Taurito, a tiny but friendly resort

An empty plane; room to stretch, happy cabin crew and pilots. 41,000 feet. Laptop, papers, Levinson Wood and his adventures across the Himalaya (good book by the way Levinson – thanks), snacks. A thoroughly enjoyable four-hour flight. One of the best I have been on. Well done TUI.

Taurito, small but bold almost brash but in a good way. A valley ravine lined by four towering tiered hotels that contour into the hillsides themselves. The narrow central section down to the sea lined by a garden, play area and aquapark.  Palm lined sidewalks with lovely blue and white mosaic pavement slabs covered by the black blobs of the fallen dried out dates.

The valley sides are near vertical, upper slopes multi banded colours of volcanic rocks. Everywhere is dry, barren and stark. There is no vegetation on these slopes; nothing to hold back rockfalls. Coastal roads out of the valley are sinuous with multiple hairpin bends at their starts.

surprisingly at no time did we find the hotel crowded

Taurito is something out of the Flintstones, a modern version of Bedrock but it has charm. Lots of charm and we really liked it. This is only the second package holiday we have ever been on so we weren’t sure what to expect. The thirteen floors of the Taurito Princess are anchored to the rockface. It is a typical modern all-inclusive resort hotel, clean, bright, efficient and friendly. External glass elevators whisk people to and from upper floors in silence, giving fantastic views across this small resort. Resplendent marble floors give old geologists like me plenty to browse. The beach below is black sand and clean. It’s lined by a promenade below which are cafes, water sports cabins and shops. The beach has the obligatory sun loungers and umbrellas, an area cordoned off for departing jet skis.

Having saved £600 by taking this last-minute package deal, we used the hotel as a base to tour the island and this worked out really, really well. It isn’t our normal way of travelling but Airbnb, B and B and agritourism approaches were all costing much more and now we are pensioners, we have to take the savings where we get them.

a fantastic garden terrace with sublime sunsets every evening.

Glass of wine, comfy chairs, sit back and watch the sun set after a busy day

Perfect!

Tips:

• If  you have a hire car, parking outside the hotel is very limited; however, there is a large gravel area about 500m back up the road, which is free to park on
• Any road pavement which has yellow paint on it is an illegal parking area and you will get a ticket
• Any road with blue markings - is a pay and display area
• The road to Puerto Mogan is closed due to a landslide. The road is closed off and monitored by local police. The best way to get to Puerto Mogan is by local bus at the top of the hotel road. However, due to the road system, it is around a 30 minute bus ride and you will need to change buses at Playa del Cura.
• Shops close in Taurito at 9pm
• There is one small supermarket in the resort; most other shops sell tourist souvenirs and beach gear