Playa del Inglés - Gran Canaria (Feb 2020)

Back in February, Kallum and I went to Gran Canaria for my birthday and looking back now I'm actually so grateful as obviously we haven't been able to go abroad again this year and I can't see us going in the near future either for obvious safety reasons*. Today I thought I would do a nice little recap post as I didn't write one at the time and I really like them to look back on! I thought it would also be a really nice opportunity for some holiday dreaming ready for when the time is right and travelling's a little safer.

So, we got to Gran Canaria at about 8pm on the 8th Feb but by the time we had been through baggage, transfers and checked in etc it was about 11pm and we were starving! Obviously all evening meals had stopped by this point so we actually walked to a local takeaway and took it back to the hotel which was really nice. The room was stunning and the first thing I noticed was how lovely and clean everywhere was - it takes a lot for me to be comfortable when staying places as my OCD can take over a little bit but I didn't have any concerns here and was super impressed with our room!

The first two days we were there we just spent some time relaxing in the sun, making use of the hotel facilities and occasionally wandering around the local streets/shops. It was absolutely amazing soaking in the sun and taking the time to relax and in all honesty I think we could have done this for the whole week but we decided to book some trips while we were there to make the most of it. So, on our third day we went on the TUI Gran Canaria Highlights Tour which was actually so nice even if we were the youngest people on it! The main reason we actually booked this one was because Kal's obsessed with Aloe Vera's and we got to visit an Aloe Vera plantation called Finca Canarias. We also got to have a lovely traditional Canarian meal in Las Lagunetas after visiting a range of beautiful sights.

The day after our Gran Canaria Highlights trip we decided to take a walk to Maspalomas to see the sand dunes and although I'm glad we saw them because they did look amazing - I'm not sure I could have spent the whole day there as it was scorching hot with little to no shade and once you've seen them, you've seen them. A little bit further along into Maspalomas there were quite a lot of shops/bars/restaurants to see however none of it really appealed to us and the main street was full of people trying to sell us fake sunglasses or tacky bracelets. I get really uncomfortable when this happens as some can be quite forceful but luckily Kal was with me so I was absolutely fine.

Our last real trip out was on my birthday were we visited Palmitos Park and I think this was my favourite day of all! We booked on through our rep as we wanted to do something fun for my birthday so it was all super easy as we literally hopped on a coach at the hotel and got brought back straight to the door. The trip was about 10-4 which was nice as it gave us the option to do other things that day and we got to just wander round on our own rather than in the group which was even better! My favourite part of the day had to be seeing the dolphins and I actually got to go meet them which was amazing as not being able to swim I thought this was something I'd never be able to do!

As a lovely little birthday surprise, the hotel/TUI rep had even left me a present and card which I thought was a lovely touch! On top if this, we had also reserved a table for the evening at the Chinese restaurant and they had a special table set up for us with candles and champagne. The service was absolutely amazing and it's touches like this that really make you remember a place!

We flew home on the 15th so our last two days were spent either chilling in the hotel or visiting local shops. We of course bought a few gifts for people while we were there and there was plenty of souvenir shops to choose from! We were also recommended to visit a Fund Grube which was described to us a bit like a large duty free shop so we did nip to a couple of those too!

Overall, we really had the most amazing holiday and as I mentioned before I couldn't be more grateful that we got the chance to go when we did! The weather in the UK was really stormy while we were away so we were super lucky to even get flights there and back to be honest and knowing that it's probably our last trip abroad for a while makes it even more special. 

Have you ever been to Gran Canaria? If so is it somewhere you could see yourself visiting?

(*I just want to add a little disclaimer here that of course, I do understand that travel is allowed to certain countries at the minute etc and should you choose to travel that's obviously 100% your decision. However, this is just something that is not possible for us at the minute with the risks in place hence me mentioning safety etc)

Disclaimer: This blog post is in no way sponsored and all opinions and photographs are my own.