Sol Tropikal Durrës

My family and I spent 7 nights at Sol Tropikal Durrës on our first trip to Albania. We booked directly with the hotel and they were excellent with corresponding with me when I was booking a taxi for the airport (€35 one way using their dedicated resort taxi). Check in was a breeze with the lovely Jona and Esmerelda, who were amazing with our 5 year old. The Verbena Restaurant was where breakfast, lunch and dinner were served. The food was good, but did become quite repetitive through the week. We were disappointed to learn that the A-la-Carte restaurant was not included in the all-inclusive, but we were given 2 vouchers to use for lunch and dinner (these dining opportunities must be booked in advance). The dining experience was okay - it got very busy at lunchtimes especially as the window for food was shorter, and there was often a wait for food from the buffet. Breakfast was excellent, plenty of choice. Dinner was okay, some nights the food was impressive, but other nights there seemed to be a shortage of food. A huge thank you to Megi, Irini, Samanta and the other table staff for being amazing and again, so good with our daughter, especially on her birthday! Our daughter took full advantage of the kids club during our time at Sol Tropikal. The crew at Kidom, Erika (Kika), Habiba and Luna - they were amazing and kept the children entertained during the sessions. They would often also come and join the children in the pool and play with them. The Pool was beautiful- lovely and cool when the heat was getting too much. Daily activities and the "Crazy Game" were good fun and the half hour of dancing and music in the pool each morning and evening was funny! A huge shout to Mateo the DJ for his playlist... I still have Hey Baby on repeat in my head! The beach and sea were lovely - soft sand and clean waters and plenty of sunbeds. In the evening time, there was a nightly "Baby Disco" for the kids. This was lots of fun and led by the entertainment team. A special mention to the other Mateo for being so lovely and friendly from day one, and the amazing Andrea - who's energy, attitude and general vibe was just a joy to be around. Your smile was never ending and you were a pleasure to meet and get to know over the week! Another mention to the housekeeping team who were brilliant and nothing was too much bother. Overall, we had an incredible week at Sol Tropikal. Our only points for improvement would be: - more variety on the buffet and maybe think of expanding the timings of the lunchtime session - clearer marketing over the Citronella and Fins Bar that they are NOT included in the all-inclusive package - more water fountain points around the resort, for example, on each floor of the hotel so that guests can access drinking water readily. Other notes : We stayed in a Sea View Room which looked out onto the pool and the beach, with beautiful views of the sea and the surrounding Durrës coastline. We opted for the all-inclusive packag

Mixed experience really, however we had great holiday despite the negatives. This was the first holiday my wife and I have had with our 2 boys being old enough to drink alcohol, so was looking forward to a more grown up break. We'd arranged airport transfer with the hotel for 35 euros, we found out later this was on the expensive side, Taxi Lux took us back to the airport for 22 euros. On arrival, we checked in, but we were early and our rooms weren't ready, but reception were great, they popped our luggage in the back room, gave us our AIl Inc wrist band and we sat by the pool for a few hours. 3pm we picked up our room keys and luggage and went to the rooms. I've read other reviews and spoke to other guests who said they had a welcome letter and sweet treat on arrival to the room, sadly we didn't, a little consistency would have been nice here. First meal was dinner, lots of choice, however not all the food was hot, some not even warm, I think the hot plate needs turning up. This continued for the whole week, so although lots of selection and hot food was great, cold carrots, cold broccoli, cold cauliflower and cold pizza was disappointing. The resort and private beach were very clean, we did see a lot of maintenance going on and painting of kerbs, but it didn't affect our stay. Entertainment/ Animation team were French, and only some spoke a little English, all the activities were catered for the French guests, so at first we felt a little left out, but I have to give the team a lot of respect, they tried to include us were possible and quite a few day activities there was only our family taking part, so we created a really good relationship with the team by the end of the week. The Gym facilities were basic, but great to have as an option, my youngest son used it a lot, but I'm not sure it's fully finished yet, there was bare wires, holes in walls and scaffolding in the middle of the room, for work still to be complete. Staff were great, always helpful and friendly, but I did get the impression that there was a staff shortage, we waited 20mins one night waiting to be served at the bar in reception. All Inc doesn't mean any drink, but there was no lists available letting you know what drinks we could have, we had quite a few responses of 'sorry that's not included in All Inclusive' but had been served the drink previously, so were left a little.confused. For a hotel who bill themselves as one of the best hotels on that area, I still think there is work to be done, especially around the food and drink. We've been to lower star rated hotels and had better choices. This is a lot of investment in this resort, hopefully once finished, they get most things right.

Hotel is nice and clean apart from the breezer bar at the pool ,dirty and needs a steam clean. Breezer bar food is awful Chicken nuggets cold like cardboard Chips cold Tony bread baps not good No ice cream or lollies for the kids All food cold Room cleaned daily excellent cleaning staff Food was ok but always cold . Ditch the chicken nuggets as it’s like eating cardboard. Staff are very friendly and always ready to help with a smile . Main dining room is spotless very clean . Beer is excellent Cocktails cheap alcohol and sugary drinks not high quality