canaries in October- where?

[sunglasses]

Thinking of going to Canary islands in October half term, 2 adults, 2 children 5 and 3. Family friendly yet 4 or 5 star. We want easy access to beach, nice pools, decent surrounding area. Have looked at Costa Adeje in Tenerife but cant decide on a hotel, travel operator etc

Any advice, bearing in mind its October. We need sunshine and activities/ perhaps kids club but not essential. We also need the best type of family accomadation-i.e not all squashed in the same room.

Have never been to Canaries before so need advice on best island and resort and hotel!! We like smart, bit of luxury, interesting surroundings to explore on foot and not too built up and noisy.
Can anyone help?

Tenerife is lovely, lots of excursions to do such as the zoo, volcano, national park and the water parks.

Get a hotel with a heated pool, we went 2 years ago in early Nov and it was cool. The unheated pool was freezing and the sea not much warmer. It was t-shirt weatehr but not really sunbathing weather. We ere unlucky though and had a cloudy week, the day we arrived was sunny and it felt a lot warmer. But even that day the pool was cold.

Costa Adeje is a nice area. Can't really help with a hotel as don't think where we stayed would be good for you. We stayed at Malibu Park which as well as the cold pool had no activities (we didn't want any) but was maybe a 15 min walk to the beach. We had hired a car for the week though so didn't really bother us and we used to drive down to teh beach at Calaeta (I think) as there was plenty of free parking there. We booked independtly, flew with Ryanair I think.

Thanks Viva. We dont drive so need to be near everything on foot and yes a heated pool would be best! Is Tenerife greener than Lanzorote? black sand? or not?

I've never been to Lanzarote so not sure how they compare.

Tenerife is green, I thought so anyway. Less so in some parts than others. The sand is black in the north of the island but round Costa Adeje/Playas its golden.

We went to Tenerife at the end of October last year and it was great! We stayed in Costa Del Silencio which is at the south of the island. We hired a car and went to Adeje for an evening and went up the volcano.

I'd say that Tenerife is much greener than Lanzarote and the weather can be better at that time of the year.

I am looking to go back this year and the hotel I am loking at has a heated pool. I always use Ice Lolly to find out what's available and to book. They are pretty good.

Hope this helps a bit and you enjoy your holiday.

Good advice- yes I preferred the look of Tenerife and pleased the sand is golden in adeje. Whats the hotel you are looking at nearlyuptheduff ? and I have never heard of Ice Lolly- please fill me in!

I think I have decided on Costa adeje area of Tenerife but still struggling to find a hotel to accommodate 2 adults and 2 children comfortably without booking 2 separate rooms. Any suggestions/recommendations of hotels with rooms/suites with divide off area for children sleeping or even 2 separate bedrooms?

Anthelia Iberostar [http://www.iberostar.com/redireccion.asp?conccodi=3&codiconc=24&merccodi=6&idiocodi=2] has connecting rooms, heated pool and kid's club, and is located near one of the nicest beach in Costa Adeje. Other hotels in the same beach are Costa Adeje Palace, Sheraton, Riu Arecas and Riu Palace, Iberostar El Mirador. And of course the Bahia del Duque, but $$$$$$$$$!!!!!!
Otherwise a nice golden beach in tenerife is Playa Las vistas at the other far end of Playa de las Americas.
Please avoid Fañabe, Puerto Colon, Playa troya, Las veronicas! Beaches in Los cristinos are too close to the port, and the water is not so clean.
Don't go to La Caleta, it is nice for a really nice dinner but there are no sandy beaches, you can't go really far for a walk and for kids it may be boring, but you MUST go there and eat at Chelso, or the restaurant La Caleta for fish.

gordonpym- thanks, that is very comprehensive info. Brilliant. Have looked at the Anthelia, maybe i missed the interconnecting rooms. Will re-look.
Thanks

Hi sunglasses.
I live and work, looking after children in Tenerife.

I too would alsorecomment the iberostar Anthelia Park as it is a beautiful hotel with great kids club, mini disco in the evenings followed by a great show. It is in a brilliant location right on the beach with mini golf, inflatables in the sea for kids and a soft play area, also on the beach with trampolines ... i love it haha.

Weather wise, it is normally still in the high 20c's in the day and low 20c's at night so lovely and loads of sunshine.

I work mailny with holiday makers so i know many of the hotels here on the island so if i can help you further or answer any questions you may have please dont hesitate to let me know. I will be happy to help.

Lisa.x

Don't worry, Anthelia has connecting rooms, we had one and there is even a DVD player for the kids.
Once you get through the garden gate you can go left and take the stairs to Playa Fañabe or go right, pass the castel and you'll be at playa del duque, which I like more than playa fañabe. To be honest I don't like playa Fañabe for the day, even if it is okish after dinner to let the kids run and play. Too many fun bar, noise, crap restaurants, tv with football games, pool, ..But the ice-cream or the coffee at Exotica (after the trampoline) is delicious.
Playa del duque is really nice and very clean. There are two elegant bars with a retro taste. The waves are stronger near the castle and the sea is sooooo blue, but at the other end of the bay, the sea is flat, and you kids will spend the day trying to catch crabs on the rocks.

I second the Anthelia. Lovely hotel but v pricey!!! Be warned book HB or FB. Also most hotels dont offer early sittings so your going to be struggling with the 3 year old. Dinner in the evening was stunning but at £35pp you want to relax and taking a 3 yr old isnt an option. I took my then 4 year old and 7 month old. We used Lisa2 for babysitting.

The pools arent heated either - freezing!!

Gordonpym is spot on with the advice avoid avoid plenty of the playa Fanabe and Tavorcas (sorry spelling) its a HOLE! the beach wasnt nice either. The beach promanade was horrible, stunk of grease, dirty and my worst nightmare. Crap food - if you want burger, fat and junk this is the place.

Playa del duque is nice but pricey and in some parts soleless - the shopping complex thing was strange loads of expensive shops with no customers. Around Bahia del Duque is nice - Spar that sold loads of nice stuff to put in yr hotel fridge. Beach lovely but also $$$$$$$.

We flew with Ryan air and booked our taxi via the net and saved a fortune. We used
onthebeach.com which worked out £1k less than soveriegn quoted us! I would use an agent better book yourself on the credit card.

It was an expensive holiday for shorthaul but if you want good then you have to pay for it!

Anthelia has 3 pools, the one near the gym, after the restaurant stairs is heated. The very big one and the one in the kid club were ice cold.
Taxi from airport was 23 euros.
Bacon is right, I forgot to mention Torviscas in my black list!

Once you are at the Jardin tropical Hotel it gets nice again.
The other end of playa de las americas, from the conquistador on, you have nice beaches again (playa de las vistas). There is a very nice SC aprthotel called parque santiago 3 (not the 1,2 or 4) just in fron of the surfer spot.
Hotel conquistador H10 is nice and so expensive

Lisa 2 - I wonder if I could ask some questions. We are looking at Gran Hotel Bahia del Duque Resort - do you know this hotel? We have a ten year old DD and were attracted to this hotel due to the large number of activities or her.

Is is sunbathing weather during the day - I really need some heat.

TIA

We are going to fuerte in a villa next year - the prices for the hotels were just ridiculous - 4-500 each and the villa with own heated pool/3 beds/playstation etc is only 500 for all of us for the week and flights were 600...ownersdirect.co.uk as usual...

Hiya.
Yes,i do know the Bahia Del Duque very well as i have worked there quite a few times now.

It is a lovely hotel in a great location and you are right on a lovely sandy beach with shops, bars and restaurants all around, not roudy bars by the way.

The hotel itself have beautiful pools and a great pool for the little ones,although not really applicable if you daughter is 10 years old.

They have nightly entertainment starting with a kids disco followed by some kind of show weather it be a magic show, dance show etc, they are all very good.
It might be worth asking the hotel before you book if the nightly entertainment will be on as they sometimes have breaks in the year.

The kids club is also a nice one where lots is going on for all ages.

October is looking very hopeful weatherwise as we still have aprox 30degrees each day and in oct it does not drop that much so you will still be looking of a high of around 27c ish so definatley tanning weather.

Oh the buffet dinners are great too with a different theme every night and a good variety to choose from ... i love it haha.

Anything else, please dont hesitate.
Lisa.