Jet2 provided me and my husband with flights to Tenerife and an all-inclusive stay at the Hard Rock Hotel in Tenerife in exchange for this blog post. All views and opinions expressed in this post are my own.
There’s nothing quite like leaving Scotland on a cold and rainy morning in late November and emerging five hours later on the sunny Canary Islands.
Having never flown with Jet2 or having done a package holiday, I was excited for this experience and in short, I’m happy to say that it lived up to the hype!
Keep reading for a full review of an Edinburgh to Tenerife holiday with Jet2 to the Hard Rock Hotel review.
Table of contents
- Jet2 Flight Experience: Edinburgh to Tenerife (and Back)
- Jet2 Hotel Transfer from Tenerife Airport
- Hard Rock Hotel Tenerife Review
- Helpful Tips for the Tenerife Hard Rock Hotel
- Jet2 Resort Flight Check In
- Final Thoughts on Edinburgh to Tenerife Holiday with Jet2
- Keep Reading
- Pin Jet2 All Inclusive Holiday to Tenerife
Jet2 Flight Experience: Edinburgh to Tenerife (and Back)
Edinburgh Airport has long been one of my favourite airports in the world. It’s small and efficient but still, there are flights from Edinburgh airport to all over the world.
We arrived at a balmy 4:30 AM for our 8:00 AM flight. While other airlines had check-in queues already, it was a nice surprise (especially as it was pre-coffee) to see the Jet2 line virtually empty with plenty of staff ready to help.
The staff were friendly and kind kind when in my pre-caffeine haze I tried to scan my passport instead of my boarding pass. Despite my hiccup, we were quickly checked in and dropped our bags off before heading up through security which took all of five minutes.
The Jet2 flight itself from Edinburgh to Tenerife was very smooth. Five hours is the max I would want to fly on a small budget flight (three seats on each side of the aisle), but I was happy to say that there were nice food options available for purchase.
It was a particularly nice surprise to find out that there were multiple vegan options at what I felt were very reasonable prices for in-flight. I opted for an onion bhaji wrap and a sea salt and caramel chocolate bar for about £6.
Jet2 Hotel Transfer from Tenerife Airport
Getting from the airport to the accommodation is always one of the most stressful parts of a journey. After arrival into Tenerife, getting through customs was a breeze and upon walking out of the terminal there were at least 5 Jet2 staff in easily identifiable red shirts who directed us towards our transfer bus.
Jet2 does offer private transfer options but we were on a bus transfer with other guests headed to hotels in the area. Hard Rock Hotel is about a 25-minute drive from the airport but the bus does make stops at other hotels along the way. We looked at the option of an Uber to compare costs and on a Saturday afternoon, it was about 71 Euros.
The bus waited about 30 minutes before heading off. Hard Rock Hotel is one of the “express” stops, meaning that it should be one of the first three stops that the bus makes. We were indeed the third stop and we arrived within 35 minutes of leaving the airport.
On the day of our flight home, I was a little nervous about where and when our transfer would be. Jet2 was fantastic at keeping me updated via text message about when the transfer window was and where it would be (right in front of the hotel).
All in all, the Jet2 hotel transfer is hassle-free and quick. It’s a great way to start and end your all-inclusive holiday to Tenerife!
Hard Rock Hotel Tenerife Review
We did get off to a bit of a rocky start at Tenerife’s Hard Rock Hotel. Check-in was a bit slow due to our particular staff member’s very in-depth explanation of the app and all-inclusive system to the people in front of us.
We eventually made it up to our room only to get all of our essential items locked into the safe and our room keys to stop working. That being said, it was a great chance to see just how fast the staff responded and with a quick stop to reception our keys were fixed and someone had fixed the safe within the hour.
The next morning began with an early start and a beautiful sunrise – our first full day at the Hard Rock Hotel in Tenerife was upon us!
Hard Rock Hotel Tenerife Rooms
Opening the door to your hotel room for the first time is always exciting and the Hard Rock Hotel rooms were certainly pretty spectacular. We were in a Deluxe Gold Room with Side Sea View.
With a balcony facing the ocean, wall-to-wall windows, a giant bed, and a mini fridge that was restocked daily with tonic, soda, and sparkling water, I couldn’t have been happier.
The room itself was clean and spacious with a large shower, double sinks, and a separate toilet room. We didn’t end up spending much time in the room simply because we enjoyed relaxing by the pool even more!
Hard Rock Cafe Tenerife Sessions Buffet
The Sessions Buffet is the main eating area at the Hard Rock Hotel in Tenerife. For breakfast, you’ll find a mimosa station as you enter before you’re seated in either the indoor or outdoor area and given free rein of the massive buffet.
For omnivores, the buffet is truly a wonderful place. Breakfast alone offers an egg station, doughnut wall, meats, cheeses, fruit, and pastries galore. There really is no shortage of options. Lunch and dinner are equally as impressive but you’ll need to make sure you check the opening hours in the app.
Vegan at the Hard Rock Hotel in Tenerife
As a vegan, I found the Sessions buffet quite intimidating. We had visited the concierge when we arrived at the hotel and asked about vegan options at the restaurants and were given an allergy symbols chart and the phrase “We are vegans” (or something of the sort) written in Spanish.
The Sessions Buffet has the English names of all items and any allergens listed. I am not convinced these are correctly labelled. The falafel had egg (which is incredibly rare, but maybe just a cross-contaminate), as did the hashbrowns. The only allergen listed for an entire section of Canarian pastries (including meringue) was gluten – which I am certain was wrong. I was happy to discover that the churros and chocolate sauce were vegan. For my gluten-free friends out there, the buffet did offer a very sad-looking gluten-free section.
My Spanish was unfortunately not good enough to ask the staff about specific dishes, so I made my best judgment calls. In short, if you do have a severe allergy I would probably not count on eating at the buffet.
On a more positive note, there was oat milk, soy milk, and a few lovely couscous and lentil salads as well as some stellar noodle dishes that hit the spot. We went to the Sessions buffet every morning for breakfast and probably three or four times between dinners and lunches. Each time we walked away full, but I would love to see some vegan meat alternatives.
I made a point to explore the other restaurants open to all-inclusive guests to see what vegan options they had. Behold my findings:
- Constant Grind Coffee Shop: No vegan sandwiches or sweets but they do offer oat or soy milk coffees.
- Eden Pool Par: Sweet potato fries, nachos (without cheese or sour cream), vegetable pizza (without cheese)
- Beach Club: Babaganoush, tabouleh salad, noodle dishes (you’ll need to customize all of these)
- Narumi: Narumi is the Asian restaurant on-site that was an outstanding surprise. This is one of the nicer dinner options where all-inclusive guests can get a starter, main, and dessert included. We went for dinner twice and each time someone came over to discuss the vegan options with us. While there weren’t specifically marked options, they can replace pretty much any meat with tofu. I highly recommend the udon noodles! They were even kind enough to replace the prawn crackers with edamame and remembered (without us asking) the second night we went.
Hard Rock Cafe Pools
The hotel has two different pools currently available and when we were visiting they were working on a third.
The Eden Pool is the smaller adults-only pool. The pool seating was pretty filled when we were there in late November, but this is an ideal time to travel for adults so that’s to be expected. The pool is heated and has a swim-up bar with absolutely delicious pina coladas and mojitos.
The main pool is probably three or four times the size of the Eden Pool but is not heated. It also has a swim-up bar. We didn’t spend any time here because we enjoyed the Eden Pool so much but this is certainly where you would spend most of your time if you had kids in tow.
Rock Spa
On our last full day, we decided to try out the one facility that we hadn’t yet explored: the Rock Spa.
We booked a standard 50-minute couple’s message which included the beds in the same room, a glass of champagne afterwards in the relaxation room, and access to the spa’s pool, jacuzzi, cold plunge, steam room, sauna, and snow room.
The experience was unexpectedly the highlight of the trip, and I highly recommend booking a spa treatment.
We had the spa pool completely to ourselves and managed to take a dip in both the pool and the jacuzzi before heading into the sauna, steam room, and snow rooms (and back into the sauna!).
The massage itself was fantastic and it really was the icing on the cake of an already incredibly relaxing couple of days.
Note: Any drinks in the spa are not included under the all-inclusive.
Hard Rock Hotel Tenerife Activities
Besides the spa and lounging by the pools (which easily occupied our time), the hotel offers water fitness classes, a gym, excursions, and even a car rental desk. There’s wifi throughout the hotel plus a kids’ club.
In the evenings, there’s live music in the lobby, and on certain weekends a stage with a live band outdoor by the pool so you can dance the night away!
Helpful Tips for the Tenerife Hard Rock Hotel
- Don’t forget your sunglasses, sunscreen, and flip-flops. The stores located across from the hotel charge extortionate amounts. The cheapest sunscreen I could find was 15 euros.
- Check what time restaurants are open for all-inclusive guests. Some places, like the Beach Club, don’t open to all-inclusive guests until around 3 PM. You can go earlier but you’ll need to pay full price for food and drink.
- Drinks that are included at the pool bars (mojitos, pina coladas, daiquiris, sangria, etc) are full price if you go to one of the table service restaurants.
- You can use the all-inclusive wristband until you leave the hotel (even after you checkout) which is super helpful if you have an evening flight.
- Enjoy all of the seating areas! The hotel does a fantastic job of providing seating by the pools, in the lobby by the live music, and outdoors on various patios. It’s really easy to spend the entire time in the hotel (which we did – no regrets!) enjoying the Tenerife sun.
- Don’t feel like drinking? Try the Heineken Zeros available throughout the resort.
Jet2 Resort Flight Check In
Leaving a sunny holiday where the pina coladas are included is already difficult so why make it harder by carting your luggage around?
I’ll admit – I was a bit nervous about leaving my luggage at the hotel and hoping it showed up later that day in Edinburgh, however the process couldn’t have been smoother.
The night before our flight I received a text about when the resort flight check-in would open and where it was and headed there to drop my luggage off before breakfast. I showed my boarding pass and they printed my tag, popped it on my bag, and voila – it was done! The whole thing took about 2 minutes and it meant that we could breeze straight through to security.
Final Thoughts on Edinburgh to Tenerife Holiday with Jet2
Communication from Jet2 was stellar throughout this entire trip. I received multiple texts and emails throughout our trip letting us know about a flight delay, the transfer, and resort flight check-in.
Having never done a package holiday like this I wasn’t really sure what to expect but I have to say that I’m a convert!
It was so nice to truly feel like I could just relax with everything I needed in one area. I absolutely loved this holiday and I can’t wait to head off on my next Jet2 all-inclusive holiday.
Keep Reading
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Pin Jet2 All Inclusive Holiday to Tenerife
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