I received the following message a while ago and decided to make a Q&A out of it, since the questions are quite popular ones. If you are travelling to Gran Canaria with a family this might help you.
QUESTION:
Hi, I’m so pleased I’ve found your site, it’s been really helpful so far. However I have a few questions (sorry to be a pest) We are coming to Puerto Rico and staying in the Cala Nova from the 23rd July for 2 weeks. There will be myself, my husband, a spotty, moody 14yr old boy, our 9 yr old daughter (going on 21!!) and a 9mnth old baby. Now to my questions….we’ve never travelled Gran Canaria before or gone abroad with a baby before so I want to have a good idea of things to do, what to avoid, day trips, shopping venues and places that are child friendly for food, drinking etc. Basically we’re not the sort to spend 2 weeks by the pool but as we have the baby we can’t just up and decide what to do on a whim or go trawling for hours. Sorry to be such a pest…i’m a bit of a control freak….Thanks for your help. Sarah xx
ANSWER:
You can find most of your answers elsewhere on the blog but I guess it’s handy to have them in one place so I’ll try to help out. 😀 First of all, I know Puerto Rico very well and there are lots of families staying in this resort. I’d say it is more popular than San Agustin, Playa del Ingles or another resort with families, so there will be other people with kids. This means of course that most places are child-friendly, especially the restaurants, beach cafes and even the bars early in the evening before some of them get a bit more rowdy.
Obviously it gets very hot in Gran Canaria in July (sometimes over 30C) but I’m sure you already have all the sun cream for the kids and of course for the baby. The sun can be pretty strong so get waterproof sun cream and reapply it after every swim, especially if you guys are really fair-skinned. I know this might be stating the obvious but I see a lot of lobster-pink tourists every single day and it’s always worth reminding people 🙂
Photo by Mr T Man
The Cala Nova is a good place to stay. I don’t know firsthand of course but you can find reviews here and here to help. Again, you have probably already checked these out. Bear in mind you’re not too far from the shopping centre so you might hear the noise from the bars until the early hours. It depends which way the wind is blowing (if it is blowing!) and whether you have your windows open too.
The hotel seems to have 4 out of 5 stars which is a pretty high rating so don’t worry about the accommodation standard. The whole of Puerto Rico is on a hill. There are two sides and a valley down the bottom where the main shopping centre is. Your hotel is near the bottom. Even for people on top of one of the hills, there are frequent taxis passing by which you can flag down and it’s only a couple of euros to get to the top or bottom.
You might like to do some excursions, maybe a dolphin boat trip or visit to Palmitos Park Gran Canaria. A day trip to Maspalomas to see the dunes might be nice and you can rent a car if you like and explore the rest of the island. There is a good shopping centre called Atlantico in Vecindario. The eldest kids are old enough to do scuba diving. There are various things you can do when you arrive and you don’t need to book anything beforehand. There is a Spar and a Netto in the shopping centre (which is about 5 minutes from you). The Spar is a little bit cheaper and you can get pretty much everything there.
Let me know if I’ve missed anything. You’re sure to have a great time whatever you do. Your holiday rep will have lots of leaflets for you and be able to answer more questions and Puerto Rico is busy with families (and people with very young kids) in the summer so you are sure to meet others in a similar situation. But let me know if I’ve missed out anything specific and I will try to help 🙂 Have a great time.