top of page
Search

Sunny Holiday to Cyprus!


In September I visited Paphos, Cyrpus.


Our Stay was for 7 nights and booked with EASYJET HOLIDAYS from Luton Airport.


We stayed at the Leonardo Cypria Bay Hotel in Paphos, 4 star Rated Hotel & 4.5 star Tripadvisor Reviews.


Our ratings:

Hotel? 8/10

Would we go back to Cyprus? Yes, its a stunning place to visit. The locals are so friendly and it all just feels so safe!

Would we stay at that hotel again? I would rather try somewhere else but for budget i would yes.

Things we did? 10/10



Travel: We flew into Paphos and had a coach transfer to the hotel which took around 20 minutes. We were luckily the first stop. (This was included in the holiday price).


The transfer for the boat day was included in the price of our ticket and picked us up outside the hotel next door. This only took about 15 minutes with stops at other hotels.


Everything else we did was no further than 10 minutes either by foot or bus.


Car parking booked with Holiday Extras - Booking Link + Discount





Hotel:


The hotel was lovely. The grounds are gorgeous, the small waterfalls around the pool. The large grassy area over looking the sea, everything just looks incredible. The hotel itself is a little more dated in some areas, nothing major just a little more boring than other areas. The restaurant is lovely, decorated in lovely green tiles.


There were plenty of sunbeds around the pool, and more on the grassy areas (where we sat). The grassy area was quieter and over looked the sea, you got sun all day which was great!


The entertainment team were great! Always something going on in the day, whether it was for adults or kits. They did stretching/ pilates/ yoga in the mornings, Aqua gym at around 11 (i did this and was probably the best one i've done!). Different games through the day and for kids they had disney princesses come one day, clowns and all sorts of things to keep them entertained.


In the evenings you have a club you can go to where they host most of the entertainment, the pool bar is open until 11pm and the lobby bar until 12pm. There was live singers and a fire show outside at the pool bar but the rest of the entertainment was done in the falcon club. Every time we went in there it wasn't busy at all. The entertainment wasn't bad and they do music, karaoke and all sorts for adults after it finishes, with a bar too so we couldn't work out why it never got busy. Everyone seemed to be outside.


We had a twin room facing out to the front of the building. The views actually weren't that bad. Over the buildings there was a lovely view in the distance. The room was a good size, big wardrobe with hangers. Plenty of plug sockets (these were all UK sockets). TV with English movie channels, fridge, safe and toiletries in the bathroom. It wasn't anything special but was fine for us and was cleaned every day.


A note - If you're booking the swim up rooms, they are right outside the kids pool and everyone can see in. They aren't private at all. If you're not getting a good deal or you don't have children i would say maybe don't book these rooms.


The beach isn't actually a beach. If you're looking to sit on the sand, make castles and play in the sea, you need to go further down or to one of the local beaches. You can see the sea but it's not easy to enter from the hotel and the water sports are fairly close so may be dangerous. There is a small area of sand which is taken up by the volley ball net. There is a public path to the back of the hotels that lead you to the other hotels on that strip and there you can enter the water better.


The staff were all lovely. At the pool bar they were so helpful, gave us some local places to try and recommendations. We noticed the staff couldn't do enough for you. A lot of families had younger children where they were given full bottles of milk, water, anything they needed to help their stay.


We didn't try the spa, but the ladies were so nice and helpful. Gave you all the information and if you weren't interested they didn't pester you. A full body massage was around 70euros so not too bad.




Food/ Drink at the hotel:

Food was actually pretty good! Every evening it was different and themed. We loved the oriental night and every night there were great meats and a big range of salad.


For lunch you can go outside to the snack bar where there is your standard pizza, pasta, salad pots, sandwiches, nuggets etc. But this was the same everyday. We ended up eating inside which was actually really nice. Much more variety of salads and different foods each day.


Breakfast has your standard English breakfast foods, continental, pancakes/ waffles and pastries. All of which were yummy.


The staff are really hot on keeping the food warm, if you open up the lids they come round after you and make sure everything is closed if you didn't do it. This worked so well, all of the food was constantly hot and tasted so fresh!


Drinks are your standard all inclusive, super strong!! Lots to choose from off menus which is great and you can also purchase other ones. They state very clearly what is included and what isn't. The prices of the ones not included were reasonable, the same as if you were to leave the hotel, a cocktail was around 7 euros.




Near By:

There's lots of restaurants and bars about 5 minute walk from the hotel. So many different options so if you were to go self catering this is a great area. On the map we saw Greek, Indian, Mexican, Chinese, Italian - Honestly anything you could think of.


The harbour is also only a 10 minute drive, it's lovely there. Some nice restaurants and shops to look in. The boutiques around the area looked so lovely.


We went out for dinner one evening to Mededogonia Taverna. This was lovely, we had Rose Wine, halloumi to start and a mixed grill each. The restaurant was so sweet, very traditional. Its near a pub that does music and karaoke which was great fun when it got later, listening to people singing.


We also went to the Haagen dazs shop and got a pot of ice cream, you just can't go wrong! Plus it was right next to the restaurant, how could we not?!


For some reason it won't let me add photos of these, i'll keep trying - but if not head over to my insta!!


Near the bars and restaurants there are shops, a pharmacy and a doctors. Everything is within walking distance which is so nice!


As i said above to the back of the hotel there is a path where you can walk along the other hotels. If you keep going you can get to the sunset point of Cyprus, the view was stunning and has a gorgeous Church (Saint Nicholas Church).




Things to do:

We did the Wave Dancer Full Day Boat Trip Booking Link, honestly this was probably one of the best things i've ever done on holiday. Sunbathing, swimming in the sea, all inclusive food and drinks, dancing, entertainment - it was AMAZING!


They picked us up from the hotel next door (no cost, this was included in the ticket price) at 9:30am. The guide was so helpful and made everything so clear and easy. When we got to the boat we were shown directly to it and made our way to a sunbed. It does get busy so i would say if you're bothered where you sit on the boat get a private transfer and go earlier. But there are plenty of beds so you will definitely get a seat somewhere!


We spent the day on the sea, departing at 10am and arrived back at 4pm where we were then dropped back off to our hotel. You can stay at the harbour if you want to, you just let them know so they don't wait for you, lots of people did this.


They had live music on the boat which was amazing. The tour guide is a magician so was doing tricks which was good too! When passing important areas we were given details on the history which we thought was so interesting and a great touch.


You have 2 swim stops, 1st at coral bay and the 2nd just around the corner (can't remember the bays name). The 2nd was my favourite, the water was so calm and clear it was just stunning! When getting off at the swim stops there are plenty of floats and life jackets so everyone can go in. There are also kayaks which looked great fun!


The food was lovely, so fresh and well seasoned. Its all cooked on board while you're at your first swim stop. We came back in from the water, had a drink and had lunch at the back of the boat, honestly it was just magical. The whole thing worked so well, we have nothing bad to say about this whole day! The drinks were also great, you could get any standard cocktails, beers, spirits, juices, soft drinks. The bar was always happy to help and you never had to wait long to get another drink!


This trip was 10/10 and you should definitely book when going to Paphos!



There is also lots of local quad and buggy rides you can do. One was about a 2 minute walk from our hotel. We were going to book this but the tour we wanted isn't currently running so we decided not to. Here's the link in case this is something you'd like to do...



There's also a water park near by, it didn't look that good which is why we didn't go. But a lot of people were saying it was so you could always give that a go for something to do! Link





Summary:

We loved Cyprus so much! It was a lot more expensive than our other holidays which is a shame as it felt like we compared a lot of things. For the money there are lots of places with nicer hotels, but Cyprus itself is just stunning! I'd love to go again and try new areas too!


If you have any questions or want to add anything feel free to post a comment! I'd love to hear about all of your experiences!!


Thank you for reading!

Love Tay x






Comments

bottom of page