hiya, i have been to cyprus about 5 times now and stayed in limasol, latchi and now paphos 3 times......i have 3 children and found the cheapest way to take us all on holiday was to do it ourselves......we are off to paphos again for the whole of august next year.....flights from gatwick around £250 if booked early and the apartment is costing £900 for the whole month (4 weeks) we have been able to get discount on the apartment and its not all inclusive but having 3 children all teenagers we just couldnt afford it although we did go all inclusive in latchi 2 years ago it was great but as we are not heavy drinkers it didnt really make much difference.....im sure u will have fun where ever u go CYPRUS IS FABULOUS AND SO ARE THE PEOPLE xxxxxx happy holidays xxxxx

Hi thank you for your reply!
I had thought about a diy, but as a abroad relative novice, not quite confident. I feel kind of worried that we spend all that money,a and it dosen't live up to any of our expectations. I have visited review sites , but there are mixed reviews, mostly positive though.
How did you find your apartment?

Shaz.

we are staying at the paradise gardens 3 apartments just found them on owners direct...never stayed there before but i know roughly where they are in paphos....we did stay at the kings palace apartments in paphos along the tomb of the kings road last year and these apartments were stunning and so clean and lovely but as we are going for a month next year the price was just to high...the apartments we are staying in next year should be £300 per week but we have spoken to the lovely lady who owns them and she has given us a discount of a free week......it really is pot luck but you look on these review sites and they really help out........when we stayed at latchi we went all inclusive and after i booked i then read the reviews and everyone was saying how much fun they had but they said they had spiders the size of plates in their apartments i hardly slept the whole 2 weeks we were there as i am terrified of spiders but luckily we saw non of them and actually had the best time ever and made some very very good friends that we still stay in touch with now....... good luck in ur search xxxx if u decide to DIY let me know i can always help if you want me to.....the owners normally arrange pick up at the airport so its really pretty easy...and the cypriot people are so kind there is always someone to help you xxx

Thanks again Helen, I will visit the site in a mo. Have to do maths 6 or 7 tickets (mum might come too) my eldest would pay full fare being 14years old, you have really got me thinking.........!!!!.Someone told me though, that food costs a lot in Cyprus now, and we would not be able to afford to eat out more than once or twice, so ?AI better?. Shaz.

hi again shaz we normally get fresh meat from the supermarket and have lots of bbq's etc....and we eat out only once a week u can get some great deals 10 euros for a huge meal but if u go to the posher restaurants you will probably pay about 50 euros each...we even took the kids to maccy d's and there meals were huge and actually cheaper than in the uk...BUT they have a kfc in paphos and that was really really expensive everyone was very shocked at the price of that.... good luck and i think all inclusive is something everyone should try once we loved it but couldnt afford it every year...but this way we can xxxxx love helen xx

Hi thanks for info.can you reccommend one of the around 10 euro restaurants, and which water park is best value, and I think you can't take any food or drin k in with you? Can we keep in touch, I might need to pick your brains again! Shaz. I live in Cambridgeshire!

Hi shaz i live in kent by the way....i cant remember the name of the restaurant we went to but its along the tomb of the kings road near the kings palace apartment...very good value for money...the water parks well we have been to limassol this was great fun but expensive with metal steps going up to the rides and the water park in paphos is just as expensive and is great fun again but the steps going up to the rides are wooden and so much better.....i don't go on these rides i prefer to stay on the lazy river which is just adorable lol my hubby thought the waterpark in paphos was safer due to the steps as the metal ones get very slippery. yeah ur right no food or drink to be taken in but i did sneak bottles of drink in there as they were soooooooo expensive and all i did i bought one drink and just poured the drink i bought into their cups...i know we are on holiday but why would i spend 5 euros or something on a glass of water when i can bring my own !! lol xxxx yeah by all means stay in touch...my email address is *** xxx

We stayed here in June and it didnt live up to my expectations but hubby, son and friends we made liked it. It was actually like Butlins, activities all day, bingo, mini disco and rep entertainment of an evening, no adult entertainment and only one act brought in when reps had night off. The younger children will enjoy it but teenager may be bored.The hotel is situated on the main Paphos Coral bay road ( nearer Coral bay) and there are no restaurants as such close by. Nearest one is a 15 minute walk and is not good coming back in the dark along an unlit track.
There are lots of restaurants in Paphos area and Coral Bay has a few but its a very small resort. You can get set meals for a round 10E +. When we ate out (3 of us) average with a couple of drinks each was around 50E.
Think Jet2 are about the cheapest TO travelling here.