We stayed in a Las Lomasat golf villa for five days in December. We chose this accomodation as we had friends from Norway staying in the Sheraton Hotel whom we wanted to see,we are both keen golfers and so we were hoping for some good golf in the sunshine. As it was, it was easy for us to spend some time with our friends dining either in the hotel, in our villa or in Maspalomas. The golf courses were excellent - challenging, well managed and maintained with spectacular mountain scenery. We played both the North and South courses and the only advice we'd give other golfers is to take plenty of spare balls with you. The weather was disappointing with quite a bit of wind and rain - but we could hardly blame the resort fro that. When one of our games was rained off the pro-shop booked us another round at a later date at no extra charge. The golf club house was a great place to enjoy a relaxed drink and catch up on news and emails with free WiFi and superb views of the course.
The villa was bright and spacious, minimally but adequately and stylishly furnished. Any comments or problems we had were swiftly dealt with and resolved by reception.
In fact a mark of our stay was the friendliness and helpfulness of the staff both at the golf courses and the villa reception. Nothing was too much trouble.
We would recommend this as an excellent place for golfers to stay, away from the tourist resorts on the coast.

Review : Villa Salobre Golf

As I am a frequent user of Tripadvisor I thought it would only be fare to take some time from my busy life and actually write a review of my own that might be of some help for people that are in the same situation as I was few weeks ago trying to decide which hotel was best suited for my family’s wishes and needs. After a lot of deliberation and reading of all the reviews I could come across from different websites we settled on Villa Salobre (2week holiday). The reason behind the choice is that we have recently got a new family member (baby of currently 10 months) and needed certain comforts like more than one room, quietness, cleanliness, kitchen + + ++.

Before we even got there we had successfully contacted reception to request a pick up at the airport as we do not have our own car. This went without any problems. The driver was there when we landed, had the baby car seat as requested (although meant for bigger babies, but there was no point making a fuss about it as we forgot to state the size of the baby ).

At the arrival (early afternoon) there was no problem checking in. We were allocated our “villa” and were taken there by our driver from the airport. After entering the villa we were quite disappointed over what we saw. First of all the villa was not as we expected from the pictures when we booked it. It is more like a small flat. The little house had three split levels divided by stairs.(1.livingroom and kitchen, 2. bedroom and bathroom, 3. Bedroom and bathroom). The kitchen had enough space and was usable, although the utensils were very basic. The furniture in the living room and bedroom was dated. Same goes for the bathrooms. Bedrooms and bathrooms were spacious enough though. The pool was a bathtub and freezing cold. No sun in the garden/pool at any time of the day. In order to sunbathe we would have to go somewhere else outside our villa. (there was a communal pool short walk away). No Air conditioning. One good thing about it was the view. It was a nice view overlooking part of the golf course. After seeing the place we were to stay at for two weeks we were very disappointed and felt cheated. It was clear that the hotel did not read our comments upon booking as the place lacked babybed, highchair, had unheated freezing pool and was split in 3 floors which was very dangerous with an infant that has just discovered how to crawl)

We walked to the reception to ask for the baby furniture and voice our dissatisfaction (about 1 km away). There we were met by a very pleasant woman who seemed to be willing to help us. She said she had three other places available that she could move us to. At the end we chose one other place that had bigger pool and where everything was on one level. (We had to wait a day or two before we could move there, but better that then being stuck at the first one for our entire holiday). The woman at the reception was really helpful. So much so that we had baby bed and highchair to our place even before returning from our walk back from the reception.

In the reception we learned that the Villas Salobre was made up of small areas with different types of villas in each area. The fist one we were at was called Los Lagos. The one we got moved to was Par 4. When we got to our new “villa” we realized that there is big difference in villas. This other one was definitely something we could live with. I recommend you check what kind of villa you will be getting.

As we did not have a car the staff was helpful enough to assist us in moving to the new villa with their car on the second day of our stay. The new place was much better.

Following is a list of good and bad things from our stay (just referring to the stay at Par 4):

Good:
•nice scenery (mountains and even sand dunes and ocean. We could see sunset and sunrise.)
•good size pool
•good layout.(the two bedrooms were on the separate side of the house. Had their own bathrooms)
•bedrooms overlook the pool
•towels changed every second day
•Spar shop for most imminent needs (bread, milk + +)
•Air-conditioning in every room
•Clean (on arrival)
•Very helpful staff. Reception was great. They would book us taxi to go to nearest town to buy food, and a massage guy that would come to our villa and give relaxing massage by our pool.(not something they have, but something receptionist managed to find for us)
•Sheraton just around the corner

Bad:
•Not heated pool. Freezing cold. Did not swim in it once.
•Cold, windy and cloudy. Very windy on some days. As you are on top of the mountains there is a lot of wind and about 4 degrees difference in temperature from areas by the sea such as Maspalomas. Since we were there in November it practically barely felt like summer.
•No baguette and newspapers on the door as some of the guest reported
•Very uncomfortable beds. (I also read this issue on the previous review but I thought those guests were probably exaggerating. Hm…I was wrong there. I have never slept in harder and more uncomfortable beds before. To make it worst there was some sort of protective plastic film under the sheets which made u sweat and was really uncomfortable.)
•The bedding was changed once a week. (First week we slept in same bed sheets. On the second week the cleaning staff suddenly started changing it every couple of days. One time even day after. Even though I appreciated the sudden extra change, it showed me that there did not seem to be full control over when they cleaned what)
•The towels were sometimes quite bad and in need of update. Same goes for the bathrobes. (Bathrobes were never changed to clean once) There were no slippers. As the flooring is tile floor you might want to consider bringing your own slippers to wear indoor as it is very cold.
•The house was not cleaned. (we are aware that the place was supposed to be self sufficient and that we would have to wash our dishes and things like this, but when you stay somewhere for two weeks the floors really get in the need of a wash, and I feel that this is something they should have covered. I really do not feel like doing a spring clean on my holiday. My husband cracked and washed the floors few days before leaving. On other 4 and 5 star places we have been it is kept really clean during your whole stay. Even my pajamas would be folded. Here we did not even get complimentary hand soap after the original little one was used up. We had to buy our own.
•Stray cats
•Shower broke (It was still usable, but most of water and water pressure disappeared though side crack. Luckily there were two showers)
•Maintenance was not optimal
•Big glass windows in both bedrooms were stained with some “white stuff”. When we arrived the cleaning staff told us they were not dirty but stained by the pool. It ruined the view on to the pool from the bedrooms as you could barely see the pool from the milky cloud all over the window.

As for a last few tips:
Transportation: You really need a car there. I thought it would not be a problem not to have a car as me and my husband are in our 30ies and still do not drive. But the reception is only open to 16.00 so you have to book your own taxies after that time. We tried that once. Ended up waiting for ages before we realized nobody was coming. The woman working for the taxi reception spoke no English and could not understand where we were. So in the end she just said ok ok ok to everything and hung up. In the mountains you have nothing but the golf course, little spar shop and Sheraton hotel. Luckily my parents arrived in week two with a rental car so that we could go buy food when we needed to, drive to beaches ( 15 min away the closest) or anything else we wanted. And it was such a difference. We felt like we were released from confinement and it is first then we realized how much colder it is up in the mountains.

Sheratons: We knew about the Sheratons and thought we would go sometimes there to use their pools or maybe go to restaurant or spa. (We were very in doubt if we should choose Sheraton or villa Salobre but went for villa as we would have more freedom there with the baby). After discovering that our pool at the villa was not usable, and we did not have a car to drive to the beach, we thought we could walk to Sheraton and use their pools which they told us were heated. We saw pictures on the internet before we traveled there and it looked very intriguing. But that was a massive disappointment. First of all they let you use their facilities but you have to pay to enter. To use pools you have to pay 10 euro PER PERSON! To enter spa I believe it was something like 25 Euros (plus what ever you would have to pay in treatment. I think a body massage was about 90 Euros). Anyway, we paid 20 Euros to go for a swim (two people) just to discover that their pools were just as cold as the one we had at the villa, “hurricane winds” were blowing there as well, kids pool on the top floor was just a little pond with ankle high water, sun terrace with infinity pool and lounges were not allowed for kids/babies, all the rest of the pools (all on different floors) were more like fish tanks than pools. All in all we left there 1 hour later still having not swam anywhere. As we did not have a car for the first week we went that whole week without swimming and freezing due to the winds and generally colder weather then rest of Gran Canary Island.

At the end I just wish to sum up this extreme long review by saying that I recommend Villa Salobre for golfers who are not interested in anything else but golf. Anybody with small kids, without a car, wanting a bit more luxury/quality or those who like the hot and nice weather on their holiday should try to find something closer to the beach and not up on the mountain tops. It was nice enough holiday, but we will not be returning. Not worth the money and I am surprised, even slightly shocked, they have got that many stars next to their name.

My partner and I booked through James Villas, which included a 2 bedroom villa with a private pool in the 'GOLFERS' part of the resort (nicest in our opinion), flights with Easyjet and a rental car with HERTZ. The day we were due to fly out, May 17th, was when the ash cloud loomed and caused some disruption at Heathrow and Gatwick. However, James Villas phoned us the morning of our trip to update us. This was very reassuring, and it turned out our flight left pretty much on time. Phew!

We picked up our rental car from the HERTZ desk at the airport who were courteous and helpful. The car was a small low engine Peugeot which was fine but quite slow, especially with luggage. The journey to the resort was short and clearly signed. Watch our for the winding and un-lit road, mini adventure!

As we arrived in the evening reception was closed (it closes at 4pm) we were given our Villa key and info pack by the guard at the entrance and off we went. We didn't realise just how massive the resort is, and how spread out everything is, beautifully landscaped, lit and importantly quiet. Before booking, my partner and I looked at Villas Salobre's website which showed a map of the resort and this helped us work out the sun-positioning of the villas and led to us choosing one from 'GOLFERS'. We also checked out the resort on Google Earth and saw that GOLFERS was right at the very end of the road that encircles the golf course, meaning hardly any cars would come by. It does mean a good 5-10 min slow drive in/out of the resort entrance (where the small SPAR convenience store is), but not a chore as so pretty and quiet. Saying that, we hardly saw a soul, albeit the discreet but friendly gardener who came by early every day to maintain the garden and pool. (He comes in via a path between the end of the gardens so no disturbance to guests)

When we first arrived at our villa (No.4) we had two allocated parking spaces, reached by a small private driveway with an amazing view at the end (you can see the dunes at Maspalomas from there) We were very pleasantly suprised as we had been upgraded to a 3 bedroom villa which had a larger pool. Perhaps this was because it was not yet their busy period, and we requested a villa with a view. Either way, it was a fantastic result!
As you enter the villa (on the 1st floor) you find two twin bedrooms with built in wardrobes and large sliding patio doors (one out onto a sun terrace) both with lovely views and each an air-con unit. Also on that floor is a seperate bathroom with loo, bidet, sink and bath with shower. Down the spacious stairs to the groundfloor is the master bedroom with air-con and large built in wardrobe, ensuite bathroom (loo, sink, double shower cubicle) and a luggage / coat cupboard housing a safe. (You have to pay 10euro deposit for safe key from reception). Around the corner you pass the utility room complete with washing machine and tumble dryer and other boring laundry items!
Then you're into the openplan kitchen - lounge, very tidy and modern (the sofas are softer than the beds mind!) In the kitchen were BOSCH dishwasher, oven with electric hob and microwave. We found there to be ample kitchen equipment including toaster, kettle, juicer and coffe pot (though no oven tray so we baked on foil) Tip: take your own condiments as these are not provided. In the fridge we found; eggs, cheese, ham, butter, jam, milk, Sprite and orange juice. A welcome snack for late arrivers and breakfast is also sorted!

Out from the lounge onto the patio with a large wooden table and chairs, a small perfectly kept lawn area and then pool surrounded by soft grey wood decking (the pool light switch can be located where there's a boxed in part on the decking) There were loads of loungers which we tidied away leaving just 2 for us. The sun hit the pool from around 9am until around 6pm. The water was cool and once in it was gorgeous. The filter in the pool also forms the steps to get out and were a little cumbersome, so I think for less abled people getting out of the pool may be a bit difficult, however it's only 1.5meters deep.

Our villa looked out across the course almost opposite the Sheraton hotel, with sea views beyond the hills. The weather was lovley around 25 degrees the whole time with only the occasional fluffy cloud passing by and a cool breeze that picked up around 2 o'clock and then calmed again - guess this was the 'trade-wind' they talk of - a welcome relief from the scorching sun! There was also a weighted parasol to seek shade under. There are some pretty birds who come visit; the locally named 'Abubillas' - the pretty peach, white and black Eurasion Hoopoes and the cheerfully chirruping small brown Canarian Chiffchaffs who keep you amused.

The first morning we found two fresh warm baguettes and an english newspaper hanging on our door knob, which was a real treat. Think you can have this delivered every day at a cost, but we werent offered it, though probably pricey. There is a phone in the villa, just dial 2 to get reception. There was a DVD player so take your own to watch, as unless you are German you will find BBC WORLDWIDE news a little tiresome in the evening! But hey, who goes on holiday to watch TV anyway?!

The resort is very calm and this was exactly what we were looking for. No crowded hotels or beaches with screaming kids or louts in sight! It is particularly well located to get to the beach and many attractions such as Maspalomas Dunes, Palmitos wildlife park (though the drive up narrow winding mountain road is rather hair raising thanks to tourist buses and taxis hurtling around) Definatley worth the trip there - it is BEAUTIFUL and all the shows are included. (There is a large open air restaurant serving steaks etc so check the map before you settle for a baguette at one of the stalls). We didnt bother with the water park (on the way to Palmitos Park) as read bad reviews and it also looks rather old and tired.

Nearest beach is Pasito Blanco, accessed via private village (just park for free by the entrance) and then walk going LEFT from the entrance for about 10 minutes. The beach is not overly attractive but is sandy and quiet, appeared to be mainly used by locals - the water is CRYSTAL clear. The next beach over is Meloneras much more touristy. As you enter the town of Meloneras go right at the first round about - and then left towards the sea. This takes you to the underground parking and beach. This is also the end of a walkway along the seafront to the shops, restaurants and eventually the lighthouse and dunes at Maspalomas. Don't hesitate to stop at restauramt CIAO CIAO on your way back to the car, very good food and friendly atmosphere.

Nearest supermarket - head into Tablero, look for the larger one, which sells all the fresh fruit, veg, fish and meat. You wont get any of that in the SPAR which offers only cornershop variety and is overpriced.
Eating out? Don't bother with the Sheraton, if it's not high season, they only have open their buffet - which looks good, but at 35euro each it's best avoided. Do have a good look around the hotel though - pretty impressive and lovely views from the top floor. Was a ghost town when we visited, so fun and romantic to wander around at sun set at the top floor.

I would recommend the villas to anyone though advise to plan ahead, chose carefully and be prepared to go looking for experiences and not expect everthing on your doorstep. This is not an all-exclusive pool / beach type holiday. The quality of the villas is good, though I will say who ever has done the maintenance work on the decor should be sacked as some of the walls would benefit from a quick wipe over and the sealant in the bathroom replaced. The furnishings are very IKEA but functional and attractive. The main downfall are the beds; small and VERY HARD! if you have a mattress topper, take it - you wont regret it!

Very decent service, immediately reacted when malfunctions appeared. Very comfortable rooms. Adjacent hills and golf area are excellent to practice morning jogging or nordic walking. Relatively quiet place - not the agrotourism type, of course, but idyllic as compared to Maspalomas or Puerto Rico areas. The pool near the villa is just a larger version of a bathtube, good to spend some time in with a glass of scotch, but bigger public pool was ok. We were lucky to have less windy and more location than some of the reviewers. Out of thousands satellite channels available only 1 or 2 are in English, I found 5 Polish channels which was more than enough for me. The restaurant quite packed, you need prior booking, the shop quite expensive. A car needed. Far from clubs and discos, which was fine for me. A good place to take, say, half day trips and have a nice quite time reading, talking or swimming afterwards. For birdwatchers - trumpeter finches resident on the hills approx over Los Lagos, shrikes nesting and a few others.