Kyrenia, Riverside Holiday Village

We booked a week here through Travelzoo as it seemed a good deal and too good to be true, It was!!

First the flight with owner air was awful, cramped, delayed and rude staff.

Arrived at Riverside after midnight and after all the chaos at reception it was 3.30 am before we got our apartment, the place smelt of smoke and next door were still playing music etc and the door between the apartments was so bad that is was possible to see their lamp shade! tried to phone reception, you guessed it no answer and could not bother to walk another 13 minute on unlit pathways, so decided to stay till morning.

Next morning I complained at reception and was told, 'go and get your breakfast and call back'.

A 15 minute uphill jaunt to the breakfast room to find cats everywhere, sitting on tables and staff not caring one bit, the food was buffet style and very limited choice, eggs, cheese pastry, salad etc. same every morning.

Two day was enough for us, we ate out from then on after chatting with others the evening meals were as bad.

The only decent thing about this place is the pools, after that, no entertainment and only one pokey little bar.

Never again, its such a shame as it could be made a nice, but unlike every thing else her which is uphill, the place and management appears going downhill.

We have been visiting every year since 2003 and have always stayed at Riverside Holiday Village. The centre is owned and managed by the Ozbirim family who are kind and helpful. Riverside may be isolated in location but we have never fouund this a problem in getting out and about. We have used the local "dolmus" which run when the bus is full. It stops a 10 minute walk from Riverside. There is also the daily courtesy bus that stops at the beach on its way to Kyrenia. There is a good taxi service and if you wish you can hire a car.

Although brochures will state villas they are really apartments and compact bungalows. Not happy! then ask to move.Breakfast is good value though some say it is repetitive. I have never left feeling hungry.

Finally we look forward to spending another holiday at our favourite resortCDM

I stayed in Riverside Garden Resort (A419) with three 60-year old ladies (my mom and my two aunts) for one week. We chose this hotel for a peaceful holiday, but we faced with the biggest insult we have ever heard. We were blamed with false statement, sham, and prostitution! After a general overview of the hotel, I will mention the details of this incident below.

The hotel is located next to a cemetery, far from the city centre. Although the hotel provides transportation to the city, it is only once per day (at 10:30 from the hotel to the city, at 15:00 from the city to the hotel) and the timing is quite inconvenient especially for summer period, since one spends the hottest period of the day (11:00-15:00) at the city centre, directly under the sun. The same hotel bus stops at the beach, thus if you choose to go to the beach via hotel bus, you would receive the sun light at its most dangerous period.

They serve breakfast and lunch, but not dinner. The minimarket of the hotel was always closed during our stay.

The hotel is located in a beautiful garden. The units themselves may not be superb, but in OK condition. There is airconditioning in the unit, but only on the second floor. Since we visited the hotel during the winter, we used an electrical heater on the ground floor, which was not very efficient and convenient. The unit's furniture and facilities are quite old. We stayed in a 1 bedroom unit. Two of us slept in the upper bedroom and two on the sofa bed downstairs. The sofa bed was broken, the extreme part was detached from the head. In the middle of the night you would find your feet hanging down to the floor as this part had been separated. There was a problem with the water pipes. Water runs with a very low pressure. One could not use the toilet in succession, since the reservoir fills in quite some time. There is a fridge, an oven and a microwave in the kitchen. But there is no plug near the microwave, thus each time you use the microwave, you have to carry it onto the table. There is no central TV-cable, or satellite, TV antenna was quite old. We had only a few channels, all local with poor picture quality, no international channels such as CNN or BBC were on!

On the other hand, there was a problem with the phone in our neighboring unit. Although noone was staying in this unit, the phone was ringing repeatedly. This was waking us up at least 4-5 times during the night. We complained about this to the hotel management twice, but the problem was not fixed during our stay.

On top of all these problems with our unit, we experienced a quite unpleasent incident in this hotel. The owner of the hotel blamed us with false statement, sham, and prostitution. On the last day of our vacation, the owner of the hotel called me to the reception and as if he were a district attorney he started to shout at me saying:

'You take two men to your room last night!'.

When I said:

'No, we didn't. We were on the tour yesterday.',

he replied:

'No, we have camera records, it was you, we see 4 women and 2 men on the video. You are 4 women, you take 2 men to your room last night! We have records, these 4 women were you, you take 2 men to your room last night!'

This went on for a while, he was shouting all the time! He blamed us with false statement, sham, and taking men to our unit. He blamed me and accompanying three 60-year old ladies with prostitution. Although I was explaining that it was not us on the film and that we were on the tour the day before, he was not listening, he was shouting, yelling and swearing all the time. I asked to look at the film together to see if they resemble us or not, he refused. I also asked to call the police together, but he refused.

We later learned that the people on the film could not be identified directly, the faces were not clear on the film. The owner of the hotel accused us without any evidence at all! Our only fault was staying in the unit as 4 women! On the next day we learned that they called the police later that night and someone else staying in another unit had guests in their unit, they did not report these guests to the hotel management. These people have no resemblance to us, they are not 4 women, but 2 women and 2 men. Thus the owner of the hotel had no basis to accuse us, or anyone else at all. He has no right to shout, yel and swear at people and blame them with sham!

We did not receive any apology from the owner of the hotel. Even after they caught the hotel guests who did not report their friends, even after they uncovered that the people on the film were not us, the owner of the hotel did not explain us the situation and he did not apologize for his discourteous behaviour.

I strongly recommend everyone to stay away from this hotel.

Just returned from a months holiday at Riverside and have to say we had a wonderful time there. The weather was great - sunshine every day! The facilities available were excellent with 3 swimming pools to choose from. The availability of the 'Adults Only' pool was brilliant for people who wanted to swim or relax away from the very popular children's pool or the 'Olympic pool' for more serious swimmers.

Our villa was basic but perfectly adequate and had superb mountain views. Anything we wanted such as a toaster was immediately made available to us. We appreciated the services provided such as the bus to Kyrenia and the beach and also the availability of on site car hire and excur sion booking. The staff were all very helpful and the grounds and facilities were exceptionally well kept. The team of cleaning ladies were unfailingly polite and cheerful. We were amazed at the number of guests who were on a return visit - some having visited 10 or more times previously.

We will certainly be joining them!

Roger & Ann.

My husband and I stayed at Riverside for one week in October 2009. We were not sure what to expect after reading some reviews. We stayed in King Suite where the view was fantastic. The terrace was very relaxing and in the evenings it was nice to have a drink there in a peaceful tranquillity. We had a lovely time in beautiful surroundings. The breakfast was great, cooked and presented beautifully. It was so nice to sit out on the terrace to have our breakfast with views of mountains on one side and sea in distance. The pools and the village are kept very clean. We had lunch by the poolside. Both of us being vegetarians, we were looked after quite well and nothing was too much for the friendly staff. It was excellent value for money. Free of charge WiFi was welcome change from other resorts. Riverside is a family owned holiday village and run with great pride.

We stayed at Riverside for the second year running in August 2009. Before stating the facts I'll point out that my family along-with three other families, have all re-booked for 2010.

Facts:-

Excellent value for money

Excellent half board evening meal

Excellent pool facilities for the kids (and adults alike)

Very friendly staff

Great free of charge WiFi

Riverside is a family owned holiday village and run with great pride. Their staff are excellent and they themselves are always on hand to take care of your every need.

Ignore any critical comments, some people just enjoying finding faults.

We have made several visits to North Cyprus and have stayed at Riverside resort on many occasions. North Cyprus has natural beauty surrounded by mountains and crystal clear Mediterranean sea. Riverside resort is based in Alsancak some 20mins from Kyrenia. We have stay in various rooms in the resort and have always found the rooms to be clean and comfortable.We love our visits to N.Cyprus and particularly our stay at Riverside Resort.

Riverside Holiday Village is a family run resort with good facilities and a excellent location Rooms are clean and tidy .Swimming pools really good. Car hire is available at reasonable rates. We have been to Riverside for the last five years and have booked again for 2009 a nice place to relax

Riverside Holiday Village is a beautiful place to relax and unwind, but if you choose to be active Riverside will organise whatever activity it is you wish to do. The courtesy bus into Kyrenia Town & also to the beach, takes care of your needs in these directions,if you want to go somewhere different for the day, or 1/2 day, without driving or catching a bus. Car hire is available on site, as are,an Olympic size swimming pool, fun pools for both tots & teens, entertainment,gym,beauty salon,a la carte restaurant & pool snack bar.

Rooms are spacious,clean & well maintained,all in all a good place to go!

We have stayed at Riverside Holiday Village in the past and are frequent visitors to Northern Cyprus. We have continued to use Riverside as the location is good, and it is peaceful relaxing and friendlyThe car hire is reliable and staff sort out any minor problems quickly. It is a charming hotel, good for when we travel as a family or just the grownups.

Very helpful staff,courteous and always wanting to make your holiday great. Excellent pools and pretty well kept grounds .Good value for money