Kouzalis Beach Hotel

We have no problem with the service we received by thompsom holidays, but the hotel didnot come up to the description in the brochure. Pool lovely, but sun loungers dirty, umbrellas ripped and dirty. The grass area was in need of attention, very sparse and needed reseeding. The beach area was just rocks and pebbbles and there was litter and debris everywhere and no one picked the litter up while we where there. The room we had overlooked an apartment garages and carpark. The refuse collection lorry arrived between 3.30 and 4.00am every morning and thereafter the delivery lorries would arrive. Do do,nt expect a lie in any morning at this hotel. The food was never hot, tepid at best. We had great difficulty finding any crockery that was not chipped, when there were no cups available at breakfast we were asked to drink out of plastic cups, which we refused to do. The rooms are very dated, our cleaner georgia done an excellent job and was the friendliest member of staff. Most of the staff had a could not be bothered attitude and could do with some customer training. I would not recommmend this hotel to anyone going holiday to Cyprus, it is not up to the 4star standard we expect.

After reading negative reviews on this hotel, my husband and I nearly cancelled our holiday as we were dreading it. WE ARE SO GLAD WE DIDN'T. We stayed here from 22nd Oct " 29th Oct 2008. Here are our honest views on this hotel and local area.This hotel is a little out of the way but ideal for those who know this and want a quiet relaxing holiday in a lovely setting. Perfect place to chill out and unwind.The hotel appears to have a large amount of customers who are Swiss or German as well as people from the UK.The hotel reception area is very nice and airy, the reception staff are very polite, helpful and friendly.Just beyond the reception area is the upstairs Espirades Cocktail Bar which has a nice seating area fronted by patio doors and floor to wall glass that leads onto a lovely balcony which looks out onto the pool and across to the beach. Across from the bar is a seating area with sofas and tables.There is a small shop but due the hotel about to close for the winter season (3 days after our departure), it wasn't as stocked as would be expected during the height of the summer season. There is, however, two little 'supermarkets' on the road the hotel is off and they have a good selection of products, the larger of the two shops is the one closet to the neighbouring hotel Crystal Springs but it is literally up the road within walking distance.The Neptune Poolside Bar is nicely situated and the bar staff are very friendly and have a great sense of humour, once they get to know you, you can really have a good laugh with them. I feel if you treat them with the correct jovial and polite attitude you can expect the same response back.The grumpy barman possibly mentioned in previous reviews has left and has been replaced.We didn't need to use the indoor pool but went to see what it looked like, it would be nice for an early morning or late evening swim but sadly the opening time are approx 10.00am until 19.00pm, I feel this should be extended as this pool does not get any use at all it appears and seems a waste. Had it opened longer, I would definitely have made use of it. The outside pool was lovely and refreshing just a perfect cool temperature, the seats by the bar had the sun on all day so a novel way of topping up the tan on your back whilst sipping your favourite tipple. We noticed that the Jacuzzi mentioned wasn't working and the small round pool pictured in brochures we assumed must be the Jacuzzi didn't have any air jets so must be just a small 50cm deep round pool to sit in and relax, there was an area by the entrance to the pool by the side of the pool bar that did have what looked like jets in the sides but it wasn't working.Plenty enough sun loungers and brolleys to go round even after people had taken time to 'book' their space for the coming day. The sun loungers are slightly uncomfortable where they have a gap between the flat part and the adjustable backrest, this can be sorted by putting a folded up towel over it or by lying on a lilo for padding. Again this is no way near a complaint, just advice for future holiday makers.Although there is the facility for beauty and massage treatments, I didn't know of anyone using that facility, maybe because that was on the same floor level as the indoor pool and gym, maybe this should be relocated to the room space next to the reception desk that appears to be vacant.Our room (no 342) which was on the reception entrance side of the hotel, had the most wonderful side sea view over the little bay and out across the beach, the room was nice because of the views we had from our balcony. One thing we agreed with from the reviews we had read is the fact the bed was exceptionally hard to the extent of making your bones ache. We solved this by placing blankets on top of the mattress under the bed sheets for extra padding and didn't make a fuss or let it ruin our holiday.The tip about reward cards in the air conditioning slot worked a treat but it must be noted that if you leave the card in before room service, you will come back to find it lifted out slightly to turn the electric off, when we stayed local to the hotel, we tried to make sure we popped to our room after daily room service to pop the card in the slot again so the room was nice and cool to return to.

The TV did only show SKY news and this was a disappointment if you fancied watching something in the evening instead of joining the entertainment. We personally chose not to join in with the evening entertainment but that was because it really is not our cup of tea and it didn't start until 10.00pm which for us was fairly late as we are normally early risers due to our careers but this is not a complaint against the hotel, just our own personal choice. We kind of expected this in advance after reading reviews so came prepared with our laptop and some dvd's just in case, which proved handy.We were all inclusive and were given a yellow wrist tag to wear all holiday so that their staff would know when serving us.The food, which has been a great source of complaint on reviews sites, was to us perfectly fine, in fact the choice of dishes at lunchtime and during the evening could not be faulted, my husband is extremely fussy and even he managed to tuck in. As we are big meat lovers we were really impressed by the volume of meat dishes and each night there was a carved meat of some sort. The meat in the dishes was in big chunks too, which was good as there was more meat than sauce which is the opposite of some restaurants.The salads were tasty and refreshing and there was always fresh bread available in warming ovens to slice yourself.We always had fresh fruit available at mealtimes and the desserts were delicious with a freezer full of four different ice-creams to help yourself from, the banana one was especially nice.

Our one comment is the fact that it would be nice to have a little guidance from the hotel on mealtime protocol as for breakfast and lunch you can be free to find your own tables and help yourself to the buffets but in the evening you are seated by waiting staff who take a drink order, but this does not allow for spirits only wines, bear and soft drinks. This appeared quite daunting as we arrived and our first mealtime was dinner. Once the waiters had taken our drink order, they left us and we didn't know if we had to wait for them to return with them or if we could go straight to get our food, we watched other diners but during our stay we noticed other newcomers suffer the same dilemma.The waiting staff however, after our first concerns, were actually very friendly and very quickly got to recognize us and gave us friendly greetings to enquire how we were each day.They do clear your plates away very swiftly but after analysing this we feel this is just a polite customary thing not as has been previously mentioned, a way to clear out customers faster, we felt that maybe the waiting staff are trained to do this so customers do not have dirty crockery in front of them whilst sat at the table. This appeared to be the case as this happened on the occasions we ate out elsewhere in other restaurants too.The breakfast food was only lukewarm at times but we felt this was due to the dining room opening so early for people starting their days early for trips and return journey's home, there was though, a varied selection everyday and plenty to chose from. It is safe to say we believe there was something for everyone.There had been mention of flies before so I thought to comment on this pest, they do exists but they are not the buzzing blue bottles we envisaged from reading previous reviews, they are more like fruit flies.Cats do hang around the restaurant and pool area, not in the hundreds as previously mentioned in reviews.

We probably saw up to 10 different ones, they sometimes sneak into the restaurant but get shooed out except at breakfast time as it seems the large glass doors leading straight out to the pool area remain open at breakfast to allow diners to chose to have their breakfast or cup of tea/coffee out overlooking the pool in the sun.

All Inclusive Snack selection could be explained better to visitors and it is not widely advertised, we did one day find out that there was a menu of snacks to chose from if you found yourself hungry outside of mealtimes, one day we had missed lunch due to a trip out and ordered a toasted sandwich but we noticed there was also jacket potatoes with fillings that would've made a nice meal. To order these snacks we sat by the pool next to the restaurant and the waiter provided us with the menu.Lovely to have no children jumping about in the pool and running up and down the hotel corridors screeching and shouting, we did very occasionally hear the children from the neighbouring hotel and a baby crying from the apartments next door but that was no problem, and once some local children put their heads through some bushes to see what was going on but that truly is nothing to make negative comments about at all.Buses stop on the road just by the hotel and are an experience not to be missed, the cost was 1.50 Euros wherever you wanted to go each way and to go towards Protaras and beyond you need to Ayia Napa bus on the hotel side of the road, it drops you back just a small way up the road before the hotel.When coming back to the hotel, you need the stops and buses heading towards Paralimni.Normally when we hopped onto a bus they had seats free but one day it must have been local market day and the bus was heaving with people, we had to stand and we kept allowing more and more people in until we were squashed like sardines. Hair-raising experience but kind of amusing too.

Don't get fooled like us and hop off at the first stretch of shops thinking it is Protaras, carry on until you reach the area with water fountains and Macdonalds, this is the main area of Protaras. If you want to see the beautiful Fig Tree Bay, look for Capo Bay Hotel in Protaras and follow the sign down to the beach, lovely.

Our travel rep gave us a brochure with local tours, we personally felt disappointed with the trip to Larnaca Market as we had expected a street market and found ourselves at market stalls selling cheap tat really no different to ones found at home. This was followed by a trip to the camel park, this was ok but we ourselves did not feel it was worth the 33 Euros each that we had paid. We also spent 81 Euros each to visit Famagusta Select tour run by Aeolos which also visited Salamis and stopped off in a local fish taverna by a harbour, whilst this was a very insightful and interesting trip with a good guide we realised that we could have gone to a tour operator shop and booked it for 30 euros each with the only difference being it was with Eman Tours and didn't include lunch. We realised we had just over paid by 51 Euros each for a meal that consisted of a few dips with salad and bread for starter, a chicken breast, portion of rice and a few chips, a plate of fresh fruit and small portion of local sweet desert and a glass of wine or lemon squash.However, the trip with Eman tours to the Troodos Mountains is well worth joining, we paid 33 euros each and for the quality of the trip and knowledge of our tour guide and the distance travelled during the day, we would happily have paid the 81 euros for this full day trip.If you chose to holiday in Cyprus and only want to make one trip, I thoroughly recommend this one.Summary

We have no complaints whatsoever and would like to point out that the things mentioned in this review are only to bring previous review comments into perspective.If you have already booked and like us were thinking of cancelling, go with an open mind, do what I did and try to contact the hotel or your tour operator to see if you can try request a room near to room 342 if you want a lovely view, obviously at the time I didn't know room numbers but pre-requested a nice side sea view room and although was told there was no guarantee this would be accepted, I think it helped as we could not have asked for a better view if we tried.Staff very friendly and helpful, always greet you with a smile and say hello, this includes non customer facing staff who clean the hotel to bar and waiting staff.Lovely setting.Brilliant choice of food at mealtimes.Wonderful Pool area.We would definitely consider returning to this very hotel and give it 9/10.

Stayed from 30th July to 13th August 2008 and had a great time.

The other holiday makers were a great laugh and as we were all inc we could eat and drink as much as we like. Would recommend to all.

I recommend the Kouzalis Beach Hotel very highly as an all inclusive break. I am going on my 3rd visit here as I have always been treated very well by the management and staff who cannot do enough for you. The food is always delicious and plenty of it with a very varied menu. The drinks menu is extensive and once they know you the staff behind the bar make sure your drinks are poured as you like them. This is one of my favourite hotels from Spain to Australia so give it a go.

Will sure book again for the Kouzalis Beach Hotel in Protaras, I loved it that there are no children in this hotel. We booked a trip snorkeling from the Barley Mow pub in Pernera. A great day out, someone recommended it to us as they had been, and we recommended it to a few others in the hotel too. We didn't like the entertainment much in the hotel so we went out a lot at night, we also visited the Knights bar and Waterloo bar. Went to the Shalimar indian restaurant which was very nice only a little pricey so only went once, another place we like to eat was the Bennigans american bar, lovely burgers, but as for convenience and yummy snacks we ate in the Barley Mow so we can watch the entertainment too and eat at the same time whilst doing the quiz.

I went to Kouzalis Beach Hotel in Protaras, All Inclusive. I have been on much better All Inclusive Holidays and not paid as much as I did for this one. The entertainment team tried to please, but the variety of activities was very limited as was the evening entertainment.

I did not enjoy the breakfast meals as I do not enjoy cold fried eggs, bacon and hot dog sausages (These being a substitute for the real thing). They had an Egg to order Station and wondered why it was not used.

The drinks were not of a very good standard and if I was an half board guest I would have been most upset at having to pay £5 for 1 and a half pints of flat lager and non branded spirits.

The hotel itself was comfortable but the location was disappointing as you could not go for a decent walk after dinner.

I found the arrival of the 18 to 20 something brigade a bit strange as I associate adults only as being in a slightly higher age bracket (at least they were well behaved).

Everyone has their own opinions but for me this hotel needs some work doing to be a 4 star.

I for one will not be recommending this hotel to anyone I know.

If you want to totally chill out, a beautiful hotel, lovely staff and great food then go to the Kouzalis Beach.

Relaxed holiday away from noise. No noisy kids around.

Food to suit everybody.

Excellent view

I wouldn't advise anyone to go to the Kouzalis Beach Hotel on an All Inclusive board for 2 weeks. We ended up spending much more by going to Paralimni and Protaras for some decent food in the second week. Go B&B. There's a shop across the road which does lovely fresh baguettes for lunch, then go out in the evening (recommend Sizzlers and Blue Spice restaurants in Paralimni. Don't recommend the Mexican in Eden Square, Protaras). Kouzalis is fine for the first week, but once you've eaten out you realise how good the food should be.

The entertainment was varied, and the entertainers were a good laugh, but the entertainment is in the dining room so it didn't start until 10pm, and it was not conducive to a good atmosphere. It was hard work interacting with other people. If you go as a group or you like keeping to yourself and want a quiet holiday, this will suit you, but if you like getting to know new people, you will have to be prepared to make a big effort. Try to find someone to share taxis with as they are £5+ a time. Gear yourself up for Larnaca airport for the return journey, as it's a bit of a nightmare! It took us 2 hours to check in!

The Kouzalis Beach Hotel in Protaras was fantastic! We went out for a quiet holiday, and that's exactly what we got. The location was about 2Km from a town, and 10Km from Ayia Napa, which was perfect.

The bus service was only 80p to travel anywhere around there, and the people there were so friendly, especially in the hotel. It was a holiday to remember, and we will be going back!!

The food was always different, yet there was something for everyone all day every day!

As it was couples only, it made this hotel completely. Do not read any bad reviews on this hotel, as it clearly states how far away things are from it before you book!!

The best hotel, location, and Island I have been to. It's a must for anyone!