Liberty Apartments, Grand Canary

...along the entrance to the liberty apartments are a pub terrace, bank with cash point facility, boutiques and a restaurant. The restaurant is an Italian and the food is tremendous. Approximately five minutes on foot from the apartments is the Yumbo centre, a shopping centre three floors high with great bargains to be had and sellers you can easily haggle with. Slightly further away (around a 15 minute walk) is the Casbah, again great for shopping ...
...to experience what the rest of the island has to offer the transport link is very good, there is a bus stop yards from the entrance to the hotel and there are always taxis sitting right outside.

★The staff★
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The staff are all very polite, competent and happy to help. The day staff all speak very good English although the night staff ... more

My favourite holiday destination is play de las Americas, Tenerife but a close second is Playa Del Ingles, Gran Canaria and this hotel has a lot to do with that. Situated on the busy Avenida de Tirajana, this hotel is smack bang in the heart of Playa Del Ingles giving you easy access to all the bars, clubs, shops and attractions.

I first stayed in this hotel back in 2001 and found it to be a very decent hotel then, with good service, nice surroundings and clean rooms but it was nothing special and although I would have mentioned it to people planning to visit the island I would not have went out my way to recommend it. On my return to the island in late 2005 I booked this hotel once again because not only had it been a good enough hotel but I had also read that it had been refurbished earlier in the year and was getting glowing reports. It was a wise choice to go back because the once good hotel had become brilliant, the refurbishments had seen its already impressive bar and pool area being improved and the rooms all being fully re-decorated and kitted out with new modern furniture.

★The hotel★
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On arrival the first thing you notice is how bright and modern this hotel looks in comparison with some others in the area. The giant almost white building really stands out and on entry to the building you will see that the interior matches the exterior, very bright, clean and modern. The reception area is very welcoming and there is enough seating should you have a wait to sign in or if you are gathering in reception to go on organised trips. The gardens and the pool area of the hotel are very well looked after, as an early riser I noticed the gardens being tended to and the pathways and tiled areas being scrubbed every morning during my fortnights stay. The hotel has 92 rooms which are easy to locate unlike the maze of some larger hotels. There is clear signing to the direction of rooms as well as clear signing to the lifts, reception and fire exits.

★The rooms★
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The modern theme is continued into the rooms with modern decor and furniture rather than the somewhat aged offerings from other hotels. I have found during my many stays in Spain and on the surrounding islands that the furniture and decor is usually very similar and very basic. This hotel is not at all like that with the rooms being decorated in bright natural colours and the furniture being mainly dark wood the rooms are instantly very attractive. They consist of a large lounge area with a sofa bed which leads out on to the room’s balcony or terrace. The kitchen has a fridge, two cooking rings, microwave, kettle and toaster and is again very modern in appearance. The bathroom is the most basic area in the apartment but is still nice. It has a large wash hand basin and a spacious walk in shower. The bedroom has twin beds each with a bedside table, enough electrical sockets to allow the use of fans and alarm clocks if required. The entire apartment has air conditioning which has to be paid for and the TV has some digital channels available but again the have to be paid for.

★The restaurant★
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The restaurant although the most basic part of the hotel is still fairly modern in appearance, comfortable and very clean. It is reasonably spacious so even when busy you do not feel like you are crammed in like sardines. The restaurant is fully air conditioned and has smoking and non smoking areas available.

★The food★
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The food it has to be said is far from gourmet but there is a decent selection and vegetarians and vegans are catered for. Although there are no frills attached to the foods on offer they are prepared to high standards and everything I had either from the buffet or from the full menu was very nice. You can ask for your meats to be well done and they actually will be which is very rare in this area, usually well done means a burnt bit on the outside and still bleeding inside. I twice had steak in the restaurant, asked for it well done and got exactly what I wanted. My fiancée can be a very fussy eater at times and anything she asked for such as salad with certain veg missing or meals that came with sauces have the sauce removed or changed to another was always taken care of.

★The pool and surrounding area★
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The very spacious pool area was one of the main parts of the hotel to be refurbished. As well as extending the terraced area they have also added a pool bar to enable you to get snacks or cold drinks without having to venture indoors. The main pool is large enough to have a good swim in even if it is busy, it is very deep at one end almost shoulder height on me and I am 6 foot tall so you have to take care with younger members or weak swimmers. There is also a kiddie’s pool situated right along side the main pool so the much younger ones can enjoy a splash around too. There is a large amount of sun loungers available, during my stay I never failed to get one even if I had been out all morning and come back for a lie at the pool in the afternoon there was always loungers available.

★Services★
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The room services are pretty much as you would expect, the bed linen is changed weekly, the room is cleaned four times weekly and there are fresh towels delivered twice weekly.

★The cost★
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The holiday was booked as part of a package holiday at the price of £679 per person for a fortnights stay (half board) the drinks and snacks in the hotel were very reasonably priced with cold filled rolls working out at around 30p, hot filled rolls at around 50p, crisps around 10p per pack, soft drinks around 30p per can, a pint of lager around 70p and a spirit and mixer around the same (70p). If you wanted to pay for the air conditioning in your room to be switched on it cost around £10 per week which considering it was 34 degrees or above for my entire fortnights stay was £20 well spent.

★Nearby attractions★
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Set along the entrance to the liberty apartments are a pub terrace, bank with cash point facility, boutiques and a restaurant. The restaurant is an Italian and the food is tremendous. Approximately five minutes on foot from the apartments is the Yumbo centre, a shopping centre three floors high with great bargains to be had and sellers you can easily haggle with. Slightly further away (around a 15 minute walk) is the Casbah, again great for shopping but also has great clubs and restaurants. If you wish to experience what the rest of the island has to offer the transport link is very good, there is a bus stop yards from the entrance to the hotel and there are always taxis sitting right outside.

★The staff★
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The staff are all very polite, competent and happy to help. The day staff all speak very good English although the night staff tends to be mainly Spanish speaking. If you are booking in at night then you will probably be met by a no English speaker as we were but there was no problem, the man had our key ready and was able to guide us to our room and explain that if we needed to know anything that an English speaking member of staff would be available from 7 am. The cleaners were all very polite and took great care not to invade your privacy. The bar and restaurant staff always looked very flustered but still provided service with a smile.

★My ratings★
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The staff 8/10
The room 8/10
The restaurant 7/10
The pool area 8/10
The food 7/10
Cleanliness 9/10
Over all 8/10

★To sum up★
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I would jump straight in and recommend these apartments to anyone but I would say that they are probably more suited to young couples or groups of singles as they can get a bit noisy at night. The rooms can be very different too, I have been lucky on both visits to have a pool view but a couple I travelled with were given a room with a road view and had to have their windows tightly shut during the night because of the traffic noise and the passers by returning from the clubs and pubs. If you can cope with a little noise and it was just a little then you will have a great stay at these apartments, they have pretty much all you can ask for or expect from a Spanish holiday.

I have added as many photos as ciao allows allowing you to see for your self how modern and attractive these apartments are.

Address; Avenida de Tirajana 32, Playa del Ingles, Grand Canary, Canary Islands 35100, Spain

Thanks for the read, much appreciated as always!

© thebigc1690 

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