Apartamentos Alta

Location, location, location. Small pool, no air con, no sharp knives in the cutlery tray. Very noisy from the nearby Oratavia hotel. Staff are very good and friendly. It is centrally located which is what we wanted.

We spent two weeks here in February, and found the apartment to be very comfortable and with an excellent location. The building is slightly set back from a very attractive road, but we were pleased to find that it was very quiet at night, with negligible road and street noise, even with the bedroom window open all night. The location is perfect – a quiet area, near the sea, just out of the town -centre, but within easy walking distance of good restaurants, shops, and bars, and with no steps or steep hills to climb. The rooms are large, and well-furnished. We found the chairs, settee and the twin beds to be in good condition and of a much better standard than we expected for the price. The kitchen area was basic but was sufficient for our needs, and the staff were extremely helpful, and provided us with a few items that were missing such as a kettle, some knives, and 2 beer mugs. We did have one significant problem, however: the hot water was simply not enough to have even one decent shower – especially if you want to wash your hair as well. We were able to manage the situation by running the shower at the lowest pressure possible, and not as hot as I would have liked. This strategy allowed me to have a warmish shower lasting 10 minutes without the water running cold at the end. My husband then had to wait for about 20 minutes until the water heated up again. The problem was due to the apartment’s very small hot water tank that held only 30 litres of water. It is such a pity that this otherwise excellent accommodation has this draw-back. We were told that all the apartments had a similar 30-litre water tank. I would definitely consider coming to the Apartamentos Alta again because of all of the other advantages offered, but the poor hot water provision is very much a disincentive, especially for a long-stay holiday. We intend to come to Puerto de la Cruz every year for at least 6 weeks, and I know that many visitors at this time of year have similar plans. I do hope that an upgrade to the hot water will be considered in the near future.