Find Your Tamaimo Hotels

We stopped here for lunch a couple of years ago and had always planned to come back for an overnight stay. COVID-19 put paid to that last year but the Hotel kept our reservation open and we finally made it this week. It is a beautiful boutique hotel in a small town at the foot to El Teide. Perfect for exploring the Teno mountains, Saintiago valley and El Teide itself. The staff were so friendly and helpful and despite having to wear masks, their smiles shone through and made you feel immediately at home. Our room was a decent size with a lovely bathroom. After a long days hiking I certainly appreciated a soak in the bath rather than a walk in shower. The breakfast buffet covers all the usual options and tevening meal menu was small but varied with interesting choices. The Friday evening Hake was a particular highlight alongside the cold cauliflower soup. The staff asked if I wanted mine warm, perhaps sensing that cold soup is not a particularly British thing, but I wanted to enjoy as the chef intended. All I can say is perhaps cold soup should become a particularly British thing. The wines were local and the size of the after dinner brandies would have won the approval of my mum. It is a great place to stay and if you want to see different aspect to this amazingly varied holiday island then please consider this place as a luxurious base camp for onward exploration

Wow, what a great find Barceló Santiago was. Today is our last day of six at this hotel and it was brilliant. A little more pricey than others but well worth it. • Absolutely stunning views. It’s definitely worth a little extra for a sea view room. The feeling of walking into our room on Monday with the curtains shut and pulling them apart to reveal the view was the most amazing surprise. The cliffs of Los Gigantes are breathtaking and I couldn’t stop looking through the window. • Good location. There are a good number of shops and restaurants around the hotel. Not an overwhelming amount but good enough for us. Express supermarket just outside the hotel was handy, however the sun cream is so expensive there so if you run out, I’d suggest going to Lidl about 10 minutes up the hill where it isn’t overpriced. We liked walking toward the port of Santiago where there is a small beach and lots of shops and restaurants. It only takes 15-20 minutes and it’s not too hilly. You can also walk the other way towards La Arena which has many more restaurants, bars and shops and a larger beach. Just outside the hotel we visited Alfonso’s bar and Torreón which both do lovely food, we would recommend giving them a go. • Super clean and tidy. The hotel feels very new and the entire place is well kept. The cleaners do a wonderful job in the rooms and the communal areas. • Friendly staff. The staff are very cheerful and all speak good English as well as other languages. The restaurant and bar staff are quick to serve you drinks to your table which is nice. • Food. Although the majority of the food was the same each night they did make an effort with themes. Mexican night was a personal favourite and the food was generally well cooked and always hot. My partner enjoyed the meat and fish on offer each night, however I ate mostly different stuff as I am vegan. I managed to find plenty to eat at lunch and dinner though - lots of salads and veg was available as well as beans, lentil dishes, potatoes and bread. You do have to be careful with the labels on food though. Things had vegan labels but listed egg or dairy in the allergens so just be wary of that if you need to be. Breakfast does get a bit boring though as you are restricted to toast, tomatoes, spinach and beans because mushrooms might have meat added or cheese is put on the potatoes. • Drinks. If you are fussy with drinks, it’s probably worth going for all inclusive plus. My partner and I like cocktails on holiday but they weren’t great. They are the typical all inclusive pre-mixes that aren’t the best so the premium ones are probably better. I ended up sticking to soft drinks and spirits because that seemed to be the safer option. • Outside areas. There are multiple large pools which is ideal in a large hotel like this. There were always enough sun beds too which was nice, never had to worry about those annoying people who reserve sun beds all day and you never get a chance at using one. •Entertainment. We par

When you see the photos of this hotel online, it certainly catches the eye and you can't help but wonder if it lives up to expectations being so big. The good news is that on the whole it does. We stayed in a Suite that we were upgraded to thanks to my status with Melia, we were very glad of this and in hindsight don't know how we'd have managed without it having the space travelling with our baby. The room was comfortable, and very modern, we felt at home there and it was a joy to be in. My small criticism was although having a sea view and being a top floor room the balcony got minimal sun. I don't see what they can do about this though! The restaurants here are excellent, I don't know how anybody can knock the buffet as we have stayed in many nice hotels and we agreed this was the best we'd seen. It's amazing. We tried the italian and asian a la cartes, both impressed us although getting a table was a bit of a mission! We still managed it in the end, you just need to speak to a team member and work out how to use the app properly. Evening entertainment in the square every night was spot on, and we never found the table service to be a problem. The drinks were of a really high quality - unusual in an all inclusive resort. The location is great, and I like the gated access to the seafront. It's a really lovely walk with no loud a**osphere you might find elsewhere in Tenerife and I have some great memories of walking with my daughter in the buggy every day down here. My only frustration is with the all inclusive package. It was so confusing it took us a day to work out! It's actually pretty good but doesn't always make sense. We joked it was 'all inclusive but not really' as the pool food/snacks we saw some people ordering were not included for lunch, only two restaurants. Lots of little things weren't clear or were limited but to be honest, on the whole we were happy. One thing I would address is that the minibar was fully stocked but only soft drinks were included in the AI package. All alcohol in the room was chargable. With table service only at the bars in the evening, and the place being so big it's quite hard to get a drink for your room (which we really like to enjoy) in the AI package so I thought this was quite mean. We didn't book red level, and I don't regret it. To this day I can't really see what they were getting the we didn't, and for a lot more money too! The separate pool area that was roped off is something I couldn't care less about, the lounge and private entrance looked admittedly nice but not for the amount they charge. To make it worth it I think the hotel need to offer more (but certainly not take things away from regular guests!) Long story short, despite a few small frustrations the hotel definitely impressed us. It certainly has the wow factor, and we'd probably come back.

My Mum and I stayed at the Ritz-Carlton for 4 nights as part of her birthday celebration and it was perfect! The rooms are so comfortable and the bedding is sublime! The team who work there are so fantastic - nothing is too much trouble and ever so helpful. There are beautiful towels by the pool which don’t slip down and you get two as standard so not everything is wet when you get out! There is even suncream at the pool so you don’t have to bring your own! Wifi is brilliant throughout the hotel. Cocktails are beautiful, about 17-18 euros each but worth every penny! Absolutely delicious. My only criticism was the lack of food choices in the hotel by the pool - not a huge amount to choose from, very fish based (I don’t eat fish) and the service was a little slow for drinks but that could be the time of year. But there was fabulous popcorn cones and fruit kebabs which were shared in the morning which was great. When planning you’re trip, just be aware that there is nothing around without a taxi from this hotel - there’s some lovely local places nearby but you will need to get in a taxi. The beach area is incredibly well set up - the little train takes you there, there’s a full bar and restaurant, toilets, suncream and sun loungers. Overall it was a brilliant stay and would recommend the hotel for sure - would be even better once the refurbishments are done and there are a few more pools and the restaurant with a view is open again! Thanks for a lovely stay!