A bunch of us stayed here in March 2006. We stayed in the bungalows in section 7. We liked the location, they are close to the beach and to the main pool. They are small but kept nice and clean with a fresh bottle of water each day. We had our own private pool which we all enjoyed. If you are a light sleeper you might not want this location because you can here the bars play till early in the morning.

We liked the buffet restaurant, it offered a nice selection, lots to choose from and fresh breads each meal, fruits, desserts, something for everyone. We ate at the al la carte once and enjoyed it also. None of us had any stomach upsets while there!

We liked the beach area alot. The beach is very pretty and very nice to walk along. The hotel has a section and it is pretty cramped in but we usually moved some chairs around so we weren't so crowded. There are lots of venders on the beach. We all got a massage on our lounger for $5.00 US. Not like at home but pretty good! There are some stores in the area you can shop at. The beach bar has drinks but no food. It gets a little crowded there too and sometimes you can wait a few minutes but the bartenders are great and we would just chat with other vacationers.

The main pool was nice too. We only sat there for a couple of hours one day, it was too hot. The pool bar there is also very busy with lines but just chat with the people around you. Each bar serves blender style drinks along with cervesa, rum and coke, etc. They also serve pizza, hamburgs and some little cheese puffs between the lunch and supper hours.

The resort is kept spotless. There are gardeners trimming everywhere and the plant life is very lush. There is a little animal kingdom, we really enjoyed walking by the monkeys and birds on our way to the pool bar. One bird says Hola! The monkeys are hilarious. You can hand feed them bananas. There are two turtles also.

We only watched part of two shows. We ate quite late each night and caught a bit of two while eating. They seemed pretty typical of most resorts. I heard the animation staff was great but we really didn't get to know them. The staff that we did meet we really liked. We tipped quite a bit between all of us and the service was great but they didn't expect us to leave a tip.

Myself and my family returned from Hesperia Playa El Agua last week. This was our 4th time heading south, and first time to Margarita. The hotel was excellent, very nice, very clean with really good food. The people that work at the hotel are very nice, as are all the other locals we met. The location of this hotel is excellent, just a short walk across the road to the beach. Playa El Agua is a beautiful beach. It was also loads of fun with great waves. Th! e beach is set on a street that is always busting with activity. A small town on it’s own.

We travelled with children, 7 and 9, so we spent most of our days at the beach or one of the great pools. We can’t comment on the nightly activity as we were back in our rooms by 9:00 with the kids. We did want to see the Island, so we started asking others at the resort about their tours. We met a group of men and women in their late 20’s early 30’s who sa! id they went on a tour with Marcos of Marcos Tours. They said they had an excellent day with lots of drinks and fun, had seen amazing things and had a great time with Marcos. So we decided to give him a call as his prices were excellent, and he’s fully insured. We went with our family of four. There was another couple on the jeep tour as well. Since he provides personal service, when he does group different groups together, he ensures their interests are similar. I thought this was great, as with the kids I didn’t want heavy drinkers on the tour with us. We had a perfect day. Seen the whole Island, lunch at a beautiful beach, boat ride through the Restina. He even changed his normal route to do what interested us. As mentioned this was the 4th time we headed south, each time we take a jeep tour. This was the best. There was no stopping at ‘their friends’ store to be pressured to buy anything. He’s a great guide, able to meet anyone’s needs. His service is highly personal, and his English and knowledge the island is great. He has a website, contact him for details at marcostours at yahoo.

We returned from a 2 week stay at this resort on Feb. 2/05, there were many positives to this trip and a few negatives. The weather (which we went for) was fantastic (actually hotter than we needed!!)

FOOD:
The food at this resort was definitely good, something different every night, we only ate at the ala carte once and it was o.k. but didn't feel drawn to go back the second week. The beef is not tender as we are accustomed to but the chicken, pork, turkey, lamb, fish was always good. There was always recognizable veggies (cauliflower, brocoli,carrots, baked tomatoes,) there was always rice dishes, potatoes, and salads and breads. There was a problem with flies around the salads and breads, the hotel kept the bread/buns covered with tea towels but people would take bread and not always recover with the towels. The salads were plagued by flies too and the 2nd week the hotel set up a huge fan to blow over the salads which did seem to help. The desserts at night were delicious and numerous. Breakfasts and lunches were always very good, the homemade soups available at all meals were very tasty. There were a few days when our tummies were happy to have only soups.

RESORT:
The resort grounds were attractive and well maintained and kept spotless. It felt very safe, there were numerous security visible at all times. The 2 entrances to the resort were guarded and no one could enter without a resort bracelet. There was a couple of tennis courts and a massage area just off the main pool area. There was a pool bar open from 11 a.m. till around 2 a.m. and it was actually the only place to go to socialize after the evening meal and entertainment (which was just off the main pool area as well) We were discouraged from leaving the resort after dark and we didnt but some of the younger crowd ventured out to discos on the beach and to Porlamar and had a fine time and did not feel unsafe. The resort has a caged area which houses a few pet monkeys and some tucans and parrots, turkeys (with chicks), and cats (many) roam freely around the resort. We saw a few decent size fluorescent green iguanas as well.

There is an internet access just off the main lobby, very reasonable $2 u.s./hr., and they have 3 or 4 reliable computers but they are always very busy!!

ACCOMODATIONS:
The resort has 4 towers which house regular hotel-like rooms, some do not have balconies. One of the towers is a time-share and quite impressive from reports of a couple who stayed in one of the penthouse suites I think it was the #1 tower. The bar by the pool area by the towers does not serve alcohol.

The rest of the resort is all bungalows, and gives the impression of a little village with walkways and streets throughout and there are 3 sets of bungalows that each have a pool in the center for their use. These are the preferred bungalows and they number in the five, six and seven thousands. The bungalows across the street from these are numbered in the eight thousands and do not have a pool.(we prefer the beach anyway, and you could always go to the main pool which was maybe a 3 or 4 min. walk away) The room we had was roomy and clean and there was always hot water. The closet was huge. We had a sliding patio door facing the back wall of the resort (we were closest to the beach) It was noisy at night with music from the beach but we got used to it and it didnt go on all night. Our friends had a villa right beside us in the same bungalow unit and it had a full kitchen, sleeping area, and a seperate pull out couch. We did not have a fridge but we bought a cheap styrofoam cooler and ice and were fine with that.

BEACH:
The sand is firm and soft and the beach is beautiful, you can walk about 2 1/2 miles from end to end. There are many many bars, restaurants all along the beach. The beach is not good for swimming, it is too rough. The area always has a red flag alert up. The lounge chairs belonging to the resort are pretty comfortable but difficult to get one unless you are at the beach to reserve by 730 a.m. and I really did not care for the shade umbrellas they put over the lounges, they are low to the ground and you have to crawl in under them and there isnt a lot of space to spread out in the sun, you sort of feel like sardines lying side by side by side. The sun is basically done at that section of the beach by 330 pm. There is a beach bar open from 11 am till 6 pm., there are no washroom facilities at the beach,unless you use facilities in one of the restaurants.. They start to put the lounge chairs away for the night by 5 pm. The vendors are a constant but not aggressive in any way.

OTHER STUFF:
There was a street to cross coming out of the resort grounds to get to the beach. Along that street there was a lot of restaurants/bars and general store shopping places, there were taxis available there and at the front entrance of the resort. You can exchange $ on the street or at the $ exchange place. There are tour booking places along the street and places you can make long distance calls. We used the one set up on the beach to call home it isjust to the left of the stairs down to the beach and they were great and hassle free and reasonable. There is a couple of other internet places on the strip but not as reliable as the resort. There is a fair size flea market at the far right end of the street, probably about a ten minute walk at max. There are the usual variety of beach vendors but they are not nearly as aggressive as what we have experienced in Mexico.

We booked a jeep tour with “Ray” who is positioned at the top of the stairs to the beach and saved about $10U.S. per booking and had a great time with our driver “Hector” who speaks perfect English and is a fun guy!! Didn’t care for some of the adrenalin provoking jeep maneuvers but then again we have grandkids we wanted to see agin!!

NEGATIVE STUFF
The hotel only allows one key to be given per room, this can be quite inconvenient if you are not attached at the hip to the person you are sharing the room with!! The suggested solution by the resort is to always turn your key in at the lobby for your room mate to have access to. This was not an option as we were at least a 5 minute walk to the lobby being at the far end of the resort.

Not necessarily a negative but be prepared to put down a $15 deposit for each towel and $15 for a remote control and $50 for the safe as well as $2 / day for its use.

There were many days that there were no large towels available (only small ones) for the pool or beach, so we kept our large damp towel many times.

There was quite a bad septic smell at our end of the property most days.

There was quite a horrible smell of ???rotten fish??or sewage? on the streets. The streets are quite dirty and people use them freely as toilets. With the intense heat it can be unpleasant. There are many packs of “wild” dogs, that will lie under the shade of your lounge chair, they didn’t seem aggressive with the people, just looking to get some shade I guess.

We got a little too friendly with one of the resort’s security , offering him cerveza and cigs the first night he was on duty and found him waiting for us the next a.m. (off duty) and wanting cigs and $$ from us, he was a little unnerving as he hung around most of the morning and even when he was told to move on by the beach security hired by the resort , he just went and sat a few feet away staring at us and motioning us for cigs. It was a lesson well learned.

We had a few pairs of earrings and necklaces (not worth a fortune but….) stolen from our dresser one night when we were out to supper and evidence that our bed and towels had been used while we were out!! It was an inside job as our door was locked.

Were just just back ( my wife and I) from Margarita Island ( feb 27 to march 7 2005) and stayed at the Hesperia Playa El Agua. Before leaving on holidays, I could not find a review on this hotel on your site, well , now there is one!

First of all, its one of the nicest hotels on the strip facing Margarita's famous Playa El Agua beach. The food was great, entertainment quite fun as well. The rooms were simple, but you get into the feel of it after a couple of days ( you're only really in your room to sleep and shower anyways). Dont ask for oceanview because their is none. The Playa El Agua beach is a public beach, so no hotel is directly on the beach. The walk to the beach is about 5 minutes ( the resort is quite vast but easy to get around).

When crossing the street to go to the beach, you are on the famous boulevard with many restaurants and souvenir shops. My first impression of this boulevard was not good ( looks poor and run down). However, you quickly get the feel of the true Margarita Island people, kind, relaxed and they don't bother you. As per the restaurants, well, dont get fooled with their run down look because the food is GREAT! If you love sea food, well, you are in seafood heaven! I recommend the Restaurant Biblos El Sveno ( about a 10 minute walk from hotel). All the restaurants are direcly on the beach so you have a very nice ocean view!

The weather, well, being about 8 degrees off the equator...it's really hot around 1130am to 2pm. You never worry about the weather! 33-35 celcius daytime and about 24-27 celcius at night with a gentle breeze all day long ( and night). It can be very humid at times, but not too bad.

Taxis are cheap, to go to Porlamar ( downtown) its a flat fee of $7 us ( 40 minute ride, real cheap!) Exchange rate is about 2400 Bolivar = $1 us dollar. Trade your US dollars with the merchant and not at an exchange desk, you get less for some weird reason ( 1900 Bolivars).

Excursion: We went on a Katamaran ride to Isla de Coche ( beautiful with sandy beach about 1.5 hr on boat). Shopping: Pearls, Pearls, and more Pearls. It's definitely the place for real pearls. Mragarita is known for its pearls.

This hotel is rated 3.5, I give it a definite 4!