Hotel Isla del Sol — Hotel in Bolívar

The hotel itself is very nice, the location is great the pool, bar area and rooms are all very good minus the cold showers but I suppose you are on an island. The main issue I had here was the service we received. Paying almost £150 per night I had expectations to be looked after reasonably well. Not to mention "all inclusive" we paid for that is actually just half board no drinks included whatsoever apart from when at meals which is just a bottle of 2L coca cola to share. I would often find myself waiting for 30 minutes at the bar for the barman to appear after skiving off somewhere or having to actually go and find him myself just to get a beer. The bar also run out of bottled water and beers one day. The hotel run a day trip which sees up to 50 guests arrive for the day to use the hotel facilities, nothing at the hotel seems to get up and running until they arrive and as soon as 3pm comes and they leave all the staff disappear and the music is turned off leaving the paying guests kicking around by the pool with a trail of rubbish and empty suncream bottles left by the day guests wondering what is going on and unable to get drinks. The hotel has so much to offer which is not advertised or mentioned to you. For example you can order in lobster for dinner to be caught fresh that day for you. Plankton trips and kayaking. There is so much potential here but feel it needs a massive restructure of the way its run and staffed and a kick in the right direction. Often left feeling like you're being a nuisance to the staff and in the way and the main priority here is for them to look after the day trip guests which I was very disappointed about. All in all fantastic place to spend your time, beautiful island just let down by the treatment after expecting good things. They also need to invest in some sides for the speed boat that takes you to the island as we had to pay an extra £40 to get there ontop of accomodation and the way home the whole boat got completely soaked along with all of our belongings and then taxis wouldn't take us due to...

This place is fantastic. For the price you pay to stay here it really is excellent. The staff are incredibly friendly and hospitable. While we were there it was my wife’s birthday and they managed to arrange for our dinner to be on a specially set out table on a pier and they even had a birthday cake made especially. Nothing was too much trouble. You have to bear in mind that the Rosario Islands are a nature reserve and National Park meaning it is subject to strict rules around protecting the environment. As such, heated water for showers rely on being heated by the sun etc. so they aren’t going to be hot in the morning. The food throughout our three day stay was fantastic. The fish and meat dishes were delicious and the drinks at the bar are very reasonable (bottle of Aguila original 7000 CPO, cocktails 30,000 CPO). There are many activities to do such as trips around the islands, tours of the village, snorkelling, diving, trip to the aquarium etc. which should suit all guests. The hotel has its own private beach which they allow very few, if any, party boats to come near. There is a nice enclosed section of the water which is shallow and therefore suitable for non swimmers. Capable swimmers can enter the sea via the pier where the water is much deeper. The hotel provides boat transfers from Cartagena. It takes roughly an hour but prepare for getting wet if it is rain season. Your luggage is stored away in the boat in a dry area. If you have smaller bags with electronics you should consider getting a dry bag. I would also advise wearing flip flops or sliders instead of trainers as mine got soaked! Overall we had a brilliant stay and I would highly highly recommend this hotel if you want a slice of paradise at a...

This place beat my expectations for sure. I def give it 5 stars (not comparing what other countries 5 stars would be). The location was perfect for us we didn’t not even leave the hotel. The majority of the staff was personable, were friendly, very accommodating, and a pleasure to interact with. The males more than the females though. We obtained paddleboards from German that comes every morning. He too was amazing. We were expecting only breakfast and we ended up getting 3 meals a day! Wish I had know that ahead of time, I don’t think that information was in the description. The food was pretty good and better than other places we have been to. I recommend their ceviche and their mojitos.

A few things to know before booking, contact the hotel for transportation. Wish I did better planning ahead of time. For $90.000 you get from Cartagena to the Island leaving at 8am ONLY. The return for also $90.000 but at 3pm ONLY. So you better have a 7pm or later flight to account for travel. We did not and had to get a private boat the hotel assisted us so much in getting.

Some recommendations for the hotel. I’d like to see some mattress protectors to keep mattresses clean (they were) and thin quilts to cover the bed. Seems people only use sheets and I didn’t want to use the blankets in the closet. Also we didn’t know we couldn’t not add a tip at check out. We did end up giving money to reception to split between everyone at check out, but had I know I would have brought more money/change to give individually because the staff was AMAZING.

If I ever come back, I’d stay...