On this occasion we want to share with you the interview with J. Miguel Bordera, Manager of Med Playa Hotel Riviera and General Manager of Med Playa Hotels Costa del Sol. We would like to thank him for taking the time to answer our questions and sharing with us his vision of the future of the Med Playa Hotel Riviera.

“We aim at all times to provide our customers with a professional, efficient and personal service.” said the manager of the Med Playa Hotel Riviera

J. Miguel Bordera, a “young” 64 year old, studied Tourism and Hospitality at the Management School of Tourism in Valencia (1967-1970). He began to work as a receptionist at Hotel Goleta Ibiza. Later in Benidorm he worked as a Front Office Manager at the Hotel Regente and in 1975 came to the Costa del Sol to manage the Hotel Bali in Benalmadena Costa. He soon took over the management of the Hotel Riviera, and two years later (1986) when he joined the Hotel Pez Espada in Torremolinos, he was awarded the  position of  general manager of the hotels in Costa del Sol and the Manager of the Hotel Riviera , both of which positions he still holds today.

What  tourism opportunities  does  Costa del Sol- Benalmádena offer?

The Costa del Sol offers a wide range of possibilities for any tourist or traveller which comes to visit the area. There is a wide range of accommodation and leisure facilities and it is  considered as one of the major tourist destinations in the world. The Costa del Sol’s beaches cover an area of more than 100 kilometers and offers highly attractive places such as Nerja, Málaga, Torremolinos, Benalmádena, Fuengirola, Marbella and Estepona. In addition there are some beautiful  villages situated  inland which are  well worth a visit, highlighting among some of them, Ronda and Antequera for its uniqueness and cultural wealth.

 What is the history of the Hotel Riviera?

The Hotel Riviera opened in 1964 with the official rating of 5 stars. It was at that time, along with the Hotel Pez Espada, also of the  Med Playa group, one of the leading hotels in the area and one that most directly contributed to the launching of the tourist destination  ‘Costa del Sol’ which became a tourist reference worldwide. All this, at a time when travelling was only available to very few people.

The chain added  the Med Playa Hotel Riviera to its portfolio in 1984. At this time, the  Riviera was rated as a 4 star hotel, a category which it has continued to maintain. During the the past 29 years ,Med Playa has managed not only to maintain its good reputation and high standard of services, but as well to improve its facilities having undergone constant refurbishments, especially those which took place in the years 1991, 1998, 2005 and the most important of all,  the refurbishment which just been completed this year in 2013.

Hotel Riviera. Past and Present

What are the major changes the customer will in the “new” Riviera?

The most important work that has been carried out during winter (November 1, 2012 to April 30, 2013, six months),  is that the hotel has had a total refurbishment .We can  highlight in particular the following areas:

a) Revamp of all rooms (190), including air conditioning, terrace doors, furniture, cabinets and bathrooms. Installation of new lighting with LED lights which are energy efficient. New “king size” mattresses, flat screen TV 32 “, minibar, kettle, etc.. with laminated flooring (parquet) and new curtains.

b) Improvement of fire safety facilities, placing smoke detectors in all rooms and BIEs on  all the floors of the hotel.

c) Exterior painting of the facade of the hotel. Placing new LED lighting on the terraces of the rooms.

d) Refurbishment of  all public  areas (lobby, bar and lounges), with modern and comfortable furniture and new lighting.

e) Replacement of the main restaurant furniture. Modernisation of the central buffet and show cooking area. Building a “Tapas Buffet”  for customers to enjoy   attractive  traditional Spanish tapas every day.

f) Construction of the new restaurant with the a la carte service. This is the “Araucaria Restaurant”, a cosy dining space, specialising in Mediterranean and international cuisine that will delight those who prefer to have a more relaxed and intimate dinner.

g) Construction of a new lift  leading directly to Araucaria Restaurant and sports court (mini golf, french bowls and shuffleboard).

h) New chill-out terrace next to the main bar with  parasols and furnishings creating a relaxed atmosphere. Renovation of the pool terrace and gardens. Placement of new handrails and pavement.

j) Construction of a new Spa & Wellness including dynamic pool, spa, jacuzzi, sauna, steam bath, massage room and gym.

k) Refurbishment of the interior  staff rooms  and kitchen facilities (floor, ceiling, walls, etc..).

Hotel recommended for Couples & Adults

 What qualities do the staff of the the Hotel Riviera offer?

 The Hotel Riviera staff is well qualified. We are proud of our staff’s professionalism although some are very young, most of them already have extensive experience in Customer service. Their main strengths are being courteous and friendly, which is well recognised in surveys and customer feedback found on social networks. If I had to highlight something, I’d say that what I value the most is the enthusiasm  they show and personal contact they have  to ensure that our guests have an excellent holiday.

 What were the most challenging problems you faced during the refurbishment?

Throughout the past six months whilst the building work has been taking place, we have encountered all sorts of problems. A major problem has been to successfully skim the walls of the rooms and remove the artex painting, which was  more difficult and time consuming than expected. Another problem that we have faced has been the difficulty to provide each room with the new aluminium and soundproof glass enclosures of the terraces, measuring  approx. 2.60 x 3.20 metres and weighing 500 kilos each enclosure. Finally, the  third problem, which we anticipated was the installing the whole building with new  water pipes, sewage, air conditioning, electricity, telephone, TV, wifi, etc.. which has resulted in thousands and thousands of metres of new pipelines and cables ensuring that we have all the facilities completely up to date.

 What is the vision of the future of the Hotel Riviera?

The Hotel Riviera is now, one of the best hotels on the Costa del Sol for its unbeatable location near the beach and seaside promenade, for its close proximity to Port of Benalmádena, with its fantastic leisure options. The comfort of its rooms and lounges. Its modern facilities, excellent cuisine, including tapas buffet and a la carte restaurant, both included in the half board price.  It has a variety of services generally offered in the hotel (Spa-Wellness, Fitness, Sports court, terraces, pool, daily entertainment, etc..), As well as the professionalism and excellent treatment of our employees, there is no doubt that this is one of the best deals in the area at a very reasonable price which offers  very good value for money.

Based on everything previously mentioned, it is clear that the Hotel Riviera is at a great advantage,  having been totally  refurbished ,   and together with  offering great facilities,  our position is much stronger  than of most of the hotels in this category amongst  our competitors. This allows us to think that the future of the hotel is very encouraging, both in the short, medium and long term. Our specialisation as “Hotel recommended for Couples and Adults” allows us to hold a stable position in a rising market, which has more followers every day.  Offering a high standard of maintenance , which is a customary  in the  Med Playa chain, together with a competent  team of staff, we can predict a great future.

 Benalmádena Costa, May 17, 2013

Aqualand Torremolinos offers 14 different rides for children and as well for the adults. Kids can play in the mini slides in the Minipark while the bigger will love running on the Crazy Race or enjoy the Boomerang. There are seven sea lions with which you can take a picture. The park also has a mini golf as well as restaurants, changing rooms and sun loungers for hire.

Now you can purchase your tickets online & get a discount of 2€!

How to get there:

Address:
C/ Cuba, 10
29620 TORREMOLINOS (MALAGA)
Ph.: +34 95 238 88 88

 Bus services:
Bus from Málaga, Benalmádena Coast, Arroyo de la Miel, Playamar and Carihuela stopping at Noche y Día or Torremolinos town centre.

 Local trains:
From Malaga and Fuengirola, stopping at Torremolinos La Nogalera.

Aqualandia, the largest water park in Europe and one of Benidorm’s most popular theme parks (there are 5 in total!), will be opening soon, on Saturday 18^th May 2013 at 10am. The first 100 children to go on opening day will have free entrance!!

It was the first water park to be opened in Spain, founded in 1985 on the Sierra Helada hill. It counts with different leisure areas surrounded by natural and landscaped areas. Apart from the typical vertiginous-heights-water slides, you will also find a pool area with a children’s playground, a waves pool, jacuzzis, aerobics classes, performances of acrobatic jumps…

It caters for all ages, and it is a fantastic activity for groups of teenagers and families with children.

It is advisable to go early in the morning with own food and generous amounts of sunscreen. The application of sun block several times a day is essential (seriously!). And if you take picnics or even a container, they will not put any objections. The first thing you will need to do is to find ‘your spot’ on the leisure areas, where you may leave your belongings (non-valuable items only) and start the fun.

Otherwise, Aqualandia has a wide variety of self-service restaurants, snack bars, kiosks, cafeterias, ice-cream shops, and different foods like hamburgers, barbecues, pizzas, kebabs or crêpes.

Moreover, there are also spacious changing rooms, rental of lockers and safety deposit boxes, ATM service, rental of hammocks and floats, and souvenir and photography shops.

How to get there

From Alicante you may get on Tram train number 1 towards Benidorm and get off at the last stop. Then, at the station’s entrance, catch bus number 1 with destination Aqualandia-Mundomar. This bus goes along the Alfonso Puchades, Europa, Mediterráneo and Ametlla de Mar avenues, so locals and holidaymakers may use it too.

By car from Alicante you may use the no. 332 National Road or the AP-7 Highway (toll road). The first one, CN-332, goes through the mountains and has quite a few curves, but it takes only 10-15 more than the other one and it is free. Map: http://g.co/maps/gc4nd

Accommodation and Tickets

Aqualandia is really near to the Medplaya Hotel Regente***, where you may get your tickets with a discount, as well as at the reception areas of Hotel Riudor*** and Hotel Rio Park**. For further information or bookings: benidorm@medplaya.com.

Fun in Aqualandia is guaranteed! Enjoy yourselves!

The project promotes Euroreplicadero Corunna Society. The exhibition allows the visitors to merge into the world of the dinosaurs, their lifestyle, their diet, etc. Some of the reproductions reach height of 12 meters with mechanisms of movement and sound that gives these pieces unique technological realism. The “originality” and “uniqueness” that involves incorporating of the “Dinosaur Park” to the attractions of Torremolinos will enrich the tourist offer in the Costa del Sol.

“Dinosaur Park” is divided into four episodes, structured so that visitors can gain insight and spatiotemporal progression of the age of dinosaurs: “Beginning of Life”, “Paleontology. Discovering Fossils” “The world of dinosaurs” and “Dinosaurs Extinction”.

The Mosque of Cordoba was built during the 9th and 10th centuries and consecrated as the cathedral in 1236. A Jewel of Hispano-Islamic art, with its 850 columns, double arches and Byzantine mosaics, is a legacy of the Ummayad Caliphate in Spain. In the center of its vista of columns rises a 16th-century cathedral.

The Great Aljama Mosque of Cordoba,  begun in 786 by Abd al-Rahman I, is the highest expression of Islamic art in Spain and the most important historic mosque of the West. Its last touches were made by Almanzor in 988, and it was the place of worship for the rulers of the western Islamic empire Al-Andalus.

Important Islamic features include the Minaret, now enclosed and reformed into a Baroque bell tower, the Orange Tree Courtyard, the Mihrab and the forest of columns and arches.

Abd al-Rahman I purchased the land for the mosque, destroying the Visigothic monastery of San Vicente and using its columns and capitals, along with columns brought from elsewhere. Recently, part of the floor of the 5th-century San Vicente church has been revealed for viewing. Before the existence of the monastery, there had been a Roman temple dedicated to Janus on the site.

When Fernando III conquered Cordoba in the 1236, the Mosque was consecrated as a cathedral. In 1523, the cathedral canons ordered the center of the mosque pulled down to make way for a Gothic transept and apse, later embellished with Renaissance decorations and, in the mid-18thC, Baroque choir stalls and pulpits.

Christian conversion of the building to a cathedral may be responsible for its excellent conservation. Other important monuments in the city were plundered for their marble, cut stone and columns over the centuries, and no other mosque survived intact. Not everyone in 16th-century Cordoba was happy about the proposed changes to the Great Mosque, however, and there was a legal battle between the church and the city hall, which the king resolved in the church’s favor. Nevertheless, when Charles V visited Cordoba and saw the monument which his local authorities had tried to preserve in its original state, he declared “You have destroyed something unique to make something commonplace”.

Although the gothic cathedral and its butresses occupy the center of the former mosque, large expanses still remain much the same as they were in the 11th century Ummayad Caliphate.

The essence of this night is that all the shows are free of charge, street performances, museums, etc.

José Miralpeix on his 70th Birthday

Some of you might already know this man, and some others might even know him quite well.

He is the Manager of Med Playa Hotel Rio Park**, a Hotel awarded in 2008 the Best 3T Hotel in the World, voted by customers of Thomson Holidays. It is indeed an icon in Benidorm (Alicante, Spain), and truly appreciated hotel by its numerous repeat Guests who even visit us many times a year.

José Miralpeix is now 71 years old (although he does seem to be a lot younger with all the energy that this ‘young at heart’ has!), and he has been managing the Rio Park since the moment it opened its doors, when he was 30.

In July of 2011, on the occasion of the Hotel’s 40th Anniversary and Mr Miralpeix’s 70th birthday, we celebrated a very emotive event with music, food, dancing, laughter, tears and cake.

Here is a video summary of the event (I still cry whenever I watch it!): http://ow.ly/kR83x

And you can check the photos on Rio Park’s Facebook Page and get to know who’s who!

Miralpeix recently agreed to have an interview with the Town Hall to talk about his life, the hotel and its Guests. It has been published on their blog.

And we wish to share it with you too:

Once again, we are grateful to you all for making this possible!!

Thank you to those who chose us, those who came back year after year, those who recommended us, those who follow us on Facebook and leave a review on Trip Advisor, those who are still coming!

And happy holidays  :-)

The Rio Park Management & Staff

Enquiries & booking quotes:
benidorm@medplaya.com
www.medplaya.com 

Hotel Rio Park, before and after

On the occasion of promoting the beautification of the old town of Benidorm (Alicante, Spain), Mayor Agustín Navarro and Councillor for urban scene, Gema Amor, yesterday distributed 500 flowers and plants among the residents of the old town, including the streets of Alameda of the Mayor Don Pedro Zaragoza, Carrer Dels Gats, Condestable Zaragoza and Mayor Street.

To encourage the ornamentation of the balconies of the city centre, the Town Hall wants to boost the neighbouring owners or tenants of a house or commercial premises in the old town to participate in the first ‘Balconies in bloom‘ competition, organized with the collaboration of the Association of neighbors of the old town.

Moreover, the intention is to give priority to Mediterranean decorative vegetation, such as the Moorish jasmine, geranium, the Ivy geranium, pendant surfinia, the petunias or lavenders.

Between 15^th and 31^stMay, the jury will be visiting the different participants to select the 3 lucky winners with the better decorated balconies, according to the composition of flowers and artistic arranging, the variety and quality of the plants, and its durability, since the intention is that of maintaining the decoration with plants the longest period of time possible.  Winners will be awarded a set of plants.

Geranium

Moorish jasmine

Ivy Geranium

Pendant Surfinia

Petunia

Lavender

43,000 years ago, Neanderthals entered the cave of Nerja (Málaga), a place with huge domes covered with stalactites. In the interior were found drawing on the walls of a great archaeological value.

The oldest samples are taken to pieces at the bottom of those bulging paintings that, according to scholars of the cave, representing six seals. Nerja Caves are one of the most important Prehistoric archaeological sites on the western Mediterranean. Dating back some five million years, they are notable for the large chambers filled with stalactites and stalagmites, and the immense length, over 4,000 metres. It is possible to explore some of the chambers and caverns not yet open to the public by joining a speleological group, consisting of a maximum 10 people over the age of 14. No special physical skills are necessary.

Scientists investigating cave fauna have recently discovered species that were thought to be extinct in the caves. Amongst these, in areas not open to the public, are scarab beetles and blind scorpions. Alberto Atinavt, department head at the University of Granada, is carrying out studies on the interior and exterior micro fauna of the cave.

Tivoli World- Benalmádena

The biggest theme park on the Costa del Sol offers good fun for everyone. It is set in a paradise of gardens and illuminated fountains, with exciting attractions such as the Roller Coaster, Twister, Land of Terror and the Mystery Boat. There are also gondolas, merry-go-rounds and roundabouts for younger children.

Sea Life Aquarium- Benalmádena Costa

Sea Life Benalmádena is a magical marine experience on the Costa del Sol. It has over 500.000 litres of water in which swim more than 5.000 different creatures, including species from the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans and even creatures normally found in the Red Sea.

Selwo Marina- Benalmádena

Selwo Marina is a new concept for marine park that offers us an adventure to discover marine mammals and birds found in  South America. You can visit the first dolphinarium in Andalucia with intelligent dolphins and the only Ice Penguinarium of Andalusia, a facility that replicates the natural habitat for different species of penguins. The park offers dolphin, sea lions, penguins and exotic birds shows.

Teleférico Cable Car- Benalmádena

 Discover Benalmádena from above. If you like heights and scenery then you must take a trip on the Cable Car that will take you to the peak of Calamorro where you can do a donkey ride, see Spanish horse riding displays or do a bit of rambling, then take a coffee in the cafeteria with its amazing views over Malaga Coastline.

Crocodile Park- Torremolinos

The park offers exciting guided tours with live demonstrations and feeding. It has a small animals farm where you can hold a live crocodile. You will also discover Paco also known as Big Daddy, the largest crocodile (600 kg) living in Europe. There is also a mini zoo, kids play area and cafeteria.

Fuengirola Zoo- Fuengirola

Fuengirola Zoo is also one of the favourite places where you can enjoy a day out, walk around all the animals. There are shows throughout day which are really good fun and so many animals to see from Flamingos to Monkeys, Crocodiles to Tigers.

Selwo Adventure Park- Estepona

It reminds us of Jurassic Park, large open sided lorries drive you through the various animal enclosures and up into the hills above Estepona.There are elephants, bears, hippos and so much more to see. In the summer cover up as its very hot and not much shelter. Wear sensible shoes. There is also a small farm area.

Aventura Amazonia- Marbella

Aventura Amazonia Marbella is the largest eco-park adventure of Andalusia. It offers a new concept of activity in the Costa del Sol, suitable for children, youth and adults. Located just 500m from the beach in Elviria, Aventura Amazonia is a relatively new Costa del Sol attraction which is great fun for all members of the family. Offering 83 challenges with 20 ziplines over 6 adventure circuits so you can choose the one which best suits you. They include MiniKids, Kids, Explorador, Jungla, Aventura and Deportivo plus three training circuits. It has the longest treetop zipline in Andalusia which is 240m in length.