Staying at HPB El Balcón de Santa Ana

View at night from Apartment GB10

Some places seem to slow time the moment you arrive. The light feels softer, the air warmer, and everyday noise falls away until all you really notice is the sea and the sky. La Gomera is one of those places - an island that feels quietly removed from the world, where nature does most of the talking.

During October half term last year, we made our second trip to Santa Ana in La Gomera. It’s an HPB resort I’ve mentioned on the blog before, but it’s honestly one of my favourite HPB sites, so it feels worthy of a proper post of its own. It’s a truly magical, beautiful place - and if you’re with HPB, I really think it’s one you should try to visit at least once.

Arriving by Sea

We flew from London to Tenerife and then took the ferry over to La Gomera. With a family, it’s absolutely doable, and all in all the journey took around twelve hours. We booked our flights and transfers through the HPB Travel Club, which made everything feel straightforward and stress-free. From airport to ferry port, ferry to La Gomera, and then straight up to Santa Ana - it all ran seamlessly.

Arriving by ferry is actually part of the joy. As the island comes into view, you really get a sense of La Gomera’s dramatic volcanic landscape, and it sets the tone for the whole stay.

We stayed in Apartment GB10, right at the top of the site, with beautiful views across the bay. It was conveniently close to the mini-market and gym, and only about a five-minute walk down to the pool area.

Days by the Pool

The pool was where we spent most of our time. It’s not technically an infinity pool, but it feels like one, with uninterrupted views over the ocean. There’s a pool bar serving cocktails, drinks and ice creams, as well as a café offering simple but delicious meals like pizza and burgers - perfect for relaxed lunches.

On site, we also made the most of the activities: crazy golf, paddle ball and giant chess were all firm favourites.

Morning Walks and Quiet Wonders

My son is an early riser, so most mornings we wandered out of the complex and along the coastline. The sunrises were breathtaking, and on one particularly memorable morning we spotted pilot whales swimming just offshore - a moment that felt quietly extraordinary. We also walked up to the airport and watched a plane land.

View to Playa de Santiago from the walk
down from Santa Ana

The walk down to the village - Playa de Santiago - is fairly steep, though taxis are readily available and cost around €7 each way. Down there you’ll find a black sand beach, a small selection of bars and restaurants, shops and bakeries. We also took a boat trip from the port and were lucky enough to see bottle nose dolphins and pilot whales out at sea.

Exploring Beyond Santa Ana

We hadn’t originally planned to hire a car, as we’d already arranged transfers, but we decided to rent one for a day and it was well worth it. We drove up into the tropical rainforest and across to Playa del Inglés. Getting anywhere on La Gomera takes time - it’s a mountainous volcanic island - but the views along the way are absolutely spectacular.

View from near the rainforest

We’ll definitely be returning to HPB Santa Ana. It’s one of those places where everyone is friendly, there’s plenty for children to do, and it’s easy to fall into conversation without trying. The kids made friends, we had people to chat to, and everything felt gently unhurried.

It’s the kind of holiday that stays with you - not because of big moments or packed itineraries, but because of early mornings, sea air, shared smiles, and the sense that for a little while, life became beautifully simple.

Our First Eurocamp holiday in France

When I was young, my family did a lot of camping in France and Spain. And while I'm not necessarily a fan of canvas, I'm keen for my children to have outdoors holidays with lots of activities on their doorstep. I'd heard good things about Eurocamp holidays so I set about investigating the various options.

The Park we chose for our First Eurocamp holiday

It was quite daunting booking our first Eurocamp holiday. There are 242 Eurocamp parks in France alone so there are a lot of options. I can't talk about how many hours I spent trawling through all the various options and deliberating about what sort of location and park we wanted.

The Toddler Pool at Fontaine Vielle

In the end, we decided we wanted a small to medium sized park as my youngest can't walk too far. Definitely one with a water park, a shop and restaurant and ideally with a beach within a short walk. 

We eventually booked 7 nights at the Fontaine Vielle in the Gironde region of France. This one stood out to us because of the English Speaking kids camp and the newly refurbished aqua park. As we can't cope without air conditioning, we chose a Comfort XL holiday chalet with three bedrooms and outside decking. 

The water slides at our Eurocamp
holiday in France

The kids had a really lovely time and, therefore, so did the adults! Most of our days were spent in the pool with our kids burning off a lot of energy going up and down the slides and leaping in and out of the water. My eldest even made a little holiday friend which made it really special. One night we went to the Moules Frites night at the restaurant and we also played petanque and went to the gorgeous beach which was on the edge of the park.

Fontaine Vielle is a really rustic sort of park in the middle of a forest. And we absolutely loved the natural and relaxed vibe of the place. Overall we felt really safe and we really liked how easy it was to get to where we needed to be whether by the pool, in the park shop or at the beach.

We also enjoyed exploring the nearby area. Including visiting the Dune du Pilat, Andernos les Bains and a nearby bird sanctuary.

Here's what would have made the holiday better:

I think we would choose a Eurocamp holiday again, but it wasn't perfect. Here are some of the things that weren't ideal.

Coming out of the park to
the beach

- Better location for our holiday home - our holiday home was in a very overlooked location, with the outdoor decking looking directly onto the rear of another holiday home. And because we were directly facing another holiday home and we were within the forest, we got little to no sunlight on our decking or outside space. Because of this it was hard to dry our swimming clothes and we came home to everything smelling damp in our bags. I love sitting in the sunshine on holiday and that wasn't really possible with the location of our holiday home. 

I contacted Eurocamp customer services when I got home and they told me that you could request a specific location on the park. The cost varies according to the Parc but is generally between £50 to £85. They explained that it was difficult to take generic requests like "please can we have sun on our outside area". But that we could look at a map and ask for a home near the pools or away from the facilities. We will definitely explore this next time as the location of our van was very depressing!

The slip n slide

-  More space in the main bedroom and living areas: Our double bedroom was unbelievably small. You could hardly get round the bed as there was less than a foot around the bed against the walls. Another family we met also had a Comfort XL holiday home and they also couldn't believe how small their bedroom was. We also could not shut out bedroom door without moving a chair out of the way because it was in the way. I think we would opt for a premium home next time or an ultimate home in the hope that we get slightly more space.

- More kitchen utensils: The details for our property said it was a "well equipped kitchen" which couldn't be further from the truth! There wasn't even a bottle opener or lids for the pans. We were also promised a stove top kettle in the details and there was not one. Another couple we met were disappointed about there being no kettle (I mean we are English, we need our tea!) but when I asked the Eurocamp rep about it he didn't even know what a kettle was! When we first arrived we had to go an buy things like a bottle opener, a lighter for the stove, cloths and tea towels. I'm going to write a separate post on the things that I think it would be useful to pack. Otherwise you'll end up spending money on things you could bring from home.

A drink at the bar

- Multi socket extension leads: so the kids' room had one plug in there. Given their night lights, music player and fan, this wasn't really enough for us. Thankfully we had one multi socket extension lead but a few more would have been really useful to charge everything up.

If we go again, we would definitely opt for a slightly larger park and perhaps one that is close to a town or village. I've been looking at some of the parks near to Vias Plage which is an area we know well. And we were there recently when we went on our Canal Boat holiday.

Now that we have been once, I think we would be more equipped for another time. And we would know what to look for when doing our research. I hope this has helped you if you're thinking of booking your first Eurocamp holiday in France or elsewhere. If you have any tips for me, I'd love to hear them!

The beach outside our Eurocamp Park