Occidental Roca Negra

This hotel is isolated, you can walk to the Port of Agaete which is by a rugged path and is quite step especially on your return There is a shuttle bus into Las Palmas on a Saturday for a three hr stay We had a sea facing room, with a balcony but not worth the extra money. Food in the buffet is bland and not a lot of choice. I took a few photos of flies on the food unfortunately there was little covering on the food apart from the casseroles, soups ect that were in pots with ceramic lids that burnt your fingers when trying to remove them, a few of spoke with staff but the flies won! There was supposed to be Ala Carte restaurant but it was closed. The only good thing was that the staff were always very helpful and will try to please. Our Saga host Mark Flannery made the two weeks bearable .I am not sure why it’s a 4 star hotel probably due to it having a spo.

Overall more 3* hotel, not well maintained. Mold in shower and in curtains at the room. Not cozy. Broken furniture in restaurant. Breakfast with cheap products. No local ingredients like Spanish ham or cheese. No possibility to have breakfast outside. Skybar not well maintained and no table service (was here one weekdays). Nothing to do. Needs renovation of the rooms and common areas.

Peace and quiet, wonderful rest, relaxation. Especially the sunsets at the hotel bar on the roof. I only had breakfast, it was very good and rich. A lot of juices and fruit. Everything very fresh. Great hotel service, polite, helpful and always smiling.

INTRO ---------- Compared to our usual level of hotels (see other reviews) the Occidental Roca Negra is mid-market to lower mid-market. This time we went as a couple without our teenager so there was no need for a big suite. And also, I was getting tired of paying more and more every year because of both inflation and growing expectations. So, stepping down 1 or 1.5 levels I was somewhat worried about food and drink. I had even figured going out for dinner and buying drinks even though we had AI because the price difference would have allowed that. We didn't have to go quite so far - but some fact-checking is in order to avoid disappointment. DRINKS ------------ The GOOD NEWS for DRINKS: the all-inclusive WINE is quite good. I'm really picky about red wine (but more tolerant for white) and have been known to get into arguments with travel agents and hotel management when other hotels stint on wine. No need here. On All Inclusive you have 3 bottles of white and 2 of red (and I believe 1 rosado and glasses of cava) to chose from and the first of the 3 (or 2) are also available by glass. We had time to try them all but I was quite surprised to already like the very first choices (available by glass). A Chardonnay for white and a Tempranillo for red; both Spanish, of course. One minor complaint: the red wine was too cold. Not only when they kept your bottle overnight but also with fresh ones. I know this is a thing in southern Italy or Spain in the summer heat but we had windy 21 degrees outside. BAR DRINKS are where it gets a bit complicated. Only local alcohol included, okay. What is quite a problem in Egypt is no big deal in Spain. Local spirits where usually quite okay, most of all the old holiday fallback brown Rum, Arehucas Oro. I will never really understand why a 10 Euro bottle of Arehucas is included and a 10 Euro bottle of Havana isn't, but that was expected. The Arehucas distillery is actually reasonably close and can be visited which, sadly, we failed to plan properly before it was closed for the [many] Easter holidays. (Bus ride 1 hour with 1 change-over, taxi 40 Euro, both one way) There is an all inclusive COCKTAIL LIST but after trying 3 or 4 out of 10 I only ever got the separate ingredients henceforth. Weird or even nasty replacements. For example, the Kir Royal was made with decent Cava but Creme the Cassis was replaced with a strange pinkish syrup that looked like it would glow in the dark. And the Sangria de cava had 2 or 3 add-ons that were never meant to go in there. If you know your way around a bar (and a tiny bit of Spanish) an Espresso martini (which is not on the AI list anyway) becomes one double espresso (quite good) plus no-brand coffee liqueur (Licor de cafe) and AI vodka (I tend to use very little anyway). Or, brand name Baileys is not included, but a local "Crema de whisky" is. FOOD --------- BREAKFAST was quite good and on level with 4 stars. A PLUS: The hotel is in such a remote corner that even over Easter 2025 it was far from fully booked so instead of waiting in line for an omelette the cook would wait for you. A MINUS: the coffee machines have no real milk, only powdered. I learned something new here: Beware of coffee machines that offer Cappuccino but not Latte macchiato. People are expected to notice the fake milk in a Latte but they think they can get away with it in a Cappuccino. No they can't. I was quite happy with adding real milk to a double espresso. LUNCH was quite good. Many 4 star hotels try to make do with pizza and burgers but here you had the full choice of pots and also live cooking for lunch. DINNER, however, loses a lot of points. Fresh and tasty, to be sure, but ... 1.TOO SMALL What was surprisingly good for Lunch is suddenly inadequate for Dinner; we've been on river cruises where the small ship had a wider and better choice. For example, there was a Mexican night where I normally need a lot of discipline to chose and limit my portions in order to try everything. Here, I couldn't find enough and had to hit the grill for food. 2.ONLY SIMPLE MEAT The grill was very good for fish (salmon, tuna, swordfish, ...) but the more expensive meat was very rare. A lot about food - choice and quality - is subjective and hard to measure, but let me put it like this. During an entire week we saw BEEF only once (quite good) and LAMB only once (not good, I've never seen chops that needed so much surgery). No shellfish except for the [unpeeled] shrimp, but I never expected lobster in the first place. HOTEL, ROOM, VIEW --------------------------------- The MAIN BUILDING has 4 floors, from 1 (Pool) to 4 (Reception). We had a top floor room with quite a lovely sea view. But the hotel sits 40 metres above the water and the rock is steep so don't expect to see the tiny stone beaches or the natural pools (more later) from anywhere in the hotel, you have to walk right up to the edge. My hopes of seeing the volcano Teide on Tenerife were, sadly, not fulfilled. A distance of over 90 km needs perfect viewing conditions and for us, there was always a cloud somewhere on the way, even on a clear day. In fact, sunset was often coming out of one cloud and setting into another. Pictures of the hotel or a close look at the map show that it is not quite straight but rather a very flat "U" shape. Rooms are numbered right to left when facing the ocean. Rooms 401-407 are in the north-eastern bend of the line; this is where we chose to stay because we wanted as much sun as we could have but rooms 408-417 in the straight middle part would have done as well. Only rooms 418-428 in the western bend I wouldn't recommend as you can see them in shadow on many pictures. There is a suite at the end of that line, but I'm hoping those have windows going south-west also. Our double was maybe 40 sqm (forgot to measure this time, sorry) and more than adequate for 2 people. In fact, we've been to many places that would have called that a Junior suite even in the absence of a divider. Note that there is a smaller, extra hotel building behind the main one. This one goes up to floor 5 and 6 over the reception but we didn't check. The main building has a roof-top terrace and bar on 5th. This has a little live music every second evening but most people would take their drinks to the comfy sitting areas inside to flee the cold and wind. By the way, the hotel just rolled out a new system where your pink AI bracelet (or other colours for full board etc.) isn't just a strip of plastic but a coloured cord holding a little wooden chip with RFID inside which is your room key. I think this was the very first holiday I could walk around with pockets completely empty. BAD REVIEWS --------------------- Yes. I can confirm a certain NEED FOR RENOVATION. Especially bathroom fixtures and such. But I need to add that such things don't bother me overly much, I had to have them pointed out to me. I cannot confirm UNFRIENDLY PERSONEL, we've only ever met nice to very friendly. Reception and house keeping were impeccable, only restaurant staff was sometimes a little confused. One does not clear other tables before one asks new arrivals for their drinks order, not if there is enough space (which there was). Curiously, they were still very friendly, so it wasn't done on purpose. POOL AND OCEAN ------------------------------ The POOL has a simple shape of 2 connected circles. It was somewhat heated in April 2025 (noticeably warmer than the sea) but not actually warm. The small whirlpool next to it is warm enough for most (but not hot). Aerial pictures show a small baby pool which is surplus in an adults-only hotel and left unheated. There is a friendly live guard (no real need with a maximum depth for 1.5m) and the pool bar is part of the AI. Funny how you have to hold onto your paper/plastic cups once they are half empty because of the strong wind. Gran Canaria may have sandy BEACHES elsewhere but not in this part of the island. The little beaches here are usually small bays where only surfers brave the combination of strong waves and head-sized loose stones. But there is a perfect alternative. My holiday highlight, in fact ! A steep path (40m height difference over a distance of 400m, well paved, no steps) takes you down from the hotel to the AMAZING NATURAL POOLS to the left. Fantastic. As if nature had planned swimming pools at this point. Three large (and deep, swimmers only) pools connected by stairs and paths of lava rock. At some places even a hidden tunnel connecting them under water. The two front pools get the top of every wave on windy days spilling over the protective wall so you get the spray and are pushed forth and back a bit but are fully protected from the waves fury on the other side of the wall. Very cool. In April the water was still rather cold, just below 20 at my guess. I will say it took some resolve to get in at 9 in the morning with wind and an overcast sky while the few people around were taking their holiday snapshots in fleece jackets :-) LOCATION,HIKING ----------------------------- Agaete is in the quiet, remote north-west corner of Gran Canaria. Funny how you can have a remote corner on an island that is basically round, but the mountains come right up to the ocean from here all the way to the south-west so roads are smaller and slower and there isn't much in the way of towns or villages. Obviously this is not a place where people go to party, but it is ideally suited for quiet and hiking. The municipality of Agaete is nice enough, a little larger than we expected. There is a port where the [expensive] ferry to Tenerife goes back and forth several times a day. We went on easy half-day hiking tours in all three available directions. Going NORTH you have a small hill close to the hotel, an interesting cave (cueva) and the beautiful Punta Gorda rock. If you are willing to go down the next canyon (90m down and back up) you can walk the top of the rocky coastline north almost forever. There is a bus line from Galdar to Agaete that can take you back if you check the timetable and are willing to walk 4..5 km inland when you are done. Hiking EAST into the Valle de Agaete you can avoid walking the road if you have a precise map (thank you, OpenStreetMaps) to find the "SL4" trail going into the Barranco de Agaete. Ignore the ugly start, it is very picturesque. And you are walking right next to the bus line along the valley so this can take you back. Beware that the little canyon has very steep walls so you can only exit every 2 km or so (first exit goes to Suerte, a short steep climb). The first tour SOUTH (or first tour at all) should go to the Roque de las Nieves overlooking the harbour. Amazing. Close to the roque you can start straight into the mountains. We went up to 400m of height to the Old lime kiln on the map which feels like you are two thirds of the way into the mountain. You can go further but this trail will end also; it looks like there is no continuous trail along the mountain range at all. This is, of course, the more challenging of the three hiking directions, but views are great. After the tours it was back to the pool for some AI relaxation. Which brings me to some last bitching about the weather in April 2025: grey and cloudy for the natural pools in the morning, clear and sunny to get sunburned on the mountain, then windy and cloudy in time for the pool. Zero out of three. SUMMARY ---------------- All in all a cosy and nice hiking holiday. For food and drink you get the level you pay for, no luxury. A good starting point to explore and for the natural pools.

A very nice hotel in a great location with excellent facilities. very good sized rooms, nice pools and good choice of food. Rooftop bar is fabulous with great views.