Our dream stay at the Bahía del Duque

We recently stayed at this hotel with our family. Here is a summary of our holidays.

Last November, I escaped from the greyness to spend a week of relaxation with my family under the sun of Tenerife. The area where the hotel is located enjoys an average annual temperature of 23 degrees. So, as soon as we arrived, we gave up jumpers and trousers in favour of T-shirts and Bermuda shorts!

During all our holidays the mercury was close to 30 degrees. We only had a grey sky and a few raindrops for half a day, but apart from that the sun shone continuously in the blue sky. It’s really incredible to enjoy such weather only 4 hours flight from Brussels.

The hotel is located 15 minutes from Tenerife South Airport and we had chosen to rent a car to be autonomous. We also thought we would visit the island but, in the end, we stayed most of the time at the hotel as everything was perfect.

Let’s be clear: we had enormous prejudices about Tenerife as a destination, which evoked for us the quintessence of mass tourism. To be frank, these prejudices turned out to be correct: the island is mostly populated by chain hotels, as gigantic as they are impersonal. The Bahía del Duque is one of the few establishments that escape this rule.

The hotel is designed as a small old Spanish village and everything is charming. Here we are far from the standardised hotel industry. The decoration has been thought out down to the last detail and the service is impeccable.

Thanks to Little Guest we have been upgraded to a room with sea view. It was very pleasant to admire the ocean from the terrace of our room where two deckchairs were installed. I highly recommend this type of room.

Everything has been planned for the children: paddling pool, kid’s menus, theme evenings, kids-club, sports activities etc.

Our son Achille has been to the kids-club several times. Gemma, the manager, was very charming and spoke French. Since it was Halloween, one day he even had the opportunity to paint a personalised t-shirt on the theme of monsters! Another day he played football with his little holiday friends. He also took part in many games in the swimming pool, always under the watchful eye of the kindly Gemma.

During our stay we met many families with young children and even babies.

The Bahía del Duque is one of the few establishments in Tenerife with direct access to the beach. Unlike some of the local beaches, which are covered with stones or black sand, the Bahía’s beach is a very pleasant white sand beach. The sea is warm and we swam there every morning before breakfast.

The hotel has sun loungers on the beach and it will cost you 10€ per day per person. The walk along the beach is very pleasant and every morning I used to go for a 5 km jogging run through a charming little fishermen village.

Twice a week, the hotel organizes free diving lessons for adults and children from 8 years old. Every day, a musical entertainment or a show is organised. Sports lessons are also given free of charge, such as aqua gym sessions, which my wife enjoyed very much. We have also played several games of tennis.

We had opted for half board at €44 per person per day. I recommend this formula, which includes starter, main course and dessert, and which allows you to eat à la carte in each of the hotel’s restaurants. The cuisine is refined and the decor of each restaurant is very warm. The staff wear traditional Spanish uniforms that take you back in time.

The hotel has many unheated ecological swimming pools where chlorine has been replaced by sea salt. There is also a heated swimming pool. Some of the pools have bottoms covered with large volcanic rocks that give the impression of swimming in a wild cove.

This stay did us a lot of good and allowed us to recharge our batteries by filling up with sunshine and to have a good time before going through the winter. We particularly appreciated the entertainment, the comfort of the room, the children’s activities and the gastronomy.

I therefore recommend this address!

Jérome