On Monday we returned from our family holiday in Gran Canaria. The kids have been looking forward to this holiday for a long time. The excitement was building up for days and so Chloe was counting down the days a week beforehand.
We had a great experience with Abbey Travel and so I booked this holiday with them again. This time I did my own research to find the right place. Daddy wanted to be the decision maker of this holiday so I let him choose where we would go. He chose Maspalomas in Gran Canaria. I have been to Gran Canaria as a child before but never to the Maspalomas area. We aren’t big into sitting by the beach and so I chose a hotel resort that was more away from the beach but still accessible to walk to in 20 minutes or to take a taxi to. We stayed in the Tabaiba Princess Hotel. It was only upgraded back in 2019. It shares the facilities with the Maspalomas Princess hotel which is pretty much identical but the rooms are a bit more outdated.
The kids were off from school for a week again this month and so we decided to head over for ten days. The flight over was four hours long but they are at an age now where they don’t mind and we had plenty of entertainment with us. We arrived late on the Friday so we only got to check in and headed straight to the dinner buffet. This is an All Inclusive hotel which meant we had breakfast, lunch, snacks, drinks and dinner included. As we were staying for ten night, we could also choose from one of the exclusive themed restaurants to dine in which were Italian and Asian. We chose the Italian one on our last night. It was nice for a change.
The Resort
We established a routine very quickly and spent most of our mornings from 11am to 2pm at the pool. Lunch was served in two tents in the pool area. We spent most of our time in one of the tents as the other food options didn’t appeal to the kids. We enjoyed hot dogs one day, pizza another day, salads, sandwiches and burgers. There was never a time we went hungry. During the afternoon when the sun was the strongest, we spent some time in the room to wind down. We came back down at 4pm for either some pool time or animation. The first half of the holiday the kids really enjoyed the aquapark. This was divided into slides for the smaller kids and they also had four slides for the bigger kids and adults. Both kids were still able to stand. I believe the pool was 1.10m deep. The main pool area was also ideal for the kids. There were sections that got deeper but most of the pool was great for them to play in and hit a ball together.
Chloe was not the biggest eater on this holiday due to the heat but she definitely enjoyed her dessert choices. Matthew always had a big plate full of food, whether that was at breakfast or at dinner. He still got plenty of fruit into him too. Melons everyday. They enjoyed the independence of getting up, getting a plate and putting any food they like on their plate. Despite all the food we consumed, we surprisingly didn’t put on any extra weight. We also had plenty of fizzy drinks holiday. The machines were available throughout the restaurant as well as the bars and pool area.
One of the days we took part in a Bingo session in one of the huts outside the pool area. Matthew managed to win himself a diploma as well as three free cocktails for mammy and daddy to consume. He was very proud of himself. I managed to win mega Jenga on a different day in the same hut too. So we both proudly took home a diploma.
The hotel had two rooms full of Arcade games. Most of the games you were able to get tickets. Despite the fact the prizes were not great, the kids (not just mine) were hooked on getting as many tickets as possible. We spent quite a bit of money in this place but they enjoyed it which was the main thing.
We also played a bit of table tennis to get out of the sun once in a while.
During our stay there was a guy walking around approaching families to take professional family photos. So this is what we did one evening and we received some lovely photos of the kids around the resort.
On our last full day we dropped the kids into kids club. This was running twice a day for two hours. We dropped them in only once. They had fun dancing in the club house and then spending the rest outside in the kids pool area going down the slides. It might be Matthew’s last time as he is definitely getting too old for it now because he was the oldest at that time.
Out and About
On our first evening we took a stroll down to the fun fair called Holiday World. It took around fifteen minutes to walk there. Really we only had a quick look around to see what it’s like. We bought tickets for Wooland at a later stage of our holiday. Tickets were priced at €11.90 for adults and €15.90 for kids. Chloe got more fun out of the place than Matthew as they are very strict on the height restrictions. Most of the rides were up to 1,30 but Matthew is just over 1,40m whereas Chloe is just under 1,30m. He still managed to go on the bumper cars and the boats on the water. He didn’t want to go on the “scary ” rides. It was still a lovely evening out and something different than always watching the show in the hotel bar.
We did have a few cloudy days but it was the perfect weather to explore other areas of Maspalomas. So we took a taxi one late morning to Playa Del Ingles. Taxis are very cheap in Gran Canaria and it is all still very close with a five to ten minute taxi ride. We started off in the Yumbo Centre. That day most of the shops were still closed but we had a go at some of the Arcade games. Then we walked down the beach, had something to drink and the kids got an ice cream. Playa Del Ingles was definitely more crowded than I’ve known it twenty years ago. The kids were splashing in the ocean for a bit as we were walking along. We stopped off for another quick refresher drink while Chloe and I went off to find some postcards and souvenirs. We then took a taxi back to the hotel.
Later that evening we drove back to the Yumbo Centre to play Mini Golf. It is an 18 hole course and we paid €9 per adult and €8 per child which I found actually very reasonable. The setup was actually pretty cool. Each course had a little table where you can slide in your score card to record how many shots you got. There was a bar on side where you could order drinks and cocktails. These could be placed in the cup holder at each course table. They took a photo of everyone taking part in playing mini golf which could be purchased at the end of our visit for €10. It was a nice memory to have to I bought it. The kids really enjoyed it but might have been a little bit competitive and may have cheated every now and again. But we let it slip.
Another day I booked a camel tour through the Dunes of Maspalomas. This was only a short ten minute walk away. That day it was pretty cloudy and raining at times. Perfect really for the dunes as I’d say it would have been unbearable in the heat. We booked our slot via the website which was done via WhatsApp. A deposit was required and the rest had to be paid on site. While we were waiting for it to be our turn, we got an ice cream for the kids from the vending machine. Chloe unfortunately did not last too long on the camel. There were about ten to fifteen camels one after the other they were pretty close to you. Their mouth was protected with a guard but seeing the horrible teeth made her scared so we had to give it a miss so it was only Matthew and daddy enjoying the tour. Matthew told me when he got back that he was rubbing the camel behind him and he became best friends with him. He definitely enjoyed it and wasn’t scared at all. The staff kindly gave us the deposit and money back for me and Chloe which I did not expect.
We also decided to visit Aqualand which is a water park only ten minutes down the road from our hotel. They were getting bored of the slides in the hotel at that stage so we wanted to mix it up a bit. There was definitely no shortage of slides. Chloe loved the childrens water area with a smaller selection of slides and the lazy river. You sit in a round float and go around half the park. She went on it three times. Once with me and twice with daddy. While the two of them were doing their thing, Matthew and I went on the bigger slides. He really enjoyed the fast ones. It was hard to get him off them. Chloe was brave enough at the almost end of the day and went on two with Matthew, too.
On our last evening we jumped in a taxi and drove down to Melonares, only five minutes away. It was a lovely evening an we got to see the sunset over the mountains. We had a lovely walk along the promenade and finished it off with a drink in one of the bars. Perfect ending to a lovely holiday.
