Apartamentos la Carabela

Do not stay here. Please read this review in full if you intend to book here. Their website and all their advertisements are completely false. The bedrooms felt more like storage cupboards, there were multiple random furniture items that didn’t fit anywhere. Room had 3 separate beds even though it was a single booking. It felt like a hostel room. The rooms were completely different to those shown on the website/listing. It’s like they just got pictures from a nicer hotel down the road and used those photos instead. The picture of the pool is not the one in this hotel, I have no idea where they got that photo from. There is no currency exchange, no kettle in the room, no snack bar (it’s a vending machine), no safe box (you have to rent the key for €26 a day), no TV remote (you have to rent that too), no “spa”, no restaurant (it’s a greasy breakfast buffet* that’s open for 2 hours in the morning), no hotel bar, bedroom kitchen is not “fully equipped”. The “free toiletries” consisted of a bar of soap and a wall soap dispenser. The towels were thread-bare *The “breakfast” was revolting, everything was greasy, overcooked, rubbery and had a bizarre taste. They advertised “spa and relaxation” - absolutely no spa here or anything remotely similar. After check out we had a 4 hour wait before the taxi took us to the airport. We asked if we could have a late checkout, but they were full. Fair enough. But they then said we are welcome to use the pool. We asked where we could get changed - “There is nowhere to go to get changed”. We asked why they would offer use of the pool then - “I dont know”. Reception staff were unfriendly and actively unhelpful and didn’t seem to know anything about the local area. Only the cleaning staff were friendly and they did a brilliant job each day. But would absolutely would never stay here again.

We had a very pleasant week at La Carabela Hotel at the beginning of April. The breakfast buffet was surprisingly diverse; we especially valued all the fruit and veggies, i.g. oven-baked apples, fried bananas, aubergines and courgette, salad leaves and the sweet cakes. The cleaning of the rooms and making the beds were very excellent and took place often enough, so it was lovely to return in the evenings to a well-cleaned room (there might be a need to clean under the bed say once a week though). Although the open-air pool was not in use, we enjoyed swimming a few times in the covered pool, which is of course very handy should it rain. The view from our balcony towards Teide was breathtaking both during the day time and at night. The view from the roof terrace of the hotel was also very impressive and that area would be worth using more. Although there was a need for some repair work here and there (locks on the balcony and bathroom doors, shower handle), the overall feeling in the hotel was tidy and pleasant. The adjacent building was being renovated, but the construction noise did not bother us at all. The area where the hotel is located is nicely peaceful, but yet at a very short walking distance from a variety of shops and restaurants. Also we got a nice amount of exercise when walking down to the lower part of the town, to the beach and Lago Martianez, and then back up to the hotel.

I have stayed at this hotel most years since 2010 and only made one complaint in all that time and it was resolved very quickly found staff very helpful especially during the pandemic with all the paper work required. The WIFI is very good and is free the people who complained there was no remote or key for the safe didn't bother to ask at reception there is a charge for the safe as there is in most hotels and a 10 euro deposit for remote refundable at the end of your stay its a clean quiet peaceful hotel with great views of Mount Teide and the rooms are cleaned daily except Sundays its near to the supermarket shops and restaurants and the taxi stance is right next to supermarket, If you wish to go to town fare costs about 3 euro I mostly ate out which was very reasonable in nearby restaurants and used kitchen in room to make snacks. The weather is good in Puerto De La Cruz In all the 12 years I have stayed there about 9 months in total there's been less than 10 days of bad weather works out about one bad day per holiday over 12 years so weather is nowhere near as bad as people make out.

La Carabela is the worse hotel in the Puerto de la Cruz. Food is the most disgusting that I have ever tried. Glasses are dirty every breakfast. I definitely do not recomend you because you will be disappointed at all.