Iberostar Bouganville Playa, Tenerife

...But when we found the Iberostar Bouganville Playa, a hotel that my boyfriend had seen in the flesh, at a good price, we couldn't resist. So there and then, we booked it for early June.

We landed in Tenerife quite late, around about 1am, so we were quite tired. We had a pleasant transfer to the resort and arrived at the Bouganville at about 3 am.

The Hotel
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The hotel is situated to the north ...
...single rooms.

Iberostar are a well establish hotel chain with hotels and resorts around the world, including the Caribbean, Mexico, Spain, Greece, Turkey and Northern African countries. I think that the majority of them are in Spain.

Around the Hotel
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For the location, you couldn't get any better. The beach is only a couple of minutes away, down some steps, it's not the biggest beach, ... more

Spring 2004 my boyfriend and I were deciding where we would like to go for out summer holiday, and after a bit of research into what various places had to offer, we decided to go to Tenerife. We didn't really want to go to Playa De Las Americas, as I've heard that it's a clubbers paradise (not really for me anymore) and my boyfriend had been before and wasn't too keen on it himself. But when we found the Iberostar Bouganville Playa, a hotel that my boyfriend had seen in the flesh, at a good price, we couldn't resist. So there and then, we booked it for early June.

We landed in Tenerife quite late, around about 1am, so we were quite tired. We had a pleasant transfer to the resort and arrived at the Bouganville at about 3 am.

The Hotel
=======

The hotel is situated to the north of Playa De Las Americas, close to all of the nightlife so it would be easy to walk to, but far enough away that you don't get all of the rowdiness of the drunken teenagers.

We were very impressed by the hotel. The entrance and foyer are spectacular, with a large reception area and fabulous marble floors. As we checked in, we were given a complementary glass of champagne, and our luggage was taken to our rooms for us.

We were on the 5th floor facing the main part of playa de Las Americas, and the views over the town and beach were amazing.

The room was spacious, with twin beds, and a large bathroom with bath and shower. There was even a fridge, and a TV (which you don't have to pay extra for). Each room also has its own balcony. The maids were very good, and came every day, even the day we arrived, and the room was always spotless.

The reception and bar area are on the ground floor which is road level (there are some floors below this). The bar is large, with lots of seating. There were some really good shows on in the bar at night, including Magicians and Chinese acrobats, which were of the highest calibre for hotel entertainment. The bar staff are very good, and there is even a waiter service, which you are expected to tip for. With the hotel being half board though, the drinks are quite expensive, so we didn't tend to spend much time in the bar.

This is a Half Board hotel, so only breakfast and dinner are available. There is a snack bar/barbeque where you can pay extra for an a la carte lunch.

The restaurant is two floors below the bar, and is very big, and the staff are extremely helpful. There is good selection of food for breakfast and dinner, and it is replaced with fresh food regularly so nothing is sitting there for ages. The food ranges from pizza and chips to fresh joints of meat. There is also a wide range of vegetables available, pastas, salads, soup, and much more. You can even wait while your meat and eggs are cooked in front of you. The food could not be faulted, but we did hear people complaining because there weren't any chicken nuggets. Sorry, I don't go to a four star hotel so that I can eat processed chicken. You do get drinks with your breakfast, but you will have to buy them separately with you evening meal. The waiter will take your order and then give you a receipt, you then take this with you and pay on your way out of the restaurant.

There are two pools, which were really nice, and very clean. These are three floors below reception and road level. The sun was still warming them up at 7pm. The sun beds however are limited and you have to be up early to get one, or wait until late afternoon. If you're not bothered about being next to the pool though there are a few sun beds on the roof of the hotel, where there is a secluded roof terrace, that not many people knew about, but it was a little sun trap. We usually went to the beach for a bit, and then got a sun bed by the pool at around 4.30pm. We were still sun bathing on some days while some people were going for their dinner.

There is also a Kids Club, which I cannot comment on as we don't have any children, but the children who were joining in, looked as though they were having a lot of fun.

There are many sports available in the hotel including Table Tennis, bowls, tennis, squash and a fitness centre, which has been used by Prince Naseem Hamed. Most of these have are payable locally. There is also a Sauna, massage, hairdressers and internet facilities available.

Other Stuff about the Hotel
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We booked the holiday on the My Travel website with Direct Holidays, and it cost £575 per person, for two weeks, including flights and transfers, but that was a while ago now, so it has probably gone up.

I think that while we were there the guests were mainly British, but the hotel also caters for a lot of other nationalities, we met French, German, Greek and American people who were staying there.

The hotel is rated as 4 stars and has 481 rooms on 11 floors, and there are five lifts altogether, including 2 panoramic ones. Most of the rooms are double/twin rooms, but there are some family and single rooms.

Iberostar are a well establish hotel chain with hotels and resorts around the world, including the Caribbean, Mexico, Spain, Greece, Turkey and Northern African countries. I think that the majority of them are in Spain.

Around the Hotel
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For the location, you couldn't get any better. The beach is only a couple of minutes away, down some steps, it's not the biggest beach, and it is black (volcanic) sand, but it is still soft and clean, and the sea is clear and warm.

There is also a shopping centre underneath the pool of the hotel. I know this may sound strange, but the hotel is set on the sides of a hill, so the main part of the hotel is at road level, but the pool is three floors below, but still set quite high. There are quite a few good shops here, but most of all they were electrical shops.

You are also not very far away from the main nightlife of Veronicas, even though we didn't venture in much because of getting hassle from touts. But the hotel is not too close, so it's not too noisy at night.

There are a few quieter bars near to the hotel, including The Brum Bar. You can get a pint of local lager for one and a half euros, and the staff are all really friendly. You can even get a really good cheap meal in there.

There are also a lot of cafes and restaurants in easy walking distance of the hotel, where you can get a nice lunch for a few Euros each.

Days Out in Tenerife
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We hired a car for the weekend, which cost us around 100Euros from Avis. You can probably find one cheaper, but we wanted to go with someone we knew we could trust.

The main reason that we hired a car was to see the Island, and we certainly did this, going right around it. We visited Santa Cruz, the islands capital, Puerto De La Cruz of the north of the island, and Los Gigantes, where the mountains fall straight into the sea, this is an awesome sight.

One place I highly recommend is Teide National Park and going to the top of Mount Teide. Mouth Teide is the third largest volcano in the world, and the highest mountain in Spain, its 3,715 meters above sea level. A lot of people think that it is extinct, but it is only dormant, the most recent eruption being in 1909, it was even on amber alert when we were there. You can drive up to the quite a lot of the way up the mountain, through the crater and then get a cable car to the top, or walk if you really want to. The cable car is quite expensive to get to the top, 20Euros each, and is really scary, but when you are up there, the views are spectacular, on a clear day, you can see all seven of the Canary Islands. The summit is so high that it is quite often covered with snow, and I even managed to find a block of ice, quite strange really when it's the middle of June in the Canaries. Take some warm clothes with you, as it does get a bit chilly up there and the air is quite thin. Also watch where you are walking, there are no barriers, so it would be quite easy to slip and fall down the mountain. On general you can't go to the very top of the mountain, you need a special permit for this, but you will be 150 meters from the top.

I would also recommend going to see the whales and dolphins. If you go to Puerto Colon (about a 5 minute walk from the Bouganville) find the Bondeda II boat, its 25euros each for 2 hours, bit it is well worth it. It's only a small catamaran, but when we were on it there was only 11 of us on it, it was very personal. We didn't stop until we saw some whales and they were amazing, swimming right up to the boat. If you were on any of the other boats, some of them cost twice as much, you wouldn't get anywhere near the same experience.

Another thing we did was a visit to Los Cristianos, which is just down the coast from Playa De Las Americas. It's a smaller resort but with a lot of beach, and this beach is golden sands. Here you can also get on a ferry and go to see some of the other islands such as La Gomera. It's a nice walk to Los Cristianos, or you could get the bus, or a taxi. We got a bus there and then walked back.

Conclusion
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Overall I think that The Bouganville is a beautiful hotel, catering for people of all ages whether they be single, a couple or a family, there is lots to do for everyone. I cried on the last night because I didn't want to come home. Tenerife is also a beautiful island with lots to do, and I'm sure that we will be returning soon.

Thanks for reading. Gayna x

 

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