PLAYA DEL INGLÉS

Club Tucanes:

Having received some very good reports on Club Tucanes (opposite the Yumbo) we decided to go along there and to check out the place for ourselves. We weren't disappointed!

We can now also thoroughly recommend Club Tucanes which is situated diagonally across the road from the Yumbo - a mere minute's walk to the gay bars. We found the 32 exclusively gay bungalow complex offered all the facilities we had found at Vista Bonita and more - plus there was the added bonus of actually being in the very heart of the resort! Here too, a complimentary drink, and the essentials, awaited us on entering our accommodation.

Included in our price was a buffet (continental type) breakfast available between 9.00am and 11.00am by the well equipped poolside bar which also serves a variety of snacks and light meals to order, including a generous English Breakfast, and also provides the excellent free Welcome Barbecue on Tuesday evenings. The good sized pool facing the bar and eating area is surrounded by numerous sun-loungers, and a Jacuzzi. All-over sun worshipping is permitted.
+++ Summer 2005 Update: Now Continental or Full English Breakfast included in the price.

The accommodations offer a double or a twin bedroom with generous storage and a large safe (small deposit required). The bathroom is fully fitted with a hand basin, an over bath power shower (to die for!), a WC and a bidet (or foot wash - please yourself!), and also a built in hair drier. The lounge comes with a settee and an armchair around a coffee table, a CD / Radio, and a 20" colour television (not metered) with satellite stations (including some English). On ours we found there was a very interesting video channel tuned into channel one!

Alongside the adequately equipped small kitchen with full size fridge, toaster, coffee-maker, sink, and two ring hob (all open plan to the lounge) is a door to a very small but secure outside area where drying may be safely left unattended. Each bungalow has its own good sized patio (and a pleasant grassy garden area) with sun loungers (including the slip on cushions) and a table and chairs.

The friendly Reception building contains information on many of the island's attractions and here you may book the gay jeep safari (yes, it's Doris!) and the gay boat trips etc. Thoughtfully, a computer is also provided here with free Internet access.

Our holiday at Club Tucanes was booked through the gay travel company Sensations/ManAround and, as we couldn't fault either the holiday or the company, we have no hesitation in recommending them both.

Villas Blancas:

This complex has also had some good reports from punters recently, so maybe we'll pop back one day soon and check out Villas Blancas for you!

Diary Dates for 2008:

Carnival: Las Palmas - January 18th - 9th February.
Theme is "Olympia" (Dress as a Greek God!)
Interesting carnival days in the city include:
Jan 25th - Carnival Queen competition.
Feb 1st - Drag Queen competition.
Feb 2nd - Big Parade.
Feb 9th - Carnival "funeral" and burial (sardine) procession.

Carnival: Playa del Ingles / Maspalomas - 7th - 17th February.
"Carnival of the Gods" - Starts with a big Gala Party at the Yumbo.

Feb - 15th for the drag queen competition.

Feb - 16th daytime is the Big Parade.

Feb - 16th for the all-night street party.
Full details: http://www.cc-yumbo.com/ccyumbo/en/?carnival2008 

GAY PRIDE MASPALOMAS: 5th - 11th of May.
Full details: http://www.gaypridemaspalomas.com/
 

Café La Belle.

Don't miss Café La Belle. This world famous venue that kick-started the Yumbo Centre and enjoyed many years of excellence until it was sold, went downhill and became a joke that finally died in a tragic fire is back on top. With new owners, Café La Belle is enjoying all the popularity it once had all over again. It is everything it used to be - and more! Check out the website!
 

"The most famous drag showbar in the world"

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DORIS:

If you haven't been on one of Doris' Gay Jeep Safaris yet - then you must! She keeps her gay trips exclusively gay - so you can squeal away and be as camp as you like without a care!

With never more than two jeeps on the safari at any time, so that it is kept a personal and almost an intimate adventure, the day starts around 9.00am (ish) when you head off from the Yumbo meeting point into the hills for a countryside picnic breakfast with a view. The optional alcohol in the coffee is a necessity - get as much of it down your throat as you can!

Soon you will leave any resemblance of a roadway behind you and be hurtling along mind-blowing narrow stone and boulder littered tracks that cling precariously to the sides of the mountains, taking you higher and higher, and you may start to believe nearer and nearer to your oblivion!

But fear not, this mad woman behind the wheel, as you will surely come to believe she is, does these trips several times every week - she knows the terrain like the back of her hand - and she is an extremely competent driver - it's just that you will need to keep reminding yourself of this fact!

Doris keeps up a running commentary for much of the time (her English is good) and she will stop frequently to show you interesting places, many of them breathtakingly beautiful. Amongst them you will see into the crater of the volcano, and see the island's highest point. You will dine outside on a cooked and substantial luncheon, with bottles of wine or water, and some fruit thrown in for good measure, at a restaurant in the mountains.

Later on you will visit another restaurant, this one built into a cave where once a king lived. Here you will freely sample an extremely palatable red wine that they are rightly proud of producing. All around you will see the locals still live in cave type dwellings and, if you wish to stop, you can go and explore the cave church.

If some have done the trip before, and it's so good that often many have, Doris can adjust the route so that new places may be visited, and new sights seen. Depending on the route, you will probably return late afternoon.

As it gets somewhat cool (a gross understatement!) when you are hurtling around on top of a mountain, you will need to take a coat with you.

This "exhilarating" experience comes highly recommended. Book early and don't accept any substitutes - the only one you want is: Doris' Gay Jeep Safari.

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Why Gran Canaria? Why Playa del Inglés?

Simply because it has everything - not least of all, a great climate! With daily temperatures rarely falling below 20ºC, even in the heart of winter, and loads of glorious sunshine, it's an all-year-round holiday island. And, no matter if you're the fit and adventurous type or the more laid back relaxed kind of person, there's plenty here for you. Playa del Ingles has the best nightlife by far, and the largest gay scene.

Activities to be found around the island include such things as parasailing, skydiving, windsurfing, water skiing, scuba diving, snorkelling, submarining, pony trekking, horse riding, tennis, and, of course, golf. There are places like Sioux City, a Wild West theme park, to see; Aqualand, a large Water Park where you can try out the crazy water rides then relax awhile before doing it all again; Palmitos Park where you can walk amongst exotic birds, trees and strange plant life - and see tropical fish; Banana Park, where you can find out just what Aloe Vera means; there are also jeep safaris and quad safaris, where you'll wish you'd taken a cushion with you; helicopter rides, always good after a night out; catamaran and boat trips, with stops off for lunch and swims etc.; and even a Crocodile Park to be visited - not forgetting the hair-raising coach trips up the volcano that everybody should experience at least once! Those who are really brave can try out the skyrider at the Yumbo Centre and get shot 70 metres into the air in about 1 second!

Of course, you could just do what most people tend to do: party like mad all night at somewhere like the Yumbo Centre, Playa del Inglés, where with its massive gay scene it all starts off about 7pm - 8pm and is still going on somewhere at breakfast time the next day, and then crash out all morning alongside the pool whilst getting an all-over tan (most gay complexes allow nude sunbathing) with your hair of the dog next to you; frequently topped up! Alternatively, you could bravely go to where everyone's been at least a couple of times (and some go all the time!) - to the dunes and the miles of golden sands to "see what's cruising about". Refreshment Kiosk 7, on the beach a few minutes walk from the lighthouse, can be a very interesting place! Have fun!

Essential Info:

+++ The Yumbo Centre, which by night heaves with bars, clubs and restaurants to suit all tastes, by day is full of "bargain" shops. Unless it is an "established" shop with fixed prices, the price on the label is not the price to pay - offer about half that amount. If you're not sure if it's an established shop, inspect the goods then walk away - if they come after you to offer you "a good deal, mister," then you know you can haggle.

+++ If you visit the dunes, or the beach beyond, take everything you think you may need with you in a bag. You'll need plenty of sun-cream (even if it's cloudy) and absolutely loads and loads to drink, not forgetting a snack or two. It's not the time to face a twenty minute hard slog under a blazing sun, up and down over the foot scorching, distance-deceptive, mountainous dunes, looking for a drink when you're dying of thirst!

+++ The beach near the dunes is best appreciated when there is no more than a mere suggestion of a breeze. Anything more than a zephyr that you enjoy wafting refreshingly through the town will, on the sea front, whip up the dry sand and shot-blast ten layers of skin off you. The rest of the day will be spent searching for a JCB to remove your own personal dunes that have built up in every orifice you possess, whether or not they were exposed at the time. And, if you'd already applied your sun cream, you will be looking like brick-man, or an animated sandcastle. Windy days are best kept poolside days, or days to explore.

+++ Most things (especially booze and fags) can usually be bought much cheaper at your resort, if you shop around, than in the Duty-Free Shops at the airport. Long-time regular visitors will tell you that, since the introduction of the Euro here, many items are not as cheap as they used to be, but are still a lot cheaper than at home. There are restrictions on the amount of certain items that you are allowed to bring back.