All Inclusive - Canaries?????

[ally1966]

We are trying to book an all inclusive trip for the end of April 2008. :grin: I've never been to the Canary Islands before but thought we'd give it a try because of the all year round weather.

The thing is, I've been looking at a web site called On The Beach which seems to have alot more reasonable prices than any of the other tour operators. However, when I've checked out any of the hotels that I've liked the look of on there, they've got lousy reviews on Tripadviser !!! :cry:

What would you do ? Ignore the reviews and go with a good price and gut instinct or go with a different operator and pay more for a recommended hotel? :confused2

Has anyone got any personal experience of a good clean hotel / appartment complex (we're not looking for luxury!!!) that does a good all inclusive package - not gourmet but just a reasonable selection of decent quality food and entertainment that's actually in English!!!

All opinions / recommendations grately appreciated !!!! Thanx, Ally

[ally1966]

Just bumping this - Can anyone help?- PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPlease!!!!!!!

[spenners]

We stayed in Tenerife in June for a week all inclusive. We stayed in a 3 star hotel and we were pleased with what we got for the amount of money we paid £1000 for four of us flying from Liverpool. The accomodation needed a bit of a facelift but the place was clean and comfortable and did us for a week. It was also next to a salt water lido which guests could use for free and it had a pool bar which hotel guests could use, drinks only. It was a hotel at playa paraiso just outside las americas. The place itself was quiet but we enjoyed it, it was a last minute thing so we weren't too bothered about it being a palace.

[carolshack]

A few years ago, we got a fantastic all-inclusive deal to Lanzarote for the four of us. We booked through Journeys Direct (they do a lot of advertising on Teletext and I understand they have a website now, too).

We stayed at Costa Teguise at a hotel called Lanzarote Bay. It was fine when we went. No problems at all! Food was good; entertainment was OK; place was clean. It was nothing plush, but we couldn't complain at all. Costa Teguise is very quiet, so if you're wanting the "high life", then I'd probably avoid, but it suited us at the time perfectly.

I can't vouch for what it is like now as it was at least four years ago since we were there, but we loved Lanzarote and would definitely go back. Like you say, you can almost guarantee good weather in the Canaries.

Hope that helps a bit?!

[motty1969]

Lanzarote is fantastic but don't go all inclusive it's not worth the money. It's cheap to eat out and Tenerife is even cheaper. We always go self catering because the image of all inclusive holidays makes me shudder with the thought of it. But that's my personal idea of hell. Did you watch Benidorm the tv series, well that's my idea of all inclusive. No thanks. Lanzarote is a beautiful Island, Puerto Del Carmen is great, plenty to do , great for kids etc. Tenerife is nice too, plenty of good resorts and great all year round weather.

[BeccaandTomsmum]

My infos not so much about the place but the on the beach website. we used them earlier this year to book a holiday in zante. We had been watching the same holiday for a couple of weeks awaiting my boss to authorize my holidays and when we booked it on the sun morning they rang back in the evening to say they had made a mistake with the price and if we wanted those flights it would cost us another £80 (hello you've been advertising it for the last 2 weeks) dh told them to shove it. Hopes this helps

[Boyle73]

I must admit I think all inclusive it a bit of a waste in the Canaries but I do know people who wouldn't do anything but.

I will always look at Tripadvisor and another good one is Holidays uncovered, I do tend to listen to reviews on European hotels whereas I tend not to for US hotels. I also look at where the person is from as I think some peoples expectations can be a wee bit high!

We are off to Tenerife in Feb and taking my parents, we are booked SC but my folks wanted AI, however where we are staying (Los Cristianos) has a good range of really good restaurants and a good pub that I will be happy to spend my time in so have convinced them SC would be better.

Lesley

[premiertravel]

Ally, We actually use tripadviser when searching for hotels and now know which reviews to listen to and which ones to ignore. Please PM me if you need any help or advise.

Nicky

[BarryandCaron]

We stayed in Tenerife in June for a week all inclusive. We stayed in a 3 star hotel and we were pleased with what we got for the amount of money we paid £1000 for four of us flying from Liverpool. The accomodation needed a bit of a facelift but the place was clean and comfortable and did us for a week. It was also next to a salt water lido which guests could use for free and it had a pool bar which hotel guests could use, drinks only. It was a hotel at playa paraiso just outside las americas. The place itself was quiet but we enjoyed it, it was a last minute thing so we weren't too bothered about it being a palace.

We stayed in that hotel one Christmas, it was really cheap but excellent value. They laid on a lovely special Christmas meal as well.

Caron

[rhondaridge]

We have been to the H10 Rubicon Palace in Playa Blanca, Lanzarote.
Excellent with good facilities for children. H10 Timanfaya Palace in the same resort is also excellent athough a little more sedate. Both beautiful hotels with really good food and we have always enjoyed the entertainment in these hotels. In our opinion the Timanfaya Palace has the edge but the Rubicon is newer. Both have a fantastic seafront location.

Both hotels have good size rooms and we found booking with the hotel direct to be cheaper for us as they would allow 2 children in the room whereas a lot of the package companies wouldn't. The rooms are big enough.

[Ebony]

Havent been to the Canaries, but have used "On the Beach Company, twice this year. Once for us and friends to go to Turkey in June just gone and my DD has just come back from Turkey having used them.
No problems with them at all and Hotels were really nice.