tell me Gran Canaria is ok

[BuffyTy]

Have booked the new Radisson in Morgan for Feb half term. Am hoping the resort and hotel are nice as we've visited Tenerife (abama and villa Maria) and Lanzarote (playa Blanca / princess yaiza) a few times and fancy a change. However, i keep hearing dodgy things about Gran Canaria and even when I hear good things about the resort I've booked, I hear that mainly Germans go there. No probs with that apartment from I was hoping my 9 year old only DD would have the chance to make friends with kids her age speaking English. Any advice?

We went to GC last summer and had a really lovely time :) Don't know anything about your resort or area, but there was nothing dodgy about it from my point of view!

We went to GC in September, not to your resort, and it was fine. We had a nice time. We'd go back to a different resort because where we went was really small.

We prefer Fuerteventura though, but a lot of people don't like that.

Don't worry I'm sure you'll have a nice time.

We've been going to Gran Canaria for years and Mogan is a nice area so I'm sure you'll be fine. Some of the really touristy resorts like Puerto Rico and Playa del Ingles are getting a bit run down but on the whole the place is nice.

It has been a while but year ago we went to the Mogan area and it was lovely.

Thanks for your replies - really useful. If anyone has been to the Puerto Mogan area, I'd really appreciate any tips on nice restaurants and things to do in the area. I'm a fan of beautiful sunsets, so again, any tips on where to catch a good one would be fab.

Never been to GC, but we've been a few times to a resort in Mallorca where almost everyone else who goes there is German. We like it because it's a small resort with 3 lovely beaches. We always manage with the bit of Spanish and very small amount of German we know and have fun trying to guess what menus are offering when they are in Spanish and German.

Maybe get your DD going with the Duo Lingo app to learn German so she can at least say hello etc with other tourists? Many Germans speak very good English so maybe the German children will have been learning at school and be able to speak some English?

Reviews of the hotel we've booked have appeared on tripadcisoe and thy appear to be having teething problems to say the least. Now looking at other hotels and resorts in meloneras (h10) and salobre (Sheraton). Again, any tips appreciated. Perhaps we should just head back to the princess yaiza!

We stayed in a private villa near Mogan last summer and thought Mogan was lovely. We didn't have any private restaurants in walking distance to our villa (the nearby hotels were all inclusive) so would taxi or bus into Mogan each day.

We visited Amadores and Puerto Rico but didn't enjoy them.

I found GC much less 'English' than Tenerife, we had some lovely meals and people seemed friendly enough. Mogan doesn't have pr people outside restaurants trying to convince you to go in which was a bonus - Amadores was awful for this.

There was a gorgeous tiny restaurant in Mogan but you had to prebook. Can't remember the name but one of the staff in another restaurant recommended it. I bet it's o trip advisor as it's only a small place

We ate in the day regularly in a little beachfront place called Diegos, nothing to look at but the food was good and nothing was too much trouble - they adjusted things for kids, did child portions of any adult meal, moving sunshades to cover tables etc. The beach is quite short so we could sit at the front and watch the kids (age 10 &11) play on the beach only a few metres away while waiting for the food to arrive.

We found it odd that lots of places only opened in the day then closed up for the evening - this was high season too.

We stayed in Puerto Mogan about four years ago. It was a lovely resort and that's where we would go back to if returning to the island. No problems with germans, just people on holiday having a nice time on beach, pottering around shops and enjoying a meal in the evening.

When my son was about 9, I went with him to a cheap hotel in Ibiza. It was AI but really budget one. Until now, if you ask him, he says it's the best holiday ever, and we've been to really nice places since. This is because the place was full of Scottish kids and he spent 16 hours a day playing and chatting to them. So, what I am trying to say is that at that age, your daughter might really want children she can properly speak to, not just say hello. If in doubt, I would rather change hotels.

I've stayed in the Sheraton solabre in GC. Hotel was lovely, didn't like the buffet restaurant myself and the pools were absolutely freezing (September) not sure what else youd like to know really x

Thanks everyone for your comments and recommendations, We've booked the flights and have made provisional reservations at both the new Radisson and the Cordial Mogan Playa in Mogan for 5 nights (will keep checking trip advisor!), then moving to the Sheraton Salobre for a couple at the end. Have found an astronomy evening for star gazing so that should keep DD happy if all else fails.

I stayed in the Sheraton Salobre last year. It was nice.

However you need a car because it's off the motorway and there's no other way of getting there. I found this out the hard way when I tried to cycle there.

That really frustrated me as I had to leave my bike in the town and get the bus every day. But if you've got a car you'll be fine.

Just thought I'd report back - both hotels were good, with the Radisson being kid friendly and the Sheraton more couples. Had a great time and would recommend GC to anyone....just pick the bits you know are for you depending on what kind of holiday you want.