You can’t call yourself the Mediterranean correspondent on Britain’s number one travel newspaper if you’ve never even been to Cyprus. So I packed a bag and set out to sample the five-star hotels the island is famous for, secretly hoping I might also be able to indulge my favourite hobby – investigating comfortable bar-lounge areas.
Cyprus Tourism Organisation UK director Orestis Rossides said: “It’s important that operators push the island’s five hotels that are of a five-star standard in their brochures. Cyprus has among the best luxury hotels in the Mediterranean.”
Taking him at his word, I made appointments at Le Meridien, The Four Seasons and the Amathus Beach Hotel in Limassol, as well as the Annabelle in Paphos.
Le Meridien Limassol
Location:15mins from Limassol town centre and 45mins from Larnaca airport.
Accommodation: 236 rooms including 14 suites. General manager John Wood assured me that the standard rooms (all double) are the largest on the island. There are also 59 ‘garden villa’ apartments contained within the hotel grounds. A standard double room or garden villa will lead in at £133 (£161 with sea view), on a bed-and-breakfast basis.
Eating:this Forte-owned chain’s French theme was very evident in the main restaurant, Le Nautile. Though the internationally inspired wine list was excellent, with a copy of each label and a description of the grapes used, it would have been nice to see a little more Cypriot flavour on an otherwise first-rate menu. The open-air Le Viex Village Taverna, offering Cypriot specialities, is only available during peak season. Set meal price for two at Le Nautile is£32.
Spa and health club: since opening in 1989, Le Meridien invested £6m on its new indoor/outdoor thalassotherapy spa, along with 41 new rooms and suites. When the spa opens in May, it will reportedly be the largest in Cyprus, with four temperature and salinity controlled seawater pools; a hamman; saunas; whirlpool baths; and 17 separate treatment rooms. It will operate in conjunction with the existing health club, which has a gym, aerobics studio and a variety of sports facilities. All of the spa and health club facilities will be available to guests at no extra cost, with the exception of the spa treatments, which start at £28 for an hour’s massage. Several packages are available, ranging from anti-stress to weight control weeks, which are yet to be priced.
Bar/lounge areas:one indoors, two outdoors. A gin and tonic costs £4
Overall opinion: the ISO 9002 quality standard was not awarded to Le Meridien Limassol without reason. It is clear this property is part of an international chain, though this is no bad thing with Le Meridien’s reputation. The property is a good choice for both business and leisure travellers, which it caters for 50:50 on a year-round basis. Families will like the seclusion of the garden villa apartments as well as the well staffed Penguin Village children’s club. The spa could also be the best equipped on the island when it opens in May – what has been achieved so far certainly looks impressive.
The Amathus Beach Limassol
Location: just 5mins from Limassol town centre and 55mins from Larnaca Airport.
Accommodation: the property boasts 239 rooms, including 36 studio suites in a separate wing, which were refurbished last year. Nine of the suites located on the ground floor have their own private pools. standard double price is £82. A studio suite costs £109 (ground floor studio with pool is £131), on a bed-and-breakfast basis.
Eating:guests can choose from one of two main restaurants for their evening meal – Ambrosia and La Terrasse serve a variety of international dishes ‘to tease all types of culinary palates’. A meal for two in the Ambrosia costs around £36. Fish fans will love the waterside Limanaki taverna – open only during the summer, serving fresh Mediterranean seafood in Cypriot style.
Spa and health club:a range of packages with baffling names – ‘Lydian Elegance’; ‘Hermes Energy’; ‘Etheric Sensation’ are available. Half an hour’s massage costs from £17; a three-day ‘Amathusian Shaping Up’ package costs £122, including a variety of massage and beauty therapy treatments. The rest of the health club facilities – gym, sauna, aerobics and the like – are free for guests’ use.
Bar/lounge areas: two inside and one outside. The Dionysos bar offers good lounge-lizard potential. A gin and tonic is £4.
Overall opinion:at the moment, parts of the Amathus Beach – a member of The Leading Hotels of the World – are showing their age. Built in 1975, the rooms have been refurbished before, and are in the process of being refurbished again, though the work will not be complete until next year. If the quality of the new studio suites are anything to go by though, there is little to worry about – these are all tastefully decorated with a lot of wooden furniture, and well equipped with the usual five-star trappings. The surroundings – including an immaculate 4,000sq metres of sunbathing lawn – are an added bonus.
The Four Seasons Limassol
Location:next door to the Amathus Beach, 5mins from Limassol town centre and 55mins from Larnaca Airport.
Accommodation:the hotel has 323 rooms, including 18 suites and 14 adult-only garden studios. A double room with sea view costs £150 (inland view£132), adult-only studios cost£221
Eating:two main restaurants – the Palace and the award-winning Seasons Oriental – provide the bulk of the evening’s dining opportunities, though the Cafe Tropical – complete with two rather noisy parrots – stays open all day. The Palace offers a variety of theme nights and though the menu changes daily, I would recommend the Seasons Oriental. Obviously, there isn’t much local flavour on the menu but Kenny, the charismatic Chinese chef, is a master of the tepan-yaki table and an expert in food as a performance art. A meal for two with more food and wine than you could ever possibly need costs from around £80.
Spa and health club: I asked sales manager Christina Christodoulidou whether she was worried about Le Meridien’s new spa venture. “Theirs is large, ours is luxurious,” was her reply. She assured me that the Four Seasons’ was the only spa to offer genuine thalassotherapy treatments, as their water was pumped up from 200 metres below ground. The health club is free for guests, though treatments cost extra, starting at £19 for a 30min massage.
Bar/lounge areas: one inside and two outside. A gin and tonic costs £3.30.
Overall opinion: this is an independently owned hotel, not part of the Four Seasons international chain. I had to be told this though, so individuality is perhaps not its strong point. The friendly atmosphere was a real plus though; the outdoor pool area too, with its wide decking and gazebos, was among the most tasteful I’ve seen. The adults- only ‘hotel within hotel’ is a boon for couples wanting a romantic break. The suites come highly recommended too – when the Sultan of Brunei stayed here he took three whole floors for his entourage. His tip? Some £206,000 – in cash. The rooms are being refurbished with more comprehensive entertainment systems in time for summer; a good thing, as, though luxurious, they are starting to look alittle dated. I felt like an extra in Dallas on his way to the Oil Baron’s Ball.
The Annabelle Paphos
Location:in the centre of Paphos, one hour from Paphos airport.
Accommodation:218 rooms including 38 suites. Standard double price is£150 for two people. Studio suite with garden and sea view costs £233 for two people (£200 without garden). Both on a bed-and-breakfast basis.
Eating:Thanos Hotels, the family-run group which also owns the Paphos Beach – 5mins from the Annabelle – and the Anassa on the Akamas Peninsular, supplies all of its properties with fruit and vegetables from its own organic farm. The two restaurants are the mainly French-inspired Fontana Amorosa and The Deck, which serves more international dishes. The Pergola and The Cypriot-influenced Medi-terraneo are more casual. A meal for two at the Fontana Amorosa costs from £45. Few fine-dining options exist in Paphos town, so the hotel retains an average 70% of its guests for dinner, according to manager Gary Ewing.
Spa and health club:the Annabelle’s spa is overshadowed somewhat by its counterpart at its sister property, The Anassa (see page 48) but it offers all of the usual treatments with a body massage starting at £18. While use of the gym is free for guests, there is a charge for the sauna/Jacuzzi.
Bar/lounge areas:an impressive four – though the lobby bar was spoilt rather by the abundance of stone cladding among the otherwise well decorated lobby. A gin and tonic costs £4.
Overall opinion: my visit to this property was in mid-February, when 90% of the clientele seemed to be British empty-nesters escaping the UK’s winter. Though the time of year clearly had a lot to with who was staying, I would recommend the Annabelle for older visitors and couples as opposed to families with young children. The atmosphere is relaxed, the decor is very traditional. There is no dedicated children’s club but the tropical gardens are immaculate.