Hotel Montecarlo Spa & Wellness

You come to Hotel Montecarlo Spa & Wellness for a straightforward seaside stay in Roses, with the beach directly outside and the sea appearing from every room. It is a practical base for divers who want a proper bed, air conditioning, a meal on site and somewhere warm to recover between outings rather than another remote retreat requiring a small expedition to reach dinner.

The hotel has 126 rooms, a sea-facing spa and a large terrace over the bay. The atmosphere mixes beach-hotel simplicity with a little evening life: the bar has live music and entertainment, while the spa offers the quieter version of the same evening. The hotel's website is available in English, French, German, Catalan and Spanish, which is useful when planning your stay, even though no hotel staff language information is provided here.

The address is Avinguda de la Platja nº2 in Roses, Spain, on the Santa Margarida seafront. You step straight out towards Playa Santa Margarida, while Playa Salatar is about 300 metres away and La Rubina Beach about 450 metres away. Playa Rastell is roughly 0.6 miles away on foot, and Roses Beach is about 0.9 miles away on foot. In other words, you have more than one stretch of sand to investigate without turning the day into a road trip.

The setting also works when you want something that is not wet. Aiguamolls de l'Empordà is about 4 miles away, and Ciutadella Roses is roughly 0.9 miles from the hotel. Figueres is about 11 miles away, with the Dalí Museum there, while Salvador Dalí's House in Portlligat is about 7 miles away. The coast supplies the main scenery; the museums and wetlands give you a sensible plan for a non-diving day.

Every room has air conditioning, a balcony and either partial or full sea views, so the useful choice is not whether you see the water but how much of it you want. If the view matters, choose one of the rooms with a full sea view. The lateral-view rooms still give you a balcony and a glimpse across the bay, and may make more sense if you would rather put the extra money into another dive or a massage. Sensible priorities, frankly.

The rooms have simple décor, tiled or parquet flooring, a fully equipped private bathroom, satellite television, a wardrobe and a small refrigerator. That fridge earns its keep when you return hot, salty and in need of cold water. Air conditioning helps with the other half of the job: becoming human again before dinner. Soundproofing is also listed, while a desk, bedside socket and clothes rack cover the less glamorous business of charging, unpacking and drying yourself out.

Spa access is included with the accommodation, so the room works particularly well for a couple who want sea views upstairs and the wellness area downstairs. A family room is available for two adults and one child, while the smaller single room suits a solo traveller who would rather keep the sea view than pay for space that will spend most of the day empty.

Les Fustes Restaurant Buffet handles breakfast, lunch and dinner, with international dishes alongside food from the region. The kitchen works in buffet format and includes show cooking, so you can make the evening as quick or as leisurely as your post-dive appetite requires. The emphasis is on seasonal and locally sourced ingredients, with enough variety to avoid the familiar resort problem of eating the same plate three nights running.

Breakfast is a buffet, with continental and gluten-free choices, and breakfast to go is available. The published breakfast hours run from 08:00 to 11:00, followed by lunch from 13:00 to 15:00 and dinner from 20:00 to 22:00. Those times suit a relaxed holiday rhythm, though early boat departures may require you to plan around breakfast rather than assuming the buffet will be waiting at dawn.

There is one bar, with live music and entertainment, plus a large terrace overlooking the bay. It is the obvious place for the first drink after the shower, while the terrace gives you somewhere to watch the light go out over Roses without having to put your shoes back on.

The outdoor pool gives you an alternative to the sea when you want water without sand, fins or a timetable. The hotel also provides direct beach access, with sun loungers, parasols and outdoor seating. You can spend the afternoon moving between shade and sea view, which is about the right level of exertion when the morning has already involved a boat and a tank.

The Spa & Wellness Hotel Montecarlo occupies the ground floor and looks across the Bay of Roses. Its facilities include a steam room, hammam, sauna, jacuzzi and relaxation area, with treatments ranging from facials and body treatments to massage. A couples massage is available, alongside back, neck, head, hand, foot and full-body massages. There are also body wraps, body scrubs, manicures and pedicures for anyone whose holiday priorities extend beyond logging dives.

When you want to leave the property, cycling and sailing are available, while the nearby wetlands, museums and historic sites provide quieter outings. The hotel also has a tour desk and can prepare packed lunches, useful for a day spent exploring the coast or Aiguamolls de l'Empordà rather than sitting beside the pool.

Check-in starts at 15:00, and check-out runs from 07:00 to 12:00. A 24-hour reception, luggage storage and a wake-up service are useful if your travel day starts early or ends late. WiFi is available throughout the hotel at no extra charge, and upper floors are accessible by lift. Wheelchair access and toilets with grab rails are also available.

Private parking is available nearby, subject to reservation and availability. The hotel has an electric-car charger that can be reserved when available. Pets are welcome, and the property accepts cash, Visa and Mastercard. There is no age requirement for check-in, and children of all ages are welcome; cots can be requested for younger children, while extra beds are not available.

Girona-Costa Brava Airport is about 31 miles away, with a driving distance of roughly 40 miles. Perpignan–Rivesaltes Airport is about 35 miles away, or roughly 47 miles by road. Figueres railway station is around 11 miles away by road. The hotel address is clear enough for a sat-nav, and Roses is the location to enter rather than Empuriabrava, which belongs to a wider catalogue area rather than this hotel's actual town.

The hotel sits beside the Bay of Roses, with Aiguamolls de l'Empordà and the protected landscapes around Cap de Creus within the wider coastal setting. The restaurant works with seasonal and local products, linking what reaches your plate with the region around you.

No environmental certification or wider sustainability programme is attached to the property here, so the practical point is the location itself: you can reach the beach directly, walk to nearby coastal areas and use the hotel as a base for the wetlands and historic sites without treating every outing as an airport transfer.