Playa Blanca, Lanzarote, Guide

katieloodles

sorry for all the weather questions elle.....tbh ive become a little obsessed with playa blancas weather, seeing as germanys summer vanished about 6 weeks ago lol.....thank you xx

Elle1971

That's ok honey - it's one of the main reasons that the Canaries are so popular! People ask me about the weather all the time. xxxx

withabix

We stayed at the Sandos Papagayo Arena in May and found the hotel to be generally very nice. We had a sea view room on one of the 'lower' sea-front blocks, which was excellent. Requested block and floor by email and they obliged.

The only problems/adverse comments we could see were:

The food was a little too repetitive for a '4*' hotel, although it was all very good quality in the buffet.

I wouldn't bother with the 'Chinese' restaurant - food was bland and not even the standard of an average UK takeaway.

The number of bar staff was inadequate and the outdoor seating area at the main bar was far too small. There is another much larger area on the other side of the 'bar' lifts, which was obviously built as an outside drinking area, but it isn't used at all for some reason (not even any furniture out there) - probably due to the wind.

They serve the cheapest spirits available as part of the AI, unlike some hotels (eg Barcelo) who do actually have international brands included for some mainstream drinks (Smirnoff Blue etc)

I'm not sure how they cope when the hotel is full - it was half full when we were there (one sea-front block and the back of the higher block that overlooks rough ground/no view completely out of use) and the restaurant was pretty hectic.

Considering it was a hotel in Spain, why did they have FRENCH sparkling wine instead of Cava??? It wasn't even proper sparkling wine (naturally fizzy), but was actually carbonated white wine and was awful. Cheapest cheap plonk!!! Even the cheapest Rondel is nicer...

I see it is fairly heavily discounted by the UK tour operators at the moment - I'm guessing that may be due to adverse comments on the standard of the holiday when the hotel is nearly full???

We did enjoy the hotel, but probably wouldn't return when it was busy and unless the price was good.

Anyway...off to Tenerife this week

Elle1971

Thanks for taking the time to write a review, withabix.

This issue of "All Inclusive" is one that is very raw on the island... although to be fair, Playa Blanca does better than other areas in reviews of these places. Shame that some of it took the shine off your holiday.

Enjoy Tenerife though!

Elle xx

iwantoneplease

Hi we're hopefully going to book a holiday to the Village Flamingo Beach later on this week for the first week in October, we have a 5yr old girl and our little boy will be 4 months, just a quick question regarding baby milk (c&g) and nappies where is the best place to get these or should I use his luggage allowance and take them myself.

Before anyone jumps in I know other countries have babies so will have them it's just knowing the best places to buy them please.

Also theres good and bad reviews on the net regarding this hotel has anyone just come back what did you think?

Elle1971

Hello there.

Someone was asking this very question a page or two back on here. The consunsus was to bring your own as it's much cheaper.

But... if you want to buy them here - then get the nappies from either Hiperdino or Maxcoop (the brand is Dodots and equivalent to Pampers). And the baby milk is from the Farmacias.

The hotel has indded got some bad reviews recently. However (and correct me if I'm wrong) it was mainly linked to the fact the Playa Flamingo was still closed... which then impacted upon taken sunbeds in the hotel etc. That beach is now open, so all should be well. There is still some sand to be added to the beach - but it has at least taken the pressure off the hotel. I was in there a month or so back... thought it was clean and well organised... and the family we were visiting said they thought it was absolutely fine. Even the kids were happy.

Good luck! xxx

nottslass_2

iwantoneplease wrote: »

Hi we're hopefully going to book a holiday to the Village Flamingo Beach later on this week for the first week in October, we have a 5yr old girl and our little boy will be 4 months, just a quick question regarding baby milk (c&g) and nappies where is the best place to get these or should I use his luggage allowance and take them myself.

Before anyone jumps in I know other countries have babies so will have them it's just knowing the best places to buy them please.

Also theres good and bad reviews on the net regarding this hotel has anyone just come back what did you think?

Just come back from Playa blanca with a six month old.

RE Baby milk,as elle said bring your own, the only brands available were nestle and aptimil (called miluper) and it was very expensive at about 19 euro's per box.

iwantoneplease

nottslass wrote: »

Just come back from Playa blanca with a six month old.

RE Baby milk,as elle said bring your own, the only brands available were nestle and aptimil (called miluper) and it was very expensive at about 19 euro's per box.

Could I ask how did you find it with your baby was the temperature ok, did you hire any equipment like the baby packs? also did you try your baby in the creche?

nottslass_2

iwantoneplease wrote: »

Could I ask how did you find it with your baby was the temperature ok, did you hire any equipment like the baby packs? also did you try your baby in the creche?

Sorry,didn't stay at the flamingo beach but the baby was fine in the heat. We used a factor 50 sun lotion on him and were very careful in the sun.

iwantoneplease

nottslass wrote: »

Sorry,didn't stay at the flamingo beach but the baby was fine in the heat. We used a factor 50 sun lotion on him and were very careful in the sun.

Thank you, at least going in October means we can buy cheap sun tan lotion in the sales.