My review of Sands Beach Resort is based on a one week stay in late September 2010 with my boyfriend. The aim is to review the accommodation, facilities, staff etc at the resort rather than the area of Costa Teguise or the island of Lanzarote. We booked our holiday through a travel agent after doing research online and deciding that this was where we wanted to go based on our budget of around £800 for the two of us to cover flights and accommodation, and some good reviews that we had read about the resort. The cost was just under £800 for a 7 night stay self catering, flights and transfers both ways.
The Resort
Located at the end of the purpose-built area of Costa Teguise and on the beach front, the resort consists mainly of 6 U-shaped blocks of apartments and a row of beach front apartments. The beach is question is a private one with fair sized ocean filled lagoon. From the street, the front of the resort looks impressive- white building, pillars, palm trees. The front section of the resort houses the reception, supermarket, bar, gym and spa facilities. A quick walk through the reception takes you out to all of the accommodation. Each block of about 30 apartments is arranged around an open air swimming pool, each designed to look ‘natural’- they’re an aesthetically pleasing shape rather than rectangular (this is standard for Lanzarote) and have a few big rocks dotted around. The restaurant is located near the beach front apartments. A bridge takes you over the lagoon to a communal area where there is another pool, the Mai Tai pool bar, plenty of seating and tables, a couple of pool tables and table tennis. From here you can get out the back of the resort to walk along the sea front.
Location wise, the resort is at the end of Costa Teguise, which means a walk of about 15 minutes to get to the main restaurant area. A five minute walk will get you to a bus stop from where you can go and explore a bit more. On the plus side, it means it’s a little quieter at night, not that Costa Teguise has a huge nightlife. The beach at the front of the resort isn’t the best; not very big or sandy. I don’t think we saw anyone on it. Luckily it’s only a short walk to the next beach, which is more popular.
Our Accommodation
We stayed in a one bedroom apartment with a kitchen. You can also book studio apartments and junior apartments, which come with a ‘kitchenette’ but we wanted the full kitchen with cooker seeing as we were self catering. There are various different types of apartment and villa available depending on how many are staying and if you want a kitchen.
The apartment was great- clean, light and spacious with lots of wardrobe space and they provide hangers. Fairly comfy, firm bed (although the pillows were lumpy), bedside table on each side and lamps. There wasn’t any air conditioning, which some people may struggle with especially if you’re travelling in summer. The average temperature whilst we were there was around 27 and we were quite warm overnight with the window open.
We kept the curtains closed during the day to try to keep the apartment cool, which did work. The bathroom had a shower over the bath, toilet, bidet and 2 basins with a long mirror. The kitchen is of a good size with fridge- freezer, microwave, cooker, oven and the usual pans, cutlery, crockery and glassware.
There’s a combined lounge/dining room, the lounge had a sofa and a chair, TV, coffee table. There was a pullout camp bed from a closet in the lounge.
There's a little patio area to the front of the apartment with a table and chairs and parasol. Each one bed apartment gets one sun lounger although there are often spares around the pool. How you’re meant to share your one sun lounger between the both of you I don’t know but luckily for me my partner was a gentleman and let me have the lounger whilst he sat on the patio if there were no spares.
Cleaners came in every day to change towels if we left them in the bath- if left on the rails, they assume you will use them again, which is something I like. I don’t think it’s necessary to change towels every day. They made the bed every day and I’m not sure if they changed the sheets. They mopped the floor every day. We found one cockroach during our stay, but that wasn’t because the place wasn’t clean and luckily there was a can of cockroach killer for us! The maids don’t do your washing up but I wouldn’t expect them to.
The only downsides were a few items lacking from the kitchen such as an oven glove, baking tray and teatowel, and some of the sun loungers around the pool needed replacing and you have to hire mattresses for them as they're just plastic (we made do with towels but they're not very comfy). Many people used inflatable lilos on them rather than hire mattresses. There's a safe in the apartment but you have to pay to get a lock for it, although this is worth it as it was only about a tenner and most holiday insurance doesn’t cover your valuables if they’re not locked away.
The pool was spotlessly clean, just about big enough for a swim if it's nearly empty, and not too cold- it’s not heated at all and it’s actually lovely and refreshing on a hot day once you get over the initial shock! There’s plenty of space around the pool to sunbathe.
Although there were about 30 apartments in our block, it was never very busy around the pool (although this probably depends on the time of year and the sort of apartments/villas around the pool i.e how many people are staying there. I think we got lucky). There were a couple of times that all of the sun loungers were taken but generally it was fairly quiet and peaceful. My partner and I got quite irritated by people reserving sun loungers even though the information book in the apartment informs you that this is strictly prohibited. I suppose the only thing you can do is go and remove the other people’s towels and take the sun lounger but we didn’t fancy an argument on holiday.
Facilities etc
There's a supermarket on site, which is more expensive than popping out to the local Hiper Dino supermarket (not far at all) but it is well stocked with your basics and a fair bit more besides, it’s not extortionate, and open until 10pm.
We didn’t eat at the restaurant on site (La Hacienda) as we did a mix of self catering and sampling the restaurants in Costa Teguise. There wasn’t a huge range of food but they would probably have something for most people. They serve, among other things, pizza and pasta. If you go half or full board your meals are provided here buffet style.
Mai Tai pool bar- the prices were reasonable and there was a good range of food, which was really nice, mainly British-type meals and snacks. We had drinks there quite a few days (there's a good range of cocktails) and thought the staff were fantastic. They have a happy hour 4-5pm every day where local drinks are buy one get one free, apparently the local beer is really nice so my partner was happy with this! You can also get ice cream here. The pool bar was popular with families with children as they could relax with a drink in the shade whilst their children splashed about in the pool. Having said that, it was never heaving with children so if the thought of being surrounded by screaming kids sends shivers down your spine, you should be fine. The bar closes around 8pm.
Gym- didn’t use, but looks really good, plenty of equipment. You have to pay extra to use the gym.
Bike hire- located in the main reception area.
Soleil bar- this is the main bar off the lobby which is open until late and provides entertainment (mainly vocal or dance acts) in the evenings. We popped in briefly and it looked quite nice in there, but we never went properly as none of the entertainment appealed to us. They have a happy hour during the evening.
Spa treatments- at the main reception you can book spa treatments such as manicures, facials, massages. My partner and I both had an hour long full body massage, costing 50euros each, which was well worth it.
Activities- the resort provides sports and activities every day, and although we didn’t take part as we found plenty to do around Lanzarote, there was a good variety such as aquagym, table tennis and pool tournaments. The timetables are displayed in the reception area. You can also take part in quizzes and bingo at the Mai Tai pool bar in the afternoon. The downside of activities such as bingo is that they get a microphone out so if you’re trying to relax and sunbathe mid afternoon you will hear them even when you’re the other side of the resort. The week that we were there, they played a song at the pool bar at a certain time every day and did a dance, so that got a bit annoying. Well, it annoyed my partner, I thought the song was catchy!
Activities for children- we don’t have any children but we did note that there was a ‘Buddy’s Club’ for children with various activities on offer. They can even have windsurfing lessons on the lagoon!
You can order a welcome pack for your arrival with things such as bread, milk and tea bags in. You can also book airport transfers if you’re booking your holiday with them directly rather than through an agent, who are likely to provide these. Details and prices are on their website- www.
sandsbeach.eu
Staff
The reception staff were pretty good, with excellent English, although they seemed a little understaffed at times. They were helpful when we wanted to know the location of a specific restaurant which we had a voucher for. When we checked in, it took a while because they kept stopping to answer the phone. The only issue really was that the day before departing, we asked for a late checkout, and we were told that we couldn't have one as some guests of the apartment owners were arriving and couldn't be put in a different apartment, but that we could have it until 1.30 (normal check out is 12) and then have a courtesy apartment if we needed a shower before our transfer. However, at 12.30 housekeeping turned up and asked us to leave because reception had failed to tell them we could stay a little longer (we were still packing/tidying up) and following a phone call to reception we were told we had to be out at 1.00 at the latest. So, a bit of a lack of communication there but not a major issue. We were able to leave our luggage in a room at reception whilst we spent the afternoon at the pool bar but it wasn’t incredibly secure as there were lots of suitcases in there.
As already mentioned, the waiters at the Mai Tai pool bar were excellent, very friendly.
The entertainments team seemed nice enough, very enthusiastic about their jobs! If you’re hanging around the pool bar during the day they’re likely to ask you if you want to join in with a pool or table tennis tournament or bingo. They’re not too pushy though.
Would I Go Again?
Yes, definitely. Admittedly, it’s not top of my list but that’s because I prefer to travel around different places each year rather than go back to the same place time after time. We managed to see a good portion of Lanzarote in our week too so we’re not feeling any rush to go back to the island. However, it was a completely fantastic holiday, and my partner is in agreement about this. If I found myself wanting a week of sunshine and had a lack of time to research destinations, I’d definitely go back to Sands Beach knowing that we enjoyed it last time. We didn’t spend that much time on the resort, a couple of afternoons and a full day or two, but the time we had actually in the resort was enjoyable. Cost wise, I think it’s superb and we got a good deal for our money. I think our travel agent had it listed as 4 stars and although I’m not sure I’d give it 4 stars, I don’t think it was that far off. Everything was clean and in good repair (apart from those sun loungers).
Recommended for…
Families, couples and groups. I wouldn’t say it’s really honeymoon material but I suppose that would depend on the couple. I’d recommend it for anyone looking for a holiday in the sun on a budget but not wanting to compromise on quality.
A Lovely Lanzarote Holiday 
Another fab review!