During one day at Club La Santa, I took a one-hour swimming class that massively improved my front crawl, did an another hour-long TRX session for my core, ran eight miles on a full-size 400m track, played racketball, and messed about in the huge kids’ swimming pool with my two children. This was not an unusual day.
Everywhere I looked in the huge complex, the sounds and scents of people being active was in the air, whether it was over-60s setting off on a group bike ride or couples brushing up on their ballroom dancing. Some people go on holiday to put their feet up, others to enjoy five-star luxury. But if sport and training on holiday is your thing, this may well be Nirvana.
We arrived at La Santa, which is on the rugged west of the island of Lanzarote, far away from the main tourist areas, in early September. It may well have been the perfect time to go, with temperatures in the high 80s during the day but cool enough at night not to feel stifling. We hired a car to get from the airport to the resort, which is about 40 minutes’ drive, fully expecting to go stir crazy within a few days and embark on some excursions. In fact, we used it just once, because there was just so much to do on the resort that no one really wanted to miss out on.
Pick any day at random, and the activity programme will comprise some 80 classes or activities, from a beginners’ windsurfing class, via Zumba to aerial yoga. There are no fewer than three Olympic-size (50m) swimming pools, and a family leisure pool, too. There are courts for tennis, padel tennis, badminton, squash and basketball … I could go on for some time, but essentially it’s hard to find a sport that isn’t well catered for. Almost all these activities are included in the price of your holiday – including hire of rackets and equipment – with just a few involving an additional charge. Booking is easy: you just go to the office near the 400m track and get a little ticket printed out. The facilities are truly superb, so much so that professional athletes train here.
I am far from professional, but I visited when training for the Berlin marathon, and my tired legs also thoroughly appreciated the spa, which has a volcanically hot Jacuzzi and an Arctic-cold ice bath, ideal for muscle soreness. Aside from a couple of hours when kids are allowed in, the spa is also a child-free zone (and we all need one of those occasionally). If organised training camps aren’t your thing, this is also the ideal place to create your own DIY boot camp.
There is also plenty for kids to do, including a daily kids’ camp comprising a well-stocked play centre and activities from pirate treasure hunts to a mini Olympics, complete with medals. The kids are looked after by some lovely, enthusiastic staff from “Green Team”, many of whom have pretty impressive sporting credentials themselves.
While the compound is on the sea, the beach is more suitable for collecting interesting rocks than sunbathing; it is dramatic and sharp, not sandy and soft. But that lunar landscape also makes for some amazing trail runs, up volcanic slopes and alongside crashing waves. There are guided runs from the club, and even solo runners should give one a try; while the lack of foliage makes it seem like you couldn’t get lost, one slope quickly blurs into another.
For post-exercise refreshments, there is a wide range of food on offer. The breakfast and dinner all-you-can-eat buffet is good, if not gourmet, but there’s also a good pizza restaurant and a cafe on a quieter slope above the ocean. You can choose to go inclusive of meals, or make your own; the kitchen in our mini apartment was surprisingly well stocked with equipment, and the supermarket on site is large and well stocked, including freshly baked bread. Considering the captive market, it’s also not that pricey.
Of course, as with most things, you get what you pay for. At the lower end, the accommodation is more basic, though we stayed in a spacious and stylish newly built apartment at the south of the resort. The village of La Santa itself is over a mile away, so those who do like to escape do have a bit of a walk, though it’s worth it for the excellent cakes at the local cafe.
Holidays for me used to be about getting out and exploring the world, I never would have thought that being in one resort for a week would be even bearable, yet alone ideal. But it wasn’t just me who liked it: my two highly active kids did, too, and have been begging to go back ever since. Sure, if you aren’t sporty, there are plenty of better places to spend a week. But if you are, there are few better.
A seven-night stay in a one-bedroom comfort apartment (sleeps up to three adults and one child) starts from £644 (flights to Lanzarote not included) For more information visit clublasanta.co.uk or telephone (0)161 790 9890
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