Rocking and Relaxing in the Canaries
Our next adventure with our daughter Summer was a bit of winter sunshine in Tenerife and more specifically staying in the Hard Rock Hotel initially, before moving to one of the Luxury Hotels of the World, the magnificent Bahia Del Duque.
We were only away for a week and this was as far as we'd travelled since our Mauritius exploits when she was 8 months, see previous blog. Obviously given the fact she was now mobile and conscious of every face on the flight we knew that this would be a bit different.
I can't speak highly enough of Norwegian Airlines who we flew with direct. Normally I enter a plane of the "budget" variety with a sense of dread, and that's without a 2 year old in tow, but this experience was very different. I've been on scheduled carriers, such as BA, which I found to be a lot more cramped than the generous seat pitch offered by Norwegian so I was pleasantly surprised when I could stretch out and relax (I'm 6ft 6 inches so that really is a pleasure for me).
Given the access to special fares that I have with Travel Counsellors I was able to pre-book seats (free of charge earlier than non-prepaying passengers) and had a massive 46kgs per person in baggage free of charge too. The lowest fare when I checked online was £60 more per person and did not include any of the above so a great deal to a wonderful destination.
Once we arrived we were whisked away to Playa Paraiso and the Hard Rock Hotel Tenerife. I'd been told only good things by numerous colleagues and friends about this newly opened property and it did not disappoint. Music was always playing much to the delight of my daughter, and she danced and skipped about most days to various Michael Jackson tracks or ACDC anthems. Now this does not mean that at every corner there is a tattooed, long haired rocker waiting to thrash out an air guitar, it's actually pretty relaxed and a lot classier than I thought it would be. They have live music at various points through the day, from the classically trained Spanish guitar player at breakfast to the Prince tribute act playing in the lobby. There are DJs playing at the pools (including the kids pool) which Summer absolutely loved, and it gave a really chilled out vibe to the entire resort, which I really enjoyed. The Beach club area was awesome and to be honest would be magic to just while away a few weeks, sipping cocktails at the swim up bar, but Summer preferred the heated kids pool with small slides and inflatables so we hung around there most days.
The rooms were incredible and the Silver Suite was well worth the relatively small upgrade cost as it was huge! We had a balcony overlooking the beach club as well so lots of space to relax when Summer was taking her afternoon nap.
After four days rocking out at the Hard Rock we got to change hotels so took a taxi the short distance to Costa Adeje and the Bahia Del Duque. What a hotel this is, a very famous property on Tenerife but overall one of the finest properties in the Canaries and we loved it. A far more tranquil experience here, and while the average age was certainly older than Hard Rock it had a more refined feel to it and we really enjoyed the architecture and ambience.
We were upgraded to a Seaview suite at check in which was really an amazing gesture and I would recommend this suite any day of the week. Especially having a wee one, it meant we had our own room where we could relax at night when she slept next door, and with our own balcony with sunset views of the ocean and beautiful gardens below it was a great way to end each day.
For such an upmarket hotel the kids facilities were really good and staff were so friendly and accommodating. If you don't feel comfortable eating in the restaurants at the hotel with a little one like we did, a 2 minute walk out the door of the hotel led you onto the promenade where there are lots of restaurants and bars to suit all budgets. Equally the stretch of beach just outside the hotel is superb and it is really reasonable to hire a lounger for the day, but to be honest the facilities inside the hotel are so good, I'd probably just pop out for a swim and then head back into the resort.
Overall a fantastic holiday which gave me a real contrast into two hotels and areas of an island I'd not visited before. So if you have any wishes to visit the Canaries or Tenerife specifically please get in touch to find out more and I'll be happy to share more details of my trip and insights I got from my contacts at the hotels and through the Tourist board.
Look forward to speaking to you soon.
David
david.bishop@travelcounsellors.com 0131 516 3920 or 07896 496 727 www.travelcounsellors.co.uk/david.bishop