The spacious, stylish rooms of the Lookéa Marismas Andalucia are apartment rooms which include a small kitchen that comes complete with two hotplates, a refrigerator, cutlery, crockery and kitchen utensils, etc. The resort has a supermarket, Los Olivos, where you can buy your own ingredients and prepare meals to eat in the dining room, which has a wooden table and four chairs. The rooms have tiled flooring and a small electronic coded safe (?1.50 a day), individual air conditioning and a direct telephone line. The lounge area has a satellite television (which broadcasts 21 channels including Eurosport), a sofa, a coffee table and a desk. The decor is limited to an abstract and rather kitsch painting in the bedroom and lounge area. Outside, there is a terrace with a green plastic table, two armchairs and a cushioned deckchair with superb views of El Rompido's marshland nature reserve and wonderful sunsets. The superior rooms have views over the swimming pool and golf course. In the evening, the sound of the waves and croaking toads will lull you to sleep! The clean and well-decorated bathrooms contain a bathtub and flexible shower, a separate toilet and bidet, a magnifying mirror, a hair-dryer and Seth Hotels hospitality products.

The Lookéa Marismas Andalucia is ideally located at the heart of a vast marshland nature reserve ('marisma' means 'marsh'). It is part of the Rompido Golf and Beach Resort, a complete resort which also includes the El Rompido Golf hotel. Indeed, its large 36-hole golf course stretches across to the small neighbouring fishing village of El Rompido. A member of the Menorca-based Spanish hotel group SetHotels, the hotel is a modern establishment built in 2004 with 185 rooms spread over 3 floors. The 4 ft-deep swimming pool, which is tucked up alongside the golf course in a pleasant flower-filled garden with trees around its edge, opens from 11:00am until 6:00pm. It has been designed like a long river, with an island (and palm tree) that can be reached by a small wooden bridge. The sun terrace is furnished with cushioned deckchairs and palm-leaf parasols, and showers and beach towels are available (the latter for an ?18 deposit). A kidney-bean shaped pool just over a foot deep is provided for children, and the swimming-pool snack bar is also open from 10:00am to 6:00pm. A pedestrian path begins at the swimming pool and winds its way across the golf course and through the vegetation to the neighbouring fishing village, El Rompido. A mini-club for children aged between 4 and 12 is open from May to October. The spa in the neighbouring El Rompido hotel is open from 9:00am to 9:00pm, and consists of an indoor swimming pool heated to 33°C, three hydro-massage waterfalls, in-pool seats with built-in jacuzzi jets and a separate jacuzzi. You can even relax in the deckchairs on the wooden terrace between sessions in the sauna or hammam. Products by the Parisian cosmetics brand Matis are used in the treatments and massages given in the three massage rooms. Fine views over the marshes can also be enjoyed through the large windows of the spacious, modern gym.

The Atalis restaurant, which can seat up to 360 guests, serves buffet meals for breakfast from 7:30am to 10:30am, lunch and dinner (as a buffet or 'a la carte') from 7:00pm to 10:00pm. The cuisine is basically international, with a few Spanish touches such as paella or Canary Island potatoes with mojo sauce. Don't forget that you can grab a spot of lunch from the all-day snack bar next to the El Lago swimming pool, and the Macarella, Binbeca and Turqueta bars are also nice places to relax and enjoy one of the many cocktails on the menu. In a nod to the origins of the Seth Hotels group, all the bars and restaurants have been named after Menorcan beaches.

Getting to Nueva Umbria beach, a little over a mile from the hotel, is a long and complicated affair: after a 10-minute train journey, you have to cross the Piedras river by boat (another 10 minutes), and the train and boat only operate between April and October. The beach is a vast 7 mi unspoilt stretch of fine, pale sand, with deckchairs and parasols available for hire. The tranquil setting is only disturbed by the calling of seagulls and the ocean waves, but it is quite a walk down to the water's edge!

The region is not directly served by an airport so you will need to fly into Faro, in Portugal, or Seville, 1hr 15 and 1hr 30 minutes' drive away respectively. Six of the rooms have been adapted for the disabled. Getting to the beach is a long and complicated affair: after a 10-minute train journey, you have to cross the Piedras river by boat (another 10 minutes) to get to Nueva Umbria beach, and the train and boat only operate between April and October. Golf enthusiasts will be very taken with the superb 36-hole golf course and its marshland setting, which is a protrected nature reserve that offers some spectacular walks. A pedestrian path begins at the swimming pool and winds its way across the golf course and through the vegetation to the neighbouring fishing village, El Rompido. Alternatively, mountain bikes and quad bikes can be hired on site. The spa at the neighbouring El Rompido Golf is open until 9:00pm, with a sauna, hammam, jacuzzi and heated swimming pool for you to use. The resort has a supermarket and a Europcar car hire office. The outdoor car park is free, but the indoor one costs ?4. There is a water park and a go-kart track just over a mile from the resort whilst the hotel's sports centre, with tennis courts and football pitches, is open daily from 10:00am to 1:00pm and from 5:00pm to 11:00pm.