We stayed at this vast all-inclusive resort, located in the northern part of Puerto del Carmen (about 2 km from the center), January 18 - February 1, 2008. The first room they put us in when we arrived on a Friday evening was a total shock to us. We had paid 224 euros extra to our travel agent to have a balcony, and while this room (2202) WAS on the second floor, the view from the 'balcony' was probably the worst possible - no ground terrace could have been that bad! It was right on the roof with a walking bridge to and from the reception right in front, and no greenery whatsoever (see the first picture). We really felt our vacation would be ruined if we had stayed in that room, and immediately called the reception for a switch. They weren't able to switch us until that Sunday, but our new room (2283) was wonderful and went beyond our expectations with regard to the view from the balcony - directly to the ocean! (See pictures 02 - 10).

We were very happy with our accommodations (once we had been switched - we were quite shocked that a hotel of Riu's reputation would place any of its guests into a room like the first one we had), the hotel's grounds and buildings, and the friendly and helpful staff. The rooms were cleaned well every day.

The lunch and particularly the dinner meals in the buffet restaurant were a dissapointment, however. Although the salad, dessert and fruit bars were very nice with good selections, the main courses we found too repetitious, not very tasty for the most part, and lacking of enough selections. The a la carte Asian buffet was, however, quite lovely, and the Grill and Andalusian buffets also reasonably good, but for these you had to make table reservations several days in advance at the reception, and they weren't open every night, so during our 2 week stay we were only able to eat at these specialty restaurants 4 times in total. The breakfasts were quite good and offered much choice.

Another thing that we weren't very happy with was the fact that unless you special-ordered it the night before, no coffee and tea were available before 8 am (at 8 am, the breakfast buffets opened). To those of us who sometimes woke as early as 5 am, this was a real problem. We felt that the hotel should have these available in the lobbies at least between 5 and 8 am or preferably 24 hrs a day, or provide a waterboiler in the rooms where everyone can make their own tea and coffee when they please. We ended up buying a small elecric waterkettle for 13 euros so we could make tea and coffee in the room. The rooms did have a small refridgerator.

The hotel's location was quite nice, right at Avenida de Las Playas with a beach that was not crowded at all. A bit of a walk to the busier centre of Puerto del Carmen, but if you walked toward it on the Avenida de Las Playas, very soon the shops and cafes and restaurants would start, so it's a nice 2 km walk with lots of shopping and other opportunities. Also, taxi cabs are quite cheap (and honestly operated with meters), and for about 3-4 euros, you get a cab ride to Biosfera, a shopping center near the southern end of the town.

All in all, this resort hotel has a lot to offer and we enjoyed our stay. But due to the quality of the main courses at the lunch and dinner buffets, and the fact that coffee and tea were not readily available, we would now choose not to go for this all-inclusive resort so that we could have more varied meals in the various restaurants that Puerto del Carmen offers. We both like ethnic meals (Thai, Indian, Chinese, Mexican, middle-estern, etc) and Riu Paraiso has very little to offer with regard to these. This was in big contrast to the all-inclusive hotel we stayed at in the Dominican Republic (see another article of ours), where in addition to the a la carte restaurants, the buffets were quite varied and tasty, with different ethnic theme nights. And that hotel had coffee and tea available in the lobbies 24/7 !

For more info, see http://www.riu.com/en/clubhotel-riu-paraiso-lanzarote-resort-lanzarote.html

Pictures best when viewed in full size. See also our other articles with pictures of Lanzarote and its sights!