"We recently stayed at Playaolid in Costa Adeje, Tenerife, for a week in early August. We booked through Jet2 Holidays and secured a family suite and Siam Park tickets as part of the booking.
As a family, we are used to staying at large all-inclusive resorts such as Club Mac in Alcudia (see our previous reviews), so I have to be completely honest: when we first arrived very late at night after travelling all day, our first impressions weren’t great.
Check-in was quick, easy and friendly. The hotel also supplied us with a bag containing sandwiches and fruit when we checked in, which was a really nice touch given that it was late and the food services had closed.
The hotel is situated off a side street, not far from the motorway, and initially felt quite small and enclosed compared to the large resorts we were used to. The room also looked nothing like the pictures shown on Jet2, which left us feeling a little deflated. However, it was spacious, clean, had a separate room for the kids and was more than adequate for what we needed.
Looking back, I think tiredness and comparing it to our previous holidays definitely influenced our first impressions.
Our suite was on the first floor at the end of the building, which meant we could walk straight out onto our own little area with sunbeds and then onto the main terrace overlooking the pool. The pool itself also looked small compared to what we were used to.
However, when we woke up the next morning, we decided to stop comparing Playaolid to previous places we’d stayed and simply take it for what it is. This is when things completely changed.
After a good night’s sleep and a decent breakfast, we plonked ourselves on some sunbeds on the terrace overlooking the pool, just a stone’s throw from our room, and realised we actually had a fantastic setup.
The bar and snack bar are also on the first-floor terrace, directly behind where we were sitting, so we could easily access them and, even better, simply pop back into our room through the patio doors whenever we needed the bathroom, wanted something from the room or needed to cool down.
As the week went on, having this setup proved to be priceless.
The Pool
The kids absolutely loved the pool. It was clean and well maintained, and there was always something going on — water polo, inflatable slides, games and various activities.
The entertainment team really do make a huge effort to keep everyone happy, so credit where it’s due.
There are actually two more pools on the complex, which is considerably bigger than it first appears, although we never actually used them.
There were always lifeguards around the main pool, which doesn’t open until 10am and is gated off beforehand to prevent people putting towels down. People do start queuing from around 9am because there aren’t really enough sunbeds around the pool itself for everyone, but with the additional terrace full of beds, it was never really an issue for us.
The Terrace Bar & Snack Bar
The bar opens at 10am and closes at 6pm, serving drinks, ice pops, slushies and more. The beer on tap is Amstel, which is perfectly fine, while the selection of spirits and cocktails is vast and, importantly, the cocktails aren’t the usual cheap, slushy-type drinks you often get at all-inclusive resorts.
The bar staff were always helpful and friendly.
If I had one criticism, it’s that there aren’t any complimentary ice creams for the kids. There is a fridge full of ice creams next to the bar, but these have to be paid for. It was a little disappointing, as an ice cream machine would surely solve the problem. That said, what was available was reasonably priced, so it’s hardly something worth getting worked up about!
The snack bar opens at around 11am and closes at 5pm. It’s self-service and offers chips, burgers, pizza, onion rings and similar options, alongside fresh salad. I believe you can also request sandwiches.
Everything we had was tasty, served hot and replenished throughout the day, so there was never any waiting around for food to be topped up.
It does get a little repetitive, but for a quick lunch or snack during the day, it was convenient and served its purpose perfectly. We didn’t personally try the lunch offering in the main restaurant, so can’t comment on that.
The Restaurant
We had breakfast in the restaurant every day and thought it was absolutely fine. There was plenty of seating, it was clean, and the food was fresh, hot and plentiful.
There was the usual English breakfast selection, alongside pancakes, pastries, mountains of fresh fruit, cereals, yoghurt — you name it, it was there. You certainly wouldn’t go hungry.
We had dinner in the restaurant around three times during our stay, as we also like to eat out locally when we’re on holiday.
Again, there was always plenty of hot, tasty and well-cooked food to choose from. Yes, you have the obligatory chips, hot dogs, pizza and burgers at one end, but there was also freshly cooked chicken breast, steaks, swordfish, stir-fried vegetables, rice, potatoes and even ribs on one evening.
The sides remained fairly consistent throughout the week, but there were always different main dishes to choose from.
Contrary to some other reviews I’ve read, we thought the restaurant was brilliant and catered for everyone. You certainly wouldn’t be dissatisfied with the choice.
Hats off to the restaurant staff too. They were patient, friendly and worked incredibly hard to keep everything clean, tidy and running smoothly.
Entertainment & Bars
Playaolid has two bars in the evening.
The lobby bar is next to reception and opens at 6pm. It has indoor seating and also leads out to covered outdoor seating around the entrance of the hotel. It’s a nice place to have a drink in the evening, and the bar staff were once again fantastic.
The drinks selection is the same as the pool bar, so there is something for everyone.
The main entertainment takes place in the Millennium Bar, which has a really cool, underground nightclub-style vibe.
The evening entertainment starts at 8pm with a kids’ disco before moving on to the main entertainment at 9:30pm. During our stay this included various different shows, including circus acts, singers and even parrot shows.
There was always something going on, and once again, the entertainment team deserve a lot of credit for the effort they put into making sure everyone has a good time.
Our Room & Final Thoughts
As mentioned earlier, we were in a first-floor room at the end of the building, and for us it turned out to be the perfect location. Having direct access onto the terrace overlooking the pool was fantastic, and being so close to the bar, snack bar and our own room made life incredibly easy.
The only downside was the open space beside our room. Because the terrace flooring is astroturf, a lot of kids used it as a football pitch, and occasionally footballs would be blasted against the wall of our room after the bars had closed while we were trying to sleep.
A couple of calls to reception were all it took, though, and security came up and stopped it.
For that reason, we would highly recommend trying to secure first-floor rooms 1102–1104 if possible. For us, the location was perfect.
We also managed to get a late checkout on our final day as we weren’t being picked up until 6pm. This allowed us to keep the room until 2pm, which took a huge amount of pressure off the final day.
Just be aware that you can’t secure a late checkout until the day before departure and spaces are limited, so it’s worth asking as soon as you can.
Overall
As I mentioned at the beginning, we definitely had an initial wobble when we arrived. We’d travelled all day, arrived late at night and were immediately comparing Playaolid to the huge all-inclusive resorts we’d stayed at previously.
Once we stopped doing that and actually experienced the hotel for what it is, our opinion completely changed.
Playaolid genuinely stole our hearts.
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay and wouldn’t hesitate for a second to recommend it to anyone looking for a family-friendly resort in Costa Adeje.
The room was perfect for us, cleaned every day and had absolutely freezing air conditioning — which in Tenerife in August is exactly what you want!
We honestly don’t have a single serious complaint about our stay. Yes, I mentioned the lack of complimentary ice cream for the kids, but that’s being incredibly petty. If that’s genuinely all we can find to complain about, then it means we had a bloody good holiday!
Thank you, Playaolid, for giving our family a wonderful holiday. We will definitely return one day and, after such a great week, we genuinely can’t wait!"
