Princess Yaiza hotel in Lanzarote. Anyone been?

[TheBish]

Thinking of going to this hotel for a week in March with my dh and ds (11 months). Was hoping to book a one-bed suite and use the babysitting service for the odd night out. Anyone stayed here and would you recommend it? Seems quite pricey qnd my ds is too young to benefit from the kids club or evening entertainment so is it a nice place for me and dh to stay? Any tips? Thanks

I went there last October.

It is great for children, with a separate children's wing with its own swimming pool.

The hotel is huge.

Food in the hotel was okay. Restaurants in both directions within 10mins walk- some of which are really good.

It depends what you are looking for really.

Went there last march and going again in April.

One bed suite is huge - bathroom has large bath and walk in shower. Lounge has 2 sofas and table & chairs and large balcony. Kitchenette is compact but perfect - full size fridge, microwave and sink (in cupboard!)

Pools are lovely (although a little chilly), beach is 2 mins walk and is soft sand, kids club includes indoor and outdfoor play areas which does have stuff that will suit an 11 month old. we didn't use kids club - not sure it operates outside peak season?

breakfast buffet is HUGE. We ate at the Italian restaurant a few times - v nice and lots of space for children to run aroudn outside. Lots of restauarants in either direction - 10 mins to marina or 10 mins other way to old resort which is quiet.

evening entertainment - we had a drink and listened to live guitar music one night - it was v low key.

didn't use babysitting but others did and liked it. Lots of outdoor restaurants so we ate with kids asleep in buggies at the table...

personally - I do think it's worth it. The location and the rooms can't be matched by any other Canaries hotel - certainly not at that price. my only tip would be if you book though Soveriegn to decline the transfers - they charge £232 return for taxis. Each way it only costs about 40 Euros....

I havent been, we looked at it last year, ds was 11 months too. We went for the Rubimar aparthotel instead. The rooms werent as posh, but it was great for our needs and in a much better location - in the new marina development.

The Yaiza does have loads of facilities, but we reckoned that at 11 months ds wouldnt be able to use any of them. The Rubimar has 2 outdoor pools (1 baby), and indoor pool, a gym, soft play and a wee park.

If you would use the babysitting service then it might be worth it... dont think I would be happy leaving ds with someone he didnt know in a foreign country - we just put him in his pushchair and took him out with us of a night - all of th staff at the restuarants `that we ate at were very friendly - giving him sweets/ice cream and things to play with.

Thanks for all your help. The hotel sounds great and worth the money. Geordieminx, personally I would rather my ds was asleep in bed being looked after by a responsible babysitter than staying up late every night, eating sweets and ice creams, but each to their own as they say!

Hey, I never said that we fed him any of the stuff, was just meaning that they saw him as a child, and brought things that they thought he would like as a nice gesture.

If you are comfortable leaving a responsible stranger with your child then on you go, personally I prefered to have mine with me, on a family holiday, either sleeping in his buggy or in his cot with us on the balcony.

Think about if a fire broke out - would a complete stranger risk their own life to help your child??

FWIW In my original post I wasnt being judgey - I said if you would use the service then it would be worth it, but that I dont think I could have or would leave mine, not in a different country. I took time out to give you some info that you asked for.

calm down everyone!

to balance this up, the Yaiza babysitters came from the kids club team and people who used them were all v happy (as were the children) - think it's rather dramatic to ask if a stranger would risk their life for your child? using that logic it might not be safe to send a child to school?

we did take our with us every night - all restaurant staff were happy with this. Some nights we ate early and they ate with us - other nights we fed them first in the room and then ate late with them aslepp in buggies.

We went to Playa Blanca in November (2DC - then 3.4 and 1.7) and looked at the Princess Yaiza. Too expensive for a cheapy week away for us so we rented a 3 bed villa. Anyway we walked past the Yaiza - it's about halfway between the old town and the new Marina as others have said. And it's massive. The kids bit looked fun but there were absolutely no children there when we looked through the gate.

Just a thought - but have you considered Mark Warner? We went to Abu Soma with them when DS1 was about 9 months. Childcare very good, safe environment, no fears about leaving him with the English nannies etc, nice restaurants in the evening.

mark warner, nice restaurants in the evening? maybe abu soma is the odd one out - most mark warners have one restauarant and you sometimes have to sit on communal tables with very little choice of food and the quality is very poor....

Both Egypt Mark Warners are based in nice hotels (Dahab - Hilton, Abu Soma - Inter Continental) so you get the facilities of those hotels. Never been to MW in Europe as the communal dining put me off!!!

interesting hotcross buns!

how were the locations - could you leave the hotel and get to restaurants easily? am always looking for new options!

(my mark warner experience was skiing and by the end of the week we were prepared to forego the evening meal and lug the children out to a restaurant just so that we could have something nice to eat!!)

Abu Soma no. The hotel is in the desert quite a way from anything else. But there were 4/5 restuarants to choose from including the main buffet style one. It was extra to eat away from the main restaurant. We are quite lazy and for a week's holiday I didn't mind not leaving the resort.

Dahab - the hotel is not far from Dahab town and it's easy to get a taxi. We only did it the once though. Also it's along a stretch of beach with a few other hotels (not many) and it may be possible to eat at these hotels.