1 bedroom/studio holiday apartment in Puerto Rico, Gran Canaria
Enjoy a great beach holiday at any time of year

Main features	Click on any picture to enlarge
Large heated communal pool (25M) Privately owned apartment Sleeps up to 4 7 minutes walk to beach 5 minutes walk to main shopping centre In the lower part of Puerto Rico Compact kitchen 1 bathroom Electronic safe Broadband internet access Linux PC Washing machine Telephone TV, music player, DVD and movies Any day changeover Price from £200/week	Guests' picture gallery - Click here to open

Important
Click here to read this Office of Fair Trading leaflet about "Holiday Clubs"
before you travel to the Canary Islands. It could prevent a ruined holiday
and financial ruin.

About the resort

Puerto Rico is at the sunny south of Gran Canaria. In spring and summer, you can expect wall-to-wall sunshine. In winter, it is mainly sunny but with the odd band of cloud and very occasionally, a storm. Throughout the year, the average daily maximum temperature is in the range 25-32 degrees C. The resort is a spectacular mix of civil engineering ingenuity with natural volcanic landscape, built along and up the sides of a dramatic valley, with a man-made beach and harbour. The beach tends to be quite busy - fine for sun-worship and swimming, no good for footballers. This part of the coastline does not suffer the strong afternoon winds which are prevalent elsewhere in the Canaries. The beach is made from fine Saharan sand, and the sea shelves very gently. There is a designated swimming area, and calm sea thanks to the breakwaters, so swimming here is very safe. The resort is mature and there is no building work in progress except on the outer fringes, well away from the apartment. Walking around the resort is easy. Traffic is relatively light and the pavements are good. There are attractive walkways through the tropical gardens which stretch along the bottom of the valley from the beach up to the shopping centre. A 15-minute walk along the spectacular coastal path provides access to the new Amadores beach. Amadores is a larger beach with coral sand (which won’t burn your feet). The sea shelves more steeply here. The resort offers tennis, crazy golf (both about 4 minutes walk), trampolines, climbing tower etc. More amusements are to be found up the hill at the Europa Centre. The best web sites about the resort are www.gran-canaria-info.com and www.canaryforum.com The great things about Puerto Rico The things that might put you off The climate. I think it's the sunniest and least windy spot in the Canaries. If you want to get away from it all, this isn't for you. It's not rowdy but it IS busy particularly at the Spanish holiday times. The convenience. Everything you might want is within a few minutes walk. There are slopes and steps everywhere. If you don't get on with steps, the nearby resort of Maspalomas would suit you better. No mosquitos. There are cockroaches. While you shouldn't see too many, you may find one or two, quite possibly in the apartment when you arrive. This is normal for the Canary Islands. If your stomach turns at the sight of them, try a holiday somewhere cooler. The people. As this is a year-round destination, the people who work here are permanent. You'll be greeted with genuine warmth in the bars and restaurants. Everything is reasonably priced. Especially the restaurants which are fiercely competitive.

About the complex

The Porto PIata complex is a tourist complex with many well-maintained facilities. Some of the apartments are owner-occupied, some are under contract to the major tour-operators and many are used as second homes by people from Las Palmas. Our apartment is on the bottom level, and has a garden/patio area overlooking a quiet street. There is a lift which takes you 3 floors up to the pool, bar and restaurant area. The great things about this complex The things that might put you off The pool is heated. Great for the winter months when the sea gets quite chilly. As this is a tourist complex, occupancy tends to be high and the public areas are busy. The location is excellent. You won't need taxis to get to and from the beach or shopping centre. The last 150 metres walk to the apartment is up hill. The bar and restaurant in the complex is very popular and out of earshot. The bar and restaurant in the complex is very popular.

About the apartment

It is a single-storey flat built as a studio, but with a dividing wall added to separate the bedroom area. It is nearly but not quite a 1-bedroom flat as you walk through the bedroom to get to the front door or bathroom. The living area which includes a kitchen alcove is about 3.5 metres by 5 metres. The bedroom has two single beds which can be apart or together and is a similar size. There is a full bathroom with an automatic washing machine. There is a fan in the bedroom. The kitchen has everything you would expect. Combination microwave, fridge, kettle, toaster, 4-ring hob. Parking is possible on the street just outside and there is a car park for the complex higher up the hill. There is a terrace at the front for al fresco dining. The apartment has ADSL (i.e. broadband) internet connection. This is an "always on" type of connection and there is no additional charge for using it. A Linux computer is provided for your use. Alternatively, connect your laptop to the net using the wireless router. Contact us for the configuration details. The television is on a private cable system which offers a fair range of English-language channels including Eurosport and Sky News. The great things about this apartment The things that might put you off It is much better-equipped than a standard holiday apartment. As with many of the older apartments, the shape is long and thin with natural light from one end only. Broadband - and it's free. There's no maid service, just a weekly clean. You have to look after yourself!

Getting there

Latest news: Ryanair now fly from many UK and Irish airports to Gran Canaria! Charter flights from the UK to Gran Canaria (LPA) go mainly on Mondays, but there are also some on Thursday and Saturday. Flight time is about 4 hours. EasyJet operate a direct scheduled flight from Gatwick, but only 3-4 times per week. There are scheduled flights several times per day from Heathrow but they involve a change, usually at Madrid and therefore take at least 6 hours. Now there are some budget airlines going to Las Palmas - it's not always straightforward as some of the routes are winter only and others involve a change of planes and airlines. The easiest ways we know to find and book flights are: Charter: http://www.skyscanner.com Scheduled: Ryanair jet2 - direct from Northern England easyJet and Click via Barcelona: easyJet Click easyJet and easyJet via Geneva http://www.opodo.com/ or http://www.ba.com/ The express bus: Las Palmas to Mogan (Route 91) stops on the main road beside the airport. This takes about 45 minutes to Puerto Rico and goes every hour. Last bus leaves Las Palmas at 20:15. There's also the much slower Route 01 which goes every 20 minutes during weekdays, every half hour at weekends. The adult bus fare to Puerto Rico is E4.45. A car takes about 30 minutes. Car hire is cheaper in the Canaries than on the mainland. On the other hand, the public transport is very good and convenient. You might be tempted to book a car if you need to go to and from the airport at night. If you want to see the exact location on the Puerto Rico streetmap click here to see the streetmap where this apartment's location is shown by the left-hand set of red circles. Or, look at Google's streetview to explore the area and views: See Streetview

Availability and booking

Click here to view the availability calendar To make a booking enquiry Please check availability then phone Ben UK(+44) (0)7780 708 780 or Prices are: From To Price (GBP) per week 17-07-2010 03-09-2010 260 04-09-2010 16-10-2010 220 17-10-2010 22-10-2010 245 23-10-2010 30-10-2010 265 31-10-2010 18-12-2010 245 19-12-2010 19-12-2010 290 20-12-2010 03-01-2011 345 04-01-2011 07-01-2011 290 08-01-2011 08-04-2011 245 09-04-2011 25-04-2011 255 26-04-2011 30-04-2011 245 01-05-2011 27-05-2011 160 28-05-2011 04-06-2011 245 05-06-2011 01-07-2011 160 02-07-2011 15-07-2011 245 16-07-2011 03-09-2011 260 04-09-2011 14-10-2011 245 15-10-2011 29-10-2011 260 Note that there may be works in progress in other apartments and public areas during May and June. Prices quoted are for the apartment per week (max 4 people). There are no additional charges for linen/cleaning/electricity etc. Odd-days supplement: If your booking leaves odd days (2,3,4, or 5 days) between itself and an existing booking at one end while there is unbooked space at the other end, there is a supplement of 40 pounds. Changeover day: flexible Periods of less than a week are possible - please ask for the exact price. Periods of over a week are charged at the weekly rate pro rata. A deposit of £50 is required for the keys and to cover telephone usage. This is returned after your visit less any charge for telephone usage. Telephone usage up to £10 per week is not charged for. Telephone usage over £10 is charged in full. Full payment for the booking can be made in Sterling or the equivalent in Euros at least 4 weeks before arrival. Pets are not allowed. Click here to view the availability calendar

Reduce stress by getting organized: A Place For Everything
This free online system helps you to get all your documents and other items filed away but,
you can then find anything in seconds using a simple google-like search. Brilliant!
Don't suffer with heaps of paperwork. Get in control!