Odile and Yannis, really looked after us unobtrusively. Fabulous breakfast daily, Champagne and salmon daily if you want, no we didn't! Lovely classy room, rain shower over bath also lovely free toiletries, spacious, very quiet air con. All staff low paid, with all food and drink paid for with black plastic card, the staff will need tips to survive this year, not easy for them, about three euros an hour, such a great team, ever ready to please.

We first went there in 2002 because the travel agent had double booked us and the
Athena Beach was the only one with a room available for those dates. Thank God they did. Ten years later we finally got to go again and although the staff has changed, the high standards have not.

Ideal location with nice gardens leading you directly to the beach. Everything is cleaned to a very high standard daily. The staff are polite and ready to help.
Car hire is essential, unless you just want to laze by the pool/beach all day. But don't. There is so much to see and do if you hire a car.

All in all a lovely safe holiday and the Athena Beach makes a perfect base.

This was our first visit to Cyprus other than stopping off for the day from a ship. The hotel was well located next to the sea, and as others have said a 30 minute walk to the port. We had paid extra for a sea view mainly to ensure our room did not overlook the road. The view was fine and little noise was heard. The average age of customers would have been in the sixties, and a number of Tour Operators used this hotel.

The hotel was clean, but a little shabby in places and the room would have been of 3 star quality rather than 4 star. I have stayed in better Travel Inn rooms in the UK.

I found the dining room and the food a little disapointing, again about 3 star quality.

On the other hand the staff were very good and in particular reception staff added considerable quality to the hotel.

However there is little to be said on positive note about the entertainment.

This hotel is by far the nicest I have ever stayed in. The Staff were polite, friendly and extremley helpfull, also, they all seemed to love their jobs.
The rooms were cleaned daily and were immaculate. The food in hotel was fabulous, I am a very picky eater but did not struggle once and the novelty of having a sushi chef did not wear off by the end of the week. The theme nights were planned superbly with a good mix of entertainment and food. The beach and gardens were well maintained and cleaned daily including the removal of seaweed.

Having suffered a 19 hour delay coming back and being put up in another hotel made me realise how fabulous the Athena is and I would say that it nearer to a 5 star than a 4 star.

Have just returned from a very enjoyable 2 week stay at the Athena Beach Hotel. We have stayed in many places over the years & I have to say that this hotel must rate as one of the best. From the moment you arrive, you are made most welcome until the day you leave.

Yes, it is a big hotel but there is no feeling of being overcrowded. There is ample seating in bar & lounge areas & plenty of sunbeds & parasols. True, it can get crowded immediately around the pool areas but there is plenty of grassland with palm trees to sunbathe in peace. What

The Athena Beach.... where do I start.

I'll start by telling you about me so you can gauge my opinion for yourself. I'm a part time travel writer and have a neutral outlook on accommodation and travel circumstances. I'm also passionate about food as a hobby so i hope i can give good advice on this too!

On to the hotel....

LOCATION - Its located about a 5 minute walk to the 'Triangle' where theres a good selection of bars and restaurants. Some good, some bad, and some down right expensive! When the Euro comes in they will all HAVE to lower their prices otherwise European visitors will go places that wont be such a rip off. The harbour is only 15 minutes away (as stated by brochures) at a brisk pace. A nice pace would be more like 30 minutes, although it isn't an unpleasant walk.

ARRIVAL - When you arrive at the hotel, you might be put off by the exterior. Dint worry too much as all hotels along this stretch don't appear to have taken any pride in the front appearance of the hotel.

THE LOBBY - The lobby area is well lit, spacious and provides plenty of seating with the small reception desk just to your left as you enter. The hotel lobby is all marble. Check in was relatively quick with our bags being taken to our room by the friendly porter. Reception staff are polite but can appear miserable.

THE ROOMS - The room was small but has most things you will need. Iron, ironing board, and hairdryer in the main room. Rooms are carpeted as are the halls making them very quiet at night. Decor wise, they are nothing groundbreaking but still comfortable. You have TV which you get a selection of channels in all different languages but English ones are mainly news channels. Rooms have a fridge in which although welcome, is very noisy in a silent room. The bathroom was slightly odd as there was 2 shower units, both working, installed in the bath. The rooms were reminiscent of a travel inn or travel lodge in the UK so although comfortable, nothing special. This advertises as a 4* hotel so I would have expected better in the rooms.

THE POOL - The pool area is very nice. Its bright, clean and pretty spacious. In October there was no problem getting sun beds either by the pool or on the nearby beach. sun beds are actually quality beds with a sponge mat and sturdy metal supports. Parasols were provided on all pairs of beds although we had masses of problems finding ones that would open. the pin you need to keep them up was either missing or didn't reach the hole. The pool is pretty cool and i didn't find any of the pools to be heated despite it being advertised. Later October warrants a heated pool but it was never found. Gardens are well kept, with the grass a little long but thats a small observation. The beach bar was there serving ice creams, toasties and all manner of drinks.

THE BEACH - the beach was man made and entrance to the sea for swimming was via a floating jetty. This drops you into a nice rock free are of sea. DON'T USE THE CONCRETE JETTY - It drops you in the middle of the rocky areas which will result in cut feet! Sand was more like grit really but this is expected for man made beaches. It was kept clean and tidy and provided some stunning sunsets.

TERRACE BAR - There is a terrace running all the way around the 1st floor /reception floor (the pool and beach are at basement level) which offers a place to sit and enjoy a drink with waiter service from early evening. There is also an adjoining bar where the drinks are served. The waiting staff are extremely slow at taking your order and subsequently getting your drinks to you. One evening we waited 20 minutes for our order to be taken and drinks to arrive. They actually never did as we cancelled the order after this time and went elsewhere. We never used this facility again.

BREAKFAST - Breakfast is of a buffet nature and gets massively busy at around 9am. For some odd reason a third of the breakfast room was not set up making getting a table very difficult. The food was OK but nothing special. Some of the cooking techniques left something to be desired! Deep fried bacon? Hotplate omelets? What was a real problem was that hardly anything was labelled so you didn't know what it was. This proved very difficult for the Vegetarian in our party. that aside the breakfast choice was plentiful and offered fruit, continental breakfasts and an attempt at English breakfasts.

LUNCH - Lunch was available at pool level under the terrace bar. This offered a selection of hot and cold food to eat in or take out. This was a lot better than breakfast and was reasonably priced. salads, hot dinners, toasties, freshly squeezed juices and lots more. Staff here were very miserable though. and offered nothing more than a grunt as you approached them.

SERVICE - Service is one of the main things that makes a hotel and is also one of the factors in which it gets a star rating. Service was in no way that of a genuine 4* hotel. When we reported a broken kettle it took a whole day for this to be replaced and even then we had to chase it up. We was left without power for 6 hours and again had to chase this to be fixed. Away from the problems we found the service to be pretty awful too with the staff just doing the bare minimum to keep their jobs. At a 4* i expect to get top notch service and this fell some way short.

CONCLUSION - This is an average hotel and has a lovely pool area and lobby. My main grip about this hotel is the price you pay to stag here.

The hotel is well situated. It used to be the case that the hotel was on the outskirts of the 'tourist' area. However, the immediate area around the hotel has now developed to the point where it is nice and relaxed, while still being surrounded with enough small bars, restaurants, and shops that there is no need to walk the half mile or so into the main restaurant 'strip' leading to Paphos harbour.

The hotel is exceptionally clean and well appointed - particularly the lobby and reception area.

Rooms are comfortable and well fitted-out. Air conditioning works very well. Balconies are very private [completely enclosed style] so there is no disturbance from adjoining rooms. French windows are single-glazed, so there could be some road noise if facing that way [we had a side room so it was very quiet. We had two rooms with an adjoining door - we noted that the adjoining doors have a packing piece of sound deadening foam that is removed [by the porter]when the adjoining door is unlocked between rooms - this is a really good feature as, even with an adjoining door, there is virtually no 'neighbour noise'. Rooms walls are constructed of solid concrete, so there is virtually no noise transmission. Some postings have commented on external cooling/airconditioning 'fan' noise. I think other commenters are mistaken, as I believe the 'fan' noise is caused by the in-room fridge - we heard a [slight] rumbling noise and switched our fridge off and the room was silent.

Rooms and corridors are carpeted, so there is no 'clip clop' of women's heels when you are trying to get to sleep. Similarly, no furniture re-arrangement noise trauma at gone-midnight.

As you will guess from all the above, I like quiet hotels, and the Athena Beach is nice and quiet.

The room cleaning staff are exceptionally efficient.

Food is of a very good standard, especially the cyprus/BBQ nights [we paid to join these, as they looked so good]. The speciality nights, with candlelit tables around the pool are enchanting. The restaurant staff do seem a bit miserable. Breakfast can be a bit hectic.

The bar service is excellent. Half price cocktails every night from 7-8 are very good value. The bar waiters/waitresses are very efficient and friendly.

Entertainment is restrained, but effective. The animation team seem to put themselves around a lot.

Reception staff are very polite and helpful.

The pool area is very clean and tidy. Some of the plastic drain holes did need cleaning while I was there, But I noted they were cleaning these in the last few days of our holiday.

The gardens and beach area are very lush and well maintained - meticulously maintained almost.

There is a very large number of high-quality sunbeds around the pools, gardens, and beach. I used to get up everyday at 05:30 to read by the pool [I was always the first there]. I have not been at a hotel where there were so many sunbeds remained available at 9, 10, even 11 a.m.

No lilos allowed in the pool. This is strictly enforced by pool staff.

Hotel guests seem, on the whole, a mix of nationalities, with British being in the majority. Guests seem well behaved, with all the children I saw behaving well. There seemed a good spread of children's ages, with more 11-16 year olds than I have seen elsewhere, as opposed to infant children.

A new [small] complex of upmarket bars and restaurants has opened opposite the hotel, and this, coupled with the other large-is 4* hotels in the area is making the whole area around the hotel begin to look rather 'upmarket' compared with the older, more hectic areas of Pahos in and around the harbour.

All-in-all a very refined hotel. A nice relaxing place to be, but with enough going on for all ages so that it doesnt get boring.

Breakfasts were fantasic & included everything from cereal & fruit to bacon, eggs & mashed potato! We even had champagne one morning with breakfast compliments of the hotel, and a cocktail & canape evening where you get chance to mingle with the other guests & meet the management & staff.

The hotel was spotlessly clean, tidy & very luxurious. The grounds were well kept & pool & beach areas very spacious.

The hotel staff were extremely helpful, especially when it came to our one year old son.

We will definately be returning to this hotel, if you have young children its a perfect & very child-friendly hotel.

(Sea view room recommended if you can afford that bit extra - its definately worth it)

Another excellent/quiet week spent in a 4 star hotel but one starting to show its seven years of age. The moans include some rust appearing in the bathroom, a strange smell for much of the week - akin to mustiness and lots of ants on the patio, also a leaking kettle which finally blew the mains fuse.

On the plus side were the location next to a decent beach, excellent food and wonderful staff.

The bowling green between hotels was superb value and great fun. Lots of other things to do as well. The pool was too cold to use in late October but the sea was great.
For a rest and relaxing time it was great.

We will visit again. Further comments can be found on my site at http://www.mjmoore.org.uk

We stayed at the Athena Beach in Paphos for a fortnight. We were married in Paphos at the same time.

We could not have asked for a better hotel, we found the staff to be very friendly and efficient, they even emailed home to Scotland to advise a family member that they had passed on the wedding card that they had sent to us in Cyprus. We held our wedding reception at the hotel and it was perfect.

The hotel is very clean & even the cleaning staff are very efficient and polite. The food was spectacular i have never seen so much fresh food in all my life and it just kept coming.

The hotel grounds and beach were always kept clean and tidy.

A fantastic hotel we will be returning next year for our Anniversary.