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“My boyfriend and I went to the Palm Grove Hotel,...”

written by blondeyem1 on 14/02/2006

Good Points
We found the hotel great, our room was huge, the bed could sleep 4 people it was that big and was cleaned daily, the staff were very friendly and couldnt do enough for you, and the sunshine was an added bonus!

Bad Points
The holiday was slightly more expensive then we planned it to be, as the hotel is a bit out of the way we had to get tourist taxi's to eat out, which cost us about £10 but they did take you, wait 2 hours then bring you back. We did get hassled a bit going around the markets but it was not as bad as we expected, as long as you are polite, they are fine.

General Comments
My boyfriend and I went to the Palm Grove Hotel, Gambia for the first time in February, it was a bit of a culture shock, especially the airport, it was a nightmare, people literally grabbing your cases off you in order to get a tip but we just said no and held on to them, then the people loading and unloading the cases wanted a tip so we was a little unsure when we first arrived but after arriving at the hotel, we were pleased. Our room was lovely (we had a suite) but I think other rooms were smaller, the bed was huge and had mosquito nets covering them, and the room was cleaned daily. We were on a bed and breakfast basis, we found the choice of breakfast very good, choice of cereals, omelettes, toast, egg/bacon etc, we ate at the hotel 3 nights out of the 7, it is a buffet and you pay £10 each and can go up as many times as you like, there is a lot of choice and always choices of starters/main and dessert (the desserts were delicious). I am quite a fussy eater and always found something nice to eat, including 1 night when they cooked a bbq. We also ate at 2 restaurants away from the hotel, an Italian called Italian Connection and a Mexican I think was called Weezo's. They were both delicious but about the same price as England really, we found a 2/3 course meal and a bottle of wine cost us about £40. As first timers to Gambia, we were told if the bumsters or anyone else really ask if you have been to Gambia before, tell them you have, even if you have not, this way they will not try to rip you off. We also had a guide called Bax who was lovely and showed us all around, he took us to the markets, took us to a school where the children sang to us which was lovely and a little bit upsetting but the children all look so happy even though they don't have much. We took sweets and handed them out to the children, they were so happy just to be given 1 sweet!! we also went to the crocodile pool and stroked Charlie the crocodile; this was great and only about £2 to get in. We also went on a boat trip on the River Gambia which was so relaxing, we sunbathed, did fishing and went for lunch on a lodge built on the river called Lamin Lodge, this was lovely although look out for the monkeys!! It is much cheaper to find a guide to take you on the trips rather then going through the holiday reps as they charge much more. Overall I would recommend going to the Gambia and the Palm Grove Hotel, we had a lovely time and I think as long as you remember it is a third world country and keep your wits about you, you will have a fantastic time. It is a real eye opener and makes you appreciate everything we have back at home. We would like to go back and next time we will take more things out for the children, pens, pencils, sweets etc as they really appreciate it.