In early September 2024, I spent a sunny week with my family of four at the Iberostar Albufera Park **** in Mallorca. I was initially sold on the resort after @mamadoeseurope raved about her stay with her two boys on Instagram. Known for its family-friendly amenities and beautiful beachfront location, the resort has tons to offer, especially in comparison with other options on the island. I will admit that upfront my resort-hesitant husband took some convincing to try out the Mallorca resort life, but fortunately the Iberostar Selection Albufera Park even managed to turn its biggest skeptic into a fan.

The resort concept is two-hotels-in-one, Albufera Park and Albufera Playa. While the hotels divide the resort in half, you can enjoy the amenities on both sides of the hotel. If you are looking for a quieter pool, for example, simply hop on over the the Albufera Playa side for a change in volume. Guests can also take advantage of the restaurants, bars, and cafes in both hotels.

Accommodation

The Iberostar Albufera Park only offers family rooms. In terms of size, you can definitely comfortable accommodate a family of four. The family room we stayed in was a suite, with a sliding door between the bedroom and living area. In the living area were two children’s beds and an open shelf to separate the children’s sleeping area from the TV and sofa. Both rooms had access to a roomy balcony. The beds were comfortable and we slept well every night.

Room location within the resort is definitely worth considering when you book. Our room was fortunately located further from the beach. While this may sound strange, this also meant it was located further from all of the action at the stage and the pool, which made for a quieter escape and evenings, which we enjoyed.

The room was comfortable and well-cleaned daily, but the room layout left something to be desired for a family with young children. Here are some areas for improvement:

• The children slept in the living room by the front door and the bathroom, making navigating the room to access the front door and bathroom inconvenient during nap and evening times for fear of waking our small children.

• The lack of a TV in the parents’ room was inconvenient, as we could not stay up and watch a movie after the children went to bed.

• Noise was a minor issue, as we could occasionally hear crying from the room next door, nothing bothersome though.

• There was no bathtub, which would have been helpful for families with babies. However, given the sandy environment, the shower was ultimately more practical.

Despite these notes, the room felt safe and tidy, and my two-year-old absolutely loved the spacious shower.

Family-Friendly Activities & Services

The resort felt more kid-friendly than baby-friendly. On this end, I see why @mamadoeseurope raved about it with her older boys. The big round pool air bounce was a hit with all of the children and the little water park was great for two years and up. The pool was large and left tons of room to enjoy, even with the large amount of guests. We also liked the baby pool on the outside of the hotel, since it provides distance from the more crowded pool area in the middle of the hotel.

The hotel app provided a handy schedule of activities, and the overall vibe was lively, with lots of families and organized games. My toddler loved the starfish mascot and the evening discos. There were also playgrounds and in-ground trampolines. I also have to mention the cute little ice cream shop, which was a daily must and the person staffing was always so sweet with the kids!

While older kids had plenty to enjoy, there wasn’t much for children under two. There were no bottle warmers, sterilizers, or convenient baby food options available (although on our last night when we had a reservation at the Mexican restaurant, our waitress offered us homemade puree for the first and only time during our stay, so I assume we could have been asking for such things the whole time). We brought soap and a bottle brush and washed bottles by hand in the bathroom sink every night. It wasn’t ideal, but hey, it worked.

Our toddler was newly potty trained during our trip, and the bathrooms were always close enough to stay accident free. We were also provided a toilet seat adapter for our room. For those traveling with toddlers in this phase, we found it doable and gave us a major confidence boost on our potty training journey. Throughout the island, the bathrooms were always easy to find, clean, and modern, so even our excursions were not too intimidating.

Even though it is two hotels on one property, the size isn’t overwhelming, nor does it require too much walking - but we definitely still used our stroller to get around with our young children. The hotel was 90% accessible with stroller in my opinion, the only non-stroller accessible point was the beach buffet grill for lunch on the Albufera Park side, and when going to the beach it is best to leave your stroller at the point where the hotel property ends and sand begins.

Dining Experience

The food certainly stood out! Everything was really fresh, even on the buffet, which from my experience usually is hard to achieve at a resort. At meals you are greeted with a glass of cava or fresh juice. The fresh meat and fish options really stood out on the buffet, especially if you were willing to wait a minute for one of the chefs to freshly cook it to your liking. They also changed the buffet theme daily, so that there was always something new for you there to try. At peak times, there was a line for outdoor seating, but there was always the possibility to be seated immediately inside.

The restaurants (reservation required) were a true highlight. We ate at the Spanish, Greek, and Mexican restaurants during our stay and really enjoyed all of them. With our young children, we can enjoy the meal more when we are served, as opposed to my husband and I alternating going to the buffet, so this would have been ideal to have every night of the stay. However, reservations at the restaurants were difficult to secure, especially at your desired time, so make sure you do this the second you arrive (not possible before check-in). If I remember well, it was included to dine out at each restaurant once per stay. Although the buffets are delicious, it is nice to mix it up when you stay more than a couple of days.

The service was good but inconsistent: waiters were attentive at dinner, but absent during breakfast in the same restaurant. It was a bit confusing when at the same buffet restaurant, at breakfast you had to sort out your own drinks, but at dinner the waiters brought them. I longed for a more personalized experience—having the same waiter and table each night would have made dinners feel more intimate; probably that is a difference between a 4 and 5 star though.

Resort Amenities

The beachfront location was stunning, with fluffy sand and crystal-clear water. The direct beach access to the public beach was convenient from the hotel. There is a sign to remind you that you are leaving the hotel property, but it was ok to bring the hotel towels and drinks to to the beach with you. Since it is a public beach, the beach chairs do not belong to the hotel. It is cash payment to the beach attendants, and you always paid for the whole day. Once we learned this, we usually went and bought our chairs first thing in the morning in order to ensure we had some; with the baby beach chairs were a non-negotiable for us.

There were bars and activities spread out across the hotel. You could easily secure food and drinks at any moment you needed, which is always a relief with children. There were also plenty of chairs surrounding the pools. The entertainment stage is large and every night had a big show or live music offering. The bar also had several TVs for those interested in sporting events.

We took advantage of the on-site photographers and I found them to be fantastic. It was a free ~30 minute shoot, and you could just pay for the photos you wanted to keep, which you got to see the same day if you did a morning session like we did. I love this option to capture precious family moments. Their services weren’t well-advertised, so be sure to seek them out if you are interested.

WiFi quality was excellent, allowing us to stream via VPN without any issues—a huge plus for keeping the family entertained in downtime.

Location & Accessibility

While there was no private parking, it was easy and free to park our rental car in the public parking lot about 50-100m from the hotel. There is also a supermarket and convenience store right outside of the hotel, in case you wanted to stock up on snacks, sunscreen, or beach toys.

Customer Service & Overall Hospitality

The resort felt safe and tidy, but I felt our touch points with service personnel were pretty limited. If we needed something, we could communicate with guest services over the app, which also is maybe why the touch points felt limited. I remember thinking the turnaround from an app request to something in our room being surprisingly fast. This channel was also used to inform us when our room had been cleaned.

Minor Changes for Big Improvements

1. More baby-friendly amenities like bottle warmers and sterilizers.

2. Improve accessibility for restaurant reservations to ensure guests can enjoy this feature.

3. Enhance personalization and convenience for parents during meals by assigning tables or waiters.

Final Thoughts

The Iberostar Selection Albufera Park is a solid option for families, especially those with older kids. While the resort’s beachfront location, family-friendly atmosphere, and fresh dining options shine, small changes could make the experience significantly better.

Would I return? Probably, as I believe it is one of the best options for families on Mallorca, but I’d love to see these tweaks implemented to make the resort a better fit for families with younger children.