| | Grandes Playas,, Corralejo, 35660, Spain
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Overall Community Rating: |  10.0 (based on 1 user reviews) |
 Riu Oliva Beach: Xmas and New Year Holiday by David Phillips 2 |
| Posted 07 January 2005 about a visit in November 2004 | Overall rating: 10.0 |
Just returned from a week at the Riu Oliva Beach, from Xmas day to New Years Day. Hotel is brilliant, was closed during summer 2004 for refurbishment, food in particular could not be faulted. It's an all-inclusive hotel so the beer, wine and food are flowing all day and you can serve yourself from several stations dotted around the hotel. At night the bar staff are on hand to provide cocktails and spirits, and there was entertainment each evening, mostly by the in-house team but with occasional touring acts as well. New arrivals always had trouble with the beer taps, if you turn them on slightly all you get is foam. Tip: be brave and pul the tap across full on, hold your glass at an angle and a perfect pour every time. Oh, and the internet sign in the hotel sort of disappears. While we were there they did not have internet access in the hotel although there was a sign and they advertise the facility on the web. The room which must have been used for this had the door plaque removed and it was locked, but no explanation.
Did I say the food was fantastic? All the staff are friendly, even the poor bar staff who work til late, never seem to get any tips (because it's all inclusive) but still appear enthusiastic to serve you which was really nice. The main restaurant has several 'stations', one for salads during the day (continental breakfast in the morning), one for desserts (cereals and fruit in the morning), and two for meat dishes and vegetables (Bread and english breakfast in the morning). There is only one toasting machine shared by all guests and a queue can build up!
Beach is fantastic, sun loungers were free within the hotel grounds, and there were loads of them, but on the beach there is a charge.
Security cover every entrance to the hotel grounds, which was comforting. Bus into Corallejo cost 1 euro, every half hour, and a taxi worked out at just under 5 euros. We walked off our breakfast one day and went to corralejo by foot, but it took much longer than 45 minutes!
Pool was lukewarm but much warmer than the sea. Fuerte is a windy island, and we had one or two wild days, but when the wind settled and the clouds disappeared it was glorious. Corallejo is split between the quaint harbour area and the newer shopping street which leads into the town. Two Nettos and loads of bars and restaurants.
Fred Olsen ferry to Lanzarote cost 52 euros for the pair of us on a modern speedy catamaran that took 20 minutes for the crossing, and a free bus service takes you from Playa Blanca to Puerto del Carmen or Arricife and back again later. Free bus back from Puerto del Carmen stops at the bus/taxi rank outside the shopping precinct. Just watch out for the holiday scratchcard touts who hang around near the harbour in Corralejo, everybody wins the top prize, not just you. Don't get roped into going into the office for a presentation, they just want to persuade you to part with thousands of pounds in the hope you will get cheap holidays. Shop around on the internet and keep your money. I told the guy who stopped us, 'Bobbie' that I worked in the industry as he had a few questions written down to ask (they were just a sales 'pre-qualification' list to make sure we fit the bill to be fleeced before we went to the office). He told me to lie about my job otherwise we wouldn't get the top prize!
We thoroughly enjoyed this holiday, weather was a bit cool and windy for the first couple of days, and hot the rest of the week, not bad for late December. Didn't get out to the rest of the island, saving that for next time.
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