Le Royal Hotel - Beirut

English and French are spoken by the hotel team, so you can deal with the practicalities of a diving trip without resorting to mime before breakfast. Le Royal Hotel - Beirut is a large resort with 230 rooms, built for travellers who want more around them than a bed and a sea view.

The mood is more full-service resort than small coastal hideaway. You have a Mediterranean outlook, a sizeable Aqua Park next door and a four-level spa on the property, with enough indoor space for the day when the sea is not the only place you want to get wet. Couples can keep things simple; families have suites and apartments with room to spread out.

The hotel is in Beirut, Lebanon, on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean. It is not a beachfront hotel: Rimal Beach is about 1.5 miles away by car, while Marina Kornish is about 2.5 miles away. The hilltop setting gives you the outlook, but a taxi or car is the sensible choice when you want the sea rather than the hotel grounds.

The Village and Backyard Dbayeh are about five minutes away, giving you nearby places to eat and go out. Downtown Beirut and the cafés and restaurants around Zeitounay Bay are about 16 minutes away. For a broader Lebanese itinerary, Jbeil Byblos town and Jeita Grotto are about a ten-minute drive, while Faraya ski resorts are about 25 minutes away.

Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport is about 12 miles away by road, with a typical driving time of around 17 minutes. The hotel also has an airport shuttle service, which you can arrange with the property.

This is the part that makes the resort work for divers travelling with more than a washbag. The accommodation ranges from rooms for two to large family apartments, with family suites and multi-bedroom options when separate sleeping space matters. Travelling as a trio? A sea-view junior suite gives you more room to live in than a standard double, while the two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments are the sensible choices when a group needs doors, bathrooms and somewhere to leave the day's clutter without turning the bedroom into a storage locker.

For a couple, the King Room keeps things straightforward with a super-king bed. If the view is the reason for choosing this address, the sea-view categories are the ones to prioritise; most units have a 180-degree sea view, while the Executive Junior Suite overlooks the Watergate Aqua Park instead. The duplex suites add a different layout, with some versions offering two bathrooms.

Rooms are air-conditioned and soundproofed, with balconies or terraces in the accommodation facilities, private bathrooms, bathrobes, slippers and either a bath or shower. A mosquito net is also available. After hours in warm water and a boat, the useful details are the unglamorous ones: reliable cooling, a proper bed, a balcony and enough space to sit down without perching on the edge of the suitcase. Wi-Fi is free throughout the hotel, and daily housekeeping keeps the return from the dive day pleasantly uneventful.

Le Jardin du Royal is the main dining address, with breakfast, lunch and dinner served on a terrace. Its menu moves between Italian, Mexican, Lebanese and seafood dishes, which is a practical spread when one member of the party wants fish, another wants something familiar and everyone has come back hungry. The setting is casual, so you can eat without turning dinner into an expedition in formal clothing.

Breakfast is a buffet with Full English, Irish, vegetarian and halal choices, starting at 6:30 am. That early start matters more than another decorative food adjective when you are trying to eat before a boat departure. A snack bar, coffee house, minibar and room service add ways to find something without making a full restaurant meal of it.

There is one hotel bar, the Lobby Bar, specialising in cocktails and positioned for the straightforward post-dive routine: sit down, order a drink and let the day stop demanding things. Titanic Restaurant & Bar and Diwan Shahrayar are listed as temporarily closed, so Le Jardin du Royal is the dependable restaurant choice on the information provided.

The Royal Spa is the obvious place to spend the afternoon when your shoulders have had enough of carrying kit and your partner has had enough of hearing about the visibility. Spread over four levels, it offers massages, facial and body treatments, a hammam, sauna, indoor hot tubs, mud baths and body wraps. Biologique Recherche products are used, and couples' massages are available.

There is also an indoor swimming pool, an outdoor pool and a well-equipped fitness centre, with fitness classes, yoga classes and a personal trainer. Tennis and squash courts, table tennis, billiards and darts give you options that involve a little movement without requiring another trip to the coast. Some activities carry an additional charge, so check the arrangement when booking them.

Next door, the Watergate Aqua Adventure Park runs from 1 June to 7 September and brings rides, activities and restaurants into the picture. It is a useful family option, or simply an efficient way to occupy non-divers while you are underwater. For quieter hours, the spa lounge, steam room, sauna and hot tub are more in keeping with the pace of a decompression day.

Check-in runs from 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm, and check-out from noon to 1:00 pm. You need photo identification and a credit card at check-in, and the hotel asks you to give your expected arrival time in advance. The minimum age for check-in is 18; guests under 18 can check in with a parent or official guardian.

Private on-site parking and valet parking are available, with no reservation needed for the private parking. An airport shuttle can be arranged with the hotel. A 24-hour front desk, concierge, currency exchange, ATM, luggage storage, tour desk and express check-in and check-out cover the practical jobs that tend to appear between flights, boats and dinner.

Free Wi-Fi works throughout the property. Laundry, dry cleaning and ironing services are available, as are a business centre, room service, a safe and car hire. Children of all ages are welcome, and family rooms, babysitting and child services support trips that include non-divers. Pets are not allowed, and cash is an accepted payment method.