My family and I stayed at this hotel for a week in February and where happy with what we paid for. We took our two year old son and the hotel allocated us a ground floor room, which I was pleased about. The views from the hotel were fantastic, a clear sea view and you could also see the island of Feuteventura which was lovely of a night time all lit up.

The location of the hotel was quite isolated but not too far away from the centre of Playa Blanca, the hotel provide a coach four times a day to take you and pick you up from there. It was approx 5 euro in a taxi to the centre.

The food in this hotel was fantastic, plenty of choice and good vegetarian choice. You can visit the chinese restaurant as many times as you wish providing you book it 24 hours in advance, it was really nice. The italian part was fantastic, the pizza was out of this world, you could eat there everyday and is joined on to the main part of the restaurant.

The only thing I could say that I was not really impressed with was the entertainment of an evening. It was mostly in spanish which was ok as they did really try and interpret the entertainent into English but it was not very good for young kids. Our little boy enjoyed it but it could have been better. I have too say that I would not let my last comment put you off as it is a lovely hotel and is good for a relaxing holiday.

This was our 4th family holiday (kids aged 7 & 12)

Good points:
The food is fantastic, plentiful and varied Breakfast was full English with fried eggs and omelets cooked fresh in front of you. Yogurts, chesses, fruit and cakes are also available. 10/10
Lunch and dinner was the best I have had in an all inclusive, tasty, and warm and varied. There was a carvery including roast turkey, chicken, duck and beef. A grill including beef steaks, pork or lamb chops and grilled fish.. There was also the usual hot plate meals and fresh paella each day. 10/10
There is an outside small restaurant which serves burgers and chips etc, this was ok. It also serves fresh pancakes from 16:00 which were excellent. This restaurant also has beer and cokes which are self serve. 6/10
Beer and sprits are fine. There not a great choice but enough to satisfy. There is also some queuing in the evening. There are slutch puppies available during the day which the kids will love. 7/10
Ok points:
The pools are safe and clean. The water is from the sea and seems to take longer to warm up than the chloride type also as the water tastes salty this might not suit everybody but this did not bother my kids. There are 3 big pools and 2 splash pools. The pool areas have plenty of sun beds available. The only negative is the pools are quite shallow so there are no parts for diving. 7/10
The airport is clean and only 40 minutes away. 7/10
The hotel is modern, clean and well maintained. The bars are ok but need more seating areas. The hotel is also no smoking but is done with common since (which is lacking in England). There is also a large Spanish guest list which I liked, not many all I bring is my football shirt on holiday types. The hotel is big and takes a couple of days to figure out. 6/10
The beach outside the hotel is rocky and visually unappealing. There is however a very nice sandy beach 10 minutes away. 6/10
The on-site teams were active and visible during the day. 6/10
Evening entertainment is ok. There was a magic act which was very good; there were also tribute bands and a parrot show which were ok. In-between there is not much else. 5/10
Bad points:
The rooms are small but clean. I liked the bathroom which actually had a shower which worked well. But there are no separate sleeping areas for the kids so you end up all in the same room. 4/10
The hotel is isolated. There is a marina about a 20 minute walk away which is clean and safe it has a supermarket complex and a couple of bars. There is also a market which the girls will like. 3/10

We all had a great time at the Papagayo Arena Resort and are glad we booked
I would recommend to anyone where food and pools is a priority and location and size of room is not

Stayed in the Papagayo Arena from July 26 to August 10.

This was our first trip to the Canary Islands and Lanzarote, and we had a great family holiday.

The hotel is about a 40 minute coach transfer from the airport in Arrecife, and due to the nature of this volcanic island most of the view is of 'a'a lava fields and distant volcanoes, broken up by clusters of small white buildings making small villages.

Playa Blanca hosts many hotels, with Papagayo Arena seeming to be the most remote on the outskirts of town. Surrounding the hotel is numerous apartments and villa's, with some areas still marked up for further construction. Travelling in to town requires either the hotel's complementary bus service (ending at 1730), a hire car/bike, or a strong pair of legs. Other than the hotel's facilities, there is nothing nearby to entertain you.

Once inside, the hotel is spacious, and well laid out. Rooms are set out in blocks which are no more than 3 stories high (Lanzarote building regs) all with lifts. The restaurants, lounges, pool tables games, a bar (1500-2300) and some shops all reside within the main building, which can be daunting and hard to navigate for the first few days, although at arrival you are handed an A4 sheet with a map, and some useful information and a bus time table.
The gym and sauna are all at the other end of this building, and can be a track from your room depending on where you’re staying.
The family room we had comprised of 2 single beds, and a sofa-bed. Neither was very comfortable, and we only found out after, that to get a double bed you have to request it at the time of booking. The rooms were kept clean, and there was also a pool towel service available to save your own.
The room was equipped with a TV, fridge, air conditioning, 2 good size wardrobes, safe, bath, shower, 2 sinks (handy in the morning!), and a balcony (even though we were on the ground floor) with seating and a table.
Tea & Coffee was not available in the room, so we hired a kettle and took sachets from the restaurant, and made our own at night. The mini-bar was quite expensive, but as we're not drinkers we used the fridge to keep bottled water cool as most of the water coolers could not cope with the 40+ degree's we had while there.

The 5 pools are all salt water and not heated. These range from the .5m depth for the toddlers, to the nice sloping .5m to 1.4m main pool where many of the activities are held.
Loungers and parasols are-a-plenty. Pool-side spots were normally "towelled" by the brits between 8 and 9 am. The area is cleaned nightly, and like the rest of the hotel, is spotless.

Breakfast (0800-1030) - Buffet, and a bit of a stampede at 0930. Usual full English, fruit, cakes, pastry, drinks etc., but essentially the same every day.

Lunch (1300-1515) - Buffet, live cooking, serving grilled meat and fish dishes, soup, pasta, pizza, chips, salads, rice dishes, fruit, ice cream and cake selection for dessert.

Dinner (1930-2215) - Buffet, basically more of the same from Lunch, but with different dishes.

A small cafe offers food during the day, but make sure you cover up, as no swim wear is allowed inside. Much of the "left over" dessert from dinner makes its way down here the following day.

My only gripe with the food was by the 2nd week it started to taste the same. Fish always grilled, pork or beef, and the rice selections all had very little appeal. As we kept busy, we never tried the French or Chinese restaurant, however people there who had said that they would recommend it. The Chinese being part of the all-inclusive (1 visit per stay), and the French costing around 30 Euro's per head.

The "Animation Team" did a great job of keeping everyone entertained during the day, with a small "theatre" built on the side of the main building housing a stage, seating and another bar for the evening shows. The kid’s mini-disco started at 2045 and ended around 2130, with the shows ending around 2300. Some nights this can be heard within the rooms. There is another disco area within the hotel which goes on until 0230.

Toilets while outside are a bit far away depending on which pool you use. For us, having a ground floor room, it was quicker to go back to the room every time. With 2 kids making full use of the all-inclusive drinks, we made this run a few times!

We could not cope with 14 days pool-side, so took up some of the tours offered by the rep. Lanzarote has a lot to offer (money depending!), and we did the Submarine (4/5), Catamaran (5/5), Rancho Texas (3/5) and Gran Island Tour (5/5) to break up our 2 weeks. A bus trip to the Marina Rubicon on a Wednesday or Saturday to see the market (ladies, take some money!), and a trip to the local beach also helped to keep things interesting.

If you’re looking for somewhere lively to stay, with a close-by nightlife outside of the hotel, then you will be better off staying somewhere closer to the centre of town (Sun Beach for example). Papagayo Arena is a nice clean family hotel with loads of facilities, making a comfortable base to see the rest of the island during your stay.

This was my third stay at this hotel so I pretty much knew what to expect ..lol. On the first day a woke to an angle grinder chasing out concrete next to the pool and this continued throughout the holiday.

The level of food has gone down slightly and the staff seem to be a little bit less helpful.

Had major problems with arranging a courtesy (??) room on the last day.

Generally over the last five years this hotel has been going slowly downhill, my impression is that there is a lack of investment and would be surprised if this hotel was about within the next five in it's present form.

This hotel is never 4 star, maybe a low 3 star at best ...you have been warned. Not bad fishing though off the rocks.

I will not being going back and would strongly recommend going elsewhere within the Playa Blanca area.

Great holiday - recommended for all..... Will definitely go to this hotel again.

Reading the reviews on this website, I had got the impression that the hotel lies quite remotely, far away from any developments and coming from Playa de las Americas in Tenerife I was really looking forward to the peace and quiet. Phew, quite a disappointment.

The hotel does lie outside Playa Blanca, about 3 km from its centre. But you definitely can't call it remote. It's at the end of quite an ugly row of hotel developments which stretch as far as Playa Blanca. Getting there is difficult as well, cos the roads are not well sign posted.

The hotel itself seems like a huge holiday camp with no charm whatsoever. You are provided a map on arrival, but if I had been alone I would have lost my way every day. From our room which was the last on the E block to the reception or restaurants, was quite a walk.

Rooms:
We stayed in E 1074, which has a view of the sea, Fuerteventura and hilly landscape on the left. The room is huge, bigger than all other rooms I believe, but it has a forgotten and slightly shabby feel about it as if it was a store room that was converted into a room as an after thought.

I peaked into some other rooms and they were definitely much cosier and prettier. The balcony is huge as well, you could play badminton or football on it. Can't fault the cleanliness. It's spotless. The beds are stonehard as has been mentioned before. But my biggest gripe was that we requested a double room and expected to find a double bed and not two twin beds pushed together. But reception explained that you have to explicitly request a double bed at the time of booking. The bathroom is fine and the shower has a decent pressure.

Food:
Being vegetarian, the choice was rather limited as expected. But they could have provided more interesting salads at least. The taste was mediocre, edible though. We mostly sat in the Italian section as that is much quieter. But the dining hall on the hall is extremely noisy and crowded.

You keep bumping into waiters, trolleys and people and they keep running out of bowls. It's extremely loud and surprisingly most of the noise is not screaming kids but the waiters clashing dishes and cutlery for some reason. Not very pleasant.

The chinese restaurant (which you have to book 24h in advance but you can go as often as you like if there are places available) is much better. Quieter and the food is tastier as well.

I thought the beers and wines were quite bad and there is always a long queue to get any kind of drink.

Except between 6 and 7:30pm you can always get food either in the dining hall or the snack area. You can always get peanuts and sandwiches (cheese and ham only) in the canary bar. The cocktails are quite bad. The crepes from the snack area are nice though.

Reception:
Not the friendliest or most helpful but OK. In the dining hall, the staff seems extremely rushed and tensed all the time. Not very friendly. Other staff, like the cleaners are fine.

Location:
As I said it's in the middle of this ugly hotel development outside Playa Blanca. It's quite easy to drive on lanzarote, but we always lost our way trying to get out of the hotel area. I think they are building some more resorts and there are lots of dead ends. Very confusing. Playa Blanca is a purpose built resort with very little charm to it.

There is a famous diving school though in Playa Blanca. There is a bus 4 times a day to Playa Blanca but the last bus back is about 17:30h I think. There are no shops or restaurants close by but there are a few shops inside the hotel. There is a stone beach right next to it, which is not very nice.

A 5 minute drive east or probably 15-20 minutes walk away though is a series of real nice yellow sand beaches with crystal clear water. There are lots of people but it doesn't feel over crowded.

Entertainment:

We rarely went to the entertainment but normally looked in for a few minutes in the evening since it was on the way to our room. It's on a stage next to the pool area. Unless you get there really early you never get a seat and have to watch from the side. The quality seemed mediocre again. The kids seemed to have fun at the mini disco. There are some activities during the day like shooting, darts, aqua exercises, aerobics, etc, but the earliest starts at 11:30am.

Pools:

There are 2 adult pools of decent size and two kids pools. None of the adult pools are heated. The pool area is clean though and we always found sunbeds. (Only went in the evenings though when we got back to hotel). The pool timings are 10-7pm. The spa and gym are open till 8 but closed on Thursday's. Never went to the gym but the spa is quite good. There is a sauna room and hammam (turkish bath I think) which are really good and relaxing and never too full. There are three Jacuzzis of varying temperature and jet force with place for about twenty people. I think they try to keep it clean but people are allowed to wear shoes inside the spa area so its slightly dirty and also has hair everywhere. Still pleasant though especially after a long day out.

I wouldn't go there again. It's nothing special and too touristy, crowded and camp for my taste. The princess Yaiza looks quite nice from outside and has got good reviews too.

Just got home after having a great time. 4 adults 6 kids, 13, 10, 8, 8, 4, and 8months.

Food was very good,lots of choice,fresh pizza,pasta,plenty of choice,salads,rice. Hot meats every night. Lots of nice cakes!

Hotel is remote walk to the marina takes 30minutes. Beach 20 minutes. Staff all nice.

Hotel is spotless. Cleaners even clean the bins by the pool, pools cleaned every day. Rooms cleaned everyday too.

We were in Block G, had a sea and pool view. This is a big hotel lovely pools. Canary bar is nice at night comfy chairs. Entertainment was ok, kids loved it also the kids club was good. We had aa 8month old in our group. You can sterilise bottles in the restaurant as theres a microwave. Snack bar open all night.

Large Hotel with a stony beach nearby. Rooms were very big and clean.Food was excellent with chinese, Italian restaurants as well as a buffet restaurant. Staff very helpful. The Hotel is a bit out of the way of the centre of Playa Blanca although we did walk one day which took about 40 mins. Taxi about 4 euros. Great family hotel.

We stayed here in Nov 2006, we had a great time the hotel was very clean although we only had our bed changed once in the 7 days that we were there. We were in block E which is the end block on the round bit with views out to Fuertaventura, it was an extremely quiet room and we heard no noise whatsever.I found the bed very hard but hubby didn't have a problem.

There was a good choice of food and we sat in the Italian part of the restaurant every night as this was not so busy. The food in the main restaurant wasn't always as hot as it should have been, you needed to watch for when they were putting fresh dishes out as they were the hottest.The live cooking was always hot.
We ate in the Chinese one night and it was lovely although quite limited in choice.
Snacks from the snack bar were nothing special but were adequate.

We walked along the walkway into Playa Blanca it took us about 40 mins and I'm not the fastest walker in the world! The free bus goes 3 or 4 times a day or a taxi is 3 euros.

Most of the staff were very smiley and happy. The entertainment was not that good apart from the ABBA night but they did try their best.

I probably would stay here again but would be a bit dubious about the beds.

Literally just returned but thought I'd get this done quickly as I personally have found the reviews to be extremely helpful when choosing hotels / resorts .So hope this helps .
I have got some photos so may try to add them later.
Quick suimmary - great hotel & facilities & good value for money , perfect for a relaxing , chilling break . BUT boring entertainment and certainly not the best location if you like a bit more to do in the evenings.

Rooms:
Good sized room , keycards are used . The bedroom itself was fine