Papagayo Arena???

[Cloud]

Hi everyone,

Im heading to Lanza on Sunday staying in the Pap Arena for 1 week.... have read very mixed reviews on tripadvisor and am a bit worried now!!! Anyone any experience of this hotel??

Also every site is giving a different weather report so just wondering also what the temps are like..... what shoud I pack???? lol

Thanks xxx

[Anne Bond]

Hi Cloud

We've stayed at the Arena a couple of times, but not for a couple of years. It's a bugger to find by car the first time - you can see it but not how to get there! :trtrm

It's like most hotels, it has it's good and bad points.

Here's what we thought of it.

Good points:-

Large complex, good pools for adults and children, choice of loud or quiet. Plenty of activities if you want them, aquacise, yoga etc. Lovely food (especially roasts for the carnivores) that is varied on a regular basis. Cava available for Bucks Fizz for breakfast. One of the bars has a terrace overlooking the pools which is nice. Cava included in all-inclusive. Coffee machines that give really good cups of coffee. Gorgeous ice cream at one of the bars by the pool (the vanilla or coffee ice cream goes nicely into a black coffee!)

Bad points:-

Slightly isolated position. Hard beds. Hard chairs. Reception staff that gave us a map of the complex on our midnight arrival and left us to wander around trying to find our room until security guard took pity on us. Won't give you a bottle of Cava, only glasses at a time. :cheers Restaurant manager that doesn't like you filling water bottles from the water machine, and may have trained under Basil Fawlty. All dining areas are inside and at peak times get very noisy, especially if all the little darlings are there. Amateurish entertainment that didn't bother us in the slightest, as we very rarely bother with it, but apparently affected other peoples holiday :rofl

Anyway, that was our experience, and may not apply now. As you can see, there's nothing drastically wrong with it, and I'm sure that like most things, it will be as you make it. We go to Iberostar Calero (fifth or sixth time on 24.04.2008), and think it's wonderful there, but you still get some on trip advisor slating it.

Go with a positive outlook and I'm sure you'll have a great time, don't know about the weather, but hope it's good for you.
:xs4

[Anne Bond]

Hi Cloud

How did you get on?