Atlantic Mirage Suites and Spa

We had a pleasant stay at Atlantic Mirage and came away feeling relaxed and refreshed. However as far as my review goes, it's a bit of a mixed bag I'm afraid. I'll start with the good points. We stayed on a half board basis.

The Spa. This is exceptional! Very pleasant staff and the facilities were second to none. We didn't use the saunas/steam rooms but the people we saw that did use them all looked happily cooked! Equally we didn't use the icy bucket water soaker thingys (why would we, that's just madness!) But again the crazy people that did use them looked like they were having fun so all is good. But everything else we did use and it was fantastic. Well worth the €20pp for 2hrs.

Cleanliness. 10/10 to all the cleaning staff. They appear to be working 24/7 keeping the rooms spotlessly clean as well as all the communal areas. I had absolutely no reason to question the cleanliness anywhere in the hotel, it was perfect.

Staff. We didn't have any problems with staff, they all seemed pleasant enough and would go out of their way to accommodate you. There was the odd one or two on various occasions that were maybe having a bad day and maybe let it show but on the whole staff were very nice. Sunbeds. We had no problem at all finding a sunbed anytime we used either the pool or the rooftop. The hotel has a strict policy of no reservations with towels thus eliminating ridiculous sunbed wars by sad pathetic fools eager to give themselves 2nd degree burns. So rest assured, sunbeds aren't a problem at this hotel. Views. I believe all the rooms are sea facing so you do get some very nice views of the sea and the bay.

Unfortunately there are some negatives to mention so I'll list them here.

Hidden charges. This hotel has some bizarre charges that I've not experienced at any other hotel. There is a €3 per day charge to use the room safe (slightly reduced if you pay on a weekly basis.) Although not a huge amount, we did find the concept of needing to pay to keep your passports and valuables safe a bit of cheek and a lot like profiteering. There's a deposit of €10 per towel for use at the pool and rooftop. You're duty bound to pay this really as there's a sign up to say that only hotel towels to be used in the pool areas. We weren't too fussed about paying a deposit as we knew we'd get it back at the end of our stay, but what we did find slightly annoying was the €1 non returnable charge should you ever want a clean one! Again not a massive amount but another hidden charge nonetheless. Want to take a banana or pastry out of the restaurant after breakfast? There's a charge for that! 😆 . And it ain't cheap either! There's a list outside the restaurant with all the charges for various bits and bobs. The ones I can recall were for fruit at €2 per piece and pastries at €2.50 each. So don't go getting caught nicking bananas and pain au chocolat from the breakfast room or you'll have the Policia nationale de fruit n pastries knocking down your door with batons in the middle of the night. (Tbh, I think the staff think it's ludicrous and turn a blind eye to it anyway.) Not a charge as such but be informed, they don't provide any tea, coffee or milk in the room. Bizarrely there is a kettle, cups and spoons for you once you've gone out and got your own. Oh, they do provide a bottle of still mineral water in the room but only one and it won't get replaced, you'll need to buy your own.

Location. The Atlantic mirage is quite a trek away from the main town. And bear in mind that coming back to the hotel is quite gruelling! There's about ten billion steps! Some of those are the colourful Agatha Christie steps which make some nice photos when you first discover them, but rest assured you'll be sick of the sight of them when you've negotiated them a few times in 30 degree heat and your broken body just wants to be back at the pool! Obviously this is not a negative aimed at the hotel itself but gives an idea of what you'll be up against if you venture out on foot.

Bars/atmosphere. There's 3 bars however the only one that's open in the evening is the rooftop bar which seemed such a waste as the inside bar and lounge area looked so nice. So even if the weather is rubbish you have no choice but to sit out in it, get wet and freeze your nips off! You could of course venture into town but beware the aforementioned steps of doom on your journey home. (I guess you could get a taxi.) But on the bad weather night we just went back to our room and watched what very little was on offer on the Spanish only tv. We ended up watching a rubbish Jacky Chan movie with Spanish voiceovers. Such fun! The other bar is by the pool which closes quite early. This bar was handy if staying by the pool but only had limited choice compared to the rooftop.

Food & drink. Firstly, although this has ended up on my negatives list I can honestly say that two nights out of the seven were extremely good . We both had very tasty and hot meals which we really enjoyed. However on balance the food is lacklustre at best. There is a huge amount of choice, you're bound to find something you might like but unfortunately it's invariably cold. They seem to have great difficulty keeping the food hot for any length of time. There is live cooking where you can order something to be cooked fresh but be prepared to join a queue and definitely don't get your side dishes beforehand or they will have lost any heat they might have had by the time you get your steak. Desserts are fine if you like the stuff you'd find in any cash and carry. Most of it is served still on the packaging it came in. No drinks included with your evening meal which is fair enough but they don't even provide water. Nor is the coffee machine working in the evening so you can't enjoy a coffee after your meal. Breakfast is slightly better although there's still the issue with cold cooked food. Tip, keep an eye on what the chef is doing, you might be able to time it so you at least get a hot egg. You can of course ask for an omelette which I did and it was very nice. Pastries and fruit are good and plentiful, (just don't nick any!) Bar drinks were ok, lots of choice of cocktails but in our opinion these weren't as nice as they could have been simply because they insist on putting such huge measures of alcohol in them. A controversial statement I know, who on earth complains that there's too much booze in a drink, especially a Brit!! But honestly the cocktails just tasted like rocket fuel because of it. The virgin cocktails tasted lovely. We ended up making our own with a couple of shots poured into those. However, if you like really really strong boozy cocktails then you'll be fine.

General niggles.

The hotel is over ten floors which are served by only 2 lifts which can be extremely slow at peak times (breakfast and dinner) they're also very noisy, not sure when they were last serviced but certainly sounded like they needed one soon! I believe the hotel had a 10 million euro refurb about 9 or 10 years ago. It's starting to require a little bit of investment again in some areas. I mentioned the good situation with the sunbeds earlier however some of these are starting to look a bit tired. Especially the bali beds. Although a lot more comfortable than the conventional beds, we did see that they were starting to gather a bit of mould in places. And don't forget your hotel towels will be on that so will need replacing at cost. 😉 They really need to open that other lounge bar! Especially if the weather is poor. Google AI says they do open it in bad weather but I can assure you they don't.

Overall despite the negatives this hotel is ok but could be so much better. Please just quit with the annoying extra charges and put some proper tea and coffee facilities in the rooms and put the cost of this into your prices if you have to. It would then feel much more like the 4 star hotel it is portrayed to be.

Overall, I want to be clear that I feel the hotel was excellent - maintained very clean, staff were very friendly and helpful, morning breakfast had great variety, the ocean-view rooms were outstanding. The rooftop bar area and hot tubs were very neat, well equipped gym with beautiful ocean views and very comfortable rooms. However, all that being said, I wanted to be sure travellers looking to book here are aware of a couple of the challenges we experienced at this hotel

• Connectivity - wifi was great around the pool, rooftop , lobby and restaurants - but was very poor in our actual room - which was odd with how much time you might spend on your phone in your room and our room was right beside the main lobby!
• Hotel Parking - while there is parking available at the hotel, it is not exclusive to the hotel and other people can park here. We had rented a car for our stay, but found that if you did not arrive back to the hotel by 5-6 pm, you would be out of luck for a parking spot there and would have to try to find on-street parking which was also very limited. Not a deal breaker by any means, but certainly something to be aware of if renting a car while on the island.
• Location - when I booked the hotel, I didn't fully understand the location of positioning of the hotel in Santa de la Cruz. It actually sits above the city sort of on a cliff directly on the ocean front. This is outstanding for views and to be able to listen to the waves crashing - however to walk into town it is a bit of a hike downhill of about 20 minutes. My wife and I enjoy walking so it wasn't a concern for us - but others might not appreciate this hike - needing to climb over 300 stepsback. We always walked but were told a taxi ride back to the hotel from old town would be about 7-10 Euros. Again, not a deal breaker for us, but something to be aware of if you have mobility concerns or don't enjoy walking up and downhill.

Finally, I woud like to say a couple of things about Tenerife itself.

• if you have a car - look up a couple of quaint towns to visit - we enjoyed La Laguna, Masca, the drive up the mountain Tiede and Garachico. Just note, if you want to take the cable car to the top of the mountain - book this in advance, we did not and although the drive up the mountain was a cool experience, we missed out on the cable car.
• Puerto de la Cruz was a nice city - beautiful busy boardwalk all along the oceanfront - lots of restaurants and bars - lively at night
• You can get around the island via bus - the local Titsa line seems to go everywhere - but driving was easy - just beware of the parking issue and some of the road car be a little crazy mountain driving. Gas was very reasonable here, actually cheaper than mainland Spain.

Overall a good week on the island - locals are very friendly and would recommend.

First time in Tenerife, booked a TUI late deal with one weeks’ notice

As the coach pulled up at the top of a small incline in the dark, I saw the hotel and it was not a good feeling, however that feeling was wrong, the hotel is superb, easily worth its 4-star classification

Arrived quite late checked in all good, there was a plated buffet meal left for us and other late arrivals, very good and nice. The hotel is built into a cliff, reception on level 7, restaurant on level 5 plus a viewing area and bar on level 10

Our sea view room was on level 1, big, nice and very quiet apart from the waves which I love. The sea view over the Atlantic fabulous, virtually the same every day and not overlooked at all. Full size fridge, kettle and microwave. Beds comfortable and big. Plenty of storage space. Bathroom again big and very nice, two sinks. Rain shower, water good and stable. Big, good towels. Had a big see-through panel to the bedroom which at first looks was strange but on further checking it had an electronic change to a solid panel with different selectable colours, very modern and slick. The whole hotel inside oozes quality, decor lovely and very clean

All the staff we met including, reception, maids and restaurant staff were great

The food was good quality but not always hot. The salads and fruit were very good, lots of and varied. The fish dishes like salmon and tuna very good. Scrambled eggs for breakfast were sometimes a little runny, but I had it most days so not that bad. The choice at breakfast and dinner was really huge including cereal toast, cheese, meats etc plus lots of continental choices, even saw sprouts one morning It soon became apparent that there were lots of Germans in the hotel and in the resort, that is not a criticism as in my experience Germans do not go to rubbish hotels or resorts proving this one is good. I noticed some of the restaurant staff conversing with guests in German just underlining my thoughts

Now the location; in the TUI description it says the centre of Puerta del la Cruz is a 15-minute “stroll” away, it does not say anything about the hill hiking. I have seen it called cardiac hill in a review, that is no lie, it is bad enough going down but coming back up, no way for people like me. A taxi ride back up from town is around 5 to 8 Euros depending on time and day, use it both down and up and enjoy the town. The hotel reception will arrange a taxi for you with a couple of minutes notice. On the TUI website it says it has not been assessed for accessibility yet, mmmmmmm?? Also never saw a TUI rep despite there being a message on the Tui app saying the name would be shown in a few days before the trip. There are some shops, bars and restaurants close by but you have to find them, out of the hotel, up the hill, turn left, first right up another small incline then right, not anywhere near the size of the main town but good for being close and an easy walk, little bar called fat ladies very good for coffee

So overall for me this is a fabulous hotel with fabulous sea views and staff but for me if I came back to this part of Tenerife, I would consider another hotel without that hill but only because of that hill, there are lots in and around town. It did not spoil the holiday just changed the way I enjoyed it.

Thank you, Atlantic Mirage staff.