Garden Lago - Alcudia (Alcudia)

Member Name: macluke

Product:	Alcudia
Date:	02/11/01 (11891 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Sun, extensive beach, Lakes and canals, sight-seeing

Disadvantages: needs a good restaurant

They say you should never go back to somewhere you have already been too, but instead try somewhere new. Well we decided to break the rule, not only were we going back to the same part of the island, we were also going back to the same apartments. We were last here some two years ago and stayed at the Garden Lago which is back from the beach by quite a way, in fact its nearer the hillside but it sits on one of Alcudia’s lakes, this one being Lake Menor.

The apartment was even better than the last one we had stayed at, with two bedrooms and two bathrooms as well as a huge balcony (at least double the size of normal balconies – even two bedroomed ones). The place was exceptionally well fitted out even a washing machine! The only thing that was missing was an oven; if you wanted to stay longer or later in the year as Alcudia gets a bit quieter from November to April, or so we were told.

I should point out that Garden Lago is a time-share (although the salesmen will initially tell you it isn’t), but what a time-share, Gold Award status from RCI, 5 years on the trot. It is not a huge complex unlike the nearby Belle Vue and as such does not have loads of amenities, but if you are like us you can always go and use the facilities of the Belle Vue, as nobody would know any different. That said it sits alongside the lake and has a good enough kids club and play area that it kept our son occupied between 10:30 to 12:30 and then 3:30 to 5:30, what peace and it saved Daddy having to get into the very cold pool – the one complaint I have about the place – please get some solar panels in and heat the pool!

Alcudia itself is much like most Spanish holiday resorts, lots of places to eat and lots of places to buy stuff. I can recommend the pottery as Majorca has some wonderfully coloured pieces, which are supposed to be hung on walls but we use them to eat off, they seem to remind you of being on holiday and anyway if
you do get bored eating off them you can always put them on the wall.

As for eating out, I wouldn’t say Alcudia has the best restaurants in the world and we are still looking for a good one, but there are some fairly decent ones. Of the Spanish ones Los Loros Verde (the green parrot) is probably the best that we found with some good steak meals and a decent enough house red. Next came the Chinese restaurants, which seem to abound in this area. We went to a couple, one in the centre of the main drag, which unusually for Spanish resorts heads inland rather than along the main front, this one was up some stairs and overlooks the main street. It was passable but I wouldn’t go again except for the view. There is another, which is at the centre’s main traffic lights (the Dragon’s Mouth I think), again this is upstairs and overlooks the main road and is better, although I seem to remember it was much better the last time we were here (perhaps that’s why you shouldn’t go back again). This does have a little play area for the kids which is handy as they soon get bored even though it was they who wanted to go to a Chinese to begin with. Finally one to avoid if you can Pizzeria Roma Steak House, almost opposite the Chinese but I cannot say I would recommend it unless you wanted a kid’s pizza which were very tasty, although not a traditional type pizza but more in the way of a filled pancake.

As for what to do around the area during the day, if it’s sunny relax by the pool let the animation team look after the kids and unwind. If it gets dull well there’s the hill (mountain) to climb, there are some super views from the top (or even the middle) of the whole of Alcudia Bay and the Bay of Pollensa. If it gets dull, which it did on our last day, then take the road to Formentor. This takes you passed Puerto Pollensa, which is also worth a visit (it’s got an Indian restaurant!), but we waited to
go there on the way back. On the way to Formentor if you are unlucky you nearly hit buses that tend to park in the road at a spot called Es Colomer, which has some wonderful views of the peninsula with sheer drops from one side. I am glad somebody built a wall round so you don’t fall through, however there are gaps in it and even when you look over the edge it still gives you that funny feeling like wishing you were somewhere else, this is especially true when you realise that thing moving way down below is a boat with people on, perhaps I should not have brought the binoculars with me.

After spending some time here it was time to go to Formentor. What a lovely little place, great little beach, warm shallow water but full of tourists, busloads of them and this is near the end of season, it begs the question what is it like in the height of season. There is a hotel in this area that is supposed to be one of the best on the island but I don’t think I would like all these tourists coming in each day. You can also get here from Puerto Pollensa by glass bottomed boats so there is even more tourist traffic. We however had a pleasant little stopover on the beach and then made our way back to Puerto Pollensa where we had something to eat at a restaurant called after the RAF, which was better than some of the meals we had had in Alcudia.

So all in all was it worth going back. I have to say yes as I have a vested interest, I actually own at the Garden Lago, although this is only the second time we have been there and on neither occasion have we actually used the weeks we own. That aside I would still say yes Alcudia is a far more pleasant place to stay and believe it or not it is not as touristy as the Palma area, as it is spread out over some nine miles or so. It has the advantage that there are some great places to go and see nearby, but also within the area you have the hill to climb, the lakes and canals to go around (it’s a b
it like a miniature Venice) and a very long beach which we have yet to explore! We shall be back up in August as we are staying at the Aucanda Club, which is near the port of Alcudia and we actually saw it by accident as we were looking for somewhere else and came across it. It looks very nice, in a quiet area and I should imagine very comfortable as it is owned by the same company as the Garden Lago is.

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