Corralejo, Bahiazul Villa Bougambilla

Villa Bougambilla is located on the newly finished Bahiazul Villa complex on the edge of Corralejo. The villa's are located on the outskirts of Corralejo and it is highly recommended that you hire a car for your stay...the walk into town is just too far (approx 45mins-hour). The complex itself houses around 120-150 villas that are all IDENTICAL in every way to each other. Even down to the interiors, we looked in a few other villas and they all looked exactly as the one we were renting...right down to the sofa, rugs and decorative vases! The complex creates a kind of 'perfect' environment and resembles at times something off of The Truman Show film, everything looking brand new, random gardeners waving as you enter the complex, and similar people sweeping the gutters which don't appear to need sweeping! You get the idea.

The villa complex itself is stunning and the villas look different to most in the Corralejo area which all seem to be quite square in appearance. As you arrive you have two barriers In/Out and you will be let in once they get to know you...after 10pm you are given a keyfob to open the gates if no-one is present. If you ever get paranoid about security then this takes care of that...all villa's are in the secure complex and when we were on the roof-terrace one night we could see a security guard walking the streets! There is a very good restaurant at the front of the complex above reception serving good food, a few Euros above Corralejo high-street prices but worth it. In the day the bar area is open serving proper coffee and other drinks and snacks, in the bar is also free-wifi with the wireless key advertised on the walls.

So the villa itself. Very pleasing to the eye, attractive looking and well contained. Very comfortable beds, sofas, pool and Jacuzzi. A large flatscreen tv in the lounge, no tv in bedrooms, nice touch having a built-in radio in each room, by the poolside and on the roof-terrace meaning you can have some music in your room. They are all linked too, so if you want to announce that Dinner is ready you simply press a button and speak...similarly in the lounge you can connect your ipod up to it and transmit your tunes to every room. Each room has a black-out roller blind...not external shutters like in a lot of villas. Not a problem and the blind does the job. In the master bedroom there are slippers, dressing gowns, and toiletries provided just like a good hotel. The layout of the villa is somewhat strange and not advertised well in any of the villa adverts I have seen. Let me explain...as you open the front door, you walk into a large room. The lounge area is setup to the one side with two sofas facing the tv (all channels in our villa were Spanish). On the opposite side is a dining room table that goes into the kitchen area. Off the lounge are two internal doors and sliding patio doors....one door leads to a toilet, the other is to the Master Bedroom. So where are bedroom 2 and 3 you ask....well to access these bedrooms, you have to open the patio doors and step onto the poolside...then off the poolside there are two separate rooms with patio doors, one leading to bedroom 2 and the other to bedroom 3.A very strange setup indeed, and if you have small kids you may have concerns about leaving them in bedrooms that are not connected to the main house. The bedrooms themselves are well decorated and the showers in each room is fantastic, particularly the master bedroom which boasts two body jets (4 total) either side of you as you stand in the shower, with a double headed shower above your head. Lovely! The kitchen is another head-scratcher...it has a 4-ring electric hob, extracer fan, fridge, separate freezer, microwave, coffee machine, sink. It is missing an important appliance that is necessary on a Self catering holiday...an oven! We loaded up on our first shop with lunchtime snacks of pizza, wedges etc only to find no oven! Quite unbelievable at first given these villas can't be more than a year old. Outside the villa is an enjoyable pool with a very high-sided wall making the terrace sun-trap even if its a windy day. There are two quality wooden loungers (could do with a few more given 3 bedrooms = more than two guests) and two wicker armchairs.Upstairs is a roof-terrace with a tiled dining table, a BBQ area, a jacuzzi and an outside weatherproof double-bed which is a nice touch.There is also a washing machine upstairs.

We stayed in the villa in March 2009 and if you know Corralejo, picture yourself coming into Corralejo with the main roundabout with the waterpark on your right-hand side. Go back one roundabout towards the beach and the Bahiazul Villas about a 3-4min drive up the street where all the taxi's are lined up. It's at the top of the big hill where there is a lot of villa/apartment building work going on. Nothing that impacts the enjoyment of the villa though so don't be concerned!

In summary, the villa is good to use as your holiday base. If you are after a lazy switch-off week away then look no further. If you are looking for something in walking distance of shops, bars and restaurants this is may not be the place, but remember taxi's are cheap (approx 4euro into corralejo town...and car hire is relatively cheap). We had a car and nipping into Corralejo is literally 5mins drive and parking is not an issue. One recommended restaurant would be the steak-house Casa Del La Carne on the other side to the beach restaurant Wikiki. Best steak in town, set-menu if you eat before 7pm too at 13euro for starter, steak (large!) and desert.

We would go back to Villa Bougambilla or indeed any other identical villa in Bahaizul for a chill-out holiday.