The Alantis Palace is a 5 star hotel situated in Corralejo, Fuerteventura, one of the Canary Islands. The appeal of the canaries is the weather and especially in the winter when 4 hours flying gets you gorgeous sunshine.
I had been to Fuerteventura several times before, but not for a few years. We had booked independently and flew out of Gatwick with First Choice on a Wednesday, although flights operate on a Saturday aswell.
The flight is around 4 hours and on arrival the problems of travelling independent became apparent. We had pre booked a taxi with a local company but this just meant that you were given a voucher by the local rep and then joined the very long queue for the taxis. This was ` off season` out of school holidays in November – I can only presume that it would be worse in peak season and would consider hiring a car next time.
Corralejo is about a 40 minute drive from the airport. The landscape is very volcanic and not particulary pretty but just outside Correlajo you get to see the famous sand dunes and realise that this is what it is about.
Corralejo is a tourist town although far smaller than some I have been to. Its is mainly apartments and some hotels with a main street of shops and restaurants – busy ,not heaving but not what you could call `quaint`.
The Hotel:
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I was being taken here as a present for hitting a bad birthday date by my husband and whilst I was aware of the hotel before arriving I had not been inside it before. The hotel almost looks out of place in a small street as it is modern glass at the front with huge palm trees outside. Inside the foyer is large and cool with tiled floors and a very spacious feel. There is an area for playing cards, plus a bar area , comfortable sofas and a small shop. The staff at the reception spoke excellent english and were politeness it self. Our luggage was taken by a very chatty porter wearing only what I can presume was typical canarian dress – black plus fours, white socks, white shirt and red waistcoat. He showed us to our suite and left without that awful hoovering waiting to be tipped. Walking up to the room the feel is very moorish with terracotta coloured walls and ornate wood decors and furniture. There are large gardens within the hallway downstairs that the other floors landing then surround giving it very much a feeling of coolness and calm.
The Room:
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My husband had actually booked us into a suite and the one allocated to us took my breath away. You walked into a large hallway with a desk and large mirror with built in wardrobes . This then led off to the bathroom, the bedroom and the lounge.
The lounge was very large and spacious with a sofa ( that could convert to a bed) and 2 arm chairs plus coffee tables and wall unit with the TV on. To be honest the furniture looked lost in the room somewhat. Large glass doors led to the balcony area which was huge and went right around the side of the building.
The bedroom had a large queen size bed plus 2 arm chairs and a table. There was also a desk area and a mini bar fridge and TV. There was spare bedding (pillows and blalnkets) in a lovely wooden trunk at the end of the bed and again ample wardrobe space.The patio doors led out again to the balcony area – which over looked the pool.
The bathroom was full size with bidet and shower above the bath. There was a double sink unit in marble and vast amounts of white soft towels and robes.
The whole decor was again very moorish with tiled floor and terracotta colours and wall tiles. There were rugs by the side of the bed to stop cold feet in the moning and air con that was controlled from the lounge or the bedroom.There were some very dramatic large dried flower arrangements in every room that really enhanced the whole colour theme.
The touches that I liked were that when we arrived we had a bottle of bubbly and fresh fruit in the room for us. We had a hand written note from our cleaners introducing them selves, and they had shaped a towel in the bathroom into a bird shape and sprinkled fresh flower petals over it – small touches but it makes you feel less like a conveyer-belt visitor. We had chocolates left on the desk for us one day, and every evening staff would come and take away wet towels, replace them with new and leave more chocolates for us ( you can see why this was bad for my waitsline!)
The Restaurant:
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We were on a half board basis allowing us breakfast and evening dinner. There is only one main restaurant although there is a pool bar for lunch time snacks, although we didnt use this.
The restaurant is on the lower ground floor and is fairly relaxed on evening wear – no shorts or vest tops.
Breakfast was from 07-30 till 10 and dinner 1900 – 21.30. Being a non child couple we tended to go to eat dinner later in this period.
The table allocation is sit where you find one free. This can be a bit of a hunting exercise but there are plenty of tables and staff clear them very quickly. One night we sat at a table for 5 as it was the only one not dirty or being used and the waiter made some adverse rude comment. My husband found the restaurant manager and asked him to show us somewhere else to sit if it was a problem – we were assured it was fine where we were and at the end of the evening he cancelled our wine bill as an apology.
Breakfast and dinner were buffet style and I personally thought the food to be very good. There was a different choice every day and they catered for all tastes. The wine for the evening dinner was very reasonable and apart from the above mentioned person, all the staff were polite,attentive and very helpful. I lost a dangly type earring one night in the restaurant and just wrote it off as gone – the manager found it on the floor and tracked me down by checking at every table – and they were obviously not expensive type earrings.
Other facilities:
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I cannot comment too much as we spent all day at the sand dunes and didnt use the pool. However the hotel surrounds the pool area and lush gardens. Infact we had a brochure in our room identifying all the plants in the grounds for our interest.The hotel provided towels for guests going around the pool – this looked crowded to me with lots of sun beds but that is probably my personal taste. There is an internet facility just off the main reception where for 1 euro you can email or surf plus a book exchange. The hotel also has a sauna and jacuzzi area but again I did not make use of that.
The reception area also has free Spanish, English, Dutch and German newspapers that you read on the sofa areas and lots of information about local attractions.
The hotel runs a free bus service to the sand dunes each day – although we walked every day to try to burn off some of the food – it was 1.5 hours from the hotel each way but flat and quite pleasant.
The hotel is just 2 minutes away from the main shopping area yet you dont get any noise pollution from there at night.It seems to cater for UK and german & dutch visitors mainly and does provide live entertainment every night.in the shape of local acts. Again I cant comment on this – I was star watching on my enormous balcony area each night after dinner.
Summary:
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The Alantis Palace is about 4 years old now. If you look closely on the outside you can see a few cracks but from the inside it could be brand new. It was the first `posh` hotel in Corralejo for a few years but there has recently been an Alanatis Bhia built further out of town that is larger and has probably taken this crown. However, I feel that the Alantis Playa offers great value for money – whilst it may not be the cheapest option they have service and luxury down to an art form and you will return, as I did, feeling like a queen !
Im afraid I cant comment on the child friendly aspect but was pleased to see that the hotel was totally non smoking i side and wheel chair friendly.
I hope that this review is of some use to you and thank you for reading it .x
Summary: A palace that made me feel like a queen
