Location "les pieds dans l'eau": laissez-vous charmer par le port de la Duquesa

Lovely clean apartment in great complex, lovely pools. We went in early July and it was not busy could always get a sunbed. We did not have a car and used happy Transfers to pick us up and return to Gibralter airport they are great company to use.

We were near bars restaurants and could walk to nearest supermarket in 10-15 mins.

Only minor complaint is that sofa in lounge area not very comfortable to sit on when we were all sitting down as a family to watch world cup otherwise fab.

Enjoying a great location in Puerto de la Duquesa, we had a really good break in this apartment. It had plenty of equipment, was pretty well-maintained, the wifi was good, it was very spacious for us (being only two people) and it represented fairly good value for money.

What do I think was disappointing or could have been better? In no particular order:

-this is a huge complex, which is now showing its age and is a little bit `tired.` The apartment is set at the back with little or no view of the sea. You can see one of the swimming pools, but the view beyond is of a high rise block. The terrace, although a good size, does not get too much sun because of the location/position.

-while the apartment was pretty clean, there were a few areas where the standard was not as good as it could have been. For example, we found the fridge inside not 100% clean, we found an unclean serving tray above the fridge and some of the crockery was not completely clean.

-while directions to the property were fine, it would have been good to have had more specific information about how best to `navigate` the complex eg the `portals` (gates/doors) referred to in the information-sheet aren`t very clearly marked when you arrive in a car, alternative pedestrian routes to the seafront/the port (from the complex) could have been given - we discovered them eventually - and a little more information about what keys did what (ie opened which doors/gates) could have been given.

We have used self-catering accommodation extensively and are in a good position to provide a fair critique of a property and its `qualite/prix rapport` or value for money. This is a good apartment in a great location and the few issues noted above can (mostly) be tackled easily. They did not really detract from the overall enjoyment of our stay there, and they are noted merely as a prompt to improvement. I can recommend a holiday here.

We had a lovely week at DuQuesa. We were there for a wedding so several guests were also staying at the apartments and the children met up daily at one of the four pools. Pools were quiet (still early in the season) so plenty of sun loungers. Grounds were immaculate.

Apartment was perfect, clean and spacious and had everything we needed from towels to utensils. Even a little utility room.

Pierre was always available and helpful with quick response when I messaged a couple of times.

We were grateful for the bottle water in fridge and tea /coffee tray plus few items of necessities were left in cupboard which was appreciated.

Would definitely recommend apartment.

The apartment was well equipped in a lovely complex right on the front. Would have appreciated some instructions and recommendations on equipment, restaurants, things to do etc

The apartment suited our family of 5 very well. We had a lovely balcony overlooking one of the 4 pools. The apartment had a fully equipped kitchen and a utility room which had a washing machine which was very useful. The 2 bedrooms,sofa bed in the lounge and 2 bathrooms worked well for our family.

The complex is well maintained and is easy to get around. We tried all of the pools and were very surprised that we could easily get sunbeds even at 11am. We got the impression from our 12 night stay that most people stay up late and don't get to the pool until nearly midday.

Manilva has lots of restaurants to walk to and a long shingle beach. The area is beautiful, we enjoyed exploring and had some lovely photos of Duquesa port and the surrounding areas.My daughter's loved the little stalls in the evenings.

We took day trips to Malaga and Gibraltar which are worth doing and used a company called Happy Transfers to drop off and collect us at the times we wanted as we didn't hire a car. We also used them for our airport transfers from Gibraltar and would highly recommend them as they were very efficient.

I would certainly return to this apartment and area. We had a great stay. I had previously emailed the owner and Duquesa Estates who manage the apartment and both always responded quickly to my messages with any queries that I had.

We had a lovely holiday and would definitely recommend this apartment, I am already missing the hot weather!