Apartamentos Arco Iris Apartments

We first stayed here in 2015 and came back in 2023. It was good to see that improvements had been made. The property has seven blocks, each three storeys high with six apartments on each floor. Units have either a decent sea-view balcony or a patio opening onto the garden and pool. Key cards operate the apartment and access locks, including useful gates that lead straight to the promenade above the beach bars and 'The Dunes'. Inside, there's a bedroom with two beds that can be pushed together, a shower-only bathroom and a roomy lounge/kitchenette with a sofa, armchair and three-seat breakfast bar. The kitchen includes a two-ring hob and hood, large fridge-freezer, microwave, filter coffee maker and sink. There's a six-digit coded safe big enough for several laptops and other valuables, plenty of sensibly placed sockets, and a 30" flat-screen TV with German and Spanish channels and radio stations. The HDMI input on our TV seemed locked out. Our apartment was clean and tidy on arrival. Cleaners come around 2pm on weekdays, and are fine if you skip service on a given day. Some fittings look shabby, but everything worked, and the shower was roomy and powerful. Cita shopping centre is a five-minute walk away, with a couple of supermarkets and a nice square full of bars, clubs and restaurants. It's also a short walk down the promenade to the beach bars and the magnificent beach. Two things were a problem. The cooker hoods seem to share a duct, so a neighbor's hood can be noisy and bring the smell of their frying into your apartment. WiFi costs extra, with different packages available. We paid 32€ for unlimited devices over our 14-day visit, but only managed to connect two devices, and the connection was slow and very unreliable. I would use the island's 4G networks instead with a suitable plan and hotspot-enabled device. It should be more reliable and better value, although it only runs at around 4Mbits/s in Playa.