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Costera del Barco, 03501 Benidorm, Spain
If you want to be in Benidorm’s Old Town, this is the place. It’s located right at the bottom of Gin Street – just a few steps from Tapas Alley and close to both Queens and Olivers Bar plus the sea and beach was only 50-100 meters away. Despite all this on your doorstep, once inside, it’s surprisingly quiet.
Facilities
We mainly book Mayal for its location, but the apartments themselves are fantastic—especially considering they’re only rated 3 stars.
Upon entering, there’s a huge entrance hall with around 15 feet of storage space on the right. To the left is the bathroom, which features a walk-in shower. Straight ahead is an open-plan kitchen and living space with a good-sized double bed and a room divider on wheels, which was very handy. There’s also a sofa bed, but as there were only two of us, it wasn’t needed.
There were plug sockets and switches everywhere—it was quite fun trying to figure out what they all did and testing the lighting options! There’s also a small utility room with a washing machine, which is useful when travelling with limited luggage. An indoor drying area worked surprisingly well too.
I’d say the room was perfect – maybe even a bit large for two people. Because of the open-plan layout, I’d only feel comfortable sharing with kids or very close friends (not sure I have any that close!). Four adults would be quite cosy.
There’s a small plunge pool and an outdoor seating area, which is very well kept and private—not overlooked—with a view up Gin Street.
Contactless Entry
We had a small hiccup which, in the end, wasn’t really an issue, thanks to the owner’s laid-back attitude.
Basically, Booking[dot]com doesn’t pass on CVS card details to some hotels. I’ve had this issue before in the UK and usually end up having to call the hotel to give payment details manually.
The owner (whose name I can’t remember) messaged me on WhatsApp (everything’s done over WhatsApp) asking what time we’d arrive. I sent over copies of our passports, and he checked us in remotely. Later, I got a message saying payment hadn’t gone through. At this point, I was a little suspicious, so I offered to pay in cash on arrival or via bank transfer. He replied, “Don’t worry, we’ll sort it – here’s your keys,” which was actually a link to a website that turned my phone into the key. Very cool!
The next day, he called to ask about payment, but I was in the New Town having breakfast. He said we’d sort it later. I think it was the next day when I messaged to say I’d be around at 2pm – we finally met in person and I paid. He was very trusting, and what could have been a hassle turned into no issue at all.
Don’t expect to see anyone apart from the cleaners – but I quite liked that.
View
To be honest Old Town apartments is not a place for views, the apartment was quite dark which does mean it keeps cool. You could see the sea but it wasn’t a great view, if you leant out the window you could see up Gin Street but we didn’t book this apartment for the view it was location and facilities which it delivered on both, view go outside and look around.
Conclusion
I loved everything about Mayal—except for the fire alarm going off at midnight when someone came back and started cooking, which set off the alarm!
The location is amazing, it’s very clean and modern. While there are some steps on the street leading up to the entrance (which might not suit everyone), the rooms are incredibly well equipped – a true home from home.
