We went to Playitas Resort, Fuerteventura. This was our experience.

Playitas Resort sits on a dark volcanic beach on the south-east coast of Fuerteventura, looking like someone dropped a sports complex on the surface of Mars. The terrain around it is barren, dry, and spectacularly alien. Inside the resort walls it's a different story: landscaped gardens, palms, flame trees in full bloom, and a dense, well-organised cluster of pools, courts, gyms and training facilities that has made Playitas one of Europe's most popular destinations for triathletes, endurance athletes and anyone who wants a holiday where sport is the main event.

We visited Playitas as a couple with different sporting priorities. One of us focused on endurance training: the 50m Olympic pool, open water swimming off the beach, trail running in the volcanic hills, and the community lighthouse run. The other played golf, tennis, trail running in the hills, and tested the fitness programme. Between us, we covered a broad cross-section of what the resort actually offers. This is what we found.

The Olympic pool: the headline act

Let's start with the reason most people book Playitas, because it deserves the attention. The 50m outdoor Olympic pool is not just "a big pool at a hotel." It's a competition-grade facility that hosts national and regional championships. Eight lanes with wavekiller lane ropes. Starting blocks at both ends. An underwater gallery for monitoring and correcting swim technique. Pace clocks at each end. A grandstand for approximately 300 spectators. Pull buoys, fins, hand paddles, stretch cords and kickboards all available poolside.

The water temperature sits between 25°C and 26°C year-round, which is the sweet spot for training: warm enough to be comfortable without being so warm that you overheat during interval sets. We watched serious swim squads running structured sessions alongside individual triathletes doing their own thing, and the lane management worked. Early mornings (before 8am) were the quietest. By mid-morning the pool was busier but never felt overcrowded, largely because eight lanes across 50 metres is a lot of water. The flags of half a dozen countries flew from poles at the far end during our stay, which tells you something about who uses this facility: multiple national squads were in residence at the same time as us.

For triathletes and swimmers, this pool alone justifies the trip. There are very few hotels in Europe where you can train in a genuine 50m Olympic pool, and none that combine it with the range of other sports Playitas offers. Club La Santa on neighbouring Lanzarote has three 50m pools, but Playitas' single pool matches it on specification and arguably surpasses it on the training environment: the underwater gallery is a standout feature for anyone serious about technique work.

Swimming school

The resort also has a dedicated swimming school (Sharky Swimming School) offering lessons for all ages and levels, from children learning to swim to adults refining their freestyle.

The leisure pool: the holiday side of Playitas

The Olympic pool is where Playitas earns its reputation. The leisure pool is where it earns repeat bookings from people who aren't triathletes. This is the bit I almost missed in my head before arriving, because every article about Playitas focuses on the training side. In reality there's a completely separate lagoon-style leisure pool, palm tree planters rising out of the water, curved edges, blue pool tiling, the whole holiday-resort setup. It's the part of the resort that turns a training camp into an actual holiday, and for couples or families where one person is training and the other wants to be on a lounger with a drink, this is where the trip works.

Around the leisure pool there's a shaded wooden pergola with rows of sun loungers, fabric shade cloth overhead, stone pillars, and a view out to the bay. Music plays through the day. Water aerobics classes run at set times (we saw one and it was well-attended, mostly by people who were not doing the WOD Box in the morning). There's an entertainment programme. And there are multiple bars dotted around the pool area for drinks and snacks, which is genuinely useful on rest days when you want to lounge, read, nap, and not leave the pool deck for three hours.

The contrast between the two pool zones tells you how Playitas is actually designed. Walk two minutes one way and you're at a competition-grade training facility with international squads doing 400m sets. Walk two minutes the other way and you're at a lagoon pool with a piña colada. Both exist at the same time, and neither interferes with the other. That's the thing most people booking Playitas don't realise until they arrive.

The accommodation: functional, not fancy

Let's set expectations honestly. The aparthotel is clean, modern, and completely basic. Not in a bad way, but don't book expecting style or comfort upgrades. The studios have white walls, a grey L-shaped sofa, light wood-effect laminate floors, a small wall-mounted TV, and two single beds pushed together as a double (European style, separate duvets). The bed frame is a plain black metal base with no surround, sitting directly on the floor. The headboard is a recessed wood panel with built-in reading lights, which is probably the only decorative touch in the room. Blue curtains, blue towels. That's the aesthetic. If you arrived hoping for boutique styling or luxury finishes, you'll be disappointed. If you came for the pool and the training, you'll notice the room for about ten minutes and then forget about it.

What works for active travellers

What it does have, and what matters for active travellers:

• The split-level layout works well. A short set of steps separates the elevated bedroom area from the sunken lounge and terrace, which gives the space a useful sense of separation in what is essentially a studio apartment.

• The bathroom is the nicest room: walk-in shower with a rain head, black stone vanity with an inset sink, clean tile, good toiletries. Modern and well-maintained rather than fancy, but clearly upgraded more recently than the rest of the apartment.

• The kitchenette is genuinely compact: a stainless steel sink, a two-ring induction hob, a microwave, a kettle, a drip coffee machine, and a small under-counter fridge the size you'd find in a hotel minibar. We never cooked, but the kettle got heavy use.

• Three full-height wardrobes along one wall give you generous storage for kit, which matters when you're packing for multiple sports.

• The air conditioning worked flawlessly, which is not a given in Canary Islands aparthotels and becomes the difference between sleeping and not sleeping in summer.

• And there's a small desk with a chair, which turned out to be more useful than expected: one of us worked and took video calls from the apartment on a few days, and the wifi was excellent throughout the stay with no dropouts or lag. If you're planning a bleisure trip that combines training with some remote work, Playitas handles it better than most resort hotels.

Navigating the resort

A quick word on the resort layout, because it matters for how the place feels day to day. Playitas is spread across three zones: hotel rooms on one side, the central facilities (pool, courts, gym, restaurants, beach) in the middle, and the aparthotel on the opposite side. The layout is easy to navigate and everything is walkable within a few minutes. The aparthotel side is noticeably quieter than the hotel-room side, which is either a feature or a bug depending on whether you want peace or proximity to the buffet.

The view from your terrace

A note on the terrace view, because this matters for booking. Views vary significantly by unit. Our ground-floor apartment looked straight at the identical apartment block across a strip of dry volcanic gravel with a few cacti, which is honestly fine but not a view. Other units (upper floors, perimeter blocks, different angles) look out over open volcanic ground with cactus, palm trees, and the mountains on the horizon. If the view matters to you, request an open-outlook or upper-floor unit when booking. What every terrace does have is a metal table with four chairs, drying racks for swimwear and sports kit, and good sun. After a morning pool session, hanging your kit to dry in the Fuerteventura sun while you drink coffee at the table is a small daily pleasure regardless of what you're looking at.

Our verdict on the rooms

Our honest take: the accommodation is exactly what it looks like in the photos. Basic, clean, functional, and completely forgettable as a feature in its own right. It's not a pleasant surprise and it's not a disappointment. It's a place to sleep, store kit, shower, make coffee, and work for a few hours when you need to. If the accommodation was the main reason for a trip, we'd book somewhere else. Since it wasn't, it worked perfectly.

Where Playitas actually impresses

Here's the interesting bit though. The apartments are basic, but the resort's communal spaces are not. The main lobby is a genuinely impressive double-height space with wood-slatted ceilings and massive circular pendant lights. The pool decks have wide wooden pergolas with fabric shading, stone columns and properly considered lounger layouts. The outdoor dining areas have mature flame trees growing through them. For a resort that markets itself on training infrastructure, the public areas are meaningfully better designed than you'd expect. The mismatch between basic apartments and polished communal spaces is actually the key to understanding how Playitas works: you don't spend your day in the room.

The resort also has standard hotel rooms on the opposite side of the complex, which we didn't stay in. The aparthotel gives you more space, a kitchenette, and a private terrace with drying racks. For stays longer than a few nights, especially if you're travelling as a couple or with family, the aparthotel is the more practical choice.

The food: sports nutrition meets holiday dining

The dining at Playitas gets the balance right between fuelling athletes and feeding holidaymakers. The buffet clearly prioritises healthy, sports-focused nutrition: lean proteins, complex carbs, salad bars, fresh fruit, and designated vegan areas. But it also has pizza, pasta, a generous dessert buffet, and kids' menu options for families. You can eat like a triathlete in race prep or like a normal person on holiday. Both work.

Breakfast

Breakfast was the highlight. It starts early, which is exactly what active guests need, with an abundant spread of healthy options: eggs, porridge, fresh fruit, yoghurt, bread, and proper coffee. After a 7am pool session, walking into that breakfast felt earned.

La Bodega restaurant

If you want a proper sit-down dinner instead of the buffet, there's also La Bodega, the à la carte restaurant at Plaza Rambla. It's set under a wooden pergola with a mature flame tree growing up through the roofline and international flag bunting strung across the ceiling. The terrace has a view out to the bay. This is the venue for a nice dinner out that doesn't require leaving the resort, and for longer stays it's a useful change of pace from the buffet. Not fine dining, but the atmosphere is better than the rest of the resort would lead you to expect.

There's also a small convenience store on site, which sounds minor but makes a real difference for longer stays. We used it for water, snacks, and a few essentials without needing to leave the resort.

Golf: better than the brochure suggests

The 18-hole par-67 golf course wraps through the volcanic landscape around the resort. It's short by championship standards, but it's fun, visually dramatic, and more challenging than the yardage suggests. The lava rocks and cliffs that border (and occasionally bisect) the fairways punish wayward shots severely, and the constant wind adds a tactical dimension you won't find on many courses. There's also a proper water hazard mid-round with a palm tree island in the middle of the pond, which is the kind of thing you remember after the round is over.

I need to correct something I went in expecting. The reviews and photos you find online suggest a basic, half-maintained resort course. That's not what we found. The fairways are properly green (not just survivor-green, actually green), the bunkers are raked and in shape, the tee boxes are clean, and the overall condition is meaningfully better than the brochure prepares you for. It's still not Algarve and it's still not a championship layout. But the "functional rather than pristine" complaint that's all over the internet about this course is out of date, or was wrong to begin with. Give it credit.

The practice facilities include a putting area, a chipping area and a driving range where you can buy balls. The pro shop is well-stocked and you can rent buggies or push trolleys for the round (rows of black push trolleys stored at the clubhouse, which is useful for golfers who'd rather walk).

Tennis: excellent coaching, great courts

Playitas has six artificial turf and quartz sand courts with lighting for evening play. The courts were in great condition when we visited, and the gear (free rental rackets included) was surprisingly good quality. The coaching, provided through the Matchpoint tennis school, was the real standout: professional, adaptable to different levels, and genuinely educational rather than just hitting balls back and forth.

We took several group and individual classes and came away having actually learned things. The coaches adjusted their approach based on ability level, which meant beginners and intermediate players could join the same session without either group being bored or overwhelmed. For the price of a few classes, the tennis at Playitas represents excellent value.

Fitness: where the WOD box echoes across the resort

The fitness infrastructure at Playitas is extensive. The centrepiece is the 700m² gym, which has everything you'd expect from a well-equipped commercial gym. But the real energy comes from the group fitness programme.

The WOD Box (Workout of the Day) is where things get intense. Hardcore instructors run daily high-intensity group sessions: Body Pump, Hyrox training, fitness boxing, power training, and custom WODs, all set to loud banging music that carries across half the resort when a session is running. It's the kind of atmosphere that either motivates you or makes you glad you're at the pool instead. We did both.

Beyond the WOD Box, there's an outdoor gym, outdoor fitness classes on the multipurpose Sport Zone court (positioned between the Olympic pool and the beach with an Atlantic Ocean backdrop), and a Hybrid Court for functional training, lifting and conditioning. The daily class schedule is packed, and the resort app makes booking simple.

Trail running and the lighthouse run

The terrain around Playitas is extraordinary for trail running. Fuerteventura's landscape is volcanic, dry, and barren in a way that looks like Mars with a coastline. High rocky hills rise behind the resort, criss-crossed with trails that offer everything from easy coastal runs to steep, technical hill climbs. The views from the hilltops, looking down over the resort, the dark curve of the beach, and the Atlantic, are worth the climb regardless of your pace.

One run in particular is worth knowing about. A steep, rocky trail climbs the volcanic hill directly behind the resort (loose scree in places, proper technical descent, not a beginner route). From the top you get a view of the entire setup: the resort cascading down the hillside, the golf course threading through its volcanic valley, the full curve of the bay, the dark beach, Las Playitas village on the opposite headland, and the Atlantic stretching to the horizon. It's the single best reward at Playitas for the effort it takes to earn it. Go in the late afternoon for the light.

The community lighthouse run deserves a special mention. It's a weekly group run organised by the resort that takes you along the coast to a lighthouse and back. It's social, scenic, and exactly the kind of activity that turns a solo training session into a shared experience. We joined it once and wished we'd done it twice.

For road cyclists and triathletes, the roads around the resort extend into Fuerteventura's interior with long, exposed, windy routes through the volcanic landscape. The cycle centre has over 250 rental bikes (road, mountain, e-bike, recreational and kids' bikes) with mechanical support on site.

The beach and open water swimming

The resort sits on a wide, sheltered bay with a dark volcanic sand beach. The sand is more charcoal grey than pure black (the "black sand beach" you'll see in some listings is selling it slightly harder than reality), but it's genuinely striking, the water is clear, and the bay is calm enough for open water swimming. We swam off the beach several times during our stay as a break from pool sessions, and it worked well: calm conditions most mornings, good visibility, and a safe stretch of water for a short open water loop or a steady swim across the bay. For triathletes who want to combine structured 50m pool sets with open water practice in the same trip, this is a rare combination at a sports hotel. Most resorts give you one or the other.

The village setting

Across the bay sits the small village of Las Playitas, a cluster of white houses on the opposite headland. The resort takes its name from the village. It's worth knowing because it explains the wider setting: Playitas Resort isn't parked in an empty landscape, it's built on the edge of a real Canarian fishing village with a working harbour, visible across the bay from the beach and pool areas.

Beach facilities

The beach itself is more than just scenery. There's a water sports centre with kayaks, stand-up paddleboards and snorkelling gear, a Deep Blue diving centre offering courses from beginner to experienced (with instructors teaching in English, German, Spanish, French, Danish and Swedish, which tells you something about the guest mix), and beach volleyball courts. The Sport Zone multipurpose court sits between the Olympic pool and the beach with a full Atlantic view, and is where most of the outdoor fitness classes run.

Everything else: padel, climbing, diving, yoga and more

The full facility list at Playitas borders on absurd. Beyond the headline sports, the resort has padel courts, a pickleball court, a 1,200m² indoor hall with performance lighting and scoreboard suitable for handball, floorball, badminton, basketball, football and martial arts (national teams have used it as a training base preparing for tournaments and fights), a climbing and bouldering wall, a yoga shala offering Vinyasa, Hatha, Yin, Aerial, Power Yoga, Pilates, Body Balance, TRX Yoga and Spinefitter classes, a cycling terrace on the roof of the sport shop with indoor cycling classes, a Deep Blue diving centre with courses for all levels, a water sports centre with kayaks, SUP and snorkelling, beach volleyball courts, and a minigolf course for when your body tells you it's done training for the day.

We didn't test everything (nobody could in a single visit), but the facilities we used were genuinely well-maintained and professionally staffed. The resort's smartphone app ties it all together: browse the daily schedule, book a class, reserve a court, check pool times. It worked smoothly and made managing a varied training day effortless.

The vibe: serious but not intense

The guest profile at Playitas is exactly what you'd hope for at a sports resort. The crowd is fit, varied, and international, with Scandinavians (especially Danes and Swedes) making up the biggest single cohort, followed by British and other Western European guests. The mix ranged from couples like us (focusing on our own sports while enjoying a nice holiday), to active families with kids using the pool and beach, to triathlon squads doing structured training blocks, to older guests doing daily workouts and classes.

The atmosphere strikes a good balance. It's serious enough that everyone takes their sport genuinely, but relaxed enough that you never feel pressured to perform. Nobody judges you for choosing the pool bar over the WOD Box on a rest day. The shared sporting focus creates easy conversation: we met people at classes, at the pool, and at the lighthouse run who we wouldn't have spoken to at a regular hotel. There's also a dedicated social meeting point on the resort grounds (a bright pink and blue circular deck under two tall palm trees, near the beach) that works as an informal gathering spot for group activities and social sports.

Best time to visit Playitas

Fuerteventura's climate is remarkably stable. The island has warm sunshine and low rainfall year-round, which is why triathlon squads use it as a winter training base. That said, the months are not all equal. Here's how we'd rate them for training.

The sweet spot is October to May. January to March is peak season for triathlon and endurance training camps, which means more atmosphere but also busier pools and classes. July and August are hot enough that midday outdoor activity becomes uncomfortable, though the heated pool and evening tennis keep training viable if you plan around the sun.

What Playitas doesn't do well

No honest review skips the weaknesses, and Playitas has a few worth knowing about.

The heat. Fuerteventura in summer is hot. Seriously hot. As Northern Europeans used to mild summers, we were genuinely caught off guard by how uncomfortable midday could be even for basic activities like walking to the restaurant. Midday outdoor sport is unthinkable unless you're in the pool. The golf course has almost no shade. The trail running is exposed. Plan your active sessions for early morning and late afternoon or evening, and use the middle of the day for the pool, the gym, or rest. The resort handles this well (early breakfast, evening court lighting, heated pool for all-day swimming), but the climate is a real factor, particularly from June to September.

The wind. Fuerteventura is one of the windiest Canary Islands. Wind affects cycling (exposed coastal roads), tennis (outdoor courts), and occasionally pool swimming on very blustery days. The wind is part of the island's character and most sports cope fine, but if you're used to sheltered Mediterranean conditions, it's noticeable.

The location. Playitas is on the quiet south-east coast of Fuerteventura. There's not much around the resort beyond the volcanic landscape. If you want nightlife, shopping, or a vibrant restaurant scene outside the resort, this isn't the place. The resort is self-contained by design, and most guests don't leave the premises. That suits a training focus perfectly, but it's worth knowing if you want off-resort exploration.

The golf course length. The course is better maintained than we expected, so I'm removing the condition complaint. But at par 67 and under 6,000 yards, it's short. If you're a single-digit handicap looking for a championship-length test, this isn't it. If you want a fun, wind-affected round with a dramatic volcanic routing and real water hazards, you'll enjoy it.

Playitas vs Club La Santa: the honest comparison

This is the question everyone asks, so let's address it directly.

Factor	Playitas	Club La Santa
Pool	One 50m Olympic pool (8 lanes, underwater gallery)	Three 50m pools
Cycling	250+ rental bikes, good roads	600 Cannondale bikes, iconic Lanzarote routes
Golf	18-hole on-site course	No on-site course (nearby options)
Tennis	6 courts with coaching	Multiple courts with Green Team coaching
Accommodation	Hotel rooms + aparthotel with kitchenettes and private terraces	Apartments (functional, basic)
Food	Strong buffet with sports nutrition focus	Good but more basic
Coached sessions	Extensive via app (WOD, yoga, tennis, running, swimming)	500+ per week via Green Team
Atmosphere	Relaxed resort with serious training	More sports-camp, less resort
Location	Fuerteventura (volcanic, remote, dark volcanic beach)	Lanzarote (volcanic, more developed area)
Best for	Couples, mixed groups, golf + training, broader resort feel	Triathlon squads, multi-sport volume, pure training focus

Club La Santa wins on sheer volume: more pools, more bikes, more coached sessions. Playitas wins on polish: better accommodation, better food, the on-site golf course, and a resort atmosphere that works as both a training camp and a holiday. If you're a triathlon squad doing a two-week training block, Club La Santa is probably the better fit. If you're a couple where both people want to train but also want a comfortable holiday, Playitas is hard to beat. For a deeper look at Club La Santa, see our complete Club La Santa guide.

Who Playitas is for

Playitas is what happens when someone builds a sports complex first and wraps a resort around it second. The priorities are obvious from the moment you arrive: the pool is the centrepiece, the training schedule is the heartbeat, and everything else exists to support your recovery between sessions. For athletes, that's exactly the right way round.

Similar sports resorts in the Canary Islands

If Playitas sounds like your kind of holiday but you want to compare alternatives, these are the closest matches across Lanzarote and Gran Canaria. All are multi-sport, all have serious training infrastructure, and all work for endurance athletes and active couples.