Typical 3 Star hotel, clean, decent sized rooms, air conditioned in bedrooms only, sofa bed in lounge for children so they had to sleep in with us as it got very hot.

Self catering but used restaurant twice, food ok but looked the same most days, snack bar great for chips, toasties, salads etc.

Pools lovely and we always got sunbeds whatever time of the day, plenty to go round. Was very nervous before departure about cases of ear infections reported as my 1 year old suffers badly with ear infectons, but she was fine and the kids spent almost all the time in the pool. Kids club very good.

We have just returned from a 1 week stay at the Papantonia hotel apartments and I must say what a dissapointment. We booked this holiday with First Choice families about 3 weeks before we went hoping for a cheaper deal, as the free child prices were no longer available it ended up costing us the best part of two thousand pounds.

Where do I begin. On first impressions of the hotel it didn't look that bad but the reception area was terrible. There wasn't even enough room for everyone inside the building to check in which ended up in a large queue forming outside the building. We checked in and proceeded to our room.

It was on the third floor via 1 of three lifts that felt very dodgy and at times broke down. The rooms themselves were ok not great but liveable. Twin bed for me and my partner and a sofa bed for my 7 year old daughter. There was quite a nice kitchen area with working hobs and a standard size fridge. The bathroom was dark and dingy and the toilet seat was broken. As the sewage system is not great all toilet paper must be placed in the bin provied.this was not the best as the maids only emptied it 3 times in the week.

The maids were not great either. If its maid day don't leave anything on the floor because they throw it all on the beds. We had paid for a late checkout on the last day till 6 the maids came when we were out during the day and threw everything everywhere.

The pool area was ok. Spacious with a lagoon style pool a deep oblong pool and a kids pool. The pool area itself was clean although there were a lot of cases of ear infections as to which my partner is now off to the doctors with ear ache. Luckily I and my daughter escaped this.

There is a bar near the pool area serving cold drinks to customers. This is also the same bar that serves guests when they sit down to have snacks. The drinks were limited with only about the choice of 5 cocktails of which the pina colodas were always lumpy and curdling.

The only toilet available to hotel guest, pool, evening, lunch, snack, dinner time were in the basement of the building, dark and dingy and really not safe I don't think for children to go to on their own, quite annoying when my daughter needed to go every half hour.

Now the food, what can I say, what a disappointment really would not recommend this hotel but if you do end up here certainly do not choose the all inclusive option.

The food was so repetitive with a lot of breakfast left overs being used in the lunch and dinner dishes. Chips every day this was the only potato option, the choice of one or two vegetables, a fish dish and a meat dish usually pork. Even the olives were horrible. Puddings were just as bland, a choice of about 4 which consisted of jelly, cold rice,flavoured mousse and cr

The hotel is fine for a 2/3 star. My daughter got an ear infection 2 days before we were due to fly home and was hospitalised on the day we were due to fly home so my daughter and I stayed for an additional 4 days at the Santa Monica clinic which was fine, doctors etc great - BUT the holiday reps did not come and see if we needed help as technically we had "finished our holiday" - thanks a lot first choice reps -

Anyway re the hotel - It could do with a bit of work in communal areas especially the poolside loos - very dark and dingy - not safe enough to send children to on their own, no other loos apart from those in your room. The cleaners were lovely and did an excellent job.

The food was very good for adults - lots of choice and the snack menu was excellent we often had this at lunch time - pizzas, burgers, omelettes. Kids choice a bit limited - would have been good to offer pasta dishes.

Location is a bit of a way out and I wish we had gone to the other end of the island such as Papho

Hotel staff were ok but very overworked I think.

Entertainment staff were absolutely awful - same show every single excrutiating night.

I would not go back to hotel becuase its a big world out there although I would like to visit Cyprus again.

Well, just returned from Papantonia and now we are all recovered from our long journey. Therefore, before I start, just to tell you that people have different standards and I am only going on personnel experience.

Having used the package holiday system for the last 15 years or so, we have used German, Dutch and Italian tour operators (had been working in mainland Europe for a few years). This may be the turning point for us to try other options of holiday

If you like Haven you will love Papantonia but please read my report.

I have just read the last two reports posted and agree with everything they say, but just want to add my two penneth!

Food repetative but edible. My youngest son ate nothing but donut for breakfast and pizza for lunch and tea as he is very fussy.

Hotel cleanliness, on the face of it reasonable but we saw at least two cockroaches and the toilet plumbing left alot to be desired, the systerns were nearly all hanging off the walls.

Pool area clean, but the water, where do I start.

Three of us had ear infections, my 9 year old has still got his 8 weeks(3 lots of different drops and 2 lots of anti-biotics) later. When John got his, we asked at reception how to get to the nearest doctor, they said they would call one for us, great service we thought. The doctor came and said he could not see for wax, John would have to go to the clinic. He then called an ambulance which arrived in a few minutes. He drove for about 20 mins to a clinic where they syringed his ear and sent him back with drops, medicine and pain killers. We were charged

Hotel Papantonia Protaris Cyprus

On first impression this seemed a nice Hotel, but we were soon proved wrong. We stayed on an 'all inclusive ' basis which we have done for the past 3 years at various places in Greece without any problems this proved to be a mistake at this Hotel.

Food was OK but they ran out of Ice cream for the kids and more importantly wine for myself when asked when they would be getting more stock they had no idea I asked if I could buy some from across the road and keep it in their fridge but was told NO. Luckily after a number of guest complained to the Manager they did get some. I reported it tour rep who was most uninterested and walked off half way through the conversation. The queues were long as there is only 1 bar.

As with a lot of others the children got ear infections but luckily it was the day before we came home and I decided to wait to get them treatment. My husband got a tummy bug which seemed to have just started going round the hotel and one of the reps had just been taken in Hospital with it.

The entertainment team tried but they were not the best

A lot of people were saying things had been stolen from their rooms as well although nothing was taken from ours.

We certainly would not go back here again as a couple of other incidents occurred one which traumatised my 9yr old Son but not the Hotels fault.

In all honesty this has had to of been one of our most enjoyable and relaxing holidays.
The pools were splendid. One of my daughters did complain of ear ache. Though when I got here home a trip to the GP confirmed it was not an infection and was a common symptom of jumping into the pool to much.

The food was very good in our opinion. We thought that the restaurant catered well for children compared to other holidays in our past. Plus the bar staff come around your tables at night and take your order for drinks. Meaning that you do not have to Que all at the bar every time.

The cleaning staff were average. They forgot to leave us towels on a couple of occasions. We had one problem in our room with ants but saw no cockroaches.

The Location is a bit far out. There is only a handful of bars around. If you want to go into Protaras wait at the bus stop and it wont be long before a taxi driver pulls up and haggles a cheap fare with you.

The hotel staff were great. Apart from one who was dismissed with allegations made about him. Which I will not mention as it was a good hotel. The dining Room and Bar Staff worked hard 11 hours a day 6 days a week.
It did take a few reports to reception about our Air Conditioning leaking, before it got sorted.
Well an the Entertainment part. We always do Kids Club holidays so don't expect miracles from the Team. This though was the worst ever performances we had ever seen. With about 4 nights of dull Karaoke. As for the Kids Club. My girls did not like it. They gave up going after about 3 nights. Though We thought it was good how they took your kids to dinner giving you a bit of time out to eat.

All in all We loved the Papantonia. We certainly would not be too worried if we were to end up here again.
As with one of the earlier reports. We were also there when some certain incidents took place. Your kids ending up waving in the background on TV because the local news team arrived is not what you expect.
Though luckily these events took place near the end of our stay, and feel that they should not cast doubt on your holiday.

Hotel room was excellent, spacious apart from cupboard space.

Food was ok but not enough variety. Also was given a specific time in the second week for evening meal depending on which floor you were staying on. We had the later sitting which was not good for our five year old daughter.

Biggest problem was only one bar for everything, soft drinks, coffee, alcohol, ice-creams etc. Very long queues in the evening and we went out of season!!!

Pool area excellent and always got a sun bed no matter what time.

All the evening entertainment was outside. I was a bit concerned about this but it was great because there was a childrens playground next to it. If the children were bored they went into the playground and you could watch them.

The childrens club was good and my daughter enjoyed the disco. They had certificates for the winners of games at the disco, which were not very well organised and the same children were winning all the time. They should stick to a structured disco or ensure each child wins a certificate during their holiday.

Would not go back again with only one bar, limited food and also toilet facilities during the evening.

My boyfriend, my 11 year old nephew and I travelled to this awful hotel on the 4th May 06.

We paid for all inclusive package, we had to pay for milkshakes, ice cream and had to sign for every drink we ordered. The "snack available until midnight" is a cold spam & cheese sandwich which had been prepared earlier that day and left unwrapped in the fridge. The food options were so poor we only attempted to eat 1 evening meal here out of our 7 night stay. We ate out of the hotel every evening. The lunch menu was satisfactory, but we mainly ordered chips and salad.

The pool area was lovely, but the rooms were very basic. our room was cleaned only once, I visited the local supermarket and purchased various cleaning products and cleaned the room myself, helping myself to clean bed linen and towels.

The hotel female manager was very helpful and apologised for us not being happy and said that she had many other dissatisfied guests to see.

The lift was very dangerous we became stuck on more than 3 occasions during our stay here.

The lunch cart and the children's entertainment only begin when the hotel gets busier, as we were the first Bristol flight out of the season, we did not see what we paid for until the day before our last day, the reason for this is that they do not waste food or staff / reps entertainment for only a few guests / children.

I feel as though my nephews first trip abroad was not as good as he/we expected it to be and that the First Choice Brochure was very misleading. I will not be visiting this hotel again.

The Papantonia hotel is small compared to others but this just means that it's not crowded round the pools, bar or dinner tables.

The Hotel itself is very clean and all the staff are friendly with the majority of them speaking enough English to understand you well enough. The swimming pools are excellent, 2 good sized ones with a 'baby pool' and a Jacquizi (excuse my spelling).

There are plenty of sunbeds and as it is a pre-dominatory English hotel (I would say 98% of the guests were English) then you don't have to get your Towels on a sunbed at 4am plus there's enough beds to go round for everyone. Even though I said the hotel was relativly small (120ish rooms) the grounds are quite big.

The food was very good and as we were all inclusive we could eat anything at anytime (almost), the only reason I didn't give 5 stars is that there was only 1 childrens choice at lunch & dinner although it was always an 'English' dish.

The location is perfect because it's only a 1 minute walk from the beach, there are 2 supermarkets outside with bars and resteraunts within 5 minutes but it is a quiet location and very suited to families.

The Entertainment was excellent for the children, Krazy Katie and Silly Sam do a great job and you do lose the kids for hours on end which is really nice. For adults (or anyone left round the pools) there's a full days program including Aqua aerobics, Volleyball, Killer darts, Killer Pool, Water volleyball, Football etc etc and the entertainment is managed by an English firm called 'Premiere' with Drew being excellent.

If you want a recomendation then how's this...

We got back on Sunday and we booked up to go back next Summer to the same Hotel today (Thursday). I've never gone back to the same hotel in my life - I always want to go somewhere new but this was such a good place. Cyprus is really nice, very suited to the English and 35+ degrees each day!