Bahia Principe Costa Adeje, Tenerife

...a wonderful honeymoon at the Bahia Principe Costa Adeje and just felt the need to share our experiences.

We had got married the weekend before and had asked for money towards our honeymoon rather than the traditional presents so armed with our cash we went to our local co-op travel agent and bookd, via First Choice a week in the all inclusive 4 star Bahia Principe Costa Adeje. We flew with Thomas Cook Airlines and both they and First ...
...just across the road (the Bahia Principe Tenerife) and you could book into 3 of these per week with the choice being Italian, Spanish, Mexican, Asian (Chinese) and seafood. Check the menus on these though if you are a vegetarian because the choice is more restricted. These restaurants are nice for a change and the staff and decor reflects the restaurant theme you are in which was a nice addition.

I mentioned earlier about the cleanliness ... more

We have just returned from a wonderful honeymoon at the Bahia Principe Costa Adeje and just felt the need to share our experiences.

We had got married the weekend before and had asked for money towards our honeymoon rather than the traditional presents so armed with our cash we went to our local co-op travel agent and bookd, via First Choice a week in the all inclusive 4 star Bahia Principe Costa Adeje. We flew with Thomas Cook Airlines and both they and First Choice were very good on the customer service front but that is for another review. This one is for the Costa Adeje....

On the bus transfer from the airport I was a little dubious about the area we were going to....especially when I saw a camel station showing how desolate the surrounding area was but all my fears were dispelled when we turned into the resort itself.

I'll give you the negatives first as there are far fewer of these than the positives.....

Although the reception area is big and the desk was manned by about 5 people be prepared for a little wait as they explain the workings of the resort to all comers. This isn't really a negative as there are so many things to be told about but it can delay the checking in procedure slightly however you are given a sticker to put on your case with your room number on and the porters will bring your cases fairly rapidly.

There is food available 24 hours a day although the main restaurants are open for limited times. You can get snacks but these do leave a little to be desired especially if you are a vegetarian with the choices being hotdog, burger, chicken nuggets and cheese&ham toasties with fries although they will leave out the ham if you ask them. This is only a negative though if you don't stock up at the buffets which are totally the opposite and more to come about those later.

The resort is built into a cliff side and because of this there are a few steps and slopes to navigate.....until you figure out the lift system which means you need never use the steps again. We had a buggy with a 1 year old in it and on our first trip from one end ofthe resort to the other we faced a triple stairway, several downward slopes and then another set of steps but on the way back we explored into the hotel itself and found the lift set up. It's a bit of a maze but it did only take a short while to cement routes into our minds.

We did have some very tiny bugs in our first room which caused an issue but I will write more about that in the positives because the way the staff dealt with the problem was second to none.

The evening entertainment was rather "Butlinish" but if you go in with an open mind and are prepared for a laugh then you will enjoy yourself.

That's it for the negatives.....now onto the positives (in no particular order).

There is an army of maintenance and cleaning staff, nearly all of whom would greet you with a "good morning, have a good day" (in Spanish) and all were extremely friendly - despite probably not having the best paid jobs in the world. When your rooms were cleaned they either left you with a towel sculpture (in the shape of a swan in our case) or will do something fancy with your nightie or covers. Cleanliness was one of their strongest points - yes we had some bugs but every resort can get these especially if you are on a lower floor as we started out.

Regarding the bugs....As soon as we informed our travel rep we had one of the supervisers in our room, armed with a bug spray, spraying all around where she could see them. She had our bedding replaced and our daughter's cot bedding and we hoped that would be an end to the matter. Unfortunately it wasn't and they moved us to another room after our second night in order for them to sort out the room properly. They arranged for our cases to be sprayed so we didn't transport any bugs, they organised the porters to move our cases from one room to the other and they paid for all our daughter's clothes and towels to be washed and ironed (39 items at an average cost of 3 euros 50cents). They even remembered us when we checked out and apologised profusely for the bugs.

and onto food......

A warning.......if you are on a diet don't come here! The food was "to die for" in the restaurants. The main restaurant was very clean, the staff were friendly and a soon as the jug of your chosen drink was empty there was another on the table until you told them you had enough.

This restaurant was a buffet style and there was a wonderful choice of food whether you are a meat eater, fish eater or vegetarian. There was so much choice that we often had to have very small portions of everything just so we could try it out.

We had been a little worried about what would be available for Alex(our daughter) but we needn't have worried as there was always ample for her to have from mash to pasta to salad to yoghurt to fruit.

There are 3 a la carte restaurants on this hotel and 3 more in the sister hotel just across the road (the Bahia Principe Tenerife) and you could book into 3 of these per week with the choice being Italian, Spanish, Mexican, Asian (Chinese) and seafood. Check the menus on these though if you are a vegetarian because the choice is more restricted. These restaurants are nice for a change and the staff and decor reflects the restaurant theme you are in which was a nice addition.

I mentioned earlier about the cleanliness of the resort and this was apparent in the restaurants as well. Even the high chairs were clingfilmed once cleaned so you knew which ones were clean and which needed cleaning.

There were several bars about the resort and you could either help yourself to the local beers and spirits or you could get cocktail made up for you - check the menus though because not all of them are included in the all inclusive. Also, if you go across to the entertainments area in the evening take drinks across with you as you have to pay in the Sports bar which is located there.

There are four pools at the resort....one kiddies pool which my little one loved, two heated pools which are nippy when you first get in but as soon as you are in you can feel the warmth. This is actually one big lagoon style pool but it is split into two by a central reservation. The final pool is the sea pool which is at the bottom end of the resort and isn't heated. I ventured into the jacuzzi at this pool but not the pool itself so can't tell you how cold it was although people were quite happily swimming around it.

If you do go to this resort you really need to be round the lagoon pool about 11.30 to check out the aquasplash.....basically aquagym to music but it was hilarious!! Massimo was the "redcoat" in charge of this and he threw his heart and soul into it. The testament to his popularity was how many people he had in the pool taking part - people like me who normally runs a mile in the opposite direction when someone suggests doing this. That and the number of people taking video footage of the whole half hour exercise.

There is also internet access from a couple of locations around the resort and it was 1 euro for ten minutes.

The evening entertainment does leave something to be desired but, as with many all inclusive resorts, the entertainment is often seen as the poor relative but the animacion team were all friendly and the kids loved joining them for their Bahia Principe dance which they did once in the morning by the lagoon pool to announce the start of the day's events, once in the late afternoon to announce the end of the entertainment and once right at the end of the night. Again people looked with bemused expressions the first time they saw it but by the end of the week almost everyone was joining in either with the singing or dancing.

There is also a beach but as I didn't go down to it (more steps and no lift this time) I can't comment but looking down on it it looked lovely and clean and the sea was crystal.

As well as all the above facilities there are some we didn't use - safety deposit boxes, the miniclub for kids, the gym and sauna facilities and the massages (which are extra charge but reasonably priced). You can also 'rent' a towel from the gym for use around the resort - you basically pay 10 euros on day one, take it and change it for a clean one each day and go back with your towel and ticket at the end of the week and get your 10 euros back.

There is also disco which we didn't use and a karaoke twice a week (which we did use!) which has a slight bias towards the Spanish guests but not so much so it was annoying.

The mini bar in our room was stocked on a daily basis with pop, beer and water and as they knew we were on our honeymoon we had a bottle of champagne and a bowl of fruit left in our room .

There is a small selection of shops in Pueblo Principe on he resort which had a variety of items from sports goods to bags, flamenco dresses to hair braiding at similar prices to what you would expect to pay on the beach fronts in the more populated areas of Las Americas and Los Christianos and the resort has three buses a day which go to Las Americas - the first two cost about 4 euros whilst the midday bus is gratis. If you decide to stay in Las Americas and not return on the bust it would cost about 20 euros to return via taxi. We stayed in Torviscas and it was 15 euros

I would wholeheartedly recommend anyone go to the Bahia Principe Costa Adeje and we have already been on the internet looking into offers available for January.

Addition.....

I should add the following information.....
As a package holiday I believe that it is only First Choice, Cosmos and one other company that you can book through for this hotel and the price varies from about £500 pp pw to £700 pp pw depending on when you go.

And I am hoping these will work.....links for my 'journalistic attempts' of the resort. If not please feel free to copy and paste the links into your browser.

Our first room ----> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6GlbuwBfD4

Our 2nd room ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Zq08CMlb2w

The Buffet----> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4qv3vmDVKo

Reception ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtFUsKTvlfg

I hope these help. 

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