Princesa Yaiza Suite Hotel Resort

Princesa Yaiza opened in 2002 and is run by Rosa Hotels, a Canarian group. It stands on the seafront east of the old centre of Playa Blanca, the town at Lanzarote's southern tip. It covers 55,000 m² of gardens and buildings in a neo-colonial style with Arabic touches, with 385 rooms, six pools, nine restaurants and a thalasso. The gardens give straight onto Playa Dorada, 350 metres of fine pale sand held in a curve of rock that keeps the water calm, with Lobos and Fuerteventura across the strait.

Most of the categories are suites. The entry Double Superior is 43 m² with a 12 m² terrace and takes two adults and a baby; the Suite is 65 m² with a separate living room, two sofa beds, a bathroom with shower and bath, a Nespresso machine, microwave and kettle, and sleeps two adults and two children. The Duplex puts the children upstairs. The 88 m² Family Suites and Royal Kids suites sit in an annex with its own pool, breakfast buffet and snack bar; the Royal Kids comes stocked with a steriliser, bottle warmer, playpen, pushchair and high chair. Every category has a terrace or balcony, and the décor throughout is a warm Canarian colonial style.

The reason to book is Capitan Park, a 10,000 m² open-air children's park, with children's pools, a theatre, play areas and courts for tennis, padel, basketball and football. Its supervised clubs run by age group from babies to 13, the Baby Club takes babies from four months with qualified carers, an indoor Soft Play for children up to eight sits beside the buffets, and the Mini Disco starts at 19:30 each evening. Older children have the courts and pools, and a Soccer School for ages 5 to 16 runs in some weeks of the year. Parents get a 2,000 m² thalasso by the sea, with a 34°C seawater circuit, hammam and saunas, and Isla de Lobos, the hotel's best table, where dinner looks across to the island it is named after, Tuesday to Saturday.

The trade is scale and the bill. With 385 rooms, loungers by the main pools are claimed early with towels. Outside July and August, most rooms need a stay of at least four nights. Workshops, the Dream Camp evenings, the Soccer School and the thalasso circuit cost extra, half board covers the buffets but not the à la carte restaurants, and not every age club runs in low season. Book it for a week or more of winter or early summer sun with children, when January afternoons still average about 21°C, and take a Suite at least: the space is what you are paying for.