Barceló Corralejo Sands

Barceló Corralejo Sands is a four-star hotel run by the Spanish Barceló group on Calle La Acacia, a side street in the middle of Corralejo, the resort town at the northern tip of Fuerteventura. It is low-rise, with 156 rooms and suites on two floors around a large outdoor area of pools and solarium, with a supermarket and the shops of the main avenue next door. It is a modern, practical hotel rather than a statement, and its appeal is the combination: a resort day by the pool, then dinner in town on foot, with Waikiki Beach seven minutes away.

The rooms are bright and plain in the contemporary Barceló manner, with rainfall showers, tea and coffee things and a minibar. Doubles measure about 25 m² and have a balcony or terrace; Deluxes, about 30 m², add a sofa bed. The suites, about 44 m², have a separate living room and a balcony or terrace, and the Suite Pool View looks over the pool. Two categories put an outdoor hot tub on the terrace: the 30 m² Deluxe with Hot Tub and the 44 m² Suite with Hot Tub. No category is sold with a sea view.

The mix is the reason to come. The main pool covers about 500 m², with a separate children's pool beside it, and both are set in a solarium of sunbeds and Balinese beds. The Alisios Pool Bar serves snacks and cocktails from 10:00 to 18:00 and lunch from 13:00, and on summer evenings the entertainment moves out to it from the theatre bar. Children aged 4 to 12 have the Barcy Club. For adults there is a hydrotherapy circuit with a jet pool, sauna and steam bath, three treatment rooms, and a 100 m² training box designed by SingularWOD.

The trade is sand and space. This is a town hotel, not a beach hotel: Waikiki Beach is a short walk, and the great beaches of the dunes are a short drive. One main pool serves 156 rooms, so in busy weeks the sunbeds sit close together and are claimed early. Parking and the spa cost extra, and the spa admits only guests aged 16 and over and closes on Sundays. Breakfast is in every rate, with half board and all-inclusive above it. Book it for a sunny pool week with Corralejo's restaurants and the Lobos boats on foot, with children or without them.