Princesa Yaiza Suite Hotel Resort

You arrive at a large beachfront resort in Playa Blanca, with a neocolonial design, Arabic influences and enough room for the holiday to spread out properly. Princesa Yaiza Suite Hotel Resort has 385 rooms, six outdoor pools, a thalassotherapy centre, sports facilities and a serious collection of restaurants and bars. It is the sort of address that works when diving is part of the trip, but not the entire timetable.

English, Spanish, German and French are spoken by the hotel team, so you will be understood without resorting to hand signals after a long day in the water. Couples can keep things simple with a sea-view room, while families have suites, dedicated children’s facilities and plenty to occupy younger members of the party. The atmosphere is polished and sizeable rather than intimate; if you prefer a small guesthouse where the owner knows your breakfast order by day two, this is not that kind of place.

The hotel sits directly on Playa Dorada in Playa Blanca, on the southern coast of Lanzarote. You have direct access to a golden-sand beach, while the town’s Playa Blanca beach is about 0.5 miles away. Flamingo Beach and Playa de las Coloradas are each about 1.2 miles away, giving you other stretches of coast to explore when the pool has had enough of you.

The setting also makes walking practical. Wax Bar, Waikiki Bar and Bar Soho are about 0.3 miles away, and Don Giovanni is roughly 350 feet from the hotel; Kampai and Restaurante Isla de Lobos are about 500 feet away. Timanfaya National Park is about 5 miles away by road, so a day away from the resort can involve lava landscapes rather than another round of sun loungers.

Lanzarote Airport is about 17 miles away by road, with a driving time of around 28 minutes. Fuerteventura Airport is about 35 miles away by road, and the crossing adds its own chapter to the journey.

The useful choice here is not simply room versus suite; it is whether you want somewhere to sleep between dives or a proper base for the whole day. The Superior Double or Twin Room with Sea View gives two adults a balcony and a view that earns its place in the booking decision. The Junior Suite with Sea View keeps the same couple-focused logic while giving you a little more room to spread out after saltwater, towels and the usual collection of things that somehow become damp.

Suites make more sense when you value a separate living area and want the room to remain usable while one person is still sleeping. The standard suites accommodate two or three adults, and the family rooms and Royal Kids Suites are arranged for groups travelling with children. For larger parties, the Presidential Suite has two bathrooms, which is the kind of detail that stops a relaxed morning becoming a queue-management exercise.

Air conditioning matters in Lanzarote, particularly when you return warm, tired and still carrying the day’s sun on your shoulders. Rooms also include a balcony or patio, a television, a safe, bathrobes and slippers, a private bathroom with a bath or shower, and Wi-Fi. Selected accommodation has a kitchenette with a dining table, coffee machine, kettle and microwave, useful when you want a quiet drink or a slow start rather than a full production before breakfast. Daily housekeeping, a minibar and room service are available, with room service running around the clock.

You are unlikely to run out of dinner ideas. The resort has nine restaurants in its own dining programme, covering buffet service, Italian, Japanese, international and Canarian cooking. Kampai handles Japanese dishes, Don Giovanni takes the Italian route, Más Tapas keeps things Spanish and informal in spirit, while Isla de Lobos is the named restaurant for a more considered meal. The buffet restaurants add themed evenings, which is handy when the appetite is larger than the ambition.

Local produce is part of the story rather than a decorative line on the menu. Fruit, vegetables, meat, dairy products and cheese come from Finca de Uga and other local suppliers, while El Aljibe del Obispo at Bodega Stratvs focuses on Canarian cooking and also offers a Sunday brunch. Bodega Stratvs produces volcanic wines and pairs tastings with cheeses from Finca de Uga. After diving, that is a more convincing reason to linger over dinner than another vague promise about culinary excellence.

Breakfast is available as a buffet or à la carte, with continental, vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free choices. A snack bar, coffee house, poolside food and breakfast in your room cover the less formal moments, while 24-hour room service is there for the evening when changing out of a wetsuit has used up the last of your enthusiasm. Seven named bars are spread around the resort, including Lobby Bar Mararía, Guayaba Pool Bar, Pool Bar, 4 Lunas, Bar Salón Mencey, La Papaya and La Gelatería. Dinner calls for long trousers, so pack accordingly rather than discovering the rule when you are already hungry.

Six outdoor pools give you plenty of choice for a non-diving morning, and sun loungers, chairs, umbrellas, terraces and gardens provide the essential infrastructure for doing very little with reasonable commitment. The Thalasso Center Princesa Yaiza adds a more purposeful form of recovery, with massages, treatments and the Thousand and One Nights seawater circuit, including hydro-massage jets, swan necks, underwater music and colour therapy. There is also a Turkish bath, sauna, hot tub and treatment rooms.

For the muscles that still think they are working, the hotel has a gym, fitness classes, a personal trainer, tennis courts and equipment, plus padel, football and basketball facilities. Cycling is available, as are water-based activities such as kayaking, paddleboarding, sailing, jet skiing, parascending and surfing. Some activities use external or chargeable services, so confirm the arrangement before turning up in flip-flops and expecting an expedition fleet.

The family side is substantial rather than token. Capitan Park covers 10,000 m² with children’s pools, a theatre, play areas and sports courts, while the kids’ club serves children from 0 to 16 years. There is a Baby Club for children from four months to three years, an indoor Soft Play area, creative workshops, a children’s playground and a football school for ages 5 to 16. Evening entertainment includes shows at Teatro Timanfaya, and the resort also arranges wine tours, buggy and quad excursions, visits to Fuerteventura and La Graciosa, and island outings to places including Timanfaya, Lago Verde, La Geria, Jameos del Agua and Isla de Lobos.

Lanzarote Airport is the straightforward arrival point, about 17 miles from the resort and around 28 minutes by car. An airport shuttle service exists and can be arranged with the hotel, while car hire is also available. Free public parking is nearby, and valet parking is available at the property. A concierge, tour desk, currency exchange, luggage storage, minimarket, beauty shop and 24-hour reception cover the practical jobs that tend to appear once the holiday has started.

Check-in runs from 15:00 to 23:30 and check-out from 07:00 to 12:00. You will need photo identification and a credit card at arrival, and the hotel asks you to provide your expected arrival time. Late check-out can be requested. Children of all ages are welcome; cots are available on request, while extra beds are not available.

Wi-Fi is free throughout the resort, and rooms have air conditioning, heating, a safe and a balcony or patio. The hotel also has lifts, accessible facilities, private check-in and check-out, packed lunches and laundry and ironing services. Dinner’s long-trouser rule is worth remembering, particularly if your travel wardrobe has been reduced to board shorts and rash vests.

Princesa Yaiza Suite Hotel Resort holds Biosphere Certification 2024. Its stated measures include solar panels, LED lighting, movement sensors, more efficient air conditioning and optimised water management. Single-use plastics have been removed, with biodegradable materials and recyclable packaging used instead.

The food programme links the hotel to local production through Finca de Uga and Bodega Stratvs, alongside ecological cultivation, recycling and composting. The resort also works with local initiatives and uses Spanish cosmetics with natural, biodegradable ingredients, marine-friendly formulations and recycled packaging. For a diver, the useful point is simple: local sourcing and reduced plastic use are being applied to the parts of the stay you actually encounter, from meals to the bathroom shelf.