Cyprus Chill

As the family travel agent, my mum tasked me with finding a suitable location for a big family holiday. My mum wanted to take myself and my family, my brothers’ family and herself away to celebrate her semi-retirement. Pressure aside, I enjoyed finding something that would tick the boxes for all of us and I decided to book a fabulous hotel in Cyprus that I had sent many of my clients to and wanted to see for myself!

The Almyra is truly beautiful and a place I knew that would appeal to my design obsessed brother and mother. It’s great for families and has little touches such as kids’ cutlery at dinner, a separate buffet for the children and films after dinner. In addition to this there is also an amazing covered pool which has just the right amount of shade and sun, for people like me that want my kids to be in shade but also a tan for myself! The staff are super attentive and friendly and the food in the half board - the buffet is really good. You can also pay a 15-euro supplement per person to eat a set menu in the Asian-med fusion restaurant and it was worth every penny. We were presented with a tasting menu which included a sushi course, prawn tempura, a fish course, meat course and a trio of puddings.

It is a quiet resort so no real evening entertainment, however there is live music in the taverna attached to the hotel and also in the sister hotel, Annabelle next door. In addition to this Paphos harbour is a very pleasant 10-minute walk away with lots to do if you want to go out. We also visited the nearby Kato Paphos Archaeological Park, a fascinating site containing four large and elaborate Roman villas as well as other ruins. It’s a UNESCO world heritage site and is still partly under excavation but has plenty to see.

We had a little bit of a two-centre holiday, as after saying goodbye to my extended family after a week, myself and my little family decided to stay at another hotel for four nights more. We stayed at Olympic Lagoon Paphos. This is an all-inclusive resort a few minutes’ drive further from Paphos Harbour. It’s a very different hotel to Almyra and it does have amazing facilities – there is an excellent buffet as well as four other restaurants and a coffee bar. It has a fabulous kids club that takes babies as well as older children and a great entertainment team that put on a show every night. A slight negative is that you could be anywhere as it’s not particularly Cypriot, however, if you are after a very relaxing holiday where you don’t have to leave the resort, then it’s perfect.

We loved Paphos and it really was a gorgeous place to spend a holiday. The food is delicious and the people are lovely. I only wish I had longer to explore more of the city and beyond!