Good afternoon everyone! I really need to start updating this more but I’ve been gone away a lot recently!
I have visited the Canary Islands many times, in particular, Lanzarote. This time I wanted to visit a different island to see what else the canaries had to offer! I got in contact with my local travel counsellor, Melanie!
I explained to her that I’d like to go for a week and wanted a hotel with air conditioning as the weather would be hot! She was very accommodating and had multiple options to choose from. You can have a look at Melanie’s Facebook page here: Melanie Cahill Travel Counsellor.
Myself and my friend Ryan decided to book a week in a 4 star all inclusive hotel resort. Melanie looked after everything for us so all we had to do was to pack our bags!
We flew from Dublin airport which was fine with us as we had the car left at a nearby parking zone. We boarded the flight and could not wait to arrive in the heat. The flight was 4 hours long, we landed and were met at the door by a rep for the travel company which was great as they escorted us to our bus and took our bags.
We were expecting it to be warm, but it turned out to be 36 degrees for the entire week! It was great and such a difference to the weather here in Ireland! We checked into our hotel which was super clean and very posh. We got our all inclusive wristbands which entitled us to eat and drink as much as we wanted for 7 days. (back at the gym now so hopefully it won’t have affected me much haha) 
That was the name of the hotel! I couldn’t recommend it highly enough to anyone. The rooms were so clean, the resort has 2 swimming pools, a gym, 2 bars, an art shop, and 3 restaurants which each had their own theme. We had a great view from our balcony bedroom as you can see in the photo below. 
The hotel is located about ten minutes walk away from the beach. It’s a lovely walk to the beach with many pubs, restaurants and shops along the way. If you prefer to get a taxi, it costs €3 to get down to the beach. The food in the hotel was delicious and we ate there every day which saved us spending more in restaurants a few times a day. They had a great selection each day, including fresh fruit, pizza, chicken, pasta, beef, etc. 
We also enjoyed the nightlife in Gran Canaria. We had a few drinks at the hotel each night before heading down the street to the Irish bars and nightclubs. Our favorite bar to visit was called Molly Malone’s. The staff were so nice to us and all had great personalities and very jolly. 
There were many bars to choose from, we also enjoyed The Irish Tavern, its a karaoke bar which was great fun. The 2 main nightclubs in Playa Del Inglés are Pacha & Chinawhite. The nightclubs were brilliant and very lively. They were very expensive though, at €19 for 2 vodkas it’s a place you probably wouldn’t spend all night there. Most of the bars are also shisha bars. It was nice to have a few drinks and smoke the flavored shisha. 
The cocktails were the nicest I’ve ever had! They all included plenty of ice which we wanted as we found it extremely hot during the day. My favorite was the strawberry daiquiri, and also the coconut cocktail which was served in a real coconut. 
I would definitely recommend a trip to Gran Canaria, it’s very similar to Lanzarote, perhaps not as lively by night but it’s still worth a trip to see the gorgeous island. There’s lots to do, including boat trips, fishing, kayaking, jet skiing, golfing! Thanks guys for reading and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me!
Patrick Mungovan 