Tenerife Blog

Around the world holiday destinations often need something new to give it the appearance of keeping up with the times and having the travel press write about it, and Tenerife is no different from any other destination in that respect.

A new hotel will make waves as does a refurbished one, and a hotel that’s under new ownership.

All are cause for travel journalists to start booking their flights to Tenerife ready for a few days special treatment in exchange for a review in their respective media.

And so it is with Tenerife as new owners take over the 5 star San Blas Reserva Ambiental in the south of the island.

A spokesman for the new owners commented:

“The purchase of San Blas Reserva Ambiental Hotel is a wonderful addition to the Sandos Hotels & Resorts product line and offers and innovative holiday resort with a variety of spaces, facilities and activities designed to live up to all the expectations for vacation fun and relaxation as well as a unique experience for group and incentive travel.”

Commenting on the benefits of booking a stay at what could be one of the best Tenerife hotels they add:

”The San Blas Reserva Ambiental Hotel is situated in front of the magnificent Atlantic Ocean, just ten minutes from the Tenerife South Airport, and located on a natural Environmental Reserve. Unique on-site facilities include a multi-media center with an interactive museum to discover mysterious species and a historical experience tunnel that recreates the history of San Blas from prehistoric times to the modern day, a sailing lake and a 27-hole Biosphere Golf Course, and a boutique Spa facility with an extensive list of body treatments.”

So with a location close to the airport from where guests take their flights to Tenerife, what are the opinions of those who have stayed there recently and added their views to popular review sites? A typical response has been:

‘We had a perfect vacation at this wonderful planned hotel. Every detail has been thought through. Our room were large with a very nice seperate shower room (yes, it was that big!) and jacuzzi. The staff is very friendly and their personality always shines through. The breakfast buffet was soooo good. One evening we tried the buffet too. Usually I’m not to fond of hotel buffets, but the San Blas really surprised me here too. In the nearby fishing village there are a lot of lovely restaurants too. Overall I can only recommend San Blas, and will absolutely stay here when travelling to Tenerife again. This is a peaceful way to vacation away from usual the tourist traps.’

Other reviews from those staying there for their Tenerife holidays are also generous in their praise, with most commenting that the facilities, cleanliness and staff make it for them 4 or 5 star standard.

For more Tenerife information including a 5 day forecast with today’s Tenerife weather visit yourtenerife.net

They also have a map, villas and the latest news and articles to read.

Minorca Blog

The biggest of Cala En Porter’s hotels has just opened after an extensive refurbishment - it’s good news for the village and for holidaymakers making their way to Menorca for their holidays.

The village has been out of favour with some of the tour operators, perhaps because it’s a little quiet for some, but the hotel will provide a great base for those wishing to visit the island and book their flights and accommodation seperately.

With views of the Mediterranean, the Azul is within an easy stroll of the resort’s amenities, including a choice of restaurants and bars, many with evening entertainment, but for those preferring a quiet week away they are catered for too.

The most recent reviews on tripadvisor from those who have been on their Menorca flights and stayed there have been glowing, and include comments such as this one from Switzerland:

We stayed 1 week in playa azul and took the hotel as a last minute offer for around 350Eur/pp including flight. For the price we paid, the hotel offered much more!

Overall we got much more then we paid for and we are really happy with Hotel Playa Azul.

And from a UK tourist who had their Menorca holidays recently:

Just got back from a week at this fab hotel, from the moment we walked through the hotel reception till the day we left it was brilliant, the staff especially the resturant and bar staff were very freindly and attentive - nothing was too much trouble, the food was first rate.

And as well as for independent travellers booking their trips online the good news for the hotel is that Thomas Cook are now offering it either seperately or as part of a package.

New photographs for Cala En Porter are due soon at yourmenorca.net and photos of the hotel are at social media like stumbleupon

Lanzarote

Could Lanzarote’s biosphere status be under threat?

Various media including The Herald have been reporting on it recently.

Many tourists travel to Lanzarote for nothing more than a sunny beach and a pitcher of sangria with a cliff-top view.

But the Spanish Canary Island is also a Unesco biosphere site: an arid stretch of lava fields, salt marshes and coastal mountains where high-rises are taboo.

And for decades, the island’s elegant-and-ecological style of tourism defied the construction craze of its wilder island neighbours, like Gran Canaria.

At least so it seemed. Because now Unesco has threatened to strip the island of its prized biosphere status because of a rash of illegal building along the coast.

The Canary Island Supreme Court has declared that 24 hotels have been illegally built in coastal resorts such as Playa Blanca, so popular with British tourists that it’s easier to order a “typical English breakfast” than the local potato dish, papas arrugas.

According to a report in the Financial Times, the court retroactively rescinded building permits, but the hotels still stand.

Eight of the Lanzarote hotels are landmark luxury properties like the Princesa Yaiza, which boasts a restaurant complex, spa and amusement park overlooking a crescent of golden sand. The Lanzarote hotels qualified for a total of €23.6m (NZ$42.9m) in EU grants, partly thanks to the biosphere status. The EU anti-corruption office has demanded the money be returned.

The Princesa Yaiza says it holds valid operating permits, and that it is the victim of a local political row.

“We are in touch with the Spanish authorities about the situation,” Meriem Bouamrane of Unesco told the FT.

“If the developments are not respecting local needs and are impacting on the environment, the title can be revoked.”

Since May 2009, police have arrested at least 24 politicians and businessmen, including the former president of the Lanzarote provincial government and the former mayor of Arrecife, another popular resort destination, in connection with illegal building permits.

Such police swoops have become commonplace in other once-booming Spanish coastal resorts - in Marbella, for instance, the entire city council had to be dissolved - but Lanzarote was thought to be different.

“Lanzarote had a very good application,” Unesco’s Ms Bouamrane said.

“Mass tourism was not something they were developing. They promoted sustainable tourism that was more respectful to the environment.”

Of the 564 biosphere sites around the world, Lanzarote is the only entire island to win the prestigious classification. The Unesco website touts the island’s ecological charms, including a profusion of unpronounceable species like “arthrocnemum fruticosum”, and it praises the way “priority was given to blend tourist infrastructure with the beautiful but inhospitable environment”.

Thanks to a pioneering land-use plan, nearly half the island has been declared a nature reserve, the volcanic Timanfaya National Park, which is largely pristine except for a dizzying tour-bus route, camel rides and a sole restaurant where steaks are grilled over a lava-heated barbecue pit.

Unesco credits the lobbying efforts of architect Cesar Manrique, whose sustainable style of development is visible in low-key tourist attractions like the Mirador del Rio, a cafe and viewpoint imbedded in lava rock, or the Jameos del Agua, another lava-scape, which doubles a concert hall.

In fact, the Cesar Manrique Foundation, named after the late architect, blew the whistle on the illegal hotels.

The foundation’s mission is to fight the onslaught of concrete towers that has littered other islands and Spanish mainland coasts.

Aquilino Miguelez, coordinator for the Lanzarote government’s Biosphere Reserve Observatory, believes Lanzarote deserves its biosphere status despite the building abuses.

“It’s true that corruption linked to development is a great problem on the island, but in many occasions, it has been we who have blown the whistle, and Unesco knows that,” Mr Miguelez told reporters.

“What people don’t seem to realise is that this reserve is a pioneer in Spain regarding the fight against illegal hotels and taking away the title would be somewhat unfair.”