Cap St George Hotel, Cyprus, 2024

The Prize

This was a “free” holiday – Linda won it in a competition!  The prize was one week half-board in a ground-floor Cap Thalassa room at this brand new, expensive, up-market hotel near Peyia, a few miles north of Paphos in Cyprus, with flights and taxi transfers to and from Paphos airport.  We paid €700 to upgrade to a Cap Deluxe Room on the fourth floor with a better view, and the food and drinks bill added another €500 or so by the end of the week.  Still good value.

Cap St George

This brand new hotel was magnificent – well designed, attractive, spacious, all the construction materials and fittings were of the best quality, the choice of food at the breakfast buffet was huge and high-quality, the swimming pool was Olympic-length, and the staff were helpful and courteous.

Do look at the Gallery at the hotel’s web site – Photo and Video.

We were surprised that hotel occupancy seemed really low (maybe 20%) – only a dozen tables were occupied at breakfast, and we saw the same faces every day.  Perhaps, as it’s so new, it hasn’t built up a history of publicity, reviews and recommendations.  Maybe that’s why they were giving away free stays in competitions!

The hotel also offered apartments for rent (some with their own pool) in three-or four-storey blocks beside the hotel.

From the main hotel building down to the beach there are a lot of steps – we came across a couple of women struggling to get their baby buggies up dozens of steps.  Not very accessible.  We stayed by the pool at the main building – no steps involved.  If there isn’t a shuttle bus service from the hotel Reception area to the beach, there should be.

Our Room

Our well-designed room (1404) had plenty of drawers and clothes hanging areas, a TV, a minibar, a fridge with freezing compartment, a room safe, a desk area, lots of USB, UK and European electricity sockets for charging stuff, free Wifi, and some comfortable seating.  The big balcony has a table and two chairs, and a good sea and sunset view.

The bathroom has a stand-alone roll-top bath with shower over, plus a separate shower cubicle with room for two.  There are two washbasins with lots of little bottles to try.  The toilet has a telephone extension next to it.  There is a large round window between the bedroom and the bathroom, and there’s even a switch in the bedroom to render this window opaque.

Pool

The weather was so hot (up to 40°C) that we stayed in the shade by the pool.  The pool is very long with lots of sunbeds and sunshades scattered round it.  The sunbeds were doubles – plenty of room for two to lie in comfort.  There’s a separate kiddies pool with a life-guard in attendance.

When you walk towards the pool you are pounced upon by one of the pool attendants, who move your chosen sunbeds exactly how you want them (shade or sun), and cover them in carefully-folded and neatly-tucked towels.  Between your sunbeds is a small coffee table with a button – press this and one of the pool bar staff will come to take your food and drinks order.

Again, we noticed that only a dozen or so sunshades were occupied – the hotel was nearly empty.

Food+drink

Breakfast in the Yeronisos restaurant was outstanding for the massive choice of food on offer.  For example, the Honey section in the buffet had half-a-dozen different honey pots to choose from, and there was even an entire honeycomb frame straight from a beehive laid out for you to scoop up honey straight from the honeycomb.  See the photos.  There were quails’ eggs, a couple of dozen varieties of cheese, you name it, they had it.

There was a cook behind a griddle who would prepare you a pancake or an omelette or whatever on the spot.  You could help yourself to Prosecco from bottles in a big ice bucket to make a mimosa.

As stated earlier, the hotel’s occupancy was clearly low - only a dozen or so tables were occupied, and we saw the same faces at breakfast day after day.

At dinner, we visited the Kohili (Mediterranean), Sapori (Italian) and Bonsai (Asian) restaurants.  Kohili was by far the best.  It’s down by the beach with a great sunset view, and was like a traditional Greek taverna, with bags of atmosphere.  The staff were smiley and happy.  The food was amazing – huge tuna and beef steaks.  There was live music from a good saxophonist playing along to a music track on the PA.

Our half-board booking meant that we were nominally limited to a short set menu, but the hotel allowed us a €54 per room, per night allowance towards meals from the longer a la carte menu.  This meant that there were usually a few more euros to pay for the more expensive a la carte items that swallowed up the entire €54 allowance, and then some.

Photos

Each page contains about five to ten pictures, totalling approx two or three MB per page. 

Conclusion

The most expensive hotel we’ve ever stayed in.  Everything was top quality, the room was excellent, the food at breakfast and in Kohili restaurant at night was fantastic.  Occupancy was low.  The pool was great. Staff were helpful and keen.