We stayed here during the May half term and had a lovely holiday with great weather. La Manga itself is a huge resort and you need a car or golf buggy to explore the whole place. The landscaping and maintenance is immaculate, which sounds like a dull point to make but when you see how dry and barren it is locally, you really appreciate the lush greenery and beautiful flowers that create a peaceful and pretty location. On the resort there are lots of different pools to choose from, all perfectly kept up, with plenty of sunbeds. The pool nearest to this villa (1 min walk) is great and our children especially loved the smaller pool, which was warmer and shallow. There is a cafe/bar overlooking the pool which was good for drinks and ice creams. It was always busy but we found the food to be poor. There are lots of other shops, cafes and restaurants on the resort and Louise has kindly provided a summary in the welcome folder, which helps guide you in the right direction!
The villa itself is great. Light, spacious and well equipped. The real highlight for us was the outside space, a large balcony and a sun terrace, as well as a grassy area to the front. The villa is built into a hill so the views are great. As well as the pretty roof tops, you can see all the way to the Mar Menor and the Mediterranean sea and you can choose sun or shade from early til late. Our children are 3 and 6 and loved the place. The slight draw backs are that the stairs are quite steep and narrow and both bathrooms are on the lower ground floor so the little one needed escorting every time he needed a wee! Louise helpfully provided stairgates so the boys were safe but we were also careful to watch them on the balcony at all times. The villa and wider resort are well suited for kids, with playgrounds and child friendly restaurants, sports etc.
A few other guests mentioned the generous welcome hamper that Louise provides and that was very much appreciated. There are various supermarkets on the resort but they are quite expensive. There is a big Spar about a 10 min drive away, on the way to Cabo De Palos, which is a nice little town with a beach and harbour. We didn't explore much further but there's a nature reserve very close and some interesting towns a bit further. The beaches on The Mar Menor provide a good alternative to the main beaches, with warmer, shallow water and a long prom.
We had a great time and would definitely recommend for an easy, comfortable holiday.