Your rating of this hotel:
7.0
from 10
Hotel ratings by criteria:
Rooms:
5.0
Service:
6.0
Cleanliness:
5.0
Food:
8.0
Amenities:
6.0
The tour operator "Natalie-Tours" worked conscientiously, there were no failures and delays anywhere, the guides from the host side are quite correct and not intrusive.
So, in order. In the last few years, we have been brought, several times a year, without any system and preliminary study, to various islands in distant and not so distant seas and oceans. Basically, the choice is made at once based on a specific proposal. This time, having become somewhat brutalized by the surrounding reality, after a short enumeration of options, the choice settled on the Canary Islands. There was an acceptable offer for Tenerife. After reading some materials on the Internet and looking at the situation through webcams, we decided - we are flying. Two adults, two children (3 and 6 years old). The flight of about 7 hours by Transaero (business) was easy and not noticeable. The Boeing 747-400 was packed almost to capacity. Departure by the hour, no delays.
Arrived in the evening
it was already getting dark, we quickly left the airport with our suitcases, loaded onto the bus and after 20 minutes were in Las Americas, at the hotel, moved into the room.
So, firstly, about the hotel as such: The Best Tenerife Hotel is a typical city hotel, consists of one 7-storey building, the hotel area is extremely small, it is as if inside, the pool is by no means for swimming, divided into two zones, one smaller than the other. Sometimes a waterfall is turned on along the wall, the water in the pool is very invigorating, it is not heated, the tiles at the bottom are light, so there is little sense from the not hot autumn sun. Next to something like a jacuzzi with warm water. Everything around is filled with sun loungers, there is very little space, after dinner a shadow appears and it is not very comfortable. There is also a bar nearby with drinks and some kind of snack. Through the suspension bridge, an entrance is organized, as it were, into a children's play area, in which children, by and large, have absolutely nothing to do, there is a table,
there are some kind of felt-tip pens and that's it. The hotel does not have any specialized playground for children! We lived in a standard double, where they put another double bed for the children. The room is extremely uncomfortable! A small closet has a small safe built into it (payment separately - 2.15 euros per day. If you want to draw it up, you want it, no). To be honest, the safe smiled frankly at me, well, maybe a five-year-old child will not immediately figure out how to use it. On the table, opposite the beds, there is an old 14-inch TV and practically occupies the entire table; there is absolutely nowhere to put different small things, there are no threads, paper or pencil in the room! I'm already silent about irons-kettles. Thank you for putting two glasses in the bathroom. The bathtub is also very uncomfortable.
a table with a sink and a small hanger over the bathroom, there is absolutely nowhere to hang towels or dry them! Bath towels have to be hung on a glass partition - after a shower they become wet through and through... The maid regularly pinched soaps and shampoos, I had to arrange a boom at the reception, quite noticeable, jumped up in a minute with a bunch of bubbles and jars, and apparently waiting for the euro, she moved for about five minutes and rearranged them in the bathroom. In addition to bath towels, there are also towels for the pool, which, in theory, need to be changed in a paid mode, (something 1.5 euros per towel) We didn’t figure it out at first and threw them on the floor in a pile with bath towels, like they’ll take them away and change them! Aa . . shas . . A very smart maid couldn’t think of anything better than to stuff all these towels in a bidet and cover on top with a reminder for the slow-witted residents of the room, they say, read the parasites and pay.
Such a demonstration of the workers had a negative impact on her own... considering such a gesture in our direction not quite tactful, it was unanimously decided not to leave a tip for the infection anymore. There were 13 days left... for 2 euro coins a day. I wonder if we are the first who left her without a coin in response to such a May Day demonstration of workers against the world of capital? To be honest, I was somewhat shocked by the mind and ingenuity of the servants. Of course, there is a small balcony with plastic chairs and a table... The hotel works according to various schemes, if you come to the "all inclusive" then a plastic bracelet will be hung on your hand and seeing it in the bar you will be poured conditioned alcohol and given a snack.
About food. The food for the guests of the hotel, in my opinion, is not very bad. Breakfasts are standard, quite edible, delicious yoghurts. . cheeses. . sausages. . sausages. Fruits are fresh and dry. Champagne for breakfast
very delicious. However, the rolls are often stale, there are no warm ones in principle . . Teas - coffees and juices, to put it mildly, are the most common, to say the least... Dinners are very, very good, often there are seafood, shrimp, mussels, some kind of shellfish, very tasty fish, fried lamb, rabbit, turkey, there are always vegetables in a variety of forms, delicious vines, a cheese table, and, for maniacs, french fries and three varieties of sausages.
In the evenings, the hotel has children's animation, mini-disco, for half an hour the children dance to cheerful music led by perky and somewhat broken animators. After that, entertainment and all kinds of shows for adults begin. Magicians, dancers, trainers with different little animals come. Not far from the hotel there is a concert hall - you can go to the national Spanish dances, very incendiary and beautiful! Further, the hotel is located in the city, Las Americas is a whole city consisting of 100% hotels,
shops and all kinds of tourist infrastructure. The locals don't live there. From the hotel to the beach along the city streets, 400 meters. A rather tedious transition along the sidewalks and across the roads... The children had to buy scooters so as not to carry them on their hands, at least from the beach to the hotel . . and in general, at least somewhere you could go out. The beach itself with dark, volcanic sand is quite comfortable, the beaches merge one into another, Las Americas itself smoothly merges with Los Cristianos, both beaches and streets . . Shops and shops are simply stuffed with various rubbish of very dubious quality at simply incomprehensible prices. Buying a decent souvenir is quite difficult. Around some kind of dull Chinese rattle. The number of Chinese and Hindus is at first confusing, it seems that only they work, shops where non-Chinese sellers are constantly closed for siesta,
and after 8 pm, no one except people from the "third" world wants to work. The idiocy of this reality is simply amazing. According to the Spanish logic, it turns out that vacationers, with their useless euros, must adapt to the work schedule of a particular office or shop and leave the beach and generally fill their heads with these conventions in order to give someone their own, earned with sweat and blood ) money! Before that, I was sure that you couldn’t find lazier Greeks... but no, the Spaniards with their siesta will give them a head start! What is the Eurozone? What is the common currency? With such an attitude, everything will fall apart to hell, Germany will not pull out all these lazy people. There are many shops with electronics, which, upon closer examination, turns out to be a cheap Chinese fake for brands. I traded binoculars for a child, just like a toy, frankly cheap... initially the Chinese asked for 50 euros,
I swore and swore that this was the best price... I explained to him that I was not going to buy his entire store along with three children and elderly relatives living right there behind the curtain, and honestly offered him 5 euros... agreed on 8. Many types of Boutiques with branded clothes and shoes . . but the price is appropriate... obviously you shouldn’t count on shopping there... except maybe T-shirts and shorts, and even then look for sizes and quality. There is a branded Beneton with quite high-quality, but not cheap clothes, for children and adults, but with the size of the problem. In some places in shops and tourist offices come across Russian-speaking workers. These comrades hold themselves importantly and sometimes even arrogantly, they say, where did you come from? What are you trading? Be glad that we are talking to you more. We live in the Canaries! And we are not a match for different Gugnyavts! Take what they give and be happy. All sorts of people go here.
Vapsche servants almost everywhere suffers from inferiority complexes and tries in every possible way to do anything, but to show that they are here for a reason! Very important people. And at least all this business belongs to them, and even half of the island in addition. Both funny and sad. So, more about the beach, sand of volcanic origin, some kind of hard and patchy... it doesn’t sprinkle itself from the skin, like silicate, you just have to wash it off. Sunbeds and umbrellas are paid, two sunbeds near an umbrella 10 euros per day. However, if you sit with bedding on the sand, no one will tell you anything. If the day is sunny, then despite the off-season, a sufficient number of people crowd, apparently in the summer people sit on each other's heads. I'm talking about Playa de Las Americas. There are practically no waves, the water is very invigorating, though it walks on different beaches of 2 degrees . . somewhere warmer . . somewhere it’s just cold . . no comparison with the Indian Ocean,
in its various guises, from which you do not want to leave. However, the children quickly got used to it and swam for a long time and did not want to get out. The water in the pool, where they swim almost from birth, is not at all warmer! The elder said that he would not remember such a cold rest ) Entry into the water is comfortable, there are practically no stones underfoot. A breakwater made of volcanic stones goes into the ocean, which saves from waves, on the other hand, waves of several meters can walk from it. And there is no entry into the sea as such... frozen lava... and stones... closer to dinner the tide goes out and there are puddles with fish, crabs, shrimps and other marine life, the kids herd there with nets and buckets. A little further away there is no beach as such, but there are quite a lot of surfers, the waves are sometimes very impressive, in the ocean the frozen lava is almost 50 meters flush with the water... further the depth with these same waves. So,
further - the island is not small, somewhere 80 by 40 km and resembles a triangle, there are under a million local residents and several times more with tourists. There is a bus service, taxis are simply extortionate. Lots of rental shops. Prices for cars theoretically start from 30 euros per day, BUT such cars are never available, in reality from 45 euros, if per day, and do not bargain. For child seats, many ask from 3 to 7 euros per day for a seat, some begin to take out the brain about the surcharge for the second driver. Such "wise men" were sent in orderly rows. We rented a Fiat Punto, manual, for a few days at 35 euros for everything and with an underground parking space. Gasoline from 1 euro per liter. Strangely, in the Greek Islands it was almost twice as expensive. The island itself is very mountainous;
in fact, it's easier and faster. There are a lot of mountain roads, sometimes really scary serpentines, because you have to drive all the time in low gear and start the car up and down, and plus the engine does not have enough oxygen, the gasoline is eaten up already running, you can see how the arrow lies down... if you go to the mountains, be sure to fill it up a full tank, let it be better to stay... so, on excursions and what to see . .
1. The nearest option is Water Park - you can walk, but the road is very confusing and swirling... the bus goes in some kind of hare loops. Entrance, something about 30 euros per adult and 24 per child from 3 years old. Double ticket, it also entitles you to visit the Jungle Park.
In the water park itself, they will start extorting money from you for sunbeds, 1 euro each, if you want a mattress, then another 2 euros. The water is cool, not all slides work, there are not very many people, there is a children's area, but the children did not really want to splash in the cold water,
and took the stance of the Buddha, begging for more and more... There is something like a railway, you can ride through the park, it's exciting and not expensive.
3. Loro Park - This is a natural imitation of Thailand, a sort of piece of green, juicy Southeast Asia in the Atlantic, on lifeless volcanic rocks. The prince of Thailand was invited to the opening - he blessed this institution, it is also a bigger and richer zoo, there are more than 300 varieties of parrots, almost from all over the world, very beautiful and unusual birds (I doubt that you can see this anywhere else) there are various shows: with parrots, dolphins and killer whales, which, if memory serves, is nowhere else in Europe. Killer whales swim in a huge and deep pool with transparent walls and, on command, perform various tricks, sing songs, and sometimes play pranks. At first I did not understand why they offered to buy raincoats at the entrance, it became clear
when, on command, the killer whale first stuck its muzzle out of the water, looked at the audience, grinned maliciously and, with a blow from its giant tail, knocked out several cubes of ocean water on the audience, everyone who sat in the first half of the stands became wet as after swimming, at least squeeze it out. But dissatisfied, however, was not, everyone laughed and had fun! Fortunately, I had the brains to shoot with a waterfowl camera. After the show, I had to buy dry clothes for the children in the nearest store, by the way, they sell very decent things with the emblems of the Loro Park, the children dressed up with pleasure and flaunted in bright clothes ). A piece of the park, along with trees, is covered with a net and bamboo walkways are laid at the level of the branches, along which you pass on the same level and sitting exotic birds of all sizes and colors... very beautifully and with soul done. The entire territory of Loro Park is quite large, there is no through viewing,
the paths are somewhat confusing, you can wander there for a long time and each time you will go out to some new enclosures and territories with exotic animals. The road to Loro Park, on its own, by car, is not very easy, you need to drive along the highway to the capital, Santa Cruz, find the right turn there and go to Puerto de La Cruz, and there are no signs in the most necessary places as such, there are many strategic signs character, indicating the direction in principle, and where you really need to understand where, which passage to turn into, there is nothing like that. Having scrolled through the capital, in a vicious circle for about 30 minutes, we were forced to enter into negotiations with taxi drivers, and one agreed to take us for 10 euros and put us on the right track. Yes, the scheme of the city was drawn up apparently for the enemies, so that they definitely didn’t find anything, the taxi driver, seeing it in our hands, grabbed his head!
4. Mask. This is a mountain village
small, surrounded by sheer cliffs. There are no breakwaters and the waves there can be serious. The Spaniards fence the beaches with ribbons, if there is a strong excitement, like don’t go, don’t go, but not everywhere they guard and drive away self-confident tourists. On Gigantos, almost in front of our eyes, crazy waves, 50 meters longer than all the others, as if aiming, knocked down and fairly stirred an aunt over the stones, weighing a hundred kilograms, judging by the cheerful, perky swearing, Russian, who serenely crawled under ribbon and went towards the surf, like here I am! The wave sent a quite tangible cobblestone to the man’s leg, in general, the Spaniards are somewhere right when they fence off the beaches and drive vacationers away. It is quite realistic to come, say, to a chic beach with soft, black sand, let's say La Arena and admire the ocean for two weeks without even swimming in it, and without even coming close.
The power and irresistible force of the ocean is felt at a distance, there is not the slightest desire to joke with him. You understand that in front of you is ETERNITY, somewhere in the soul an awareness of all the insignificance and ephemeral nature of the one who imagined himself the crown of the universe is born, nature does not have such a magnitude to somehow express and designate the insignificance of this arrogant.
6. Teide. This is, in fact, the volcano that formed the island, the main peak of all of Spain, and of the ocean as a whole, which is about 3.700 meters above sea level, and in total from the bottom, about 7.500 thousand meters. The road to the volcano also doesn’t look much like a highway, but when you enter the volcano’s caldera, it’s relatively normal to drive there and a natural, national park begins, landscapes and a panorama open Martian, red, red, black, shiny, matte, any kind of stones, lava flows, shapeless blocks, the feeling is that you are not on earth... you have been transported somewhere to another planet.
And then, 500 meters away, there is a funicular, a cable car that rises to the mouth of the volcano. The cost of the lift is 25 euros. However, on our arrival there was supposedly a strong wind, the one upstairs, and the funicular did not work. It was never possible to survey the entire archipelago from the top of the greatest volcano in the world! I'm not sure that when we will return to Tenerife, there is a small gap, although you can never promise! The volcano is a must visit!
7. Whales. The fact is that between Tenerife and the nearest island of La Gomera there is a so-called tectonic fault, and the depths are not very childish, something up to 4.000 meters and there, in the depths, giant squids, octopuses, and all sorts of different deep reptiles live. Whales Pilots have figured out this topic for a long time, and at night they dive to great depths, and 1 km and with pleasure eat the inhabitants living there in large numbers... during the day they digest it all and practically sleep on the water, moving lazily and reluctantly diving,
swimming in that area on a boat you can observe them up close, there are also dolphins, very large, powerful and beautiful animals, sometimes they arrange whole performances to please the public. However, the captains of the ships do not have enough reason to turn on the music, or at least honk, dolphins are very responsive to music, it is not clear why the Spaniards stubbornly ignore this fact. It would be much more spectacular. The excursion must be approached thoughtfully, a trip on a budget option results in swimming in a clumsy vessel full of elderly Englishmen and Germans. Bourgeois pensioners can be very inadequate and their behavior can spoil the impression of any event. So, if possible, you need to book an individual excursion on a boat or yacht.
8. La Gomera Island. We did not go there on our own, but bought an excursion from the host.
The cost for an adult is 70 euros for children for 35. Swimming on a high-speed, comfortable ferry from the port of Las Americas takes about an hour. On the island, they are loaded onto a bus and taken along mountain roads to the national park, where at the level of clouds, with 100% humidity, a unique relict forest has been preserved, as it has been since the creation of the world. There are giant tree-like dandelions, ferns almost from the Mesozoic and other curiosities. On the way, the guide tells a lot and in an interesting way about the history and features of the island, about the people living there, their customs and habits, gives a lot of historical facts and legends. Columbus spent the night on the island before his historical raid, the house where he spent the night was intact, a well was preserved in it, with water from which he baptized the land of the island of Haiti, which at first was mistaken for India. The inhabitants of the island speak a unique language in the world - this is the language of whistling, whistling is well reflected in the rocks and heard far away,
thus, in difficult terrain, residents transmitted information to each other. And when you start to listen, the words really slip through! This is indeed a language, not Morse code, but a kind of speech. During the time of the dictator Franco, whistling was banned, but now serious work is underway to maintain and develop this purely insular art, even in schools a subject has been introduced - the language of whistling, a lot of stories and events are associated with its use, very interesting and informative! If you sail to the island on your own, then no one will convey such information to you, and the story about the relict forest was very informative. The accompanying representative of the tour operator owns the topic at 100% and honestly conveys very unusual and extremely interesting information to the tourists. We have never regretted that we went to La Gomera! I had the same warm impressions a few months ago,
after an organized excursion to the Greek island-volcano Nisyros, we were accompanied there by a true fanatic of his work and a true connoisseur and connoisseur of everything related to volcanoes in general and Nisyros in particular. It was impossible not to listen. The forest itself leaves an indelible impression, intertwined unreal plants covered with a thick layer of moss and lichens, thick and soft plant lining underfoot, clouds emerging in the trees, which appear from nowhere and where they fly away. The air is rarefied and at the same time somehow thick and viscous. There are no dangerous reptiles, snakes, spiders and others like them on the islands, if in other places, especially the tropics, you constantly remember about the presence of various deadly creatures of God, and you don’t let the situation go by itself for a second, then here you can relax at least in this . The inhabitants of La Gomera themselves believe in evil spirits, and of course she lives in a relic forest,
Grandmothers-Ezhki of all stripes and systems are the most common souvenir. Some kind of peculiar banana palms grow on La Gomera, and the bananas themselves are noticeably different in appearance and taste from the usual ones, they are simply crammed with useful substances and microelements, a sort of quail testicles . In general, there is a ferry service with all the islands of the archipelago, if you wish, you can buy tickets and see the neighboring islands, there are car rental offices in the immediate vicinity of the ports, I rode around the island for a day, and in the evening I returned to the base by ferry. Or spent the night in a hotel, of which there is also an abundance. Etc. We discovered by chance, spent a fair amount of time in a place called Medano, on the beach. There are very few people, the ocean is shallower and warms up noticeably better, the sand is very interesting, in stripes, a black stripe, a yellow stripe,
a sort of wavy striping... if you look along the beach with your back to the village, then some analogies with the endless beaches of Betalbatim in South Goa pop up in your memory, and lying on the warm sand under the sun, you get a feeling of relaxation in general, which is not characteristic of the island.
About the capital. The administrative capital, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, is a fairly civilized developed city, the prices for clothes there are somewhat lower than in the resort area, the shops are concentrated all in one place, and if anyone needs rag shopping, then it makes sense to purposefully come there, otherwise there is not much to do in the capital , in addition, there is an oil refinery and smells are sometimes not conducive to imposing walks.
About weather. The service set up on the phone regularly reported rain, clouds and not beach weather at all, this information is to some extent true for the northern part of the island, the Orotava valley,
capitals of the island - Santa Cruz de Tenerife, San Cristobal and others like them. not hunting. In the southern part, the situation with the weather is much more pleasant, even if it is cloudy and there is no direct sun, it is still light and cheerful, you quickly put up with a not warm ocean, well, that’s how it is here. According to reviews, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote are somewhat warmer both in air and water. If you are planning to go - do not look at the forecasts, just go to the south of the island, you will not be mistaken. In general, the general feeling of Tenerife can be formulated as follows:
The Canary Islands is a wonderful PR and marketing, a promoted and advertised place, it is very easy and inexpensive for non-rich Europeans to fly there, 80% of the nursing home that rest in the Canary Islands,
This is what you pay for. But, somehow, they did not enter the soul. The trip turned out to be very informative, interesting, but it didn’t scratch, it didn’t hurt any inner strings. In South Goa, we and the children just went crazy, we didn’t want to leave the tiny island of the Maldives, we wanted to stay there forever, the Islands in the Andaman Sea sunk into our souls and don’t want to leave there, we want to return there again and again. And there's nothing like that. However, this is purely IMHO. Surely there are people frankly in love with these rocky pieces of land in the cool Atlantic Ocean. It's all purely individual.
In general, I can understand them, the islands are very beautiful and unusual in their own way, if there is an opportunity, then you should definitely visit them. I wish that it was not possible to go around them all, small children still make some adjustments to the routine of life, maybe someday we will still visit Lanserote and El Erro, Grand Canaria,
Fuerventura and the famous La Palma - an island that sooner or later will slide into the ocean and the wave from it will flood exactly half of the United States, little Graciesa. In general, there are reasonable suspicions that we will still be brought to this part of the world ). There will be questions - write.
I will post the photos on the photo radical and attach the link a little later.
So, in order. In the last few years, we have been brought, several times a year, without any system and preliminary study, to various islands in distant and not so distant seas and oceans. Basically, the choice is made at once based on a specific proposal. This time, having become somewhat brutalized by the surrounding reality, after a short enumeration of options, the choice settled on the Canary Islands. There was an acceptable offer for Tenerife. After reading some materials on the Internet and looking at the situation through webcams, we decided - we are flying. Two adults, two children (3 and 6 years old). The flight of about 7 hours by Transaero (business) was easy and not noticeable. The Boeing 747-400 was packed almost to capacity. Departure by the hour, no delays.
Arrived in the evening
it was already getting dark, we quickly left the airport with our suitcases, loaded onto the bus and after 20 minutes were in Las Americas, at the hotel, moved into the room.
So, firstly, about the hotel as such: The Best Tenerife Hotel is a typical city hotel, consists of one 7-storey building, the hotel area is extremely small, it is as if inside, the pool is by no means for swimming, divided into two zones, one smaller than the other. Sometimes a waterfall is turned on along the wall, the water in the pool is very invigorating, it is not heated, the tiles at the bottom are light, so there is little sense from the not hot autumn sun. Next to something like a jacuzzi with warm water. Everything around is filled with sun loungers, there is very little space, after dinner a shadow appears and it is not very comfortable. There is also a bar nearby with drinks and some kind of snack. Through the suspension bridge, an entrance is organized, as it were, into a children's play area, in which children, by and large, have absolutely nothing to do, there is a table,
there are some kind of felt-tip pens and that's it. The hotel does not have any specialized playground for children! We lived in a standard double, where they put another double bed for the children. The room is extremely uncomfortable! A small closet has a small safe built into it (payment separately - 2.15 euros per day. If you want to draw it up, you want it, no). To be honest, the safe smiled frankly at me, well, maybe a five-year-old child will not immediately figure out how to use it. On the table, opposite the beds, there is an old 14-inch TV and practically occupies the entire table; there is absolutely nowhere to put different small things, there are no threads, paper or pencil in the room! I'm already silent about irons-kettles. Thank you for putting two glasses in the bathroom. The bathtub is also very uncomfortable.
a table with a sink and a small hanger over the bathroom, there is absolutely nowhere to hang towels or dry them! Bath towels have to be hung on a glass partition - after a shower they become wet through and through... The maid regularly pinched soaps and shampoos, I had to arrange a boom at the reception, quite noticeable, jumped up in a minute with a bunch of bubbles and jars, and apparently waiting for the euro, she moved for about five minutes and rearranged them in the bathroom. In addition to bath towels, there are also towels for the pool, which, in theory, need to be changed in a paid mode, (something 1.5 euros per towel) We didn’t figure it out at first and threw them on the floor in a pile with bath towels, like they’ll take them away and change them! Aa . . shas . . A very smart maid couldn’t think of anything better than to stuff all these towels in a bidet and cover on top with a reminder for the slow-witted residents of the room, they say, read the parasites and pay.
Such a demonstration of the workers had a negative impact on her own... considering such a gesture in our direction not quite tactful, it was unanimously decided not to leave a tip for the infection anymore. There were 13 days left... for 2 euro coins a day. I wonder if we are the first who left her without a coin in response to such a May Day demonstration of workers against the world of capital? To be honest, I was somewhat shocked by the mind and ingenuity of the servants. Of course, there is a small balcony with plastic chairs and a table... The hotel works according to various schemes, if you come to the "all inclusive" then a plastic bracelet will be hung on your hand and seeing it in the bar you will be poured conditioned alcohol and given a snack.
About food. The food for the guests of the hotel, in my opinion, is not very bad. Breakfasts are standard, quite edible, delicious yoghurts. . cheeses. . sausages. . sausages. Fruits are fresh and dry. Champagne for breakfast
very delicious. However, the rolls are often stale, there are no warm ones in principle . . Teas - coffees and juices, to put it mildly, are the most common, to say the least... Dinners are very, very good, often there are seafood, shrimp, mussels, some kind of shellfish, very tasty fish, fried lamb, rabbit, turkey, there are always vegetables in a variety of forms, delicious vines, a cheese table, and, for maniacs, french fries and three varieties of sausages.
In the evenings, the hotel has children's animation, mini-disco, for half an hour the children dance to cheerful music led by perky and somewhat broken animators. After that, entertainment and all kinds of shows for adults begin. Magicians, dancers, trainers with different little animals come. Not far from the hotel there is a concert hall - you can go to the national Spanish dances, very incendiary and beautiful! Further, the hotel is located in the city, Las Americas is a whole city consisting of 100% hotels,
shops and all kinds of tourist infrastructure. The locals don't live there. From the hotel to the beach along the city streets, 400 meters. A rather tedious transition along the sidewalks and across the roads... The children had to buy scooters so as not to carry them on their hands, at least from the beach to the hotel . . and in general, at least somewhere you could go out. The beach itself with dark, volcanic sand is quite comfortable, the beaches merge one into another, Las Americas itself smoothly merges with Los Cristianos, both beaches and streets . . Shops and shops are simply stuffed with various rubbish of very dubious quality at simply incomprehensible prices. Buying a decent souvenir is quite difficult. Around some kind of dull Chinese rattle. The number of Chinese and Hindus is at first confusing, it seems that only they work, shops where non-Chinese sellers are constantly closed for siesta,
and after 8 pm, no one except people from the "third" world wants to work. The idiocy of this reality is simply amazing. According to the Spanish logic, it turns out that vacationers, with their useless euros, must adapt to the work schedule of a particular office or shop and leave the beach and generally fill their heads with these conventions in order to give someone their own, earned with sweat and blood ) money! Before that, I was sure that you couldn’t find lazier Greeks... but no, the Spaniards with their siesta will give them a head start! What is the Eurozone? What is the common currency? With such an attitude, everything will fall apart to hell, Germany will not pull out all these lazy people. There are many shops with electronics, which, upon closer examination, turns out to be a cheap Chinese fake for brands. I traded binoculars for a child, just like a toy, frankly cheap... initially the Chinese asked for 50 euros,
I swore and swore that this was the best price... I explained to him that I was not going to buy his entire store along with three children and elderly relatives living right there behind the curtain, and honestly offered him 5 euros... agreed on 8. Many types of Boutiques with branded clothes and shoes . . but the price is appropriate... obviously you shouldn’t count on shopping there... except maybe T-shirts and shorts, and even then look for sizes and quality. There is a branded Beneton with quite high-quality, but not cheap clothes, for children and adults, but with the size of the problem. In some places in shops and tourist offices come across Russian-speaking workers. These comrades hold themselves importantly and sometimes even arrogantly, they say, where did you come from? What are you trading? Be glad that we are talking to you more. We live in the Canaries! And we are not a match for different Gugnyavts! Take what they give and be happy. All sorts of people go here.
Vapsche servants almost everywhere suffers from inferiority complexes and tries in every possible way to do anything, but to show that they are here for a reason! Very important people. And at least all this business belongs to them, and even half of the island in addition. Both funny and sad. So, more about the beach, sand of volcanic origin, some kind of hard and patchy... it doesn’t sprinkle itself from the skin, like silicate, you just have to wash it off. Sunbeds and umbrellas are paid, two sunbeds near an umbrella 10 euros per day. However, if you sit with bedding on the sand, no one will tell you anything. If the day is sunny, then despite the off-season, a sufficient number of people crowd, apparently in the summer people sit on each other's heads. I'm talking about Playa de Las Americas. There are practically no waves, the water is very invigorating, though it walks on different beaches of 2 degrees . . somewhere warmer . . somewhere it’s just cold . . no comparison with the Indian Ocean,
in its various guises, from which you do not want to leave. However, the children quickly got used to it and swam for a long time and did not want to get out. The water in the pool, where they swim almost from birth, is not at all warmer! The elder said that he would not remember such a cold rest ) Entry into the water is comfortable, there are practically no stones underfoot. A breakwater made of volcanic stones goes into the ocean, which saves from waves, on the other hand, waves of several meters can walk from it. And there is no entry into the sea as such... frozen lava... and stones... closer to dinner the tide goes out and there are puddles with fish, crabs, shrimps and other marine life, the kids herd there with nets and buckets. A little further away there is no beach as such, but there are quite a lot of surfers, the waves are sometimes very impressive, in the ocean the frozen lava is almost 50 meters flush with the water... further the depth with these same waves. So,
further - the island is not small, somewhere 80 by 40 km and resembles a triangle, there are under a million local residents and several times more with tourists. There is a bus service, taxis are simply extortionate. Lots of rental shops. Prices for cars theoretically start from 30 euros per day, BUT such cars are never available, in reality from 45 euros, if per day, and do not bargain. For child seats, many ask from 3 to 7 euros per day for a seat, some begin to take out the brain about the surcharge for the second driver. Such "wise men" were sent in orderly rows. We rented a Fiat Punto, manual, for a few days at 35 euros for everything and with an underground parking space. Gasoline from 1 euro per liter. Strangely, in the Greek Islands it was almost twice as expensive. The island itself is very mountainous;
in fact, it's easier and faster. There are a lot of mountain roads, sometimes really scary serpentines, because you have to drive all the time in low gear and start the car up and down, and plus the engine does not have enough oxygen, the gasoline is eaten up already running, you can see how the arrow lies down... if you go to the mountains, be sure to fill it up a full tank, let it be better to stay... so, on excursions and what to see . .
1. The nearest option is Water Park - you can walk, but the road is very confusing and swirling... the bus goes in some kind of hare loops. Entrance, something about 30 euros per adult and 24 per child from 3 years old. Double ticket, it also entitles you to visit the Jungle Park.
In the water park itself, they will start extorting money from you for sunbeds, 1 euro each, if you want a mattress, then another 2 euros. The water is cool, not all slides work, there are not very many people, there is a children's area, but the children did not really want to splash in the cold water,
and took the stance of the Buddha, begging for more and more... There is something like a railway, you can ride through the park, it's exciting and not expensive.
3. Loro Park - This is a natural imitation of Thailand, a sort of piece of green, juicy Southeast Asia in the Atlantic, on lifeless volcanic rocks. The prince of Thailand was invited to the opening - he blessed this institution, it is also a bigger and richer zoo, there are more than 300 varieties of parrots, almost from all over the world, very beautiful and unusual birds (I doubt that you can see this anywhere else) there are various shows: with parrots, dolphins and killer whales, which, if memory serves, is nowhere else in Europe. Killer whales swim in a huge and deep pool with transparent walls and, on command, perform various tricks, sing songs, and sometimes play pranks. At first I did not understand why they offered to buy raincoats at the entrance, it became clear
when, on command, the killer whale first stuck its muzzle out of the water, looked at the audience, grinned maliciously and, with a blow from its giant tail, knocked out several cubes of ocean water on the audience, everyone who sat in the first half of the stands became wet as after swimming, at least squeeze it out. But dissatisfied, however, was not, everyone laughed and had fun! Fortunately, I had the brains to shoot with a waterfowl camera. After the show, I had to buy dry clothes for the children in the nearest store, by the way, they sell very decent things with the emblems of the Loro Park, the children dressed up with pleasure and flaunted in bright clothes ). A piece of the park, along with trees, is covered with a net and bamboo walkways are laid at the level of the branches, along which you pass on the same level and sitting exotic birds of all sizes and colors... very beautifully and with soul done. The entire territory of Loro Park is quite large, there is no through viewing,
the paths are somewhat confusing, you can wander there for a long time and each time you will go out to some new enclosures and territories with exotic animals. The road to Loro Park, on its own, by car, is not very easy, you need to drive along the highway to the capital, Santa Cruz, find the right turn there and go to Puerto de La Cruz, and there are no signs in the most necessary places as such, there are many strategic signs character, indicating the direction in principle, and where you really need to understand where, which passage to turn into, there is nothing like that. Having scrolled through the capital, in a vicious circle for about 30 minutes, we were forced to enter into negotiations with taxi drivers, and one agreed to take us for 10 euros and put us on the right track. Yes, the scheme of the city was drawn up apparently for the enemies, so that they definitely didn’t find anything, the taxi driver, seeing it in our hands, grabbed his head!
4. Mask. This is a mountain village
small, surrounded by sheer cliffs. There are no breakwaters and the waves there can be serious. The Spaniards fence the beaches with ribbons, if there is a strong excitement, like don’t go, don’t go, but not everywhere they guard and drive away self-confident tourists. On Gigantos, almost in front of our eyes, crazy waves, 50 meters longer than all the others, as if aiming, knocked down and fairly stirred an aunt over the stones, weighing a hundred kilograms, judging by the cheerful, perky swearing, Russian, who serenely crawled under ribbon and went towards the surf, like here I am! The wave sent a quite tangible cobblestone to the man’s leg, in general, the Spaniards are somewhere right when they fence off the beaches and drive vacationers away. It is quite realistic to come, say, to a chic beach with soft, black sand, let's say La Arena and admire the ocean for two weeks without even swimming in it, and without even coming close.
The power and irresistible force of the ocean is felt at a distance, there is not the slightest desire to joke with him. You understand that in front of you is ETERNITY, somewhere in the soul an awareness of all the insignificance and ephemeral nature of the one who imagined himself the crown of the universe is born, nature does not have such a magnitude to somehow express and designate the insignificance of this arrogant.
6. Teide. This is, in fact, the volcano that formed the island, the main peak of all of Spain, and of the ocean as a whole, which is about 3.700 meters above sea level, and in total from the bottom, about 7.500 thousand meters. The road to the volcano also doesn’t look much like a highway, but when you enter the volcano’s caldera, it’s relatively normal to drive there and a natural, national park begins, landscapes and a panorama open Martian, red, red, black, shiny, matte, any kind of stones, lava flows, shapeless blocks, the feeling is that you are not on earth... you have been transported somewhere to another planet.
And then, 500 meters away, there is a funicular, a cable car that rises to the mouth of the volcano. The cost of the lift is 25 euros. However, on our arrival there was supposedly a strong wind, the one upstairs, and the funicular did not work. It was never possible to survey the entire archipelago from the top of the greatest volcano in the world! I'm not sure that when we will return to Tenerife, there is a small gap, although you can never promise! The volcano is a must visit!
7. Whales. The fact is that between Tenerife and the nearest island of La Gomera there is a so-called tectonic fault, and the depths are not very childish, something up to 4.000 meters and there, in the depths, giant squids, octopuses, and all sorts of different deep reptiles live. Whales Pilots have figured out this topic for a long time, and at night they dive to great depths, and 1 km and with pleasure eat the inhabitants living there in large numbers... during the day they digest it all and practically sleep on the water, moving lazily and reluctantly diving,
swimming in that area on a boat you can observe them up close, there are also dolphins, very large, powerful and beautiful animals, sometimes they arrange whole performances to please the public. However, the captains of the ships do not have enough reason to turn on the music, or at least honk, dolphins are very responsive to music, it is not clear why the Spaniards stubbornly ignore this fact. It would be much more spectacular. The excursion must be approached thoughtfully, a trip on a budget option results in swimming in a clumsy vessel full of elderly Englishmen and Germans. Bourgeois pensioners can be very inadequate and their behavior can spoil the impression of any event. So, if possible, you need to book an individual excursion on a boat or yacht.
8. La Gomera Island. We did not go there on our own, but bought an excursion from the host.
The cost for an adult is 70 euros for children for 35. Swimming on a high-speed, comfortable ferry from the port of Las Americas takes about an hour. On the island, they are loaded onto a bus and taken along mountain roads to the national park, where at the level of clouds, with 100% humidity, a unique relict forest has been preserved, as it has been since the creation of the world. There are giant tree-like dandelions, ferns almost from the Mesozoic and other curiosities. On the way, the guide tells a lot and in an interesting way about the history and features of the island, about the people living there, their customs and habits, gives a lot of historical facts and legends. Columbus spent the night on the island before his historical raid, the house where he spent the night was intact, a well was preserved in it, with water from which he baptized the land of the island of Haiti, which at first was mistaken for India. The inhabitants of the island speak a unique language in the world - this is the language of whistling, whistling is well reflected in the rocks and heard far away,
thus, in difficult terrain, residents transmitted information to each other. And when you start to listen, the words really slip through! This is indeed a language, not Morse code, but a kind of speech. During the time of the dictator Franco, whistling was banned, but now serious work is underway to maintain and develop this purely insular art, even in schools a subject has been introduced - the language of whistling, a lot of stories and events are associated with its use, very interesting and informative! If you sail to the island on your own, then no one will convey such information to you, and the story about the relict forest was very informative. The accompanying representative of the tour operator owns the topic at 100% and honestly conveys very unusual and extremely interesting information to the tourists. We have never regretted that we went to La Gomera! I had the same warm impressions a few months ago,
after an organized excursion to the Greek island-volcano Nisyros, we were accompanied there by a true fanatic of his work and a true connoisseur and connoisseur of everything related to volcanoes in general and Nisyros in particular. It was impossible not to listen. The forest itself leaves an indelible impression, intertwined unreal plants covered with a thick layer of moss and lichens, thick and soft plant lining underfoot, clouds emerging in the trees, which appear from nowhere and where they fly away. The air is rarefied and at the same time somehow thick and viscous. There are no dangerous reptiles, snakes, spiders and others like them on the islands, if in other places, especially the tropics, you constantly remember about the presence of various deadly creatures of God, and you don’t let the situation go by itself for a second, then here you can relax at least in this . The inhabitants of La Gomera themselves believe in evil spirits, and of course she lives in a relic forest,
Grandmothers-Ezhki of all stripes and systems are the most common souvenir. Some kind of peculiar banana palms grow on La Gomera, and the bananas themselves are noticeably different in appearance and taste from the usual ones, they are simply crammed with useful substances and microelements, a sort of quail testicles . In general, there is a ferry service with all the islands of the archipelago, if you wish, you can buy tickets and see the neighboring islands, there are car rental offices in the immediate vicinity of the ports, I rode around the island for a day, and in the evening I returned to the base by ferry. Or spent the night in a hotel, of which there is also an abundance. Etc. We discovered by chance, spent a fair amount of time in a place called Medano, on the beach. There are very few people, the ocean is shallower and warms up noticeably better, the sand is very interesting, in stripes, a black stripe, a yellow stripe,
a sort of wavy striping... if you look along the beach with your back to the village, then some analogies with the endless beaches of Betalbatim in South Goa pop up in your memory, and lying on the warm sand under the sun, you get a feeling of relaxation in general, which is not characteristic of the island.
About the capital. The administrative capital, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, is a fairly civilized developed city, the prices for clothes there are somewhat lower than in the resort area, the shops are concentrated all in one place, and if anyone needs rag shopping, then it makes sense to purposefully come there, otherwise there is not much to do in the capital , in addition, there is an oil refinery and smells are sometimes not conducive to imposing walks.
About weather. The service set up on the phone regularly reported rain, clouds and not beach weather at all, this information is to some extent true for the northern part of the island, the Orotava valley,
capitals of the island - Santa Cruz de Tenerife, San Cristobal and others like them. not hunting. In the southern part, the situation with the weather is much more pleasant, even if it is cloudy and there is no direct sun, it is still light and cheerful, you quickly put up with a not warm ocean, well, that’s how it is here. According to reviews, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote are somewhat warmer both in air and water. If you are planning to go - do not look at the forecasts, just go to the south of the island, you will not be mistaken. In general, the general feeling of Tenerife can be formulated as follows:
The Canary Islands is a wonderful PR and marketing, a promoted and advertised place, it is very easy and inexpensive for non-rich Europeans to fly there, 80% of the nursing home that rest in the Canary Islands,
This is what you pay for. But, somehow, they did not enter the soul. The trip turned out to be very informative, interesting, but it didn’t scratch, it didn’t hurt any inner strings. In South Goa, we and the children just went crazy, we didn’t want to leave the tiny island of the Maldives, we wanted to stay there forever, the Islands in the Andaman Sea sunk into our souls and don’t want to leave there, we want to return there again and again. And there's nothing like that. However, this is purely IMHO. Surely there are people frankly in love with these rocky pieces of land in the cool Atlantic Ocean. It's all purely individual.
In general, I can understand them, the islands are very beautiful and unusual in their own way, if there is an opportunity, then you should definitely visit them. I wish that it was not possible to go around them all, small children still make some adjustments to the routine of life, maybe someday we will still visit Lanserote and El Erro, Grand Canaria,
Fuerventura and the famous La Palma - an island that sooner or later will slide into the ocean and the wave from it will flood exactly half of the United States, little Graciesa. In general, there are reasonable suspicions that we will still be brought to this part of the world ). There will be questions - write.
I will post the photos on the photo radical and attach the link a little later.
Translated automatically from Russian. View original
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OTHER REVIEWS ABOUT THE HOTEL
- Super location. And the price
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- Tenerife island. Playa de Las Americas, hotel Best Tenerife.
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