Oasis Village

This place was great. The staff are amazing and cant do enough for their guests. We were a party of four ladies (one in a wheelchair) and we had a fantastic time. The animation team were brill, reception staff were always helpful and Juanjo in the dining hall was a star. Food was lovely and Juanjo even organised the chef to make our friend an omlette when there was nothing she could eat. The accessible rooms were huge and the whole hotel was very disabled friendly. Thank you so much for making this a special holiday for us.

We paid peanuts for an all-inclusive week here in late March as a last-minute deal with Thomas Cook. Our apartment was on an upper floor (requested in advance), overlooking the pools and pretty well opposite reception. It was big, though rather sparsely furnished. The kettle and fridge were much appreciated, but we had to unplug the fridge to plug in the kettle as there was only one power point in the living area. We stayed as a couple – if you travelled as a group of three or four and wanted to sit in the living area, one or two of you would have to sit on the hard balcony chairs, as there’s no soft seating apart from the sofa-bed. The TV had a few English channels, including Sky News. The balcony, which was also big, had a bit of sun from early morning till about 10am. The wall round it was quite high, so a short person like me couldn’t see much when sitting down. The beds were comfortable and there was plenty of space (wardrobes and drawers) to store things. The bathroom was a good size too. The shower, which was over the bath, was quite powerful and there was always hot water. I think it would be a good idea to have a grab-rail by the bath, as it can get quite slippery – that might not bother younger, more nimble people, though! Soap was provided, but no other toiletries. Maid service was five times a week, which was fine. I don’t think they can be allocated enough time for a proper clean, though, as the floors obviously weren’t cleaned in the week we were there and the ashtray on the balcony was never emptied, except by me. The loo, sink and bath were spotless, but the bathroom door was grubby and the paintwork on the balcony was peeling in places. The complex itself is quite attractive. I think three storeys in one block is as high as it goes. The trees and flower beds make it a nice place to look at. There are several collared doves around (I think that’s what they are!) – one of them was so tame, it ate breadcrumbs from my husband’s hands. We never went to breakfast. I thought the food in the restaurant wasn’t great some evenings, but my husband thought it was fine, so it was probably just me being fussy, or having chosen the wrong dish. I must add that on some evenings I thought the food was good – I particularly enjoyed the fish in coriander sauce one night. There was always a lot of choice. We had lunch there a couple of times too, and, again, there was plenty of choice. The snack bar by the pool was open 10.30am–11.30am for ‘late breakfast’ and then again 1pm–5pm. ‘Late breakfast’ didn’t include hot items, but the afternoon snacks did. If you’re going out for the day, you can order a ‘picnic lunch’ at reception up to 7pm the day before. We did this once, and each got a sandwich, some biscuits, two pieces of fruit and a small bottle of water. I know some people loved the daytime entertainment by the pools, but we went out every afternoon as we found it very, very loud and intrusive. It’s not true, by the way, that it is all in French – much of it was, but we heard plenty of English too. The pool bar was open 10am–6pm and the evening bar 6pm–1am, though all-inclusive drinks stopped at 11pm. There was no problem finding somewhere to sit at either bar, and there were always plenty of unoccupied sunbeds too. We thought the range of drinks on AI was OK, but the wine wasn’t great. During the daytime, if the weather should be poor, there is nowhere to sit inside near the pool bar. We found the evening entertainment a bit hit-and-miss, but lots of people loved it and you can always sit outside with your drinks if you don’t want to watch. As a smoker, I found the lack of ashtrays at the pool bar slightly irritating. If you asked the guy at the bar for one, he gave you a cup with a drop of water in it. It turned out that the ashtrays are stacked up on a table outside the restaurant. I don’t understand why some aren’t kept at the pool bar during the day. With regard to cleanliness, I have to agree that the doors in the toilets near the bars were very grubby indeed, and lots of chairs in the restaurant were pretty scruffy too. There’s a small shop on site, which when we were there was open (I think) 9.30am–2pm and 6pm–10pm. It’s a lot pricier than the supermarket over the road, as you would expect. The reception area is very nicely kept, with some lovely furniture. There’s a bookcase where people swap books. I only ever saw one English-language book there, which was surprising as there were lots of English guests. All the staff were very pleasant, friendly and efficient, although check-in took quite a while because at first there was only one person dealing with about 30 groups of people. The receptionists were helpful with local information. There were sometimes queues at the bars, but never for long, as people were served very quickly. The location is, I think, the best thing about the hotel. Turn right and there’s a restaurant, a bar/café (the Cherry Tree) and a few shops on the same side of the road. The Cherry Tree sells a pint of San Miguel or a glass of wine for €2. Across the road are a few bars/cafés and a shopping centre, including an excellent supermarket (open every day 8am–10pm) and more bars/cafés. There’s also an arts and craft market here twice a week. If you keep going down the road past the shopping centre, there’s a bus station too. All this is really close to the hotel – I’m a slow walker, but it took me less than 10 minutes to reach the bus station. One afternoon we took a bus to the island’s capital, Puerto del Rosario (buses run every half hour; the journey costs €3.40 each way and takes about half an hour), but I wouldn’t recommend it as it’s not an attractive place and the bus station there is a long walk from anywhere remotely interesting. However, you can get buses from the Puerto del Rosario bus station to other towns on the island. Turn left out of the hotel and a leisurely stroll will take you to the main street in less than 10 minutes. Just before you get there, you’ll see a kids’ play park and an area where a market is held most days. The main street and its many side streets have loads of shops, restaurants, bars, etc. Be aware that some bars allow smoking inside. If you’re here in March, check the date of the Carnival parade. This was held on the Saturday evening we were here, and it was absolutely fabulous. The weather was pretty good – around 20/21°C throughout the week, with sunshine most days. There was one day that was cloudy and windy all day, and one evening it rained heavily and there were a few light showers the next day. Most evenings were very mild. In summary, despite a few niggles we had a nice week here. However, if we had paid full price the niggles might have been more annoying.