Plan For Spending A Perfect Seven Days in Tinapa

A Free Trade Zone is created by an Act of Parliament to faciliatate the exchange of goods and services in the absence of custom duties. For this reason, they are typically situated around major ports of traffic. Tinapa, Calabar is a Free Trade Zone in Cross River State, Southern Nigeria which prides itself on being Africa’s Premier Business and Leisure Resort.

Being a free trade zone, the resort offers goods that are duty free and tax free making it a perfect shopping destination. The resort has 54 quality retail outlets and four huge emporia each of which is about 10,000 square meters-a shopper’s paradise. Visitors can lodge in the impressive Amber Hotel situated on site.

Tinapa can be accessed by road from Calabar via the Ikom –Calabar Highway.  Arik and Aero Airlines fly into the Margaret Ekpo International Airport, Calabar from Lagos daily. With an average flight duration of an hour and fifteen minutes, Aero charges =N=16,000 for a one way ticket and Arik charges =N=26, 420 for the same. From Abuja, Arik flies to Calabar daily and charges =N=25,800 for a one way ticket. Taxi charters are available from the airport to Tinapa resort at a negotiable price; the Amber Hotel also offers shuttle services for its guests.

Amber Hotel offers an exquisite selection of facilities and services, all tailored to ensure that a guest leaves with a broad smile, longing for a return trip. Prices begin with =N=25,500 for a Standard Single and peak at =N=49,000 for a Double Occupant Suite (source: www.hotels.ng). The hotel offers an equally impressive array of local and continental dishes at affordable prices. Tinapa offers a varied menu. At =N=8000 daily, an individual can have three healthy and exciting meals.

For budget travellers, lodge at budget hotels in Calabar and then access the resort using taxis. The added advantage? You get to explore and interact with the local community. Calabar is a relatively safe place and its crime rates are among the lowest in Nigeria.

All done with the basics, now let’s plan your days!

DAY 1

Arrivals.

Acclimatize to the new environment, buy some essentials and get a well-deserved rest. After dinner, you can go see a movie at Tinapa’s impressive film house. The film house is a 3,000-seater cinema with 8 digital screens that show different movies simultaneously. Movie ticket price ranges from =N=2,000 – =N=3,000.

DAY 2

Everybody loves the water park in Tinapa Resort. The Water Park is the largest in Africa and you can spend the entire day drenched in absolute fun. The water park consists of adult and children-sized pools, water games, slides, surfing and a host of other aquatic amusements. Each activity attracts a toll-an average of =N=500.

You may have a quiet evening lying in after the Water Park adventure. Read that book thats been gathering dust on your shelf.

Pool

DAY 3

Split the day into halves. Begin with the games arcade. Here, test your gaming skills as they have an array of games consoles for a fuller gaming experience, for a toll of course.

The other half of the day could be spent window shopping at the Tinapa Mall. Put your smart phone to use, recording items of interest and noteworthy stores. This is an intelligent trick used by experienced shoppers to go home and make smart decisions outside the pressure of malls. Being a large mall, you can explore only half of it on day 3.

You can have dinner at the mall, watch a movie at the film house and then retire to recharge for tomorrow. You will need this.

DAY 4

Book a boat ride, Jet Ski, sailing, paddle boat-all of this or just one, on the artificial cove’s aesthetic shoreline. You have to pay for each activity as well. The other half of the day can be spent exploring Tinapa Mall fully.

At night, place bets at the racy Casino or dance your socks off at the Night Club for some more fun.

DAY 5

Let this be your lazy day. You will get to scroll through the pictures taken at Tinapa Mall and decide on which items to buy. Spend the rest of the day viewing the beautiful scenery at the Fisherman’s Wharp, opposite the artificial Tinapa Lake.

With a robust selection of food and a pub, you can stay there all day.

DAY 6

Spend this shopping for your chosen items and making return travel plans. Packing, gift wrapping and bill sorting can be concluded.

DAY 7:

Departure.

The next time you have a week off from work, remember that a perfect seven day adventure at the Tinapa Resort is a pleasurable possibility-on a fair budget too. What are you waiting for? Go!