Hotel Anthelia Tenerife - Some questions

[rookiemater]

We are booked up to go in Oct and my friend and her son may come as well but they are going to be on a budget so I wanted to ask a few questions about cost of food.
If they book through the hotel website they can have half board for £30 per day for both of them. Are there many restaurants within walking distance of the hotel and if so what sort of budget are they, in other words would it be better to go for half board or leave options open - AI is much more expensive.
Thanks

At 2 minutes walk, you will find Playa de Fañabe packed with café and restaurants, which are all cheap and - IMO crap.
At 5 minutes, in the plaza del duque shopping center, you have the pizzeria san marco , which is really good, and a pizza margherita is about 7 euros.
I think, that 30 euros per day for both of them is really a deal as the anthelia buffet is excellent. In the evening you can have a heathy meal with grilled fish/meat, plenty of vegetables and fruit, soup, pasta, etc... and at lunch, have a sandwich prepared at breakfast with all the delicious breads from the breakfast buffet.
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Brilliant thanks for the advice gordonpym really detailed and useful. Unfortunately I stupidly booked ours through a travel agent and going half board would have been really expensive and DH also likes variety, but will certainly use your tip about the breakfast breads - I never did this in the past but after an expensive trip to Portugal I am now expert at smuggling out lunchtime sarnies!

You can buy dinner vouchers at the reception. Can't really remember how much it was, around 20-25 /adult and half price the children. The more you buy, the cheaper they are.
At walking distance - even with small children - there is a village called La caleta, with some very nice restaurants around a small port. The first (chelso) and the last (Restaurante la caleta) are the best for fish. Chelso is more expensive and only serves fish, while the other one has meat as well. In the middle, in front of a small play area, you'll find Rosso sul mare. Italian cuisine, elegant and pricey, but really good, and pizzas and pastas have normal price. To come back, take a taxi, around 8-10 euros.

In playa Fañabe, Otello used to be good for canarian food, but when we went last christmas, it was a total disaster. Further down, after the trampoline, there is an italian café with fantastic ice creams, it's called exotica.

If you're going to rent a car, I can give you more restaurants in Las americas/ los cristianos

Try to ask for a ground floor room. You'll have direct access to the garden.

Brilliant thanks gp. We aren't planning to hire a car so local recommendations are great and good to know that if we do decide to do a few evenings at the hotel it's not too pricey.

The rate for my friend and her son seems very low so I think it must be a particularly small room and would imagine it's a specific one, but we are in a duplex suite so I could ask Sovereign if we can get a ground floor one.

So having sorted the food , I just want to add a last word about the beaches around the hotel. You are very close to the nicest beach of tenerife, Playa del duque, way better than fañabe (dark sand, dirty,... I hate it). playa del duque is at 5 min walk, just after the castle. White sand, blue water, no noisy fun-bar, but a couple of lovely retro cafés. For a swim in quiet waters, walk a little further down till you reach the Riu Palace Hotel, the Lagon has not a proper beach, it's just rocks with a tiny tiny sandy beach at the end, but it is the only protected bay, with no waves, and if you bring some bread from the buffet (again !!!!) and throw it in the sea, you'll see plenty of lovely and colored fishes.

You are a brilliant source of information!

We actually stayed in Tenerife last October and loved the Playa Del Duque, we did waiver between Bahia Del Duque and the Anthelia but the Anthelia was more wallet friendly !

Will definitely save our breakfast bread.

Thank you so much for the tops.

Great info here. I have a question - how practical is it to get Aptamil milk cartons in this area? We will be at the Bahia del Duque in a couple of weeks with our 6 month old. Many thanks

OOh the Bahia Del Duque I am . I can't remember much about the supermarkets I wouldn't have thought that they would be stocked with all british brands and aptamil is not the most commonly used one is it? I would bring your own powder to be on the safe side.

I don't think you can find milk cartons, only powder. So better leave the huge pack of pampers which you can find under the brand name of Dodot. BE prepared to pay a lot more for them.
There is a parapharmacy in the small commercial center Paris, in front of the castle and a pharmacy further up the hill at the commercial center Plaza del duque . But if you just need Pampers (or Dodot), you better continue till the Hiperdino (in front of the hotel fañabe) o the Alteza supermarket (cc El Duque).
If you find small packets of "pampers" written in spanish, it is the mexican version, which is very bad quality.

Hi there.
I actually live in Tenerife and have a small childcare buisness.

The anthelia is the hotel that i recommend to all of my clients as it is great for families and is in a superb location, right on the beach with lots of things to do, soft play for the kiddies, mini golf, family bike hire, inflatables in the ocean and many shops and restaurants.

I persionally find that the restaurants can really vary in price and trying most of them along there, there is nothing that is really special.

My favourite places to eat are in Los Cristianos and Las Americas over the dancing fountain but they are quite expensive.

I think that the food at the Anthelia is really good and always somuch to choose from. Even if you do eat in the hotel each eve you can always go out and about after for a drink and a wonder around.
The buffet at anthelia is themed each evening but with always a kids corner, pizza and pasta stations and a meat/steak place. It is great and the puddings ... so yummy.

If you need anymore questions about the hotel or surrounding areas dont hesitate to let me know.

The long and short of it is, i think your friend and her child should go with the half board option that was offered. Sounds too good to pass up.

Have a great time.
Lisa

Many thanks Rookiemater and Gordonpym - great tips! (apologies for the hijack - got excited when you mentioned Del Duque - have never been before)

Bahia Del Duque is also a really great hotel. Stunning!! and again, the buffet is amazing.
Let me know if you need to know anything else.

The Bahia Del Duque looked gorgeous, you have the best bit of beach in the world ever on your doorsteps and you get to swan about in bathrobes in the gardens. We went in to enquire about staying and have a nosey and got driven up to the front in a golf buggy which DS ( and us) was very excited about. You have a fabulous time cj.

Rookiemater, you will certainly have a fabulous time at the Anthelia as well!
And Casey, be sure to back here and tell us all about the Hotel de Duque, as an insider!
Talking about "wallet friendly" tenerife, if you go for a walk in Las Americas, be sure to go to the big benetton outlet near the metropolis surfer beach (or to make it more easy 20 mt from Mc Donalds). All jeans were at 4 euro, t-shirts for 2 euro.. a couple of weeks ago. And if you don't like benetton, go there for the surfers or the sunset. The best view of both is at the metropolis café, near Hotel conquistador

Thank you all so much! We are very excited. Will definitely check out Benetton and go and watch the sunset from the Metropolis Cafe. This is a real one off treat for us so will be making the most of it!
As an aside a Spanish pal told me that Aptamil is known as Milupa in Spain and is readily available - she also showed me that Boots organic food jars (stage 1) are actually made in Spain so am sure we will be fine.
Lisa2 lucky you living on Tenerife! What took you out there?

Well, i basically came to Tenerife with my ex fiance on a 'make or break' holiday. I was more or less left for the 9 days by myself when he was off watching football etc so i got to see more of the island and fell in love with it really, as i was falling out of love with him.

So, the following year i came back and fourth 8 times to research and look into the options of my work as i have not studied for 4 years and worked as a nanny for 16 years and a maternity nurse for 6 years to just work in a bar or restaurant so i faught to get where i am today and now i dont need to advertise as most of my workis now word of mouth which to me is the best form of advertising.

I now have other ladies working for me, all british, qualified with mounds of experience so generally i never need to say no to a family now which is great.

So there you go, thats me and how Tenerife childcare was started. I am just so glad that i never gave up when things were quiet as all small buisnesses take a while to build up and get known about so im gladi hung on in there :)

Wow! Well done. It must be great to have established something all by yourself and for it to be successful!! (and in a great setting!).

Oh yes,it is wonderful and ihave no regrets.
Ijust miss my parents terribly as i am an only child and very close to them.

Am back from Adeje and had an amazing time! Beach is excellent and the Gran Bahia del Duque was just lovely. The buildings are Disney like from the outside but the grounds, pools and staff are excellent. Best breakfast I have ever had and great choice of restaurants within. They set me up with a steriliser & microwave and there was a kettle and fridge which made life very easy. I went to the spa and had my chakras realigned (!) with a hot stone massage - just wonderful!
The Anthelia looks lovely and is just up the road (we hired a car from the Avis desk in the lobby there). The resort area is geared to tourists and prices compare to London. We bought some formula, milk cartons and water for babies (never seen that before) and it was expensive. The milk cartons were 10 times cheaper in another supermarket up the coast in a place called Candelabria but we live and learn!

Glad you had a good time casey. Unfortunately my friend isn't able to come now but we are looking forward to our break. We haven't arranged to hire a car this time, but I'm wondering if we should, was yours expensive?

I would recommend getting a car - it cost us 35 euros a day for 3 days or was 45 per day for 2 days. We drove up Mt Tiede which was beautiful and to Candelabria to see the Basilica and had a lovely lunch in the square - felt more like being abroad. We also had a look around Los Gigantos and Los Cristianos. You will have a great time and your hotel looks lovely. Wish I was going again!