Terre Blanche Hotel Spa & Golf Resort

Oooh, where to start?! 🫣 We stayed here last year in July and it was fabulous! The food, the pool, the rooms, spa etc couldn’t fault it! So we booked again for this year in August. We just got back and oh… the bitter taste !? We had such high expectations and were looking forward to another 9 days of bliss and pampering but were so bitterly disappointed this time. First 2-3 days were ok, food in the pool restaurant was very good, kids club for our daughters was great (albeit they did get the nits!!!??! 😱) and we were having a lovely time… Until we realised that after 3 identical lunch meals and average dinners… things weren’t as glam anymore. We ate at La Gaudina 3 or 4 times for dinner at the only delicious stuff we had was the bread and the wine! Average food at best, lack of flavour, lack of dairy free alternatives and whatever came dairy free eventually, was bland and boring. The cleanliness of the outdoor areas has gone down hill… there was an empty glass with a cigarette butt in it left outside the Gaudina for 5 days until I got annoyed and picked it up myself and put in on a shelf inside the restaurant as it got embarrassing… Kids buffet was another let down,subpar quality and very repetitive , fish was often recycled from lunch and vice versa, soggy cold chips, flies on the food outside (lunch buffet) And the cherry on top: I ordered two glasses of wine by the pool and the waiter spilled one whole glass on my handbag (not a cheap one either!) and his reaction was shocking : a loud “oh f***!” In front of my kids and everyone else , few apologies and then the excuse “I am not professional, I work for the season!” The next morning during breakfast service, a gentleman showed up at our table without introducing himself, and started to apologise loudly (again, in front of everyone else present ) for the “pool incident” and offered to “fix the bag” and if there is anything they could do as in “clean it”?! I had to send him away as I felt so embarrassed by his approach and how loud he was, I asked him if we could discuss this more privately later that day. I was never approached again although I did mention this to the reception when I got a courtesy call two days later to check if our stay was ok etc. The bag still stinks of wine, it is not discoloured or damaged but it stinks! And that was our Terre Blanche experience this year. We won’t be rushing back, sorry! Such a shame…

We stayed here six years ago and it was wonderful…this trip, not so much. It’s gone downhill while prices have gone up. Firstly, the food is subpar, I ordered lobster pasta , which was pricey and very average. My kids ordered chicken strips—they were coated in sunflower seeds and oats (the same coating on their bread by the way). My kids didn’t eat it as most kids want plain food. Last night we waited quite awhile for (very gross) pasta for me and over 40 minutes for dessert. Very little explanation as to what the issue was, especially as it wasn’t very busy. Secondly, we booked a restaurant outside the hotel for a meal. I’ll admit we forgot to cancel, so my bad, but then they came to us at dinner and said that we had a car waiting. We hadn’t booked it and then they said it would be €35 anyway. We disputed it but were told that they had preemptively booked it for us…my argument was I’d have remembered the booking if I’d ordered the car. Point is, for the amount we spent on this holiday, you’d think taking the €35 off our bill would have been a goodwill measure, (plus they “lost” our dinner reservations for both nights because they’d booked then under wrong name, creating quite a bit of confusion) The buggies are slow and while the staff is great, overall the place feels like it’s stumbled and slipped. We won’t be back….

The resort is beautiful but that’s where it stops. We weren’t warned that we needed to book anything in advance. When we arrived we were told we couldn’t get a reservation for the spa or the gourmet restaurant. So we asked if there were any restaurants in the area. The concierge sent us to Chez Yoh while it was pouring rain. The restaurant had no space inside, where it was over 90degrees, so she brought us outside. The seats were soaked. The table was wet and 1/2 hour later no one had taken our order. When we told the concierge he yelled at us “so what do you want me to do!” This surly attitude and the hostile response shocked us. Terre Blanche is out of the way. You’re at the mercy of a hotel that can’t accommodate all its guests. And when we tried to solve the problem we encountered a rude concierge. Not worth the price or the effort to get there. The golf is great. But there are other great golf courses in the world!