor. Main sreet but quiet loaction.Luxury rooms of almost designer quality with french doors with safety railing (no balcony). Swimming pool on roof with sun bathing terrace but closed until May. Underground hotel car park and free open car park opposite. Get rooms on upper floors at front of hotel for excellent sunsets. Fine restaurant if a little expensive for Spain.

This hotel offers really good value, both in terms of the room rate and the set menu in the pleasant restaurant. Arriving late as we did, it was good to find that last orders in the restaurant were at 11pm. The choice of food available from the breakfast buffet was staggering, especially given that the hotel was very quiet (in late November).

Other contributors have mentioned the difficulty in finding the hotel. Perhaps we were lucky but, coming from the airport (south), we found it very easy to find, as follows: leave the A37 motorway where Lo Pagán is first signposted. Swing right at the bottom of the slip road and then go straight on at the roundabout. Go straight on at every junction and eventually turn left at a T-junction on to the esplanade. This runs alongside the beach for a while and then swings left away from the sea. The hotel is then about 1km further, on the right. (Not the shortest route but it's easy.)

We stayed at the Hotel Traina in January 2004 and found the service excellent.

If you turn left when coming out of the hotel, you will arrive at the beach (Lo Pagan) after about a 5 minute stroll.

Turn right out of the hotel and stroll to the small village. Here you can enjoy the local tapas, bars etc.