Macdonald La Ermita Timeshare Resort

We needed a break when my husband was unwell so wanted somewhere near an airport where we didn’t need a car and there was plenty to see and this resort fulfilled all these and much more. The resort is beautifully kept with amazing views and Mijas Pueblo is a fascinating place with good museums and excellent restaurants. Outstanding is the Contemporary Art Museum with works by artists like Picasso and Dali. There is a good local bus service which we used to visit Benalmadena and enjoyed a day at the Butterfly Park and visiting the Thai Temple.

The on-site restaurant at La Ermita is very good but lacked atmosphere because it wasn’t used much by the resort residents. Although the accommodation was spacious and generally well equipped there were a couple of gripes. The bath and small shower in the master bedroom which were not en-suite but in the room were style over substance so I used the bathroom for the other bedroom and the hob of the cooker had controls where the hottest setting was 1 (opposite to the usual). We only found out on check out about the controls so hadn’t used the hob but apparently, this was mentioned in the booklet in the apartment. I think that only one of the blocks has these odd bathroom facilities and cooker controls that go the ‘wrong’ way.

What a lovely, friendly Hotel. They maintain excellent standards, and nothing was too much trouble for their friendly staff. The Lady on Reception has a genuine smile and is a credit to her Company.

We booked a double roomed apartment, for the week, and used it as a base to play many of the Golf Courses in the area.

Furniture and equipment is a little dated, but clean, well maintained and functional. Practical things like washing machines were useful for our sort of trip.
Mijas is quiet, in a nice way, and sometimes, the last hour on the veranda, overlooking Fuengirola made for pleasant memories.

We were told off on one occasion by a Lady in a higher room. She had all her windows open, in stifling heat, and didn’t appreciate our laughing at one of the Party walking into the glass patio door, slumping down, jumping up, coming outside, and for some reason locking us out of the apartment as he explained how it wasn’t his fault, and we were lucky he had hung on to the drinks………maybe you had to be there. We did apologise, quieten down, and avoid telling her to close her window for an hour.
Main lounge had air conditioning, and the Hotel charges for electricity use. But we were liberal with our usage of that, the oven, tv’s, washing machine, lights, etc, and it was only an extra €30 for the week.

If you don’t know, Mijas is on the side of a Mountain, and although that produces marvellous views, you have to be part Billy Goat, inside the Hotel and Resort.

The Hotel has a lovely little pool with loungers, and an excellent indoor pool with gym, sauna, and steam room. We will be returning. (Sorry Lady from above)

Well done La Ermita.

I have just returned with my family from a lovely holiday at La Ermita in Mijas. Our apartment had all mod cons, was very comfortable and as many have commented in the past, benefited from spectacular views down to the Mediterranean. Two aspects of our stay were trifling but annoying. Having to pay almost 20 Euros for one week’s Wi-Fi in 2016 is ridiculous as is having to pay for the electricity we used. Come-on MacDonald, belatedly, get into the 21st century!

To me it’s very hard to apply an excellent tag to a review, however, this place comes pretty close! Initially, I was sceptical, as the name and photo’s of the property don’t do it justice. However, the overwhelmingly positive reviews that I read prior are well founded.

We arrived on a late flight from Geneva and had informed the hotel of this, they replied promptly advising of arrangements should we be too late. After taking a wrong turn out of the airport, and exploring back streets, main roads, and anything else Malaga had to offer several times, we managed to get on the right road for the actual thirty-minute drive to the property.

Despite arriving at 1145, the first face representing the property, Pablo greeted us; everything was so friendly and clear. Any stress we may have had disappeared upon entering our spacious two bedrooms, two bathroom apartment in the Dali block. Ours was a timeshare arrangement, however, I believe there is the possibility to access this place (another block) as a hotel.

The location is just perfect, set high on the Sierra Mijas, and with all units having views out to the Mediterranean, you felt somewhere special.
It is a very short walk into Mijas, which is a gem in itself! Mijas is immaculately clean and well structured, with the local tourist office presenting free live shows and a small market in the village square. There are small well stocked, and very reasonably priced supermarkets nearby that were just perfect to service a fair percentage of our self-catering needs.

‘La Ermita‘ is incredibly well appointed with utensils, cooktop, large oven, large fridge, crockery, cutlery, and glassware (also a washing machine/ no dishwasher). The apartment as presented was cleaned to a very high standard and accessed from either a lock up garage or a security door, after hours. There are three pools, two outdoor, one indoor, two saunas, a steam room, aromatherapy shower, and a gym. There is an on-site restaurant, complete with entertainment on certain nights, that we did not get the opportunity to utilise, but we will next time.

This property provides a quiet, secure and neat atmosphere. WiFi was good throughout the property, allowing access for up to six wireless devices per booking, this has a cost of just under 20 euros for the week. There is a metered power usage fee that applies, this can vary, depending on usage, but for us it was about 15 euros for the week.(applies to many properties in Spain)

The only surprise with our apartment was the use of a very old CRT (high power consuming) television set that presented a very limited number of channels, and these were screened in the wrong aspect ratio, with the sides being totally cut off. Not that we bothered too much about television; it was the only downside nonetheless.
The overall quality of this place is much greater than what is written here, and the photographs don’t present it as you will feel it. There is no doubt that we would love to come here again!

This hotel is not for the party animal or knotted hanky brigade.

Mijas is a quaint Spanish Village set in the Andalusian Hills above Fuengirola On the Costa Del Sol.. It is famous for its Burro Taxis, narrow streets and more restaurants than you can shake a stick at.

During the day the village is thronged by tourists but in the evening the village is left to the residents and those fortunate to be staying there.

La Ermita caters for the slower pace of life with two outdoor pools and a heated indoor pool for the winter.

We have just returned from La Ermita in Mijas which is one of the best Spanish towns I have visited. Beautiful white houses, cobbled streets, amazing restaurants and bars and breathtaking views. The resort was spotless and very well kept. We stayed in Miro block which was very modern with air conditioning. The Dali block looked quite dated and didn’t have air con throughout. The staff were very helpful when our flight was cancelled and we were redirected to Murcia 24hours later which involved a 4.5hour taxi transfer! Not the best start to the holiday but the staff were very helpful and responded promptly to my emails as I stood in the never-ending Easy Jet queue in Gatwick airport!

The resort felt quiet even though it was peak season. We spent a lot of time by the pool, of which there are 3. The first is indoor and very spa-like with relaxing music and aromatherapy showers. The second was outdoor and looked lovely although we didn’t use it as we have 5 and 8 year old children. So we spent all our time in the 3rd, family pool. This was the pool where I thought children and families could splash about and have fun. Sadly as other reviewers have mentioned, fun was clearly off the agenda for one lifeguard. There is one lovely, friendly, cheerful lifeguard who was a pleasure to have around. The other was quite the extreme opposite which culminated in a rather unfortunate argument poolside about the size of my daughter’s rubber ring which was apparently too big, despite there being no other people in the pool. It was actually a very reasonable sized ring designed for an 8 year old. Despite this unfortunate altercation which resulted in management having to intervene, the resort is great.

The restaurants in Mijas are excellent and far exceed the resort bar which we only ate at once. It was poor but the staff were very lovely and really wanted it to succeed but the quality of food was not good. Happy hour was good though!

In all, the grumpy, miserable lifeguard aside, the resort was excellent. Clean, breathtaking views and good access into Mijas Pueblo, which was a wonderful town with a vibrant market square and excellent restaurants.

We have been timeshare owners at La Ermita for 12 years.

La Ermita with its stunning views and sitting next to Mijas village used to be a lovely place to stay. It has been extended with 3 more blocks added, from 18 apartments to 69 . It has gone from the quiet relaxing place that it used to be to a noisy overcrowded holiday resort.

We stayed for 2 weeks the first-week spring bank holiday was horrendous. We had no sleep due to the noise until the early morning people shouting, loud music, banging doors, dragging furniture. At one point the police where called. There was a loud family with 8 apartments but it wasn’t only them making the noise.
If you didn’t get to the pools by 8 in the morning all the sunbeds had towels on them. ( which is supposed to be against the rules) And there is still 1 more block to be opened.
The second week was much better as not so many people were there. But the lovely indoor spa pool had the heating turned off and all the doors left open, it was colder than the outdoor pools. Beware the heat goes off June 9th. Such a shame.

As there is only a children’s section to one of the pools I wouldn’t say it wasn’t a place for children. There is nowhere for them to play and no children’s facilities.
Playground kids club etc.

There are many steps and hills in and around La Ermita so not good for people with pushchairs or who are not good on their feet.

The area around the original phase 1 block and the pools area is now looking shabby

Lots of cracks in and around the pools, the fountain, the centrepiece to the pools was being repaired when we were there.

Parking was a challenge. The underground car park was like an obstacle course.

The staff as always were great.

La Ermita seems to have lost its way.

When all the apartments are up and running I can see it being very overcrowded and noisy.

Mijas village is the big draw for us staying here.

Maybe we are over critical as we have seen how lovely La Ermita used to be and what it’s turning into.

We will have to see what happens.