I recently visited Dreams Lanzarote Playa Dorada Resort & Spa with two of my best friends. It’s a perfect hotel for families, couples or friend trips like ours! You can see our review of the Master Suite with Ocean View room we stayed in here.
You can see my full video review here:
The hotel is around half an hour from Lanzarote Arrecife Airport. We decided to take a taxi which came in at €53. If you plan to get a hire car, you will be pleased to know that the hotel has a large car park too.
The entrance to the hotel is very impressive and looks very welcoming.
Check-in
The lobby itself is huge with lots of comfortable seating and is beautifully scented (one of the first things we noticed!). We were greeted warmly upon check-in and offered a cool drink which turned out to be a chilled glass of Cava each and an iced towel which was also lovely.
We were given the key cards for our room and told all about the hotel. Then our bags were loaded onto a trolley and we were shown to our room. You can see my review of the Master Suite with Ocean View we stayed in here.
Our room was a Preferred Club room and we stayed on the Unlimited-Luxury (all-inclusive) rate. The Preferred Club room gives you access to all areas in the hotel. There are pools, lounges, and restaurants that are for Preferred Club guests only. I will cover these in detail during the review.
Main bar and entertainment
There is a large atrium within the hotel, with an impressive sweeping staircase coming down from the foyer to the main bar area.
This is where entertainment is staged every night and starts at 9:30.
Here you can sit outside or inside and the staff circulate taking orders and bringing drinks.
Just like everywhere else in the hotel there is a very generous amount of comfortable seating with a mix of chairs and sofas.
On our first night in the hotel we saw Flamenco musicians and dancers. All of the nightly entertainment is detailed on the app but also advertised in the hotel.
The Pools at Dreams Lanzarote
There are several pools around the hotel. Two large family-friendly pools and two smaller more exclusive adults only pools.
Main Pool
The main pool is situated in front of the restaurants and main bar.
We visited in May and there were plenty of available sunbeds.
Certainly no need for the 6:00 a.m dash! There is a large main pool with two smaller side pools.
Sugar Reef Pool
The Sugar Reef pool is part of the Preferred Club and is adults only. Here you will also find the Sugar Reef Pool Bar which is open until 6pm.
It’s a pleasant spot to sit and people watch as there is a promenade in front of the hotel that you can follow all the way to the marina.
Here we indulged in Piña coladas and Aperol spritz!
Sea Legs Pool
Sea Legs pool is another Preferred Club adults only area. Here there is a two-tier infinity pool as well as several Cabana Bali beds.
There is also the Sea Legs Pool Bar.
Private Cabanas at Sea Legs
We had our own cabana which costs roughly €45 for the day and is well worth it especially if you are in a group.
In addition to the main bed, we had our own two private sunbeds as well as a bistro table for two.
The main bed accommodated the three of us very comfortably!
When we arrived our name was on on cabana itself to mark it as our private cabana and a fresh sheet and towels were on the bed ready for us.
We were also brought a buzzer to be able to order drinks to our bed, although you could also visit the pool bar. The cabana bed had shade that went over the top to provide cover if you needed it, but could also be pulled back for full sunshine.
Waterpark Pool
The second largest pool area is the family friendly waterpark pool.
This is near the kids’ club and has a splash pool that’s perfect for smaller kids. All the kids (and adults!) will love the three water slides in the water park.
You will also find another pool bar here.
Kids’ Club
I didn’t visit the kids’ club as we were travelling as a group of three friends, but I did snap a couple of photos of the outdoor space of the kids’ club.
Towels
We were given a towel card when we checked in. You can exchange your card for a fresh towel at the towel station around the pools.
Games room
Near to the reception of the hotel, you’ll find a games room and a sports bar. In the games room there is table football and air hockey perfect for teenagers.
There were also a number of PCs.
The sports bar also has table hockey and a pool table.
Preferred Lounge
There is a Preferred Club lounge on the same floor as Coco cafe.
It’s a nice spot to relax and take in the views!
Or read a book or play games.
We came across this after breakfast one morning and you will find tea and coffee machines here as well as soft drinks. At that point there were various breakfast items like pastries and fruit so you could help yourself.
There’s lots of comfortable seating in here, as well as three large squishy sofas around a large flat screen TV.
Gym
We called into the gym, just for the purposes of this review you understand, not to actually use the facilities!
My friend who foolishly uses the gym at home was very impressed with the gym and I must admit there was a lot of equipment in there.
The hotel also has a spa, but unfortunately we didn’t get chance to visit!
Restaurants at Dreams Lanzarote
As well as the buffet there is one large restaurant at dreams in Lanzarote that is a la carte. This changes themes nightly so when we visited one night it was the Bluewater Grill, an American themed restaurant and one night it was Himitsu a Pan-Asian restaurant. I have reviewed both restaurants with lots of food photos.
Before I begin to talk about what restaurants are available, it will be useful for you to know that there is an app with all the menus on it. You can download this from Google Play Store here, and the Apple App Store here.
Barefoot Grill lunch
On our first day we popped into the Preferred Club Barefoot Grill for lunch.
Here we had sandwiches, chicken wings and burritos. Other items include nachos, poke bowls and burgers.
Here we had sandwiches, chicken wings and burritos. Other items include nachos, poke bowls and burgers.
You can also order starters and desserts. It’s nice to have a different option to the buffet where you can sit and order food to the table.
Bluewater Grill Dinner
On our first night we ate in the Bluewater Grill Restaurant which is an American style kitchen. The food is served à la carte and there is a live cooking station. You can choose from three courses.
Before our starters were served we were served appetizers, this was possibly a tuna ceviche but I am not entirely sure!
I tried the deep fried brie with cactus jam as a starter my portion was very generous with four large pieces of brie. Cactus jam is surprisingly sweet!
I ordered the beef entrecôte which was served with courgettes and potato wedges. I have to say that I was very impressed with the steak, it was very flavoursome with a good char.
My friend had the Cordon Bleu stuffed with Iberian ham and smoked Lanzarote cheese in a mushroom sauce, courgettes and sautéed vegetables.
We also tried the fruit cheesecake and chocolate sphere which were lovely.
World Cafe – Buffet Breakfast
On our first morning, we visited the buffet for breakfast. The main issue here is that there is so much to choose from. It’s hard to decide what you would like! I took waaaay too many photos, so I shall pop a selection here and the rest at the end of the review if you want to see everything!
There really was something for everyone from cooked breakfasts and continental breakfast with meats, cheeses and crackers, salad and olives, nuts and fruit.
There was also a live cooking station making omelets and fried eggs. They even had English style sausages!
There is a kids’ station that had pancakes and various toppings.
You could help yourself to tea and all manner of coffees and fruit juices.
There’s a gluten-free section.
Although I didn’t see it at breakfast, I did see a vegan section at lunch time so I am sure that breakfast will have a vegan section too.
World Cafe – Lunch Buffet
Lunch in the buffet was served in a similar style to breakfast with lots of choices.
The day we visited the live cooking station served langoustine, salmon, chicken thighs and veal.
The kids’ section served chicken nuggets and there was a whole pizza section.
There were lots of vegetables and potatoes cooked different ways as well as a huge salad section and continental meats and cheeses.
Lots of bread too.
There is a dessert section with all manner of desserts and also some tubs of ice cream.
There is also a Mr. Whippy style soft serve that you could help yourself to as well as syrups.
There is seating both inside and out, when you enter the restaurant they give you the choice of where you would prefer before serving your drinks to the table.
Himitsu
Himitsu is the Pan-Asian restaurant at Dreams Lanzarote. You can choose from dishes such as Pad Thai, Kung Pao beef, prawn green curry etc.
As we were being seated, we were offered a glass of Cava each which we gladly accepted, before being brought prawn crackers drizzled with sweet chili sauce to the table.
We then sampled the tempura prawns:
And the chicken noodle soup:
One of my friends had the Pad Thai with chicken and prawns:
While my other friend and I went for the Kung Pao beef with fried rice:
I have to say the portion size is very generous in the a la carte restaurants which is tricky because it’s always nice to have a dessert!
I had the textured chocolate dessert. I mainly ordered it because I had no idea what it was, but it turns out that it means different chocolate things with different textures. So there was cake and mousse and truffles. Delicious, but quite huge, especially after the enormous kung pao beef!
My friend was similarly curious about the ‘False Tangerine’!
Preferred Club Buffet Breakfast
As well as the main buffet breakfast, if you are a Preferred Club guest there is an alternative buffet breakfast. I expected this to be a much smaller offering but actually it’s quite huge too!
There were lots of different breakfast items from full cooked breakfasts to continental breakfast, breads, pastries, gluten free, vegan, and healthy salad options.
There were also two live cooking stations with someone frying eggs and someone making pancakes.
If you were too impatient to wait for pancakes, there was a pancake and waffle area to simply help yourself. I would also recommend the churros but make sure you sprinkle lots of sugar on them!
You could also help yourself to teas, coffees and juices and fruit juices.
We had a wonderful stay at Dreams Lanzarote. The staff were all lovely, helpful and friendly and the place was very clean. There were so many places to explore and relax, there was always something new to be found (or new cocktail to experience!). Would we go again? Most definitely!
More Photos of the Buffet Breakfast
We were invited to visit for the purposes of this review. As always, all opinions are my own.
