La Marina vs Alannia: Which is the Best Camping for Kids?

Introduction

Blessed with 2 of the best holiday resorts in southern Spain, Costa Blanca is the perfect destination for a camping holiday. So much more than just humble campsites, both La Marina Resort and Alannia Costa Blanca offer superb guest facilities, whether you’re occupying a touring pitch or renting one of their bungalows.

For a more detailed overview of our experiences at either camping resort, see our reviews of family camping at the incredible La Marina Resort or family camping at the impressive Alannia Costa Blanca.

We are often asked which camping resort do we think is best. Everyone will have their own opinion on this, making it hard to say either way. Here I have looked to share our own family’s decision, by breaking it down into categories as a head-to-head between the two. Read on to discover which resort is crowned our winner of the best family campsite for kids in Costa Blanca.

La Marina vs Alannia Head to Head

#1 Location

Alannia actually operates 2 campsites in Costa Blanca, the Alannia Costa Blanca resort and a smaller site at Guardamar del Segura. As the largest and more premium of the two, here we are just looking at the Alannia Costa Blanca resort.

Alannia Costa Blanca is located near to the town of Crevillent, in the south of Costa Blanca. It occupies a peaceful, rural location, with plenty of space. It is not possible to reach any services or amenities outside of the resort without driving.

La Marina Resort is located close to the town of La Marina, also in the south of Costa Blanca. It is situated close to a nearby undisturbed beach (20 min walk across sand dunes, or free land train ride). There are also several private restaurants that can be walked to just outside of the resort boundary.

**Winner: La Marina**

The proximity to a nearby beach gives La Marina a better location.

#2 Resort Layout

La Marina Resort is well designed. The main swimming pool is central, meaning it is never a big walk to get there, no matter where you are staying on the resort. There are plenty of regular sanitation blocks. The only real downside is that the children’s playground is located away from the pitches and towards the road, meaning it is not ideal for kids to be able to use on their own.

Alannia Costa Blanca is enormous, so much so that they provide a land train to shuttle guests around the resort. There are plenty of regular sanitation blocks and everything is sensibly laid out. Unfortunately though, the main communal square and swimming pool are located at the entrance to the site, meaning a big walk if you are staying at the other end of the resort.

**Winner: La Marina**

The central location within the resort of the main swimming pool gives La Marina the best layout.

#3 Pitches and Accommodation

Both La Marina Resort and Alannia Costa Blanca offer spacious touring pitches in various sizes to suit all. They pretty much all offer at least some shade at both locations. There is also water and electricity supplies on all pitches at both.

Both resorts also offer bungalows or cabins that can be rented for your stay. These are generally pretty good in both locations, although Alannia arguably has more modern ones available.

**Winner: Draw**

There is not much to choose between them. Possibly La Marina has slightly more attractive touring pitches and Alannia Costa Blanca has more modern bungalows, making it a draw.

#4 Swimming Pools

Both resorts have fantastic swimming pools. They are the real selling point for both. It is therefore very difficult to pick a winner.

La Marina has an amazing Lagoon Pool area to rival some of the best water parks for kids in Costa Blanca, with many slides and splash park sprays all set in a large pool of shallow water. It is just perfect for smaller children. It also has an alternative and smaller, more relaxing Bali Pool, which is better for swimming in.

Alannia Costa Blanca also has 2 pool areas, both of which are beautifully landscaped with plants and decoration. The leisure pool has some slides and kids pools for younger children, but the overall package is not as good as at La Marina. If you are looking for somewhere tranquil though, The Tahiti Pool is really beautiful, much nicer than then the Bali Pool at La Marina. You could kid yourself that you’d been transported to Southeast Asia!

**Winner: La Marina (just)**

This is a tough call. Possibly for adults you could argue that Alannia is better as the Tahiti Pool is so peaceful, but as this is to decide the best camping for kids in Costa Blanca, the winner will have to be La Marina. My kids love the pool there so much, they could honestly stay in it all day long!

#5 Sports Facilities

Both campsites offer a good range of sports courts and facilities, as well as mini golf that can be played for an additional cost.

They both also have indoor gyms with a range of exercise machines for guests to use.

**Winner: Draw**

Both La Marina and Alannia Costa Blanca have great sports facilities, so it is hard to pick a winner.

#6 Playgrounds

La Marina Resort and Alannia Costa Blanca both have outdoor and indoor playgrounds for children.

At La Marina, the outdoor playground is located near to the main entrance at the front of the resort. The playground is quite large and there is a nice range of equipment. However, there are 2 negatives. Firstly, most of the equipment is made of plastic, making it very hot during the day. It is therefore best used in the evenings. Secondly, the location leaves it a little exposed, so you may not feel happy allowing your kids to visit the playground unaccompanied.

There is also a very small funfair with bungee trampolines that can be used for additional cost. Some may see this as a positive, others a negative. It depends if you mind your kids begging you for money to have a go or not!

At Alannia Costa Blanca, the outdoor playground is better located in the main central plaza area. This leaves kids much freer to go off and play on their own, while adults can enjoy a drink at the bar. The playground is quite exposed to the sun though, so can also only really be used in the evenings during the sumnmer months.

Both campsites have indoor playgrounds, both of which are fun for younger children but also not enormous in either case. The indoor playground at Alannia Costa Blanca tends to get more crowded and chaotic, so my preference is for La Marina.

**Winner: Draw**

I think I prefer the outdoor playground at Alannia and the indoor playground at La Marina, so I’m calling it a draw.

#7 Evening Entertainment

Both campsites offer a programme of evening entertainment for guests to enjoy.

At La Marina, the evening entertainment is based in the impressive Coliseum theatre, newly constructed in the last few years. This circular outdoor theatre has individual booth sections within the teared seating, so families or groups can each occupy their own private area (it is wise to pre-book). It is a great facility for watching a show. The only downside is that it lacks some of the energy and vibe that you get from more of a communal experience.

In contrast, Alannia Costa Blanca has a large central plaza area that is the hub of the campsite. In the evenings, shows take place on stage and films are shown on a big screen. It is pleasingly informal and the shows are always good fun. Kids also have easy access to the playground if they get restless.

**Winner: Alannia Costa Blanca**

While there is no denying that the Coliseum building at La Marina is a very impressive theatre for a campsite, I personally prefer the communal and more relaxed approach at Alannia.

#8 Shops and Restaurants

La Marina resort has both a supermarket and gift shop. The supermarket is excellent, honestly the best campsite shop I have ever come across. The range is very good and the fact that the supermarket is a normal Consum supermarket means that the prices remain sensible also. Takeaway hot food can also be pre-ordered.

La Marina has several different restaurants to choose between. While not always brilliant, you at least have a decent selection of things to eat.

Alannia Costa Blanca also has a pretty reasonable campsite supermarket. It just lacks the range of the supermarket at La Marina. It also has a separate ice cream shop.

Alannia also has 2 different restaurants to choose between. I have had both good and bad experiences of eating there, which seemed to be dependent on how busy they were, so avoid ordering food at peak times.

**Winner: La Marina**

The sensible prices in the supermarket and better range of both the supermarket and restaurants at La Marina make it the winner.

#9 Visitor and Day Passes

Both campsites offer visitor and day passes for non-guests to use the swimming pools and other campsite facilities. Both campsites also restrict these passes during the peak summer months, meaning that only campsite guests are allowed on site.

**Winner: Draw**

#10 Staff and Rules

I have found the staff at both campsites to be generally pretty friendly and professional in their manner. Both sites have organised games and activities throughout the day run by the entertainment teams.

Alannia Costa Blanca is a bit fussier with rules though. Especially in the swimming pools, where it is forbiden to take any personal food and drink items into the pool areas (and they do check inside bags!).

In contrast, at La Marina, providing you do not have any glass containers and are not behaving antisocially, they pretty much leave you alone to do whatever you want. It is great to be able to take a few of your own cans and snacks in to have around the pool, rather than having to always be buying from a bar. That said, definitely don’t miss a cocktail at the swim up bar!

**Winner: La Marina**

With a pleasing lack of rules and an unfussy approach, La Marina definitely takes the crown for this one.

#11 Value for Money

Both campsites have flexible pricing policies with costs increasing sharply in the peak summer months. For either location, if you are able to visit outside of July and August, you will likely come away feeling like you’ve had excellent value for money. Sadly for many with kids, this is obviously not possible. While the peak summer is inevitably quite expensive, I still think you’d have a great time at either campsite and come away feeling that the cost was worth it.

**Winner: Draw**

With similar pricing strategies and with both having so much to offer, it is very difficult to pick a winner here. I guess it will depend on your campsite priorities as to which offers the best value for money for you. For us, the fact that you can consume your own food and drinks at the pools in La Marina creates a big cost saving as we spend so much of our time there. For others, I imagine this would make less of a difference, so I’m calling it a draw.

Overall Winner

Having gone through all of the categories, while admittedly there are many draws on the list, it seems clear that the winner of the best family camping for kids in Costa Blanca has to be:

**La Marina Resort**

Obviously everyone will have their own opinion, and understandably may prefer Alannia Costa Blanca. For me and my family though, the excellent water park pool, proximity to a nice beach and laid back vibe amongst both staff and guests makes La Marina the winner. We’ve never had a bad stay there and I know my kids can’t wait to go back!