Gran Canaria Blog

There’s a part of Gran Canaria that has become known by holidaymakers visiting the island as ‘Little Venice’ – the village of Puerto de Mogan.

Away from the bigger resorts it’s a haven of tranquility and still has the air of a traditional village, but with the advantage of good modern accommodation with both a hotel and self catering accommodation available.

Puerto de Mogan’s similarity to the Italian city of canals is no accident. The vision of the designers of the beachfront part of the city was to re-create the quaintness of Venice in a Spanish environment.

It’s located on the southwestern coast of Gran Canaria. The island is the second largest most populous in the Canary Island chain. Visitors from Europe, the UK and further afield for its sunshine, beaches, charm and rich culture.

The island is home to over 800,000 residents. It sees well over twice that many annual visitors. Tourism is an important part of the economy.

A majority of tourist activity takes place along the eastern coast of the island. Much of it is centered around the capital city of Las Palmas.

The western side is less populated and concentrated. This is one reason that Puerto de Mogan’s developers decided to adopt an Italian theme. Created by an Italian designer, it’s one that is unique to the island.

Visitors to the beachside downtown area will be hard pressed to find a motor vehicle of any kind. Instead, Puerto de Mogan caters to the pedestrian.

Designers created arched walkways reminiscent of many Italian cities. Visitors can stroll the bricked walkways which link the town’s shops, restaurants and quaint residences and hotels.

The real nod to Venice, though, is the town’s canals. They run through the village and out into the marina area which opens into the Atlantic Ocean.

While many of Gran Canaria’s popular resort towns feature modern high-rise buildings. This was another deliberate design choice by town visionaries.

The main hotel sits comfortably in the surroundings, and for those considering a week or two’s holiday it can be booked in the UK via Thomson Holidays or independently.

No buildings exceed two stories tall except for a small handful of older ones. Any modern construction is limited by law to two stories or less. This feature adds to the unique charm of the beach town.

Locals survived for centuries on fishing. The city is still home to many native fishermen. However, most of the economic activity comes from tourism in today’s world.

Daytrippers tend to stick to the waterfront area of the city. Tourists who want to stay for a spell and spend a little bit less money can venture further inland. Away from the pricey, tourist driven restaurants and boutiques, visitors can find more authentic cuisine and homier accommodation.

The village is family friendly, with activities for people of all ages. For swimming and sunbathing it’s fairly sheltered, so the water is warm and currents are gentle, helped by the good Gran Canaria weather.

Other popular water activities include snorkelling, boating and jet skiing, as well as surfing if you venture a bit further out.

Puerto de Mogan is widely well known for her Friday market. The open air market draws hundreds of locals as well as tourists every week. Shoppers can find just about anything, from hand made clothing to native produce, fresh fish, and locally made craft and gift items.

A visit to to see Puerto de Mogan is well worthwhile if you’re not staying there during Gran Canaria holidays - most of the coastal towns are connected by a highway.

Some of the eastern towns are even connected by ferry for ease of travel. It’s time well-spent, whether it’s a day trip or a longer stay.

For a Gran Canaria map visit yourgrancanaria.net

Comments from people who have been to the island are often posted on social network sites such as mixx

The best advertising is recommendations from previous users, and to win an award that comes about as a direct result of your guests saying you provide great service is one worth winning - and that’s what’s happened for twenty of Tenerife’s hotels.

Organised by Thomas Cook Holidays, the awards recognise excellence, and it’s judged by actual guests at hotels who share their experience with the company via a Customer Satisfaction Questionnaire.

As well as awarding the best hotels it allows the company to keep on top of which hotels they use are perhaps not performing as well as others, and being able to make sure the hotels in Tenerife they offer are the best in the travel industry.

Some of the hotels that won awards are already well known to tourists, and in Playa de las Americas for example include the Bitacora and the Hotel Sol.

Los Cristianos is another well known resort popular for Tenerife holidays, and winners include the Paradise Park, Arona Gran and the Los Alisios apartments, while the Barcelo Santiago picked up honours from their hotel in Puerto de Santiago.

The Iberostar’s two hotels in Tenerife’s Costa Adeje both were among the winners, along with the Gran, ensuring all the popular areas for tourists from the UK and further afield were well represented and showing that the island is capable of providing great accommodation in different locations and it’s not just the Tenerife weather that attracts tourists.

Thomas Cook Holidays whose clients made the nominations are one of the UK’s best known travel companies, along with First Choice and Thomson.

For those who haven’t been before, the Tenerife weather is often near perfect on the southern half of the island for a holiday, while the northern half offers lush greenery and beautiful vistas. The cities are always full of life, and the glorious view of Mount Tiede, Spain’s highest point, is one many tourists remember from past visits.

For specific areas, Thomas Cook Holidays offer good information on their travel site about each one, but some of the less known areas are:

Icod de los Vinos (just Icod to the locals) is Tenerife’s premier wine-growing region. Daily life in Icod moves at a more relaxed pace than some other places on the island. If you visit Icod, be sure to visit the Dragon Tree that the locals say is thousands of years old. The beautiful Playa San Marcos with its inviting black sand can be found nearby.

La Laguna is a good place to stay if you enjoy art and architecture, and is more suited for adults than family holidays. The Cathedral dates back to 1515, and there are many interesting churches to explore. The city was once the capital of the island and still bears the regal air of an important place.

Los Gigantes is a city at the foot of massive cliffs which bears the same name. The picturesque marina offers boat trips for dolphin and whale watching, while the town has a good choice of bars, restaurants and shops while out and about.

For more information including press releases visit yourtenerife.net

Around the world holiday destinations often need something new to give it the appearance of keeping up with the times and having the travel press write about it, and Tenerife is no different from any other destination in that respect.

A new hotel will make waves as does a refurbished one, and a hotel that’s under new ownership.

All are cause for travel journalists to start booking their flights to Tenerife ready for a few days special treatment in exchange for a review in their respective media.

And so it is with Tenerife as new owners take over the 5 star San Blas Reserva Ambiental in the south of the island.

A spokesman for the new owners commented:

“The purchase of San Blas Reserva Ambiental Hotel is a wonderful addition to the Sandos Hotels & Resorts product line and offers and innovative holiday resort with a variety of spaces, facilities and activities designed to live up to all the expectations for vacation fun and relaxation as well as a unique experience for group and incentive travel.”

Commenting on the benefits of booking a stay at what could be one of the best Tenerife hotels they add:

”The San Blas Reserva Ambiental Hotel is situated in front of the magnificent Atlantic Ocean, just ten minutes from the Tenerife South Airport, and located on a natural Environmental Reserve.  Unique on-site facilities include a multi-media center with an interactive museum to discover mysterious species and a historical experience tunnel that recreates the history of San Blas from prehistoric times to the modern day, a sailing lake and a 27-hole Biosphere Golf Course, and a boutique Spa facility with an extensive list of body treatments.”

So with a location close to the airport from where guests take their flights to Tenerife, what are the opinions of those who have stayed there recently and added their views to popular review sites? A typical response has been:

‘We had a perfect vacation at this wonderful planned hotel. Every detail has been thought through. Our room were large with a very nice seperate shower room (yes, it was that big!) and jacuzzi. The staff is very friendly and their personality always shines through. The breakfast buffet was soooo good. One evening we tried the buffet too. Usually I’m not to fond of hotel buffets, but the San Blas really surprised me here too. In the nearby fishing village there are a lot of lovely restaurants too. Overall I can only recommend San Blas, and will absolutely stay here when travelling to Tenerife again. This is a peaceful way to vacation away from usual the tourist traps.’

Other reviews from those staying there for their Tenerife holidays are also generous in their praise, with most commenting that the facilities, cleanliness and staff make it for them 4 or 5 star standard.

For more Tenerife information including a 5 day forecast with today’s Tenerife weather visit yourtenerife.net

They also have a map, villas and the latest news and articles to read.

Good news for the island comes from UK regional newspaper The Birmingham Mail who reported recently on Thomson Holidays new hotels for the island:

The stars will be shining bright in Tenerife this summer – and I’m not talking heavenly bodies here.

From next month stars from West End productions will be jetting out on a fortnightly basis to entertain UK holidaymakers enjoying a totally new holiday concept in the Canary Islands.

It’s all part of a multi-million pound gamble by holiday giant Thomson, called Sensatori.

But companies like Thomson are not really in the business of gambling unless the odds are stacked in their favour.

And as Sensatori proved to be a winning formula in Crete and in Mexico when it was launched there just two years ago, it’s odds on it will work in Tenerife.

In fact it’s already working judging by the number of advanced booking.

From early May, the stunningly beautiful 609 bedroom Gran Melia Palacio hotel, on Tenerife’s south west coast will take on the mantle of Thomson’s third Sensatori hotel – and more than 700 guests will arrive to experience it.

So what is it and what makes it so special? I visited the Gran Melia ahead of the crowds to find out.

Sensatori translates as ‘enlighten the senses’ and those senses are certainly in for some enlightenment in a very unspoiled, low rise part of a traditionally high rise island.

The Sensatori formula is made up of a number of essential parts. Part one is take a new five-star-plus hotel – in this case the two-year old Gran Melia with its vast Roman colannade-fringed central plaza, 14 spectacular fountains and myriad teracotta-roofed towers.

The cool – in every sense of the word – split level marble lobby area has a huge domed roof with a giant mobile of solid silver leaves hanging from it. This hotel is a real style sensation. It’s so eye-poppingly beautiful, waif-like models from the men’s magazine FHM were using it as a backdrop for a fashion shoot during my visit.

Part two is ensure it has a stunning location. The Gran Melia is a 26 acre, ocean-front property with the longest swimming pool – or rather lagoon – in Spain and one of the longest in Europe.

Part three, is sprinkle the Sensatori magic dust onto the property to transform it into something even more special.

That dust means that from Sunday, Thomson guests will get a whole new experience for all members of the family, in terms of dining, activities, attractions for children and entertainment.

I noticed it as soon as I walked into the entrance lobby and was hit by the distinctive Melia fragrance in the air – hitting the first of those senses.

The Sensatori programme means that there will be a sensational line-up of 49 activities to promote sport and wellbeing introduced, including tai chi and aqua tai chi, spinning, tennis, archery, rugby, soccer, walks, nutritional classes and much, much more. But all these will be away from the main public areas and Sensatori ‘flavour sheets’ will allow you to put your name down to opt in if you want to take part or you can just opt out and relax in the resort.

Thomson Holidays guests will get fullboard-plus, which means breakfast, lunch and dinner are all included in the price as is beer, wine and soft drinks with meals.

And in the Gran Melia the food in the main Pangea restaurant is exceptional, even by five star hotel standards. I have rarely seen such a magnificent dinner buffet, with something to suite everyone’s taste buds and chefs at your beck and call to cook to your individual desires.

The breakfast buffet too is just as splendid and extensive, more than satisfying yet another of those senses – taste.

But because the Sensatori formula dictates that a hotel has to have six different restaurants – in order to offer guests even more choice than a traditional hotel – there are an additional five speciality eateries. These include Galima, where Michelin star chef Dani Garcia conjures up some culinary masterpieces, and the Japanese restaurant Nami which you enter via a stone tunnel taking you into a different world. It offers an intriguing choice but I opted for tappanyaki – and ate it under the watchful eye of a mini army of life-sized Terracotta warriors, obviously deserters from Xian.

Sensatori is as much about experiences for children as their parents and a special wing of the hotel has been turned into the “Playhouse” for young children and a nursery for babies. And because Sensatori is about the senses, the programme in the Playhouse is all about enjoyable learning, with sessions in the “creative kitchen”, the “silly science lab” and the “story book corner”.

And as you can imagine one of the favourites in the Playhouse is the once a week sleep over, to give mum and dad the night off. Amazingly the creche is already solidly booked for the whole of May. The Gran Melia has a superb YSI spa, and under the Sensatori banner there will be one day per week where adults can take a child in too.

“The idea is to get people to re-connect,” Thomson’s Sensatori experience manager, Alison Ventura, told me.

“Rather than mum saying ‘I’m off to the hairdressers’ and leave the children with dad she can, for example, take her daughter along and they can have their hair done side by side.”

Next to the spa is a gym so well equipped it would have Arnold Swarzenegger salivating. It’s free to use so there is no excuse for not working off some of the pounds you are bound to put on given the culinary temptations of the Gran Melia.

If you are not so energetic you can stroll in the beautifully kept gardens or take the cliff walk to the totally uncommercialised little town of Alcala, about ten minutes away and then return to relax on one of the Bali beds around one of the many pools. To read the full article click here

For more details about hotels in Tenerife visit yourtenerife.net

Thomson holidays also do other Canary Island holidays, including Lanzarote holidays and holidays in Gran Canaria

Advertised costs for a holiday in Tenerife, like many other popular destinations, has come down in real terms in recent years.

A great deal of this is down to lower airfares, with low cost carriers flying to Tenerife and the other Canary Islands from the UK, Ireland and other parts of Europe, at a significantly lower cost than their competitors.

But are cheap flights to Tenerife because of some airlines ability to be more efficient than others - or is it because holiday destinations know that more airlines equals more flights, which in turn means more tourists arriving, and they are prepared to give preferential treatment over exisiting carriers, allowing flights to come down in price for some, but not all airlines?

For Tenerife it’s possible that it’s come to the stage where some tour operators feel that the playing field is so uneven it’s difficult for them to win in a fair fight - and could stop offering holidays at all.

The island would be the loser as the major tour operators don’t just offer flights - hotels, car hire and excursions are often offered, and any gain in more people currently taking low cost flights to Tenerife will be more than offset by the number of holidaymakers lost who take package holidays.

In recent years tour operators have found it harder to compete anyway as more people have been acting as their own travel agent via the internet, booking their hotels, car hire and flights seperately.

But if tour operators did pull out it could really hurt Tenerife as there is a swing back towards what tour operators do best at the moment - package holidays.

As the Euro - used by Spain as her currency - has increased in value against the British currency - Sterling - British holidaymakers have been discovering holiday destinations cheaper than Tenerife, notably Egypt and Turkey.

Package holidays offered by tour operators have been one way to fight against currency fluctuations, with many tourists taking all inclusive options and taking their meals at their Tenerife hotels - take away some of the tour operators and potentially tens of thousands of tourists will look elsewhere if the island isn’t given as an option.

But it’s not just because the tour operators are able to all inclusive holidays in Tenerife for those who want it - a recent event highlighted to many the benefit of booking with a company like Thomson or Thomas Cook Holidays:

The volcanic ash cloud that grounded flights for a week in Europe left tens of thousands of tourists stranded, and those who had booked their flights and accommodation independently were often left to organise their own way home.

But for those who had book with major tour operators like Thomas Cook and Thomson Holidays, they were in luck as the companies went the extra mile to provide accommodation and meals, along with organising their clients to be on flights home as soon as they could. Some even travelled back to Britain on a brand new cruise ship…quite a contrast to the independent travellers who made their way home at considerable expense overland.

Now is not the time for Tenerife to consider trading off the tour operators against the attraction of budget airlines.

More details about Tenerife are at http://www.yourtenerife.net and included is a map, news and information and a forecast for the next five days for the Tenerife weather

A top-20 ranking, recently unveiled by travelrepublic.co.uk, shows that the Villa Cortes Hotel in Tenerife was ranked first with an average rating of 4.87 (out of 5), followed closely by the Corinthia and 2 other hotels at 4.81.

Clients can post a review once they have made a booking and returned home. The site includes over 70,000 hotels and over 165,000 reviews, although only hotels receiving a minimum of 25 reviews were ranked.

“Many congratulations to the 20 hotels… which have clearly delivered an excellent customer experience to Travel Republic customers during 2009. Given that we now have over 70,000 hotels on the website a spot in the top 20 is an amazing achievement,” the site’s managing director Paul Furner said.

More information for hotels in Tenerife are available via http://www.yourtenerife.net/hotels

A good article has appeared in the Daily Mail in the UK about the Tenerife of today - and past.

Guanches - tall, strapping shepherds from North Africa - were among the first-ever visitors to the Canary Islands, settling here more than 2,000 years ago, long before the Spanish took control in the early 15th Century.

Situated on arid land in the south of the island, San Blas - which opened last December - was earmarked to become a golf course.

But when a year-long clearance operation uncovered ancient caves and artefacts, it was turned into a nature reserve and hotel instead.

Volcanic eruptions have left the area rich in history rather than flora. The hotel’s multi-media exhibition explains how Guanches and the first Spanish settlers lived, and visitors can ‘meet’ these characters on a guided tour.

You also discover what life was like for the early Spanish settlers. In a documentary, you can watch a fishwife trek from the sea to the mountains, while, in a convincing enactment, tomato growers go about their business near the resort’s man-made lake which is populated by dancing dragonflies and waterfowl.

The hotel is part of Thomas Cook Holidays Sentido range. Sentido is Latin for ’sense’ and 19 hotels run by the tour operator in Europe and Africa are designed around the concept of appealing to all five senses. Each hotel has a signature scent - San Blas has a citrus bergamot smell in its 331 spacious bedrooms.

But the most enticing scent comes from the freshly cooked wreckfish, red mullet and tuna presented at the evening buffet in the airy, circular La Cueva de Atxona restaurant.

The taste element of Sentido Tenerife hotels is based on using local produce and the nightly spread of salads, vegetables and meats sits alongside traditional dishes.

If you feel like venturing a little further, the harbour of Los Abrigos is a five-minute walk from the hotel.

The quayside at Los Abrigos is dotted with seafood restaurants, and you can also watch fishing boats bobbing up and down in the sheltered bay and laughing children jumping off the harbour wall into the sea.

Sound is another sense catered for in Sentido hotels, with chill-out music playing in the bathrooms.

In the evening, the hotel’s Magma Hall hosts bands, while outdoors at the bar plaza there’s comedy, dance lessons, singing and the very popular mini-disco for children.

However, it is still possible to find lots of tranquil areas in the resort, where the only thing you will hear is the occasional owl swooping overhead.

Youngsters are welcomed in the resort - there’s a club where they can learn pottery, make kites or paint. And for adults, there are activities including yoga, tennis, volleyball, climbing and kayaking on the man-made lake.

For the touch element, San Blas has a mini-spa where visitors can enjoy a range of massages, use the sauna or rest weary muscles in a pool filled with water jets.

Eight outdoor infinity pools of various shapes and depths cascade through the resort down to the beachfront - in keeping with the eco-friendly theme, the pools use cleansed seawater. Two of the pools are heated, but year-round sunshine for the Tenerife weather means even the cool pools are a pleasant place to chill out.

It’s not possible to swim from the rocky beach in front of the hotel, though you can take a dip from the nearby beach at Los Abrigos with its black sand.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1222834/Tenerife-A-primitive-past-revealed-modern-resort.html#ixzz0gwwYd8KK

Booking holidays in Tenerife online is becoming more popular as time goes by, and one internet site says:

“High Street Travel Agents such as First Choice who have now joined forces with Thomson Holidays has cut down on the number of Hotels they are offering and instead concentrating more on a select number of hotels which would be easier to fill. Instead of bringing down the prices of holidays for 2010 they have instead increased the prices even though in my opinion they will struggle to sell holidays next at these high rise prices due to the credit crunch and also with the world cup being on.”

The cheapest offerings for Holidays at the present moment are Tenerife if booked separate. With airline prices being low to Tenerife and hotels in Tenerife offering great reductions more and more people are now understanding that they can save hundreds of pounds by booking cheap flights and booking hotels without the need to go to their travel agents.

To read the full article click here

For more information about Tenerife visit http://www.yourtenerife.net

Google has introduced its Street View service for Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Majorca.

Brandrepublic report:

LONDON - Dodgy package holiday operators may find it harder to sell their ‘luxurious swimming pools’ and ’state-of-the-art’ jacuzzis, as Google adds popular destinations for British tourists to its Street View service.

Tenerife is known for her great beaches and year round weather, but for those who might want to see a bit of the rural part of the island during their holidays in Tenerife The Independent (who seem to have been doing really good travel articles lately) have written about it, saying:

Aren’t the Canaries better known for their beaches?

Certainly, but the islands also have some strikingly beautiful inland scenery – and more and more visitors are cottoning on. For the energetic, it’s all about enjoying the great outdoors; others just love the idea of sampling a simple, peaceful alternative to the bright lights of the resorts.

Is there much to explore?

Think banana plantations, cacti, dunes and volcanoes. Five out of the seven islands (Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, La Palma, El Hierro and Gran Canaria) are wholly or partly listed as Unesco biosphere reserves in recognition of their remarkable landscapes and unusual flora and fauna.

La Palma, in the thinly populated western Canaries, has such clear skies that it’s one of the best places in the northern hemisphere for stargazing. El Hierro’s unpolluted waters are perfect for scuba diving and La Gomera is topped with glorious, laurel-forested hiking country. Tenerife is dominated by El Teide, the highest mountain on Spanish territory. On both Tenerife and Gran Canaria, plantations share steep slopes with pine forests. On the arid eastern side of the archipelago, the ancient hills and plains of Fuerteventura are scattered with pretty windmills. Its neighbour, Lanzarote, is an artful assemblage of twisted lava dotted with perfect little hamlets.

To read the full aricle click through to The Independent here

For more Tenerife information including hotels, Tenerife villa holidays with companies like  James Villas visit http://www.yourtenerife.net