Riu Arecas

Customer ratings & reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

3790 reviews

• 

  Superb adults only hotel for winter sun!

  We’ve just stayed at Riu Arecas for a week over New Year. This hotel is in a superb location in Costa Adeje, which is an area we know well. The hotel is located slightly back from the beach and promenade but there is a beach front pool and bar which is accessible to all the hotel guests. The facilities are exceptionally clean and the staff are friendly and polite. The hotel offers half board (breakfast and evening meal) and the standard of the food and drink was exceptional. There’s is plenty of choice and everything is well prepared and flavourful. We did not have a bad meal. The ‘Spanish’ restaurant was superb and we had a fabulous meal there on our last evening at to be hotel. We were so impressed that we have decided to book again next January. This is a perfect adult-only hotel for a relaxing week of winter sun. We would highly recommend booking.

  Jan 04, 2026
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  Pleasant, good location and nice food!

  We stayed here for New Year, we arrived late after a flight diversion, I was very surprised that they had a cold table of food prepared for us which was a lovely touch after we checked in and went straight to sleep. The room was very comfortable and we had a nice side sea view. Breakfast was impressive to be honest. Everything you could expect and more and all really tasty. Evening meals good with standards like pizza / risotto / cheese / pasta available daily plus lots of things that change. The pools for me when no one near what I would class as heated and I tested each of them. They were freezing, I queried it with the hotel and got no reply! Most of the hotels in the area heat the pool is a lot warmer than this. I could only marginally feel the difference between the heated and non-heated pool. This meant we didn’t go in the pools the whole holiday. Which is disappointing. One of the disappointing thing was the reception staff, I became ill during the holiday with flu. It was awful and I was sleeping a lot. We were due to check out a few days later so I enquired about late check out. I was told to request on the app, I did and didn’t get a reply. I then called again and I was to call 2 days before, which I did and then I was told to call on check out day, which I did and I was told no as they were fully booked. Which was a lie as I was able to book multiple rooms of the same standard on their website. The staff were just rude! I didn’t expect it for free but I didn’t want to pay a full night rate! I also didn’t want to infect the rest of the hotel by having to be around other guests who might have weak immune systems! New Year’s Eve was great, the food was again brilliant and the entertainment was also good, though I would say in comparison to others in the area it is more low key / tailored to the older clientele.

  Jan 03, 2026
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  Mostly very good to excellent, be careful re: allergy management

  The hotel was a mix of good to excellent for different elements and overall I would recommend it. Rooms are very good, swimming pools are excellent, particularly if you wish to actually swim some lengths as each pool is 25m long and rectangle in shape. The pool area is excellent as it is relaxed and peaceful, never seems overly crowded. The adults only element definitely helps to make the stay at the Riu Arecas very enjoyable. The fitness room is ok, better than nothing. The "spa" consisting of Turkish bath/jacuzzi and steam room really is not anything to get excited about as it is tired and not particularly hot. Staff were generally very good and polite. The dining for breakfast and dinner is good, though lacks finesse compared to the 5 star hotels. My only concern is the very poor attention to allergy management in the dining hall. Whilst the chefs and manager are very helpful if you let them know a day in advance that you want something separately prepared for the following evening (such as gluten free pasta or gluten and lactose free pizza), the general labelling of allergens is inconsistent and often simply wrong. I am gluten and lactose intolerant whilst my daughter has a nut allergy so the outcome from poor labelling can be very severe. Whilst the hotel do have a separate corner for gluten free breakfast products they do not label any allergens in that section. For 2 of the days the only GF bread they had out was brioche, which contains milk (lactose) but most customers will have been unaware. The only GF cereals were sugary or chocolate balls – no plain cornflakes or muesli. Anything containing dried fruits is labelled as containing nuts. When I advised the manager of the inadequate and incorrect food labelling (such as labelling chips fried in the same oil as other battered items as containing no allergens) she was defensive rather than apologetic and simply said they could not cater for all diets. I feel that is unacceptable in a 4 star hotel, and is very easily addressed/improved. In all others respects the hotel was a great place to stay, competitively priced, and in a superb location.

  Jan 02, 2026
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  Second visit to Riu Arecas

  Stayed at this hotel 2 years ago with my sister and we returned for a bit of winter sunshine. I have also stayed at the Riu Palace with my husband, but actually prefer the Arecas. Love the location of the hotel, rooms and communal areas are spotlessly clean, good selection of gluten free food available. Restaurant is busy but generally workable, unless you arrive in the midst of a storm; trying to get a table was unbelievably hard, with hundreds of guests wanting to be seated inside. Pros Location is good - IMO the nicest part of Costa Adeje. Short walk to lovely bars and restaurants in La Caleta. Close to beach and promenade. Staff are a real asset to the hotel, being in the main 99% friendly and helpful. This speaks of a strong culture and management style. Cleanliness General relaxed ambience Cons Having visited in 2023, we observed guests in 2025 seem much older and ruder; pushing in, reaching across to grab food in the restaurant etc. Long queues build every evening, prior to the restaurant opening for dinner. There’s also a sun bed sprint in the morning, as some elderly guests rush to bag their fave sun bed as soon as the pool area has been cleaned. Hilarious to watch!! Sadly 1 member of staff (female, young, working in the pool bar Wednesday afternoon) was distinctly sullen, did not speak and refused to make eye contact when she brought a receipt over for us to sign (our only interaction with her). Anyway her actions reflect badly on the hotel and need to be addressed!! Guests are after all on holiday….. No other member of staff behaved in this way. Hence I have scored 3 stars instead of 4!

  Dec 20, 2025
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  Not 4 Star

  Staff at hotel are lovely and work extremely hard under the circumstances, especially at meal times. 6.30pm on doors opening is like the Start of a marathon, huge ques waiting to go! (Same applies in morning for sun bed grabbing)Restaurant just isn’t big enough to cope with the number of guests comfortably, tables on top of each other and a free for all at the food with exceptionally rude guests grabbing at food,oblivious to the use of tongs,especially with an epidemic of Flu going around. Not a nice experience. Food is ok, if not on the bland side. Hotel is in the nicer end of Costa Adeje, rooms are a decent size, albeit a bit dated. No complementary water provided so come prepared if arriving late. One designated smoking area in the hotel, subsequently no smoking on balconies which was great being none smokers. 2 nice sized swimming pools and a further one down 77 steps near beach. Good and bad points for Riu Arecas, but sadly I cannot recommend and would not return.

  Dec 17, 2025