This hotel is quite outside of Haifa, but directly on a beautiful beach. If you are driving north on the coastal road from Tel Aviv, you access it easily, and it is about 10 minutes before you actually get to Haifa, so you do have to drive to get anywhere in town. We went to Cesaria during the day, and it took about 20 minutes to get to the hotel from there.

When we arrived, we had difficulty finding the entrance, which I assume is an issue for most people, as the hotel is directly on the beach and the front is really the back, but the hotel parking entrance is absurdly located and not really intuitive to find--and the signage is bad, too. But once we got there, we were greeted warmly by the bellman, who came out to take the bags while explaining to me how to get to the underground parking.

We stayed here on points and it was an absolute bargain. We were upgraded to a wonderful high level room with an incredible view of the Mediterranean, but I am guessing that all rooms overlook the sea, since the hotel is shaped in a cresent form. Our rooms were nice and large and we had a small balcony. The bed was big and comfortable, which is sometimes an issue in Israeli hotels, but this was the best one we had in our stay in Israel. There was a fold-out couch, but that is not in all the rooms. The bathroom also looked new and marble with nice fixtures. We were able to get a free breakfast only one of the days we stayed, since it was not included in the points rate, but it is another one of those fantastic Israeli buffet breakfasts. The lobby has a great area for sitting with a coffee or a drink and looking out to the view outside. It is really right on the beach and a beautiful boardwalk, and not fair from the train station. There is a large pool downstairs that we didn't use.

We were there in February 2007 and the weather was nice, but not warm enough to sit out at the shore, however, I imagine the place is packed in summer. Vacationing Israelis with lots of kids running around would definitely make the stay different, because we felt that the peace and quiet was lovely--especially sitting in the lobby and ordering an inexpensive and wonderful breakfast on the day we did not go to the buffet. There was no "gift" in the room upon entering, but we had been eating non-stop while there, so that was no problem! Wireless internet was $5 for an hour or $18 for 24 hours. Parking was free. The service at the reception desk was excellent.

Review submitted by Lisa S.

Posted at April 10, 2007 7:44 PM