It's Saturday. 48 Hours ago I was sat in an American diner sipping on a milkshake and trying to cool down from the 20 minute walk from the hotel. Now I'm sat with a cup of tea contemplating whether I should grab my dressing gown and settle down for the night. A contrast I'm very much over already.
We flew to Lanzarote with Easyjet via Gatwick in the school holidays. Crazy huh? We got to the airport at 4am, waited about 5 minutes max to check our bags in, and was through security within 10/15 minutes. We flew into Arrecife Airport and had a shared transfer over to our hotel, the Beatriz Costa & Spa Hotel, and were kindly checked in 3 hours early.
The hotel is large. It sits on the top of a hill essentially, and after day 4, I did start to feel it in my legs as we walked up and down once or twice a day to the beach and main town area, about a 15/20 minute walk away. The hotel was just enough away that I wasn't annoyed by the distance, but had I been a tad unfitter, or had a bad knee for example, the walk would have definitely been a little too much. You can, of course, hire a car for your stay and the hotel has a desk in the reception dedicated to this. There are also a number of holiday reps from airlines with information about excursions if they were your thing.
A summery of the week:
Arrive and headed to hotel. Checked in and went for a little walk down to the beach. We stopped at La Chiminea for some lunch and this was very much welcome. Just to add, we didn't have a problem communicating at all throughout the trip as many people speak English as well as Spanish. People do however, love to have a laugh at your expense when you pronounce a word or two wrong. Mildly annoying on the first instance, but a little insulting after a few occurrences. I digress.. We went for a quick walk and back to the hotel for a nap, before getting dressed and heading into the buffet for dinner. We were half board, so breakfast and dinner food were included, but drinks were not.
The rest of the week saw walks along the beach, cocktail in bars and many an Italian restaurant for lunch. The beach is sandy with some volcanic ash dusted around, and there are groups of beach chairs dotted about for a day spent sunbathing. The hotel also has some free things to do, such as the pool activities with the entertainment crew, mini golf and tennis. We didn't venture into the spa but this is of course an option too.
Excursion wise, on Tuesday we chose to take a trip on a catamaran with, Catlanza. They kindly gave me a discount code for 20% off of the trip, just for reference. A boat trip is something I've never done before, and strangely struggled with at first. I could see the bottom of the sea, but after not swimming for many years, fear kicked in and it took about an hour before plucking up the courage to get in, even if I was holding onto the rope the whole time. The price includes snorkels, kayaks and paddle boards to try, as well as a pasta lunch and unlimited drinks. On the speedier return sail however, I became very sea sick, so definitely take some travel sickness tables (or just skip the lunch?) if you even get a glimpse of motion sickness. Is it worth the price? Absolutely if you intend to utilise the activities on board and the drinks, or even if, like me, you'd just like to say you've been on a boat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
Restaurants we visited:
La Chiminea: 4/5 (boyfriend would give it a 7/5 if he could)
Portobello Italian Restaurant: 5/5 (came here for dinner and the owner was a superstar)
Shanghi Chinese Restaurant: 5/5 (every table taken and generous portions, e.g. one place will serve two/three people)
The Irish Bailey: 3.4/5 (can't quite remember why but there was a reason that we wouldn't go back)
Bahia Beach Bar: 5/5 (the most relaxed I've been on holiday)
El Maestro: 0/5 (table service but was completely ignored for around 15 minutes. Staff knew we were waiting and didn't even offer a menu, only have the tables were taken so not busy either)
Pablos Resturante: 4/5 (the best vegetable lasagne I've had, but the steak was well over cooked and chewey)
Bluebells Bar: 4/5 (great drinks, quick service but staff are quite blunt)
Fintstones Rock Cafe: 4/5 (food was quite nice for beach side cafe, staff are very British with very British humour -swearing, arguing with each other, jokey threats to customers...- which is fine for me because I get it, but I can imagine what others are thinking and it did make me a little uncomfortable after a while)
Our little holiday was very central to the town we were staying in, Costa Teguise. If we had more time then a trip to the volcanos would have definitely been on the cards, and I would have liked to have done a tour of the island too. Would I go back? In a heartbeat. It's not a big fancy luxury holiday by any means, but enough to treat you to some sun, good food and things to look forward to.
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