Very short and sweet review for you I'm sure you don't need a life story here!

Great hotel, fantasitc setting in resort of Puerto Mogan (known locally as Little Venice as it is all set on canals in and around the port). There are loads of cobbled streets and dozens of restaurants to wander round in the evening.

If you're looking for nightclubs and all night bar action, you are looking at the wrong resort big time! There is evening entertainment on stage at the hotel every night from 10pm. However, it is laughably bad, I mean really really bad! Fun for a while tho...

Food is a buffet for breakfast and dinner. If you're staying half board, you have two sitting times 6:30 or 8:30. You are allocated a sitting for your first night depending on what is busy that night. However, you can change your sitting time if you wish (contrary to what other reviewers have said on here). I would recommend going for the later sitting as if you go for the earlier sitting, you have to be out of the restaurant by 8pm. The later sitting has no other diners afterwards so you can take as long as you like. The quality of food is great at breakfast and average at dinner. You will be able to find something for everyone.

We hired bikes from the hire shop down the road from the hotel as it is cheaper than the hotel. What wasn't made clear is that any road out of the resort is on a very steep incline. It is very difficult and dangerous to cycle as the road is a thin, windy road up a mountain. It is fun but really hard work, you have been warned especially as none of the locals seem bothered about driving sensibly.

We booked the self catering apartments but unfortunately, they were not ready. Howver, we were upgraded to the hotel. The apartments are nearly finished but I would recommend double checking where you will be staying if you have booked the apartments.
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Swimming pools and jacuzzis are great. Shooting, tennis lessons etc are on offer. Great staff, great rooms. Be aware that a double room will be 2 single beds puxhed together. Maid service is excellent, daily towel change, rooms serviced every morning without fail.

Sun loungers can be a bit of a battle in the mornings. YOu can go out at 8 AM only to find that there are loads of towels down reserving loungers already!!

I would really recommend this resort. Shop around on price, we found places quote very different pices for this resort. If you are after nightclubs and bars this is not the resort for you. However, if you want a pretty resort, plenty of restaurants, friendly locals and a great hotel, then this is the one for you.

My partner and I stayed at the Cordial Mogan Playa at the end of April and we absolutely loved it! I booked last minute through Airtours/Thomas Cook and even though it wasn't the cheapest, the service we received from our rep and the hotel staff was excellent and definitely value for money. From the moment we arrived and were greeted with a glass of bubbly, which we drank in the impressive foyer, we knew that we had made the right choice of hotel and resort.

As other people have said, the rooms are lovely, clean and comfortable. The pools are great for chilling out in (the second pool closer to the blue building seemed warmer than the one by Reception) and we never had trouble finding sunloungers. The gardens are lovely and you can walk through them to cut out having to walk down the baking hot promenade to get to the town. The gate is right at the bottom of the hotel complex - keep walking past the blue building and then go down the right-hand side of the church and you should find it! If you want to find out more about the hotel, the staff do a free guided tour of the buildings and gardens (it was on Tuesday morning when we were there).

We thought the food was excellent, with plenty of choice for even the fussiest eater. The only disappointing night was Chinese night, which was Friday. If we'd have known, we'd have swapped our tea for dinner and eaten by the pool at lunchtime that day. The hotel was quite quiet so the restaurant wasn't full, meaning that we could sit wherever we wanted each night. It was lovely sitting out in the conservatory in the evening, but a shame that this is the smoking section.

We usually spent the evening in the Bar Fataga - we weren't really that bothered about the evening entertainment so we sat at the bar. The imported drinks are quite pricey, but this is holiday so why not give something else a go?! The cocktails (about 5 Euros 80 each) were lovely (give the Brandy Alexander a go) and the local liquers delicious! For just 3 euros 25 you can get a Crema Ron Miel (creamy honey rum) or a Crema Bienmesabe, both of which taste better than Bailey's! The weather was lovely and warm all week and we took advantage of this by going to the 8.30pm dinner sitting. This meant that we could make the most of the early evening sunshine by sitting out on our balcony with a tipple bought from HiperDino across the road.

It upset me a bit to read some of the previous reviews where people have complained about the hotel being overcrowded. My advice - if you want peace and quiet then don't travel during the school holidays!

Out of season Puerto Mogan is a reasonably peaceful resort, but it is quite expensive. A glass of coke, on avereage, will set you back about 3 euros. The beach is quite small but seemed clean and the water wasn't too cold (although I didn't go in any deeper than my ankles!). The town is pretty as a postcard and has lots of charm and character and seems a world away from your typical tourist resort.

We made the most of our stay and took the bus up to Las Palmas, which is a fabulous, cosmopolitan city with lots of shops and historical buildings to visit. We also took the boat from Mogan to Puerto Rico, which is worth the return fare (although the journey itself is a lot better than the destination!). Back in Puerto Mogan, try and find the time to climb up to the mirador viewing point (head right after crossing the little bridge near the beach and then meander your way through the old town. We got a bit lost but a group of friendly locals pointed us in the right direction, which is basically up!). The view from the platform over the town and out to sea is breathtaking.

The only downside was that the hotel had decided to address the issues of the gravel round both swimming pools whilst we were there, which involved builders scraping away and laying cement throughout the week. When we told our rep she immediately went to reception and we were able to move rooms.

All in all, a lovely relaxing holiday in a great hotel. We'd definitely go back! Writing this has made me feel all nostalgic - I wish we were back there now...

The Hotel......

There are lots of reviews on this site about this hotel, all of which are probably quite accurate for different times of the year, so I will let them paint the picture for you. Also the photographs on here are a very good reflection of what it’s like. Overall, it’s a nice hotel. If you want my advice, swop the buffet dinner for lunch by the pool, its 3 course - soup or salad, followed by a choice of fish or a meat dish and then ice cream. Get your voucher from reception each morning or check out the menu and if it looks ok, make your decision from there. We like to dine out in the evening. I’m happy to spend most of the day at the hotel by the pool, but I need a bit of atmosphere in the evening, and the hotel lacks in this area. Quiet is fine but everything is based in the hotel itself, no poolside entertainment or open air bars.

Do yourself a favour and don't fall into the trap of getting a few drinks and putting it on your room tab, its VERY expensive and the hotel is banking on you not noticing how much you have spent until you check out. A gin and tonic and a large beer is almost 10 euros!

There are 2 supermarkets very close by - a Spar towards the harbour and a Dino in the shopping centre opposite which has a bigger selection and prices are pretty much the same. Get yourself a bottle of your favourite tipple and have a few drinks on the balcony after a day by the pool, then head off to the harbour for some tapas (ask at "Zoo" for the Tapas platter. It’s not on the menu but its enough for 2 and its the best tapas I’ve ever had!!! It cost us 17 euro and its worth every penny!) or to any of the harbour side restaurants for some of the biggest prawns you will ever see, honestly they are more like Lobsters! Its not a large harbour, and its by no means cosmopolitan, more rural and comfortable. Although the standard of the restaurants is fantastic! We had several of the best meals I have ever had on holiday. Also try Qui Tal (?) which is almost in a tunnel just off the harbour (the wine bar with the leather sofa's outside). The waitress is called Nicky, and she is bonkers!! Beautiful Michelin quality food! The house wine tends to be Torres, which is very nice, we buy it from Tesco's over here when we get back. Also Fustino is very nice as well.


This is our second visit to Puerto Mogan. Last year we stayed in Melonares at the Lopesan Gran Costa Melonares (I think it may have a slightly different name now), and visited Puerto Mogan for the day by bus. As Melonares is a small but wonderful resort and as Puerto Mogan had been very busy on our trip we decided to return this year for a week to soak up a bit more of the evening atmosphere. We realised the first evening that it’s busy during the day as most of the people are day trippers from neighbouring resorts. The small harbour is very pretty, with colonial style buildings and masses of flowers. However, when the day trips have departed, its very quiet. Maybe different later in the year, but even so, don't go expecting much night time company, most of the restaurants and bars are empty (ish) by 11.00. Don’t get me wrong, we enjoyed every evening we spent there, we can always find something to chat about and as I said, the hotel had little to offer anyway.

Ive asked around and if its your first trip to Gran Canaria and your looking for a 4 star plus hotel in a friendly, classy resort then have a look at these hotels:

Villa Conde 5 star - Out of this world
Gran Costa Melonares - Have a look at my review form last year if you think it maybe helpful.
H10 - Ive not been but loots very nice from the road, right next to the golf course in Melonares.
and of course Cordial Mogan Playa.
Keep your eye out for a deal on either of these and you wont go far wrong.

The Riu in Pueto Rico maybe a nice hotel but its in Puerto Rico and that’s all I can say about that one! In fact, in my opinion stay away from Puerto Rico, Playa del Ingles, Maspalomas TOTALLY unless you enjoy the commercial centre and tacky night clubs.

Gran Canaria is not the prettiest island I have visited. Its Hot most of the year so it has an Arid, dry, barren landscape. The coast is rocky and there are few sandy beaches. It really is all about the weather in the winter season. I wouldn't go in summer. However, Puerto Mogan is a little bit of "real" (erm) Spain on what is otherwise a very repetitive coastline.

The transfer from the airport varies from 45 - 75 mins, so be aware. Quite a few guests’ chose to prebook a taxi with their tour operator. Unfortunately they were still waiting in reception when we left and arrived after we did at the airport. Not sure it’s worth the extra money, especially both ways. Maspalomas and Melonares is approx 25 mins depending on amount of drops. probably 10 mins in taxi.

I hope this has filled in a few of the gaps for you. My advice.... if you looking for some winter sun in a nice comfortable hotel, you won't be disappointed. Go and recharge the batteries, take a good book, relax and enjoy!

My family and I have just returned from this excellent hotel after a 10 night stay on half board basis.
The reason for this holiday was to celebrate my dads retirement so my brother and his girlfriend, dad and his wife, sister and my husband and I decided on one of the Canary Islands purely for the better chance of seeing some sunshine. After booking our holiday last October (we originally booked an hotel in San Augustin but had this cancelled by the travel agent due to hotel refurbishment), we decided on the Cordial Mogan Playa because of the reviews and write ups on the area named "Little Venice"
We booked the hotel and flights separately which saved us some considerable money and booked a taxi from the airport to the hotel. The taxi was more like a mini bus and was there waiting for us when we arrived at the airport, we arrived at the hotel to be welcomed by an excellent English speaking receptionist who offered us sparkling wine or juice and explained everything in detail about our stay at the hotel.
The most dissapointing part of the holiday was that we had booked for a party of 7 people which included 2 standard double rooms and 1 junior suite for my dad, his wife and daughter.Upon arrival we were told that 2 junior suites had been reserved which meant an upgrade for my husband and I and left my brother and his girlfriend with a standard room. We questioned this because we were told that if you stay in a junior suite you take breakfast in a separate restaurant to the guests staying in standard rooms. I was not impressed that a party of 7 people had gone away on holiday together and then being told that we had to eat separately but dinner was taken in the same restaurant in the evening so we could all eat together then!!
We enquired about an upgrade for my brother but the receptionist told me that the cost would be an additional 43 euros per night. The hotel was only a third full and I felt that the hotel should have least upgraded my brothers room free of charge. My fault maybe because if I had taken this up with the holiday rep I may have got somewhere with my complaint.

My husband and I stayed in room 9117 which was at the very bottom of the complex but was excepionaly clean, large bedroom with separate lounge area with a sofa and 2 chairs, TV, fridge that was open so we didnt have to pay an extra cost. A large balcony with 2 sun loungers and 2 chairs with a table. The bathroom had a separate walk in shower, bath, dressing gowns,toilet and wash basin. The maids changed the towels twice a day and offered turn down service every evening.

There was a gate at the bottom of the complex which we could use to get out of the hotel grounds by using the key card to our room. I read from a previous reviewer that they only found this gate 2 days before they came home, my advise is that this hotel is in extensive grounds and you must take a walk round on your first day and look for these things. We had a walk round the first day and found things that made our stay even more enjoyable.
The same reviewer stated that they had to stay in their room until after 10am waiting for the beach towels to be delivered to their room, just ask one of the maids and they happily swapped our used towels for new ones.

The harbour area is very pretty and is a 10 minute walk maximum from the hotel. We ate twice in the evening down by the harbour and one of the restaurants we used was called "The Zoo", excellent choice of menu and good standard of food. We swapped dinner for lunch at the hotel but wouldnt recommed that due to the limited menu available. If you are not swapping and just have lunch and pay in the normal manner the menu is bigger and better (my brother ate there on one occasion and said that the menu on offer then was far more extensive).

Due to the hotel being very quiet we never had a problem finding sun loungers. We had the second sitting at dinner which was 8.30pm-9.30pm and the food was excellent. The fish dishes were excellent and the king prawns exquisite. One review stated that once you had picked your chosen time for dinner you couldnt change it, rubbish, just go to reception and let them know you want the different dinner time and they oblige.
If you choose to eat in the "Los Guayres" al la carte restaurant you will get a 15 euros discount but the prices were very expensive, some starters were 12-15 euros each. We didnt eat there but it looked to be situated in a very pleasant setting.

The staff are very friendly and always take time to speak when they see you. The bar staff in the "La Sama" pool bar were excellent. The reception staff spoke excellent English and the breakfast staff in the smaller restaurant were great. They were all polite and was always grateful for a please or thankyou. These staff members are a credit to the hotel.

The entertainment in the evening was terrible, but I have yet to go to a hotel abroad that has good evening entertainment. "Fataga" bar was open until 1am by which time there was only us 7 sitting there. Most people dissapeared to bed around 10pm so the evenings were very quiet. The prices of the drinks were very expensive (Bacardi and Coke was equivelent to £5). The good thing is that there is a Spar shop across the road so we could buy water, coke etc and put in our fridge in the room. It is a great shop for newspapers, bread, cheese etc and opens 7 days a week from early until late.

I was unsure what to expect at this hotel after reading previous reviews but I shouldnt have worried. Yes it was a quiet time of year for the hotel but if you want a relaxing holiday in pretty surroundings then this is the place for you. Plus I didnt see one beer swigging tattoed person in sight (well, just the one, ME)!!!!!

I was happy that the hotel wasnt fully booked because I do agree with previous reviews that when it is full it can get very chaotic, not enough sunbeds and queing at meal times. Lucky for us I guess and to top it all the weather was great, red hot and not a drop of rain for the entire 10 days.