Keys for a five-star holiday in Tenerife

Enjoying a conventional holiday is different to designing a personalised holiday for you and your couple with a common denominator: the word "luxury" as a common theme.

We are not talking about the luxury related to relax, rest and escape from routine proper of a holiday, but of the authentic luxury: of exclusive excursions for couples, personalised experiences and high level shopping.

Although there are many destinations that offer these types of holidays (destinations like the Balearic Islands or Riviera Maya), this month we are going to focus on Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands. A place where to enjoy the rest we are looking for our holidays and where to live the true luxury like never before. Everything with a single aim: to get a memorable and unforgettable holiday. 

Benijo Beach, Tenerife

A romantic trip along the Atlantic waters

With the vastness of the great blue as a setting and the Canary skies as a witness, we recommend you a private trip along Tenerife's waters: a charming, romantic and luxury experience. Although those knowledgeable of marine matters may choose a charter sailing boat, the best option is to opt for the "no worries" with a charter boat with captain and service aboard included.

Choosing the destination is simple: everything in Tenerife is beautiful. But if you are looking for an intimate and hidden cove, the best option is Playa del Benijo (which offers stunning views of the sunset) or the natural coves of the area of Granadilla, in the south of the island.

A dinner for two by candlelight

After a romantic trip along the islands' waters, what could be better than a luxury dinner for two. Tenerife offers a high level gastronomy, but we recommend you stop by the Los Menceys Restaurant of the IBEROSTAR Grand Hotel Mencey. One of the best hotels of the island, renowned at an international level.

The best option? Booking a table in advance, enjoying the magic of the night by candlelight and receiving the best personal attention of the staff in order to choose the best tastes of the menu. A totally recommendable experience.

5-star hotels in quality and service

Apart from an agenda of activities based on luxury and exclusivity, a five-star holiday must include a high quality hotel, an accommodation that goes beyond a good service and based on "experiences". Although there are many options in the island, we recommend you three luxury hotels for your 5-star holidays:

1.       IBERSOTAR Mencey Grand Hotel: The Adults Only IBEROSTAR Grand Hotel Mencey is a paradise hotel. A five-star hotel where your most romantic dreams will come true and where you will enjoy luxury and relax like never before. Its exclusive Sensations Spa, its luxury facilities and its personalised attention make if one of the best hotels of our country.

2.  IBEROSTAR El Mirador Grand Hotel: For those looking for a hotel on the seaside, the best option is the IBEROSTAR Grand Hotel El Mirador. An Adults Only Grand Luxury Hotel. With thousand square metres of spa and with a unique gastronomic offer in the area, the hotel offers one of the best views of the island. 

3. IBERSOTAR Salome Grand Hotel: The exclusive beaches of Fañabe and El Duque (in the heart of Costa Adeje) shelter the IBEROSTAR Grand Hotel Salome, our last stop during our route along the best Grand Luxury hotels of the island. This five-star hotel, one of the best All Inclusive hotels of the island, is located on the beachfront and offers endless facilities where to discover luxury. 

Rooftop tour across Madrid’s Gran Via

Discover Madrid from the heights is amazing. You can enjoy your breakfast from the heights while you see the city rush below. You will feel as a king and admire the beautiful rooftops of Madrid:  small, scratched and full of parabolic antennas with no sign...some others are impressive and majestic reflecting power, finance and politics. The rooftop tour across Madrid’s Gran Via offers all these and much more.  

These rooftops were not popular some time ago, but now are the place to be in Madrid. They are usually full of people and you must book in advance your table if you want to have breakfast in some of them.

Vincci The Mint's Rooftop in Gran Vía, Madrid

The most popular rooftops in Madrid’s Gran Via are:

• Emperador Hotel: with a pool at the rooftop terrace.
• IBEROSTAR Las Letras Hotel: with a chill out area and a bar.
• Circulo de Bellas Artes: emblematic rooftop offering cultural activities.
• The Principal: rooftop terrace with a nice boardwalk.

Gran Via rooftops allow us to admire some of the most iconic buildings in Madrid. However, there are other rooftops in different areas of Madrid which are also worth a visit (like terraces at La Latina neighbourhood). Gran Via rooftops are unique and perfectly identified with the destination, making them popular tourist attractions.

Most of the rooftops are designed as leisure and restaurant areas. They usually have a bar, cafe or cocktail bar. For example, Vincci The Mint rooftop (the new hotel in Gran Via by Vincci Hotels)  with a New York style food truck where to have a snack or a refreshing drink.

If you are staying at any of Las Letras hotel rooms in Gran Via, you will know why the hotel rooftop is a popular meeting point in Madrid. It’s the perfect place where to have breakfast or go after work. This 1917 building is always lively and full of tourists, locals and onlookers from around the world.

You should visit all of them and make a short tour in the evening (when you can admire Madrid’s lights), enjoying a nice dinner with snacks and some drinks. You should check the events calendar if you want to join any party -specially in spring and summer-.

Choose the perfect hotel, the key of the holidays in Punta Cana

When talking about travelling and discovering the world, many people confirm “planning in advance” makes you live great experiences on your travel. Therefore, it’s important to take a map and a pen and analyse the destination calmly before traveling there. Why? Because we avoid blank moments due to unplanned travels.

Despite the information above is really important, the key factor in destinations like Punta Cana is the hotel choice. The hotel should meet all our needs and our travel motivations. So we should clearly know them in order to make a better choice.

What if we want to enjoy a relaxing holiday apart from admiring the Dominican Caribbean landscapes? In this case, Catalonia Punta Cana hotel is the perfect choice for your holidays.  

A jewel in Playa Bavaro

Catalonia Punta Cana has been considered a hotel with unique rooms in Playa Bavaro. It has been designed to reflect the destination, Punta Cana, which apart from its Caribbean nature has an amazing natural beauty with large sandy beaches and crystal waters.  

Moreover, the Catalonia Bavaro Resort Catalonia Punta Cana takes great care to offer excellent services and delicate decorations. It also offers a wide range of activities like golf courses of 18 holes and themed restaurants, pools, casinos, kids clubs or gift shops.

Traditions and nature

It’s located within 20 kilometres from Punta Cana International Airport and it has direct access to Playa Bavaro beach. It´s 711 villas are surrounded by amazing tropical gardens.

Punta Cana and particularly Playa Bavaro, clearly show the essence of the Dominican Caribbean we all have in mind. It’s a unique destination in the world with a wonderful natural environment for those who want to get lost in any of its multiple ecological reserves.

Discover northern Majorca, the perfect plan for your holidays

Majorca is full of spots that will surprise you due to their beauty and what they offer you such as Serra de Tramuntana, the paradise beach of Es Trenc, salinas or Drach Caves. These places made the island to be one of the top destinations in the world raking.

Despite many people thinks southern Majorca has the best beaches and routes, there’s not a significant difference between the “north and the south” of Majorca. Moreover, northern and southern Majorca are both equally beautiful. So, why not choosing the highest area in Majorca to enjoy an alternative holiday, different from the traditional one? If you choose this option, you should stay at a hotel in Playa de Muro y ¡listo! ¡A disfrutar de la otra orilla de Mallorca!

The north side of the island hides many must-visit places like the popular Port Alcudia (where you should taste a delicious Majorcan-style fish) or the Natural Park of Albufera, the largest wetland in the island where to admire the amazing fauna and flora of this Mediterranean destination. There are different walking tours you can do in northern Majorca, and the park is one of the most recommended ones for families.

You should visit Pollensa and specially its port. Its vintage style and the small houses on the seashore make Port Pollensa an interesting place to visit. Would you also like to know Majorcan traditions? You should then visit its weekly market on Saturdays, where you can buy local fresh food (fruits, vegetables and cheeses).

Pollensa, Majorca

Our last stop in northern Majorca is Playa de Muro, the perfect place to enjoy a relaxing holiday and the spectacular crystal waters. 

Apart from the many seafood restaurants and beach bars offering great food in the area (for example La Ponderosa beach bar), we can find great hotels in Playa de Muro like the ones by Garden Hotels, designed for travelers looking for the best accommodation. Which is our favourite hotel? Obviously, Playa Garden Selection Hotel & Spa.

This hotel has the perfect location (within a few steps from one of the most beautiful beaches in Majorca) and is perfectly connected with the most interesting points of the island. It has excellent spa services (one of the biggest ones in the island), gourmet restaurants or medical services among others.

Grand Hotel El Mirador, an Andalusian architectonical jewel in the Canary Islands

Grand Hotel El Mirador is one of the most important architectonic Arabic style monuments in Tenerife. It has been recognized as a 5-star Grand Luxury hotel in Costa Adeje, with beautiful balustrades, gantries, arcs and magnificent building wings, allowing visitors to discover the traditional construction of the ancient Al Andalus.

Boutique hotels are mainly built on emblematic buildings completely restored, so staying at these hotels is like being in another social era.

Architecture and design are the main attributes of boutique hotels. In order to renew this ancient buildings and convert them into hotels requires important investments, so it’s important to make big profits.

Rooms of Grand Hotel El Mirador

In reference to Grand Hotel El Mirador, it’s an amazing Adults Only resort in front of Playa del Duque in the south of the island with big spaces: 22.000 m2 of Arabic and tropical gardens full of varied plants only found in the Canary Islands, more than 1.000 m2 of spa areas… We can see Al Andalus touches in the middle of this volcanic landscape in Tenerife:

• Seawalls with panoramic views of the Atlantic Ocean made with stone and natural high quality pieces.
• Big terraces open to gardens under a covered porch with typical Arabic arches. The resort is surrounded by flowers, trees and design paths.
• Inner Yards where you can relax and enjoy the natural environment.

The interior architecture and design is influenced by the ancient Al Andalus combined with cutting-edge technology and modern spaces designed for guests to relax during their stay. This Adults Only hotel in Costa Adeje has big and comfortable suites with colonial decorations, very bright and with spectacular views of the Atlantic Ocean.

The hotel pools, jacuzzis, private bath areas and ponds in the gardens allow guests to feel the relaxing atmosphere influenced by Al Andalus style combined with the textures and colours of the colonial era.

It has been considered as one of the few Grand Luxury hotel in the Canary Islands - recognized after a recent restoration which convert it into a 5-star Adults Only hotel- and an architectonical icon in Costa Adeje.

If you want to visit this Andalusian and Canarian style magnificent building in Tenerife, write down the hotel address:

Avda. Bruselas s/n

38660, Costa Adeje - Tenerife, Spain

Phone: 922716868

E-mail: grand.hotel.el.mirador@iberostar.com

ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS IN THE CATALAN COAST

Catalonia hides an amazing Mediterranean paradise with more than 200 beaches, perfect for your family holidays. Paradise beaches, unspoiled natural areas, relaxing coasts, adventurous water parks for kids...a great tourist destination for families.

More than 200 beaches make it the perfect children friendly destination

The Catalan coast has become a great family destination where to travel with kids, thanks to the effort of entrepreneurs.

It’s difficult to choose a particular beach, but some of them are better for kids due to its facilities, comfort, entertaining areas and kids’ clubs, not to  mention its fabulous safety: as the hotels located at the beach shoreline of Calella, the perfect environment for the children. 

Fergus Espanya Hotel

The next stop of family tourism is in Catalonia

Catalonia is full of attractions for all ages and particularly for children. Beach activities are great in beaches like Malgrat de Mar, with places where to relax and enjoy with your family the quiet Mediterranean waters. Children will have fun at Parc Francesc Macia, where they will play, run and enjoy the kids’s club, beach-libraries and entertaining activities.

If you want to immerse yourself in nature and let your children discover the ecologism, Pineda del Mar is the perfect place with amazing parks, forests, gardens and a large sandy beach that you will surely recommend your friends and family.

Santa Susanna, is another destination in the Catalan coast perfect for children and family tourism. One of the best family accommodations is offered by Fergus Hotels with excellent services, fabulous complementary offer, personalized services and great facilities in order you to have a memorable holiday.

In Santa Susanna you will enjoy magnificent beach excursions, horse riding, wave pools and big slides, visits to theme parks and museums, charming spots and dolphinariums which will surprise your children and make them remember these holidays in Catalonia forever.