Hotel Almyra - Paphos, Cyprus 

We stayed at the Almyra for the first fortnight in July, with our 3 young children. We had a fantastic welcome, we sat down in reception on arrival and given apple juice for the kids and cold water for ourselves - as well as cold facecloths to freshen up with - it is EXTREMELY hot! After a rapid and smooth check-in we were physically shown to our rooms by a lovely receptionist who filled us in on all we had to know about the Hotel on arrival. We had inter-connecting double sea view terrace rooms, ours also having a pull out bed for our youngest child. We found that they had placed a travel cot rather than a pull out bed in the room when we arrived, but within 5 minutes the housekeeping ladies were there to take the cot away and made up a very comfortable pull out bed and placed it where we requested. We also asked for more clothes hangers for the warcrobes, which we had within 5 mins of asking. We were very impressed! The rooms were spacious and minimalist, each day they place some fresh fruit on the table by the window for you to snack on as you get ready for the evening - always fresh and tasty. The only thing I would say is that the rooms are not sound proofed, so you do hear kids crying in other rooms, and a lot of corridor noise. The housekeeping service was very friendly and efficient , the rooms were very well kept even with all our paraphernalia in them! The beds were comfortable and clean. The bathroom was well appointed and well kept. The Mosaics restaurant where we ate breakfast every morning was very organised, with lovely food and a great selection of fruit and fresh smoothies. My only criticism here is that we are not cat lovers and there were quite a few cats wandering around under the tables, as other guests feed them. This made me extremely uncomfortable. Notios restaurant is quite exquisite - the food is wonderful and wine very good. It's great to be able to eat at this standard of restaurant, with the most fantastic views and feel comfortable having 3 kids in tow! We also had some fabulous meals at the beach-side Ouzeri, which did BBQ meze nights twice a week and an a la carte menu every night. The food was again, second to none. The childrens portions, standard of food and selection of kid friendly meals across the restaurants was super. All that aside, as the restaurants really were great throughout the holiday, our 1st week was far more relaxing than our 2nd. We managed to get there before the rush of school break up as we're scottish, so break up that bit earlier, so had an easy time at the poolside, plenty of sunbeds, not too many people in the pool, not too many people anywhere really. However, during our 2nd week it got busier by the day (do note that it seems locals are allowed in at the weekends and use the restaurant, as well as the pool which makes it VERY busy) and there was quite a lot of competition for the limited amount of sunbeds. The hotel has provided a lot of shade, which is fantastic with young children. However, the shades are fixed, so not everyone wants to sit in the shade all day - hence the rush for a 'sunny' sunbed in the morning as it got busier. One afteroon I left our sunbeds to go to the toilet, while my husband and children played in the pool and came back to find a local couple lying all over our towels. Our books and toys were all over them too. I was quite horrified and felt a bit uneasy after this. By our last day the pool was like 'people soup'! I would recommend going here out of term time, it really is a fantastic place to take kids - the kids club was great, our kids went in for a few hours each morning and did a couple of the evening activites in the club on a couple of oocassions. They loved it and the staff were very good. Paphos was disappointing to say the least, but we went more for the hotel than the town. It is an easy Hotel to go to and just stay within the boundary! The beach is pebble-y and my son was stung by a jelly-fish at the waters edge on the 1st day - so that put him off for a bit. However, the water trampoline they provide in the bay and the jet skis were a huge hit with our older two children! All is all, we had a very pleasant stay. The hotel and it's staff were excellent, my main problem was how busy it got for such a small area and that is enough to put me off going back. It was an extremely expensive holiday for somewhere that didn't feel as exclusive as it's price tag! A larger pool and more sunny sunbeds for famlies are what is needed there!

My family and I just returned from a weekend at Almyra and all I can say about this hotel is that it is well equipped and very appropriate for families with young children. The pool is very children-friendly and covered to protect from sunlight, there is a donkey children can go on a ride and some toys in the garden next to the pool (we did not use the kids club so I cant comment on that). As the hotel is packed with couples with young children we did not feel 'ostricised' during our stay just because we have a baby. On the contrary the staff (both at the pool and at the restaurants) played with our 20-month old boy and assisted us at all times either by bringing us a high chair (as soon as we entered the restaurants) or plastic cutlery. The food at the Mosaics restaurant and at Ouzeri were of excellent quality (although a bit pricey at Ouzeri). I would recommend this hotel probably not for its beach as it is quite rocky but the hotel offers a variety of activities to keep the youngsters busy while parents relax. On top of that the rooms are immaculate and the decoration very modern and elegant. I would, however, advice to watch out for guests taking over the large sunbeds by the pool for unlimited amounts of time. Hotel policy reserves the right to remove all belongings if the sunbeds are left unattended for more than 40 minutes (1.5 hour during lunch time); so if there is a towel on a sunbed left by a 'smart guy' who woke up at 8 and then decided to go back to bed for a few more hours make sure you exercise your right and ask hotel staff to pass on the sunbed to you.