GF Gran Costa Adeje

"Just returned from a week and overall very pleased. I can however definitely echo the reviews that confirm this isn’t a true 5 star all inclusive. Arrival and rooms - check in was super speedy and our bags arrived 30 seconds after we got to our room. The room itself was lovely, clean and spacious. We had a mountain view which was lovely. We had twin beds pushed together but honestly this created a super king size, it was absolutely huge. We needed bedding for the sofa bed and housekeeping arrived 5 minutes after the call was placed. Clear instructions for towel/sheet changes, although our towels seemed to be changed regardless of where we left them. A fridge is provided but completely empty, unlike other top tier AI options that usually include a few fizzy drinks. 2 waters, tea and coffee that were never replenished (although we also didn’t ask). Food and drink - this would be the let down for me. There are a huge amount of surcharges for what I would consider standard AI offerings. The poolside restaurant and all bars had more surcharge options than AI inclusive. Food I didn’t mind so much as there was plenty of choice, but I hope you enjoy a sex on the beach because most other cocktails are surcharged! The surcharge is reasonable at approx €6 for a cocktail but still this applies to 80% of the menu. The buffet is fine, it’s nothing spectacular but everyone will find something. They were also incredibly accommodating for our allergy which was brilliant. Pool and loungers - this was the most ridiculous display that I’ve seen. There are signs absolutely everywhere telling you not to reserve beds, they even tell you at check in. Arriving down to breakfast at 8am would see all decent spots taken, with guests continuing their morning sleep on the beds! The hamaqueros DO come around removing people’s stuff but not until 9:30/10am and most people have arrived for the day by then, so most people will have reserved beds with no penalty as long as they’re there by 9:30 ish. At no fault of the hotel we had a few days where the main children’s/shallow pool (not with slides) was lined by adults with no children, leaving families with smaller children an obscured view and unable to play by themselves. Spa - I was able to treat myself to a massage which was very reasonably priced at €75 for 50 minutes, and it was absolutely lovely. The music was quite distracting, and not very spa like in my experience. It felt more like I was on hold. The room was lovely and clean and cool. The free spa access was a nice touch, although that itself wasn’t very impressive and I’m glad I didn’t pay for it. 2 saunas, a cold room and a jacuzzi that seemed to have a mind of its own. I’m not a sauna person though so someone might really appreciate those. Entertainment - although I find all of these a bit cheesy, they genuinely were lots of fun. The entire entertainment team firstly seem to absolutely love what they do, always so engaging and present. The booked acts on the stage were all absolutely brilliant, we saw 5/7 that we were there for. The mini disco was lots of fun, although in a bit of a strange room and it felt more like a conference room. The mini club soft play etc was brilliant and clean. Leaving your details with them so that your little one could be in there without you did seem redundant though, as the older taller children would open the gate and leave at their own free will, often allowing for smaller children to just follow behind. We did not experience the daytime mini club. My partner was very jealous that he wasn’t a teenager able to try the VR bike and racing sim in the teen room! Staff - as with the entertainment team, everyone was truly lovely. The camareros in the restaurant were quick and polite, although we did learn to seek out the senior members of staff when it came to discussing our allergy. They couldn’t have done more for us. Area - a really lovely part of the island, which we’d never stayed in before. It definitely is the more upmarket area, which was nice. Overall, it was a brilliant week with no complaints but we won’t be visiting again solely due to the menu surcharges. For what we paid (granted, peak August) I strongly believe there wasn’t enough included in the all inclusive. A shame as everything else was absolutely brilliant, I just don’t believe that something as simple as a pornstar martini or burger requires an upcharge."

"Arrived early yesterday, so far everything has been great, reception were attentive and helpful, happy to answer all our questions. Rooms are a great size, beds are huge including sofa bed. Very clean includes tea coffee etc Bathroom is a great size with plenty of products. We asked for an iron and recieved it at the door withing 5 mins. We are all inclusive, weve had lunch, dinner and breakfast so far. There is plenty of choice for all appetites, the drinks have been good too, some premium alchol drinks you pay towards. We havent yet got to grips with sunbeds alot were full this morning by 930. Hotel its self is large but easy to find your way round. There was light evening entertainment, we didnt pay much attention as we were playing family games,but sounded ok. Bar service was good, very quick. So far we are having an amazing time and very happy. 😁"

"This was our second visit to the Gran, we returned due to the refurb and we love being able to potter out for tea each night. Food – We were bed and breakfast only and found breakfast to be lovely, always the same type of stuff but plenty of choice so enjoyed it. Omelettes were so tasty. Lots of bread and cheese choice, few different types of sausages and bacon including English. Only issue I had was poached eggs were only in the pan for a minute so do ask for them well done or it will hardly be cooked. Lots of treats for kids, there is a pancake station at the back on the buffet which we only saw on day 4, these were better than the ones being cooked live for you. English bacon seemed to be cooked 2 ways, one was cooked and the other was cremated, I prefer cremated so enjoyed this. My daughter had a few burgers and chops from the pool bar and enjoyed them. Room – lovely, more than enough space and storage, we always take extra hangers as there are never enough wherever you go. Bathroom lovely, rain shower is amazing but not a great amount of pressure, I have extremely thick frizzy curly hair and struggled to give it a proper good wash, had the same issue as everyone else where the water does go over the pan and into the bathroom, but we rolled up a towel and put it at the opening to stop this but did have to get new towels each day which we don’t like to do. Room cleaned everyday to a high standard. Sofa bed was comfy for my daughter, other beds so very comfy! Dressing gowns were tiny, could have possibly asked for bigger ones but wasn’t that much on an issue. We had room 3116, it was a side sea view room, not that we requested it but was a nice view. We had mountain view last time which was stunning. Only thing missing were a few hooks inside the door for hanging bags up. Air con was fine, only goes down to 16 which was an acceptable temp, sometimes got a little warm in the middle of the night but was fine. Light stays on outside until early hours but we were so tired each night didn’t bother us too much. Hotel/drinks/entertainment – everywhere was very clean, it is a huge place! Lots of little places to sit when you need some shade or a drink. Cocktails were very nice and made properly, I had to start asking for less alcohol, soft drinks were a bit pricey. We started taking a few cans of pop and bottles of water to the pool and just asked for ice which saved us quite a bit of money. Staff were always happy to do this apart from one older lady at the pool bar who we found a tad rude. Entertainment was really good, we enjoy anything live. The comedy clown was so much better than we thought he would be and very funny. Always lots of seating where entertainment was although you had to get there early for a good view. It was hot in there but not too uncomfortable. Hotel is family friendly so not too many noisy drunks around. They did a kids disco each night in a different room so we didn’t have to sit through that which I liked. Pools – this is one of the reasons we returned, we do enjoy their pools, lots of space to play. My husband runs in a morning so was always down for 0730 to grab us good sunbeds, he doesn’t eat breakfast so not an issue that we didn’t eat together, on an odd occasion he would go after us and eat alone which is worth it to be able to sit by the pool and be able to see our daughter playing when we needed a break. Area was clean. Be aware around 0900-0930 the towel police would come and remove towels and belongings if no one was with the beds, I see pros and cons to this. Some people were arriving back at their beds after 1100 having reserved them around 0700 which is what the towel police are there to prevent but for those who did just nip off for a quick family breakfast, I felt sorry for them. The slides are a very welcomed addition; we stay by the big pool but a few times a day my daughter did enjoy 20 mins on the slides. We used the adults only pool once each and was only a handful of people up there, was very relaxing, pool does need some work but didn’t spoil my time up there. Be aware the wood walkways get very hot so always wear your flip flop to walk too and from the pool. They did plenty of pool activities, inflatable courses for the kids to enjoy etc. Restaurants – we visited the Seahorse which was stunning, Mustang Sallys which was very nice and cheap. Michelle’s was not my favourite and although we thought it would be cheap it was our most expensive meal out. We went next door to the Mexican, that was below standard… In fact we found staff rude next door. The El Dukes café on the ground floor is absolutely amazing, we went for lunch on our last day and wished we had eaten there on an evening too, such good value for money, we had 2 huge salads and a huge sandwich and a side of the largest portion of chips all for 35e!!! We also went to El Olivio and the one next door to that (blue one, possibly Millano…) both were amazing too, they are away from the beach front up one of the streets that takes you back up towards the hotel, they were out of the sun and were a lot cooler. I had the steak at the blue one and it was really nice, if we had found these earlier we would have gone again. We also went to Limoncello, the one closer to the hotel, hmmm wasn’t impressed not sure why they are raved about and so busy… Activities – my husband and daughter went to Siam park, they had fun, couldn’t get a fast pass but said they were glad they didn’t as their queues were smaller on some rides than the fast pass ones. They also went to Aqualand and got fast passes and enjoyed this also. We went on the land train and got a double ticket, this was a good day out. In summery we had a lovely holiday and glad we returned. I wouldn’t pay to go AI at this hotel as there are so many places local to eat and we spent less on food, drinks, shopping and days out than if we had paid to upgrade to AI. Would we go again… unfortunately it is a NO… I don’t think it has that one magical thing no one else has to take us back for a 3rd time even though we really did enjoy our stay I just feel there are others out there that we would enjoy more for what we want from a holiday."