UKC

Hi,

Wife is very keen on a relaxing holiday to Gran Canaria in mid May - we can't move that date, for various reasons.

We will be there with our 1-year-old, so gentle sandy beaches and kiddy friendly hotel pools feature highly.

However, I suspect I might get the fidgets between building sandcastles and splashing around, so what else is there to do? I like to see a bit of culture/scenery on holiday and could be keen to take/hire a bike (road or MTB) for a few hours.

Any alternatives? Decently warm, not too hot and flights of about 2-3 hours are perfect, preferably with short transfers. Cheaper the better

Also in the mix at the moment are Majorca or, outside chance, Rhodes/Crete.

Thanks in advance

In reply to LastBoyScout:

I felt that the southern part of Gran Canaria, where most of the resorts are, was a hideous rocky desert with nothing to alleviate it. The north-west, which receives water from the prevailing winds, was more attractive. I would always go for Mallorca. The beaches are of a quality I have only otherwise seen in the Caribbean; there is plenty of vegetation, undulating countryside suitable for cycling, mountains suitable for walking with a baby, plus history and culture (Chopin?). And veteran trains and trams.

In reply to LastBoyScout:

How about Tenerife or, better, Lanzarote? We went with our then one year old twins to Tenerife in November, mainly for the accommodation which was villa in hotel setup, ideal for all the baby stuff. Pluses for Tenerife are the scenery and of course some climbing (though may be just bouldering if you don't have a climbing partner), minuses are that it is quite hard to escape the Watneys Red Barrel culture. Beaches generally good, if you don't mind black sand.

Lanzarote has equally impressive scenery and is much more upmarket, some of the restaurants are excellent. Beaches probably less good than Tenerife.

In reply to LastBoyScout:

If you end up in Gran Canaria check out free motion for cycle hire. We did a couple of great mountain bike trips with them but they do road bikes as well.

Mallorca would probably be my choice for mid May though.