Isla de Gran Canaria Hotel Tips by Regina1965 Top 5 Page for this destination

Las Camelias.: A two star (key) apartment hotel.

I stayed at Hotel Las Camelias for a month in October-November 2009. It is excellently located, by the main street in Playa del Ingles and only a few minutes walk to Yumbo center. I was very happy with my stay, although the apartment is small it was really cosy and the furniture, the pictures on the walls and the curtains were tasteful and you just felt at home (which is not always the case when staying at a hotel). The TV was a pay-per-view, i.e. one euro for one hour, so I didn´t touch that and even though I have seen such TVs at other places I still find them to be so tacky. The kitchen has a gas-stove so bring some matches in case you arrive late.

The balcony was huge and the balconies at the end of the hotel (-01) are even bigger. And one can enter them from both the bedroom and the living room which is a plus and made the apartment look bigger. The sun didn´t arrive until ca 14-18 though. I stayed at 606, I would advice you against staying at -05 as the ventilation from the very popular restaurant down-stairs runs through these balconies cutting off a part of them leaving you in the dark. This ventilation wakes you up at 5 which was a bit annoying though. The restaurant is a buffet open from 12-23 - 9,95 euros for adults and it was ever so popular and when you were sunbathing and swimming in the pool there was sometimes an audience as the restaurant is on the first floor of the hotel and sometimes guests there came into the swimming pool area of the hotel.

There are a lot of privately owned apartments at this hotel, surprisingly many, and next to us there was a couple with a small child who cried almost the entire month, so the couple next to us had to change rooms and other people were going out of their mind. As the hotel is U-shaped our room was too close to other balconies and we constantly had to draw the blinds as other people had a view straight into our bedroom. So there were a few flaws to this hotel, but all in all I was satisfied and would stay there again.

There is a 15 minutes walk to the beach (Las Dunas) and from there another 15 minutes to the ocean.

On the ground floor there is a Spar supermarket, but I found it too expensive compared to other supermarkets.

As VT only allows for 5 photos for hotels, which is way too few, I add additional photos in a travelogue here.

Address: C/Avda. Tirajana no. 15, C.P. 35, 100 - Playa del Ingles, Gran Canaria

Directions: In the very center of Playa del Ingles, by the main road.

Other Contact: apartamentos_lascamelias@hotmail

Phone: 34 928761062

Theme: Hotel

Website: http://www.apartamentoslascamelias.es

Bungalow Parquesol.: My second stay in a bungalow.

I was not satisfied with my stay at Parquesol. It looked all right on the photos from the agency, but it was cold and not at all inviting. My first impression was that I was sitting at the bus-station or in a bathroom with all the tiles on the walls. I first tried one bedroom, but got almost claustrophobic in there, the bars on all windows and double-bars in that very bedroom made the room very dark and in it were just beds and one bedside table. We pushed the beds together (both of the bedrooms had seperate beds) and in the middle was a big gap, so this was as unromantic as it could be. Everywhere where I have stayed there has been a dressing table in the room, but in this bedroom there was just no room for it, and the walls were too close for comfort. So I moved into the other bedroom, it was the same but less bars on the window so I had more light. I bought pictures and taped them onto the walls to get some life in the room. The blankets we got were filthy, full of dust and there were blood-stains on the bedspread, and as there was just a sheet to cover yourself with I had to cover myself with both the bedspread and the blankets as it was very cold in the bungalow! My guess is that the blankets are never washed. I ended up borrowing a heater as I was sleeping fully dressed.

Then there were so many mosquitos in the bungalow and I got many bites during the night. There were ants all over the kitchen and bathroom, even though we borrowed a spray to kill them.

Being so close to Yumbo and there being an opening in the ceiling of the bathroom there was LOUD music and singing until 4 in the morning, so there was little sleep to be had on this trip.

The TV was the smallest ever and right up in the ceiling so there was no watching it, not a chance, and for 1 euro you could get 2 hours' of watching, but that was in vain as there was nothing to be seen there.

There was no phone in the bungalow and no Internet at the reception.

The bathroom was ok, but it wouldn't have hurt them to leave a small bar of soap there for people having travelled all day arriving late at night.

There were 2 entrances to the bungalow, one by the terrace and one by the kitchen and the cleaning ladies started moving the deck chairs and table at 8 in the morning making a lot of noise and then entering the bungalow very early to clean, so there was no sleep to be had. There was no sign saying "Do not disturb" and one could expect to be disturbed whenever. Not at all nice.

I totally recommend people to stay away from this place.

Address: Avda. Estados Unidos 43, 35100 Playa del Ingles, Gran Canaria.

Directions: Across the road from Yumbo Center, i.e. closer to the beach.

Other Contact: info@bungalowsparquesol.com

Phone: 34 928760272

Theme: Hotel

Website: http://www.bungalowsparquesol.com

Rebecca Park bungalows.: A 2 star bungalow.

We stayed at the Rebecca Park Apartments for 2 weeks in March 2008 in an apartment with 1 bedroom. These bungalows are of normal standard, clean (apart from a few ants in the kitchen) with very friendly staff which make you feel very welcome. There are 50 apartments there and four studios. A restaurant, a mini market, a pool-bar, pool and a tennis court.

Our apartment was really nice, but the windows in the bed-room faced the swimming-pool as did the bath-room, so when taking a shower one had to keep the window shut as to not be on display. I could go out of the bed-room window into the swimming-pool area so there was no opening that window as well if one did not want to be seen from the swimming-pool area which was a disadvantage really. Our apartment had a living room with a sofa (sleeps 1) and a bed, a kitchenette and TV, with a lot of channels (for free), a safety-deposit box in the closet (which you pay for at the lobby), a nice bath-room and a bed-room. There had been some painting experiments in the bed-room, a different colour of yellow had been splashed here and there on the walls, making it a bit shabby, apart from that the bed-room was really nice. We had a terrace facing another bungalow. The terrace was nice, with a table, a table-cloth, 2 chairs and 2 sundecks. The only thing bothering us there was that the path leading to other bungalows was right in front of the terrace, too close for comfort, you can notice how close the path is on my picture in my next tip.

There are two computers with Internet connection in the lobby, but the Internet speed was extremely slow, REALLY slow, so better go to an Internet café. There is one really good Internet café (5 hours for 5 euros) on the corner of Avenida de Gran Canaria and Avenida de Tirajana. It is on the same side as the CC Chaparral, just walk towards Tirajana and down the stairs on the corner, there are a few restaurants and this Internet café.

Rebecca Park is about 1,5 kilometres away from the beach, one just walks to the end of Tirajana to Riu Palace and then along the Dunas which takes you straight to the beach. Yumbo centre is really close, only about 5 minutes' walk and you are there, which is an advantage. Take a look at my next tip for more pictures and information. On their business card they have a website www.grupoamcotur.com but I found www.hotelstreet.co.uk/Hotels-4046-Rebecca_Park.html to be much more useful.

Address: Calle Noruega, 1 35100 San Bartolomé de Tirajana, Playa del Inglés, Gran Canaria

Directions: Calle Noruega is the street directly leading to CC Gran Chaparral shopping centre on Avenida de Gran Canaria.

Other Contact: recepcion@appiramides.com

Phone: +34-928760994

Theme: Hotel

Website: http://www.grupoamcotur.com www.hotelstreet.co.uk/Hotels-4046-Rebecca_Park.html

Bungalow Parquesol.: Outside facilities.

The outside facilities at Parquesol are much nicer than being inside. There is a nice terrace with deck chairs and a table and a big parasol and lots of flowers. There are 2 small swimming pools with salt-water which were supposed to be heated, but were really cold and we were told that the heating had to be fixed. I stayed there for 3,5 weeks and only on the last days did the manager have it fixed.

Apart from that the outside facilites were lovely, a creek with water running all day long (until 18h) seperates the bungalows which face one another and it was lovely listening to it while sunbathing or talk to the neighbours across the creek. There is a pool table and enough space by the swimming pools for the whole of the guests at the bungalows to have morning gymnastic (which they did).

The reception was open at some fixed hours which I could never find out as when it was supposed to be open it was closed or vica versa. The manager did not speek any English so sign-language was needed. Sometimes though there was a woman in the reception who spoke English.

If the inside of the bungalow would have been as lovely as the outside I would stay there again.

Address: Avda. Estados Unidos 43, 35100 Playa del Ingles, Gran Canaria.

Directions: Across the road from Yumbo Center, i.e. closer to the beach.

Other Contact: info@bungalowsparquesol.com

Phone: 34 928760272

Theme: Hotel

Website: http://www.bungalowsparquesol.com

Apartamentos Dorotea: A good location and a very friendly staff.

We stayed at Apartamentos Dorotea for 2 weeks in December 2007. It belongs to the "Trujillo Castellanos group" and is classified as an economy hotel and is rated 2 stars. There are 40 apartments in this hotel and 5 floors. The lobby is small and open from 9-13 and 16-20 o'clock with excellent staff, really friendly and helpful, which made us feel really welcome. There is an Internet-connection for free for 10 minutes at a time in the lobby. Our apartment was spacious, with 2 bedrooms (we were 2 people staying there), an excellent balcony, the bathroom and kitchen were modern and everything was clean and to our satisfaction. The kitchen had a toaster, fridge, a coffee-maker and a kettle. There was a pay-per-view TV. The safety-box fee was 37,34 euros - 10 euros deposit for 15 nights. All in all we had an excellent stay there, everything was up to par and I would recommend it to anybody and would definately stay there again.

Unique Qualities: The pool area was nice with a bar-snack area. Dorotea is a 5 minutes' walk from the beach (uphill from the beach) and a couple of minutes' walk from a convenience-store and Kasbah, which is up the steps on the left hand side (looking at the beach). The location of the hotel is really great as it is so central, on the left hand side (looking at the mountains) you walk for about 7 minutes and there is Yumbo-center, it is better to walk up the street to the Koka hotel and turn left and walk to the end of that street and turn left again and walk for a couple of minutes and then on the right hand side is Yumbo-center. The other route is walking all the steps, up and down, which lead to Yumbo-center, but they are not for everybody and can get really tiring and I saw a lot of people with maps trying to find their way, as the continuation of the steps from Kasbah to the Yumbo-center can be a bit hard to find.

Address: Avenida de Tirma, 5, 35100 Playa del Inglés - San Bartolomé de Tirajana, Gran Canaria, Spain

Directions: Looking down at the beach Kaspah is immediately up the steps on the left.

Other Contact: dorotea@trujillocastellanos.com

Phone: 34-928-762-474

Theme: Hotel

Website: http://www.trujillocastellanos.com/dorotea_eng/index.html

Rebecca Park bungalows.: A 2 star bungalow - part 2.

Address: Calle Noruega, 1 35100 San Bartolomé de Tirajana, Playa del Inglés, Gran Canaria

Directions: Calle Noruega is the street directly leading to CC Gran Chaparral shopping centre on Avenida de Gran Canaria.

Other Contact: recepcion@appiramides.com

Theme: Hotel

Website: http://www.grupoamcotur.com