We travelled on the transfer coach from the airport and pulled our faces at some of the locations we past through in Los Cristianos and Playa de las Americas. Fear not because as we arrived to the Costa Adeje area things all changed. The area itself is much more stylish than the previously mentioned locations. Upon arriving at the hotel you are greeted by the sheer size of the reception/bar/lounge area and the huge glazed frontage.

Checking in was fine, but we did put a request in for a sea or pool view, but none were available. That was ok as we read that all rooms have a decent view. However, an existing guest thought he was sooooo important that he kept on interrupting our check in process which eventually took 25 mins to check in.

The room number was 110 located on the 1st floor on the right hand side. The room was lovely, nice and clean with a view of the mini golf course. The bed was massive and very comfortable. There was also a small sofa and an extra chair. The bathroom was also massive with a nice sized bath a 2 sinks, with a separate section for the toilet. We had an issue with water overflowing when emptying the bath but this was fixed promptly by the maintenance staff. The room also had multi channel TV with a good selection of English channels, including BBC, ITV, Sky News, Channel 4 and Channel 5. The air conditioning was fine as long as you left it on and left the curtains closed during the day.

The corridors on each floor were open to allow a natural flow of air through and were planted very nicely with a range of plants and vines. It was certainly very refreshing to walk along the corridors.

There were 3 pools on the ground level. Reception is on floor -2 with the pool classed as ground level above reception to make maximum use of the sea view. One pool was heated to a nice temperature. There was also a pool on the roof which was a very peaceful escape but the water was very cold. Still nice on a hot day though to take a dip in. Fantastic views from the roof pool. No problems getting a sunbed and a parasol as there were plenty available. Towels can be collected fresh each day from a hut on the ground floor.

We ate in the buffet restaurant where there was always a superb choice of food available. We liked to choose our own seat and the restaurant staff were only too happy to let us do that and set us up a table if need be. My girlfriend is a vegetarian and she was very happy to see a good selection of food available for her to eat. The buffet restaurant was very relaxed and informal although men have to wear trousers in the evening. There was a selection of food cooked from scratch for you by the hotel chefs which was a nice touch. The opening hours were very good so if you fancy a late breakfast or late dinner then this was not a problem. We were fully inclusive so drinks were all included. However, the house wine was awful and the red wine was for some reason chilled. Red wine should be served at room temperature. If this was a stunt for make you pay for an alternative wine then it didn't work even if the other wines had 40% off for fully inclusive guests. The fully inclusive cocktails in the main bar were not much better and were already made up in large containers. However, being fully inclusive we could buy discounted cocktails which were made up from scratch. I have to say the daytime staff at the bar in reception are very friendly, however the evening staff are not so friendly and helpful, so much so one lady refused to let us have any ice cream as she said it was not available (ie she was too busy to serve it).

During the day food was available at a bar by the main pool and also another smaller bar by the pool that mainly served drinks and ice creams. The food was ok, but mainly salad plus a couple of hot choices, eg hot dogs or omlette. There was a nice selection of cakes to munch away in the afternoon sun. The local beer was very good and a good range of soft drinks available. However, you have to pay for crisps even though we were fully inclusive and the fully inclusive range was certainly limited compared to some hotels.

Plenty of things to do other than the pool at the hotel including, tennis, table tennis, pool, football plus the onsite entertainers had things going on during the day. The evening entertainment was a bit hit and miss though but that's hotel entertainment for you.

The hotel itself does need a certain amount of cosmetic maintenance but there appears to be a programme of maintenance in progress. This does show that the hotel is keen to keep up the cosmetic appearance of the hotel. It only became noticeable towards the end of our stay when you tend to spot these sorts of things more. That aside it was minor and just weather damage more than anything else.

We hired a car from the lady down in the reception area. Very friendly and funny lady where you can also buy Loro Park, Siam park etc tickets from. There is plenty of parking at the front and sides of the hotel.

If you take a 5 minute walk down a rather steep hill there is a nice shopping centre called Plaza Playa Del Duque. Perfume is a very good price down there if you have any presents to buy and there is a very good supermarket on the lower floor for extra gifts etc. A nice selection of restaurants are available to the right of the shopping centre along with a very nice beach. We had a very nice paella and sangria at one of the restaurants. If you fancy a cocktail on the beach and some live entertainment then walk left at the shopping centre down onto Fanabe beach. Fab cocktails on the beach for 7 euros each along with a reclining beach chair - Nice!!!. A nice busy restaurant towards the Las Americas side of the beach does massive pizzas with a live rock band - Very enjoyable.

7 days was not enough and could have easily have stayed longer at the hotel which tells us that we enjoyed staying there. So much so we will certainly consider going again next year and bring the kids with us next time.

Thanks Costa Adeje Gran Hotel for such an enjoyable relaxing time and for my first visit to Tenerife it was fab!!!.