Ah what I would give to go back to the deckchairs, relax by the pool with a cocktail in hand, but alas, hopefully this review will help anyone who is considering booking the Cali Resort & Spa in Paphos.
The Cali resort is a 5 star hotel in Paphos, located just 300 metres from the beach and 12km from Paphos town centre, but with a bus stop right outside so you can easily reach town or a number of key attractions.
Since a refurbishment one year ago, they’ve designed the building beautifully, with the hallways looking so elegant and sophisticated from the moment you walk inside.
The Room
Let’s start with the bed, as I think that’s the centrepiece of every hotel room. The bed was incredibly cosy, while it was also a really good length width-wise.
My only negative would be that the two pillows were very plump, so using 2 pillows would be uncomfortable, therefore I had to opt for one which is then a bit less than what I want. But yes, I’m being very fussy here, it’s really fine.
The TV was a good length (I’m terrible at TV sizes, so hopefully the picture will help you to guess), long gone are the days where you used to get a box TV in the room. You had all the usual channels like BBC, CNN and Cypriot TV, not that I planned on watching any.
Something Raquel always looks for is a decent amount of hangers, I haven’t historically cared about this aspect, but I brought a lot of clothes and wanted to find each item while in a rush in the morning with our heavy schedule, so I was happy to see there was a decent amount ready for me.
They had a coffee pod machine, while they also had a conventional kettle if you preferred a cup of tea. Oddly, the kettle had a European end point, if you’re not aware Cyprus has the same plugs as the UK, so I was a little confused by this.
There was a little fridge that was topped up each day with water, juice, fizzy drinks and beer, which was nice to have in the room if I didn’t fancy heading downstairs or drinking the tap water.
The room contained all the basics you would hope for, like a hairdryer, slippers and a dressing gown. There was also a decent amount of draw space, especially as it was just me, but even as a couple there was more than enough.
The Daily Room Gifts
When your room is cleaned, you expect fresh sheets, clean towels and the bin to be cleared. But the Cali Resort go one further.
Each day, I would return to cakes and fruit being in the room, such a nice touch. We were on the all inclusive package, so food shouldn’t mean much as we have unlimited access to it, but it’s just a nice touch when this is provided in the room.
They also left a bottle of prosecco on ice each day! It’s these little aspects that really remind you you’re in a 5 star resort.
The Bathroom
The bathroom was a good size, while it contained a walk-in shower. The shower had two heads, depending on which way you turned it, while I inevitably went straight for the rain shower head.
The water pressure was good, the temperature was easy to adjust and they also provided a good amount of shampoo, conditioner and body wash. I hate when you get those little bottles, this was three full sized bottles topped to the brim.
The Balcony
As soon as I checked into the room, I quickly made my way over to the balcony and fortunately caught sunset which looked beautiful with the pool in front.
There was a small table and two chairs, so this would be a nice romantic spot if I was visiting as a couple.
Outdoor Pool
The swimming pool looked so picturesque, with the deck chairs built into the side of the pool, as well as around the pool, so you can be as close or far away as you feel like.
I also loved the fact that there were umbrellas everywhere, as I’m someone that hides away in the shade. In fact, they had some deckchair beds with a four poster covering, which is where I firmly stayed the majority of the time.
The bar area near the pool had a good amount of seating, completely covered, where you can order food or drinks. I just got some water as I was shattered on my last day, but the temptation to get a pizza or a latte was quite strong, while a few others were getting a pint on tap.
The pool itself was very cold, but that could be based on the time of year we arrived. We came in March, when it was about 17c, however in the summer when it’s 35c, I can imagine the water will be warmer and everyone will be grateful to be cooled down.
If you do find the pool is a bit cool for you, or you’ve arrived off-season, you can try the indoor pool, which I’ll cover next.
Indoor Pool & Spa
As you walk towards the spa area, there is someone at reception, but of course you can just enter this area to make the most of the pool.
It looked more like a hidden cave, I love the way they’ve decorated the area, the Jacuzzi was so cool! Being a floor below, this isn’t the area you go if you’re looking to get a tan, but I’m not a ‘sunbather’, therefore that doesn’t bother me.
The pool was also completely empty, meaning if you’d prefer a bit more privacy then this is an ideal spot.
I had a spa session booked in, which was a 30 minute massage. I can wholeheartedly recommend this! It was so relaxing, I was tempted to request another 30 minutes.
They also offer facials and other treatments, but I couldn’t see past a back massage as I’ve been carrying heavy bags and going on hikes, therefore a relaxing treatment sounded ideal.
Dinner
Ok, so I straight away have to admit we went out for lunch and dinner each day other than the first, therefore I can’t give a comprehensive review, but I can talk about the breakfast, as well as the meal on the first night.
Rather than eating at the buffet, we were booked into the Fiki Japanese restaurant in the hotel for our arrival.
We received a range of dishes, all absolutely exquisite, I was so full before the end, you definitely won’t leave hungry.
The starters at the Fiki Japanese restaurant included edamame, prawn crackers and vegetable dumplings. The dumplings came with a really nice dipping sauce.
The next starter was the Tomyam coconut soup, with lemongrass and coconut milk. This was one of my favourites, with such a beautiful scent but not overwhelmed by the lemongrass.
They also provided a green salad with kimchi and a soy sesame dressing.
Next up was the maki, with 3 pieces each. The first was the futomake, with wakame, avocado, cucumber and kampyo. The second was the California maki, with shrimp, surimi, cucumber, egg and avocado. The last one was the tempura maki, with prawn tempura, cream cheese, cucumber and lollorosso.
We then had the main courses, with each dish shared between two people. We received a Korean sesame chicken tempura, with a Korean sauce. This was gorgeous, again easily one of the best dishes of the evening. This came along with a fried rice with eggs and vegetables, the perfect accompaniment.
A little bit later, when we thought we had eaten everything, they brought out the other two mains. The first was the robata fish skewers, containing salmon, mussels, cod, vegetables and robata sauce.
The last main dish was the Hong Kong beef, containing marinated beef, ramen noodles, vegetables and a bulgogi sauce.
Feeling full and ready for bed, I completely forgot about dessert, but they came out with these beautiful little creamy cakes. I honestly wouldn’t be able to describe or compare them to anything in the UK, but they were a nice sweet ending to the evening.
Breakfast
Maybe this sounds a bit crazy, but the breakfast is my favourite part about staying in a hotel. It’s just so exciting, I’m someone who enjoys eating in the morning and loves a good buffet.
I’m going to walk you through mentally from the first row to the last, to help you picture what you’ll get when you arrive.
The first row is hot dishes. They have all the usual you’d expect, such as sausages, hash browns, bacon, fried bread, mushrooms, grilled tomatoes, baked beans, plus an omelette station. The omelette station was always empty with the chef ready to cook, so it was quite tempting, but I never got around to this.
At the top of the row was a selection of fruit, water with fruit mixed in, plus ‘bits’ like dried apricots, nuts and seeds.
On the other side was the second selection of warm dishes. My memory is a little more blurry, but let’s see how I do. There were croissants and pastries, potato tots, Greek leek sausages, fried eggs, plus a selection of Cypriot and Greek cuisines and pastries which I really enjoyed. My favourite was the spanakopita, which is a Greek spinach pie.
On the other side, you had a large salad selection, but my favourite part of the breakfast, smoked salmon, plus plenty of cream cheese, so I feasted here! There was a huge selection of different cheeses, but I mainly wanted the combo of cream cheese and salmon.
There were also some toast options, such as honey and jams. On the other side, there was juice and champagne. I did see a few people start the day with champagne, I personally couldn’t think of anything worse at 7am, but no judgement here!
You might notice I haven’t mentioned coffee (I’m a coffee fiend). Once I sat down, a member of staff came over and offered me coffee and orange juice. You can pick the coffee you want, made from a bean-to-cup style machine, while I chose a latte which tasted really nice.
The orange juice was also freshly squeezed, so that tasted incredible. Sure, as I’ve got older I’ve learnt freshly squeezed orange juice isn’t the healthiest, it’s basically just sugar, but I couldn’t care less when on holiday, this was the perfect morning boost!
The Gym
The gym was actually quite impressive, sometimes you head along and find a couple of treadmills but not much in the weight training department. This was actually a good sized room with plenty of machines available.
You had the cable machine with two full stacks of weights and all the pulley attachments. There was a smith machine, a latt pulldown machine, a leg press / leg extension, plus two benches and a set of dumbbells. The dumbbells went up to 20kg.
For the cardio fans, there were two treadmills, an exercise bike, plus some others I don’t understand (I don’t do as much cardio so not as aware of all those machines).
You can find the gym right alongside the inside pool on the floor below. It’s a bit hidden away, but that also means it was completely empty, meaning you can have the whole gym for yourself.
How Do You Get Here?
Being based in Sussex, we got a Jet2 flight from London Stansted airport to Paphos, which lasted around 4.5 hours.
Once we landed, a pre-arranged minibus was waiting for us, so you can book these in advance or take a taxi from the airport. There are also bus services that run with a stop outside of the hotel.
If you’re curious what else to do on your stay, I’d definitely recommend having a read of my Paphos travel guide.
Bar Cocktails
I didn’t get the chance for many drinks, as we were out all day and night, therefore I couldn’t handle the idea of being hungover at any point. But that certainly wasn’t going to stop me getting a couple of cocktails before dinner at the bar area.
We tried a good few, such as the espresso martini and the spicy margharita. But my favourite was the pina champagne colada. It’s as it sounds, champagne added to a pina colada (or at least that’s what I presume it was).
This was really nice and refreshing, while it was also amazing that the staff come up to you whenever your drink is getting low to see if you’d like to order something, rather than you having to go to the bar. Considering it’s all inclusive, that’s the dream, anything you want and you don’t have to move.