La Manga 2015: with James Villas

I struggle with the move from Summer into Autumn, although the feel of the leaves crunching under foot is delightful and all, in my world it doesn’t really compare to feeling the warm heat of the sun of your back.

Which is why La Manga was such a welcome break, just two short weeks ago.

September was a mad build up to 6 women preparing to go on holiday together, frequent texts were exchanged, snapshots sent by the dozen.  Facebook was flooded with comments about how excited we were.  It was a girlie holiday that had massive expectations to live up to.

In the week before we flew, I booked airport parking (using www.airportparking.co.uk), someone else sorted a Travelodge for the night before, I packed, weighed my case, then repacked again.

We were prepared and ready to go, and I hoped against hope that we would have as good a time as we were expecting to….

I simply needn’t have worried.

We had an amazing time.

La Manga Club resort is a great destination for both families and groups looking to relax and partake in some sport and sun.

Why?

Just a short drive from either Murcia or Alicante airport, La Manga is easily accessible by car, and it’s beauty hits you as you drive through the gates into the resort.  Spread over 1400 acres, the resort boasts an incredible 18 hole golf course, and offers training grounds for golf, tennis, rugby, triathalons, and cricket.  You can also get involved with scuba diving, horse riding, mountain biking, running and rambling to more specialist sports such as Gaelic football, netball or lacrosse.

I’d like to say we sampled every activity, but whilst we enjoyed a pleasant stroll over the golf course, and we spent some serious time in our private villa pool.  Our exercise regime for the week involved a few of visits to the CrossFit centre in Murcia, a trip to the impressive Gym facility on site, and a morning run.

The rest of the time we focused on relaxing both in our beautiful villa and in one of the numerous bars and restaurants on site.

Bars and Restaurants on site

La Manga offers a great selection of evening entertainment, boasting Italian, Spanish, Asian, Indian, American, and Mexican themed restaurants.  Each restaurant we tried left us feeling delightfully full of rich cuisine, and eager to return again.  The portion sizes at Chango’s, the Mexican, are immense so don’t let your eyes be bigger than your belly or you may find your belly increasing in size as the holiday goes on.

Lughi’s offers sophisticated Italian food and a superb selection of wines.

And finally La Cala, a beautiful seafood restaurant positioned out on the coast is an incredible place to eat fabulous seafood whilst holidaying in La Manga.  You can eat delicious oceanic treats whilst listening to the waves kiss the beach in the background.

For late night fun, La Manga has a great range of drinking spots for girls on holiday and golfers on tour.  You can start your evening at the aptly named First Drop or The Scotsman and aim to finish at 2am at The Last Drop, a few minutes walk away.  For the would be singer in you, you may want to stop by Mulligans and pick up a mike at the very popular karaoke – we ended the holiday stars of the resort (in our own eyes.)

The Villa

We stayed at a stunning four bedroom villa in the Las Brisas complex,  It was stunning, with three bathrooms, a dining area both inside and out, a lounge with plenty of room for all and of course our own pool.

We actually whimpered when we opened the door, our delight muffled us momentarily.

Then of course we ran around our new home like sugared up children, telling the whole street of our excitement.

Staying in a villa is perfect for a group, enjoying our own private space during the day suited us perfectly.  Certainly seeing as some of our party enjoyed wearing the other’s clothes and underwear in inappropriate places.

We spent as many evenings eating in our villa as we did eating out.  James Villa’s ensure that your every need if catered for in the villa, so we had all our culinary needs, plus music, books and games in-house ready for our ‘in’ nights.

Can you imagine our sadness when we came home?

So much so that we have already booked to go back!

Top Six Tips when going to La Manga

Take insect repellent, as beautiful as the resort if the Mosquitos love it as well.

Spend a day at the Spa – the full body massage is amazing.

Hire bikes and get out and see the area, it is easy to just stay on complex but it is well worth getting out and seeing a bit of Spain.

The garlic bread at Si bar is well worth a trip out for!

If you are a golfer, book your trip through James Villas as most of their villas offer reduced green fees.

Go Jet Ski-ing on Mar Menor

Thanks again to James Villa for hosting our amazing holiday, we look forward to another next year!