Stayed at Paraiso from 23 Feb - 3rd Mar. Weather was sunny, but there was a cold breeze, however once out of the wind, it was very pleasant. We were holidaying with friends and our rooms were 3310 & 3311 - sun on balcony from 11am until sunset, overlooking the well attended grounds and the "bridge". (Wind blew across the bridge)
Food was very good and never had a problem finding a table and the head guy/waiter always found a table for the four of us. We also ate at the Asian, Mexican and Canarian (Canarian was our favourite!). (Tip - book these restaurants when you arrive as they are very popular).
The reception staff were very helpful, cheerful and pleasant. We asked for extra pillows on first afternoon and they were in our rooms that evening. The cleanliness of our rooms, swimming pool area, the grounds, restaurants, everywhere was excellent.
Agree with the comments about the bar in the evenings. It would be a good idea to have removable panels to enclose the bar area during the winter months, but it must be lovely during the summer.
Hired a car from Cabrera Medina just along the road for 3 days.
If I was going to return to the Paraiso I would take my own hairdryer, some jeans and a thick jumper /jacket (during the winter), and if I had room in my case, I would take some towels as the hotel's ones were small and in need of replacing.
Would definitely recommend this hotel

Myself and my boyfriend stayed at the Riu Paraiso from 2nd-9th March, flying with Thomson from Bournemouth. This is our second stay at a Riu but we have both travelled a fair bit, in all inclusives and otherwise so feel in a good position to make a relative judgement of the hotel and area.

Overall, we had a lovely, chilled week and enjoyed ourselves. The hotel has many good points and some bad but generally is on par with other all inclusives I have stayed in. For ease of reading, I will break my review down into sections.

Room

Prior to arrival I had emailed ahead to request a room in the main building, with a double bed, on a higher level floor. When we arrived, we were given floor 3 but in the annexe section of the hotel and with twin beds! I was a tad disappointed to be honest, as prior emailing has generally always managed to secure the room we wanted in other places. In addition to this, the room we were given was pretty underwhelming and at first, I felt like it was one of the worst rooms in the hotel, location and decor wise! That being said, after a few days, I could see the walk to the main hotel wasn't too bad and I started to get used to the vile brown curtains and dated decor and furniture! On a positive note, the balcony we had was huge and the room was immaculately clean which on balance is always the most important thing. As other reviewers have said, they do need a refurb but are just about adequate.

Food

The food was pretty good, I could always find something I liked and we ate the Mexican, Asian and Canarian a la carte ( but still buffet!) restaurants. I felt they were all around the same standard as each other and a little better than the main buffet and made a nice change. Other reviewers have pointed out how the main restaurant can be very busy, this didn't bother us too much as we tended to breakfast late, at around 9:45am and then eat later for dinner and always managed to find a table. However, we did find it annoying when one day at lunch they wouldn't open half of the seating in the restaurant and therefore this meant lots of people had nowhere to sit, my boyfriend tried to explain this to the waiter but he wasn't impressed and nothing got done about it! Drinks were ok quality, barmen gave me a mojito without any rum (not sure if this deliberate but definitely didn't ask for a virgin one!) and it was horrid, cocktails are pre made mixers and not made fresh which put me off so I stuck to amaretto and coke which was much better! The soft and hot drinks were really nice and available self service, all day. It was nice to see the drink areas kept clean and tidy and to be able to get sparkling water for a change!

Facilities

The hotel has a great selection of activities, my boyfriend played volleyball and there was always something going on which was good as when the weather was a bit chilly, it was nice to have the option for other things to do. I only went in the pool once as it was a bit cold for my liking but it was lovely and clean. We went to the nightclub once and this was a fun, although not many people there.

Area

The hotel is in a fab location and is close to the main strip area of Puerto Del Carmen but easily accessible for other areas. We hired bikes from Renner Bikes (great service) and cycled alongside the clifftop to Puerto Calero (a tad tricky) and hired a car for a day with Cabrera Medina. We tried to book with Avis as a rep comes to the hotel, however, we could never find her and the shop was always shut so we went with the cheaper option and it was perfect. We found car hire a much cheaper way to see the island and was hassle free. We like to go out and about as much as possible, tried to ask for advice from the Thomson rep and felt like they were obviously trying to put us off doing this off our own back because they wanted us to buy the excursions from them, normally I will do this if they are good value but I think they were quite clearly overpriced.

Service/Staff

The animation team were great and friendly, reception staff appeared friendly and helpful but didn't feel that they were actually good at doing what they said they were going to! On day 1 I asked for some extra pillows and a mattress topper and received neither so my boyfriend called at reception at midnight on day 2 and in the end, he had to get the pillows himself so we could have them that night, we never did see the mattress topper! I don't mind if things can't be done straight away, it's just annoying when they say they will do something and you never hear a word about it. In addition to this, I have seen another review complaining about the courtesy room service for late check outs and we too had a rubbish experience, we booked a 30 min slot for our last day but were told at our allocated time that the previous people booked in had thought it was an 1hr slot and were refusing to leave! We explained that this wasn't our fault and that surely, the people in there should leave to allow us to have our booked time so we could shower etc but this fell on deaf ears. In the end we were directed to a shower room with toilet which was wasn't the best. Our general opinion was that this hotel generally caters for the older clientele in the off peak seasons and therefore, being a younger couple, we were "messed around" a bit more and received slightly worse service because they knew we were less likely to complain. This was disappointing as we paid a fair bit for a weeks holiday and would expect the same service as others.

All in all, we had a lovely week away and I would recommend this hotel to someone else but I think it lacked the wow factor and there was little about the hotel that would make it really stand out from others. I had read a few reviews beforehand and felt I knew what to expect so wasn't disappointed and if you go with the same expectations then I am sure most people would feel the same. As an aside, we had good weather and I came home with a great tan, despite thinking I wouldn't so this is definitely a good choice for some Winter sun, although it was a bit chilly in the evenings so would take a jacket!

First time at a Riu Hotel but second time in Lanzarote. Warm welcome on arrival, very few formalities before getting into our room. Room 4464 slightly disappointing from décor aspect - colours could be lighter, wardrobe doors looking worn and there was a tear in the side of the bed base, other than that cleanliness was superb. Loads of storage space. Nice balcony overlooking quiet pool and nothing but the sound of the swishing palm tree at night. Food absolutely amazing and we were impressed with management presence - a very well managed restaurant, never had to wait for a table, all cleared away efficiently. We cannot understand the complainers on this aspect. Drinks were super, and my new favourite drink is now Caiparinhia (?) with the coffee liqueur coming a close second. Mexican restaurant was a favourite but the Canarian was also good, the Asian not quite to our taste. Swimming pool areas excellent and always plenty of sunbeds, also very very clean as were the garden areas - a commendable maintenance programme going on there. Activity programme also excellent and the team are all very talented and gave us plenty of laughs. Special mention for Pepi - he is something else ! They gave their all in the evening programmes and so what if they were miming - didn't affect the quality of the shows in any way. All in all a lovely experience for a first visit to a Riu hotel and easy to see why so many people come back time and time again. Will certainly recommend. Perhaps one small downside is the outside bar area - perhaps need to rethink for winter as it was fairly chilly and the heaters were only good if you were sat very close to them - one for the Riu planning team ?