RIU Palace Maspalomas

My partner and I recently returned from a lovely relaxed week's break here.

We arrived quite late at around 11:40pm. Check-in was swift and we were told there were some sandwiches left in the restaurant for us which was a nice touch.

We opted for a standard double room and were allocated room 2001 which was a great size with super comfy beds. Our room was equipped with a sofa, TV, a safe and mini fridge (the contents of which were chargeable). The ensuite was also a great size and had two sinks as well as a big shower. The balcony was nice and quiet and we had a view of the sea in the far distance.

There are two pools - a larger one and a smaller one. The water is heated to a lovely refreshing temperature. People do reserve loungers but there was always still plenty spare come the afternoon, so if you’re not an early riser you will have no problem finding one. We always managed to get one around the larger pool and we didn't get up mega early.

There are two speciality restaurants but unfortunately we were not told what the situation was surrounding these (how often you could eat here, if it was included in our half board stay etc). We did take a look at the menus and probably wouldn’t have opted to eat there anyway, but it would have been nice to have had this information at check in/in our room.

The regular restaurant is called Dunas and had plenty of seating both inside and out. I have never seen so much selection at both breakfast and dinner! At breakfast there was a wide selection of juices, smoothies, pastries (including muffins, cake and doughnuts), ham and cheese toasties, cold meats and cheeses, breads, omelettes, sausages, bacon, eggs - literally everything you could think of, they had available. Dinner had just as much selection, and as a fussy eater, I always found something to eat. The board outside dinner updates every night so you know roughly what to expect the following day. Plenty of meats, pizzas, garlic bread. A wide range of desserts (the chocolate soufflé deserves a special mention!) and there was a chocolate fountain twice during our week stay.

The Oasis restaurant overlooks the dunes and serves lunch. We sat on the outside bit on a couple of occasions and enjoyed the chicken fingers and parmesan chips which were very tasty. You can also get drinks, food and milkshakes (again, very tasty!) delivered to your loungers.

Evening entertainment does unfortunately let the hotel down in my opinion. We saw a couple of good acts but overall the entertainment was sadly not great, and often ended at 10/10:30PM. There were very few people left in the bar area come 11PM. One act performed German songs which we did find a little unusual for a hotel in the canaries.

It would've been great to have seen a wider range of cocktails rather than just classic ones - tip, if you like a flavoured Mojito, be sure to ask as they do a few different flavours however they are not on the menu.

We are in our late twenties/early thirties and we saw very few other guests in our age range during our time. The vibe of the hotel is very much chilled - there are no activities/music during the day (which suited us fine!) but just something to note.

There is a Hiperdino supermarket literally just across the road (a one-minute walk) for all your essentials and snacks, however, apart from that, everything else is a good 15–20-minute walk away.

The dunes are right by the hotel and, because of this, taxis are always available just outside the hotel. (If you’re wandering down to the dunes, I would highly recommend stopping at the ice cream place on the right just before you get to them!)

The staff at the hotel are all lovely. No one walks by without greeting you, and a special shoutout to Carlos in the Dunas restaurant who is always in great spirits!

A very sweet cat seems to live at the hotel. I often found him/her sleeping on one of the sofas in our side of the hotel. So gorgeous and lovely to see him/her being looked after.

We had a late flight home so enquired about a possible late check out. We were informed this would be €20 an hour so we opted for the courtesy room instead - we couldn't pre book this but I believe they have a few and we were let into one as soon as we turned up and asked.

Overall, we had a lovely chilled and relaxed week and would return for the right price.

The hotel is so nice, the place is so clean, stuff is so much helpful and also smiles at me most of the times.