Gran Castillo Tagoro Family & Fun

"Overall it was a really fantastic holiday. I went just myself and my 7 year old and we loved it. The variety of pools is great, the main pool is fab. There are always enough loungers to go round, and if you get there later there are usually a few piled up that you can go and grab. Towels are provided and can be swapped daily. Kids are so well catered for. There’s a kids club everyday, which gives you a break for over an hour. My son spent his time in kids club at the splash pool with lots of other children and loved it. They do other activities too but he only went once. The mini disco is at 20:30 each night. My son loved this as well and was the perfect way to get the last of his energy out before bed! The stage is right near the sports bar so I was able to grab a drink whilst he had a dance and there was plenty of seating to sit and watch your child. Also, if you have no children with you, the mini disco cannot be seen or heard from more adult areas like the outside bar. Our room was very spacious, very clean and just lovely. The tv also has Netflix and YouTube which was a perfect, plus BBC1 I think. The balcony was large and looked over the resort. The only negatives are that the music goes on till about 11pm and the music at the bar is loud, so if your room is nearby and you want to go to sleep before then, it would be difficult. Saying that, the sleeping conditions are pretty comfortable. Nice bed with a fan above which I found really useful. Air con would be even better. The buffet food for all inclusive had a huge range. There was everything you could imagine which was suitable for adults and children, however some of the food seemed very cheap and nasty I’m sorry to say. I would rather less food options of a higher standard. It’s good enough but I didn’t eat anything I really enjoyed to be honest, but this is subjective so it could be different for everyone. I have to say the drinks options are great though. You can get proper bottled drinks included with the evening meal, and the rest of the time you can get lovely cocktails and serve serve soft drinks. The all inclusive wine is cheap tasting but you can buy others if you’d prefer. I guess that’s to be expected. The staff are so friendly, so kind and so hospital. They will help you as much as they can with a smile. The entertainers are 10/10. Just so enthusiastic, so good with the kids and endless energy. They do the pool dancing each day plus mini disco and more. They really impressed me with their positive attitude. My final point is that there is a supermarket and little shops next to the resort. Supermarket is open till 10pm so if you need to go and grab anything you can do so in no time. Overall, a great holiday. I would recommend, especially for families!"

"Upon arrival, the check-in is smooth - note that whilst the hotel is advertised as Gran Castillo, the sign outside says Dream Tarago (or something like that), so don't worry about thinking you're being dropped off at the wrong place. Back to check in, we had someone take us to our room and carry our luggage. We had a tired child with us so this was helpful! Thank you. Our room was in a good spot so it didn't feel like a maze to get around. We loved the room we were in, spacious, a nice view of the hotel and a bit of the sea. Beautiful and clean hotel. We were sometimes kept up from the noise at the sports bar/disco. The music was loud - and not my cup of tea! Again, not much for children from what I could tell. My child loved the kids pool - the water was cold so my child started shivering immediately as they got out - but that was more of a concern for me than them. It was the same for the other pools too. I do wish there was some entertainment put on for them. It seems that unless you put your child in the kids club, there is nothing else. At other hotels (even as 3 stars) they have things like darts, archery, volleyball, water aerobics, etc going on. It could have been the time of year we were there, I don't know. Inflatables didn't seem to be allowed in the pools. I didn't bother with the kids club so I cannot comment on that. As usual, before breakfast, I could see people claiming loungers but it wasn't an issue for me on this particular holiday as we weren't going to lounge by the pool. I truly wish we had a representative from our travel agency. I am sure there was a lot on offer outside the hotel. Thanks to speaking to other holidaymakers, we realised there was a marina maybe 20 minutes walk away with some steep parts, and there is a nice little market on Wednesdays and Saturdays (9-2, I think). There is a taxi option too if and I was told it's about €5. A good walk, though, if you/children can manage it. There is a rocky beach at the back of the hotel. My child loved it as there were sea snails and hermit crabs galore. I would recommend getting there early, though, as the tide started coming in from about 3/4pm. A drawback is the food. I appreciate that, as an all-inclusive, it's not going to be Michelin star level, but I found the options very mediocre. It is purely subsistence. In the restaurant, I don't think there are enough staff to cover the number of tables. If you have any severe allergies, I am not sure what you would do - there is signage to alert you as to what has what in it, but it's not always and being all inclusive and self-service, you can't guarantee that there hasn't been cross-contamination with serving utensils. Also, the food was always lukewarm, so I hope they look into some hot plates or something. I noticed halfway through our holiday that a microwave appeared in the restaurant, although not a feasible or sustainable solution given the number of people. Considering it's a 5-star hotel, I had thought that there would be more restaurant options to book. There is an Italian restaurant that I believe you are allowed to book once a week. Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to book a table, and it was booked up. I would say that, as far as entertainment for children, unless they are placed in the kids' club, there seems to be no interest in interacting or providing any sort of entertainment. One of the pools has a DJ (again, music not my cup of tea). There seems to be a lot of entertainment staff around, but no entertainment. It would be great if there were activities, like archery, volleyball or things like that on offer. The spa is nice (again, not 5 star - it's more like a leisure centre spa if you know what I mean) - the service I got was lovely though! For me, it wasn't obvious as to how to get to the spa - the signage isn't great in my opinion. I had to ask Reception multiple times - sometimes, I don't think they are made aware of updates/changes. There is a shopping complex next to the hotel. On my walkaround, I saw some souvenir shops, cafes, a supermarket, a gym, a pilates place, a pharmacy, and I am sure I saw a Ninja Games thing. The checkout was simple - we didn't need a late checkout, but I note that there isn't a storage room for suitcases. They are just lined up in the reception area. Overall, it was a good holiday but definitely not 5 stars. Sadly, there wasn't much incentive or anything special to go back, but if I did, I wouldn't bring my child with me. The hotel is lovely, as I said, but some things could be done to give it that special feeling. It's adequate for you to be able to enjoy the holiday."

"To frame this review I'll start by saying it was an OK visit, nothing overly special but adequately OK. Make the most of what you get. Check in was quick and easy followed by a buggy ride to our room with our luggage which was unexpected but nice after a day traveling with 2 kids (incl a baby). Although our buggy ride was OK, the bell boys driving the buggys during our visit drove at excess speed especially around blind bends and through the tunnel, they're an accident waiting to happen. On day 2 or 3, we received a survey via email to ensure our visit was what we expected, we received a call from the management the next day and the issue we were having was addressed very quickly which we thought was useful tool. We stayed in a merlin room and this suited us well with a 6 year old enjoying the inflatable bags and the baby enjoying the activity wall. Great space in the room and location is great for the splash park. Our room attendant at the end was great, making special effort putting kids teddies in the bed etc... - There was a sandwich and rubbish in the back corridor to the splash park for about 8 days of our visit which did become a point of humour during our trip. ( was still there 2 days after management feedback dinner table visit when we highlighted it to them) - it was eventually cleared up. The kids pool area was great, water was a bit chilly but enjoyed by all, although I would advise to bring pool shoes as the dragon pool floor is quite sharp in places. Baby inflatables allowed all day others only for 2 hours during lunchtime. We aren't ones up at the crack of dawn to get sunbeds and we always managed to get beds down the back (on the days before the UK school holidays started) Location is as we expected but be aware it's a good 15+ min walk to the marina with a lot at the start up a steep hill, so hard for little legs. Taxi was about €6-7. There's a small beach to the front of the hotel which was OK for short visits as tide ate a lot of it up in the afternoons. Small shop beside reception during the day and beside the buffet at night which was very handy. Hyperdino in the center next door for baby supplies. The mini club, well this is where this review flips. My child was ganged up on by a group of older maxi club boys, and locked in a dark area under the ship and not one of the 4, FOUR staff members noticed their actions or her missing. I picked up my child in floods of tears and no call was made to us after it happened. Another mother met us at the door and told us that it was not only our child that had a bad experience that day either. The staff members spoke to the parents of the boys involved but said they couldn't prevent them attending again. So their follow us was to remove the sofas used to block her in, as they saw this as the issue. During dinner times a member of 'management' goes to tables looking for feedback. The evening after this incident we spoke to her and told her what happened, she was unaware of the incident and was visibly shocked by it and told us she was going to speak to the entertainment manager and call us to discuss further. Disappointingly that call never came and was obviously brushed under the carpet. After 2 days break we encouraged our child to return to club so not to ruin mini club experiences for future holidays, going in with strict instructions to the staff that if she asked to leave they were to call us immediately. Thankfully there was no reoccurrence and she enjoyed her last 2 days there. The main drawback to our stay was the food, where adults will find something to eat, you might not enjoy the food, we certainly didn't, but you won't starve. - BUT feeding babies is a different story especially in the evenings. (Breakfast had porridge which worked but dinner, uh ....) Powdered mash potato was the only thing available, some nights we were lucky and there was a veg option in the buffet we could mash in, but most nights no soft veg. We asked the restaurant manager about baby food and were assured every night baby food of a vegtable variety was available and if requested the night before a meat + veg option would be provided. The baby food provided was actually SOUP, pure liquid vegetable soup and when we ordered a meat option, well we got chicken soup. Has anyone tried to feed a baby soup for dinner because I can tell you it doesn't work and for a hotel specially pitching itself to the family market this was a major let down. It wasn't even labelled baby food in the pot so they literally were passing off soup as baby food... - Oh and for the high chairs, bring your own disinfectant wipes because they don't appear to be ever cleaned. The staff in the restaurant are great but are run ragged, they cannot keep up with the turnover of tables - they need more help. We ended up eating out a number of nights especially towards the end when the numbers increased with UK school holidays as it was total bedlam. Don't bother with the Italian restaurant, bland is the only word to describe that and again no baby food option, no microwave to heat our own food and ended up running down to the buffet ourselves to heat food to feed our child. Loads of tables empty inside and out but yet no reservations available on the app. Mini disco every night at 8.30, extremely loud for young kids but lots of energy from the entertainment team. Don't expect them to interact with the kids while walking or passing in the complex during the day though, they just ignore them. We had a late check out, €35 to keep the room until 3, instead of 11. Bell boy at check out made a special effort with the kids, giving them balloons and interacting with them which was a lovely touch. To round it off, we had a good holiday, certainly not 5* by any stretch of the imagination, would we return, No, but we made a good holiday out of it with the kids. Don't go expecting anything too fancy and you won't be disappointed. Check out ninja games in the center next door, it's great fun and also the electric bikes and trailer from bike sensations next door, they were great too. This review is my own opinion, we left 3 days before the new changes came into place."