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Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

Original poster

Canary Islands beginning of May. Which one?

32 replies

ladybirdm · 04/03/2015 22:09

Hey, just wondering if anyone had an advice about which island and anywhere you'd recommend. First holiday abroad with 4 year old twins. Oh forgot to mention the mother and father in law as well.... ??

Thank you for reading xxx

OP posts:
Choccywoccydodah · 05/03/2015 11:06

I think they're all nice except Lanzagrotty!
Fuerteventura be careful where you go as it can be quite windy, the same with the south of Tenerife.
Out of all of them, we prefer a Tenerife, don't ask me why, but we just find it easy to navigate around with a car, and there's loads to do.
Preferred places to stay are Los Cristianos and Costa Adeje. Don't be put off by Las Americas, it had a bit of a name for itself being a bit nightclub by and that was all. If you stay in the right hotel in the right area though, it is lovely and has lovely beaches :)

crazycatlady82 · 06/03/2015 09:13

We are currently in Fuerteventura (on holiday, we don't live here).

We go to a small village called El Cotillo. It's not very Brit orientated which suits us perfectly. There are only about 5 or 6 restaurants. In the whole village there is one british bar (El Toston).

Some apartments have communal pools but I don't think any are heated. In May the pools will still be a little cool. The sea is starting to heat up at that time but still on the cold side for me. OH is happy to swim at that temp though and so are many others so probably just me!

Corralejo is further along the northern coast and has much more going on. It isn't a big resort but still too busy for us. It's fine though and you can get a villa with pool there, if that's what you are looking for.

There are also many hotels in Corralejo, whereas there is only one in El Cotillo.

xx

Artistic · 06/03/2015 09:22

Tenerife.
Best go for an all inclusive 4/5 star hotel. Excellent food, many pools to choose from, activities club/crèche/mini disco for kids, some have private beaches & all are close to the beach. Heavenly!

Original poster
ladybirdm · 06/03/2015 21:31

Thank you so much for the advice. It's such a large amount of money and it's our first family holiday i really want to book the right holiday. Thanks again Smile

OP posts:
charlyn · 07/03/2015 13:31

Definitely Tenerife. Theres just a lot more to do there.

Hulababy · 07/03/2015 14:42

We've just come back from a week in Playa Blanca, in Lanzarote. Was lovely.

Artistic · 09/03/2015 21:07

If you want a very specific suggestion I can say 'iberostar Anthelia' at Tenerife is definitely worth your money. We loved our holiday there and had zero issues. Just wished we could've stayed another week!

BuffyTy · 12/03/2015 11:02

We absolutely loved Playa Blanca in Lanzarote - nice resort..huge but you can choose the bits you like best, plus we hired a car and did trips to the volcanoes and local villages. Went to Tenerife the following year. Had a good time but it's harder to drive around as the traffic / roads north of Costa Adele were terrible. Plus the beaches were packed - no chance of a lounger past 10am in the morning! Wouldn't rush back...

Redzer · 12/03/2015 20:06

Gran Canaria Meloneras is a lovely resort and also Puerto Mogan is gorgeous. We also like Caleta in Fuerteventura.

fedupandfeelingold · 12/03/2015 20:16

Different perspective here
Tenerife fab but going north West
Los gigantes or Puerto Santiago
Or lanzarote better Imo
So small can go EVERYWHERE in a car. So many great places. Playa blanca is nice for a day trip Imo but purpose built for tourists.
If you like more traditional mix it liked staying in Puerto del Carmen (we went ai in hotel flora cheap and cheerful but nice town and clean and very friendly)

OnIlkleyMoorBahTwat · 13/03/2015 14:44

Another vote for the old town end of Puerto del Carmen Lanzarote or Playa Blanca. Playa Chica beach in PdC had amazing snorkelling.

Hire a car and explore the island if you can, there is loads to see and do. The Lanzagrotty reputation is far from deserved and probably applies to only the new part of PdC or Costa Teguise.

Original poster
ladybirdm · 14/03/2015 00:29

Thank you so much... I've been looking at costa adeje... But I've written another thread as then I started thinking I was missing out on other places. Thanks for the this. More food for thought. Smile x

OP posts:
Original poster
ladybirdm · 14/03/2015 00:31

Oh btw thank you artistic. That hotel looks amazing!!! Found a good deal but just over our price range xxx

OP posts:
balletgirlmum · 14/03/2015 00:45

We've been to Costa Adeje gran hotel twice & loved it.

Lanzarote wasn't as nice.

shinjuku09 · 15/03/2015 09:00

Can I shamelessly jump on to ask why is Lanzarote not as nice balletgirl?

Fluffy40 · 15/03/2015 09:04

Can recommend La Palma in the canaries. It's very remote and hilly.

Not much to do, just soak up that lovely sun and relax.

KenDoddsDadsDog · 15/03/2015 09:06

Sensatori Tenerife !
I love Madeira but it's more northern than the other islands so would be cooler.

Koalafications · 15/03/2015 09:13

OP, I hated La Palma. Honestly, the worst holiday of my life.

Tenerife was great and would be good for younger children, too.

rookiemere · 15/03/2015 12:53

We've been to Tenerife 5 years in a row, so it's safe to say we like it Grin.

This place is great www.regencycountryclub.com/en/ although it is removed from the beach and you'd need to use the hotel mini bus to get down to the front, but they have a lovely heated pool, a small and friendly kids club and it's just generally a very relaxing holiday destination. I think they have rooms through jet2 so it might be a lot cheaper to try to book a holiday through them than flights and rooms separately.

shinjuku09 · 15/03/2015 13:44

Koala why was it so bad?? We wanted to go but no flights near us!

eandh · 15/03/2015 16:17

We went to Playa Blanca in Lanzarote last August for 12 days/11 nights and the dd's had best holiday 'ever' in their words (we met some fab families at our hotel so I think the bonus of having new friends really helped) hotel was perfectly nic e(not everyones cup of tea but we liked it) and playa blanca a pretty town x

Koalafications · 15/03/2015 18:05

shinjuku how long have you got? I could quite happily rant all day, but I don't want to raise my blood pressure.

The island itself is essentially a rock in the ocean, there is bugger all to do, the weather is shite, there weren't any nice beaches. We couldn't leave the hotel to go out walking as it was all up a really steep hill and there were just banana plantations for miles and miles.

The worst part of the holiday was 'shit factor' the hotel. But that's not a reflection of the island.

There was only one flight off the island to get back to the UK each week so we couldn't even come home early - and I would have paid ALOT to come home early. This was also quite scary as if something had happened back at home it would have been really difficult to get back. (Maybe we could have got a flight to one of the other islands and then another connecting flight home)

Honestly, I wouldn't go back even if it was a free holiday.

Fluffy40 · 15/03/2015 18:50

Well we had a lovely time and would go back with no problem .

I'm sure all the canaries are much the same weather wise, you just choose if you want quiet or busy.

Yes it was remote and hilly, that's half the attraction for me.

Koalafications · 15/03/2015 18:58

The canaries aren't all the same weather wise. I can only go by my experience of La Palma and there was only 3 days of sunshine in three weeks (in July!) Due to the mountain it was overcast and quite chilly every other day.

Tenerife on the other hand was really warm when we went late June/early July.

OnIlkleyMoorBahTwat · 15/03/2015 19:12

Blimey Koala, are you sure it was Lanzarote you went to?

I've been twice in the last six months and we went snorkelling and scuba diving, camel riding, visited the Volcano national park, went hiking, saw amazing beaches, visited show caves, took boat trips to neighbouring islands, visited loads of little inland villages.

In October the weather was hot and sunny every day, granted it wasn't quite that in February, but it was still mostly beach weather.

We need to go back as we didn't have time to visit the vineyards, all the other Cesar Manique stuff, the waterpark, several other towns and villages and a load of other stuff I can't remember off the top of my head.