I spend so much of my holiday time filming and working as a blogger, so it was incredibly nice to completely switch off, pick up a cocktail and relax by the pool on this stay in Paphos.
The Leonardo Plaza Cypria Maris Beach Hotel was gorgeous, the food was amazing and the staff were really friendly. Read on for my full review, covering everything from the pools, the room size and little tips for your stay.
You can book your flights to Paphos with Jet2 who offer some brilliant packages, such as the one we were booked onto, all at a really decent price.
The Pools
The main pool is a decent size, plenty of room to swim around or relax when it’s too hot outside (it was 37 degrees when we visited).
The pool has a shallow and deep end, but the deep end is never truly deep, in that I could always stand whichever part of the pool I was in.
They had sun beds in parts of the main pool, meaning you could lie down and soak up the sun while staying cool from the water. These were popular with the ‘sun bathers’, but I prefer shade hopping. This is why I was delighted there was a bridge over the main pool, as I could hide underneath when the sun was at full blast.
As well as the main pool, there was also a ‘bar side pool’, which you could relax in and enjoy a cheeky tipple. This was a much smaller pool, so I didn’t bother with it much, but if you fancy a drink while in the pool then this is the best option for you.
There is also a third section, right next to the main pool, which is very shallow and has bubbles going, while there was also a Jacuzzi which remained popular throughout the time I was there, but I was already overheating let alone in a Jacuzzi.
Inside, near the entrance of the building, was an inside pool. Unsurprisingly, this was much less busy, so if you’re hoping to avoid the sunrays or generally prefer an inside pool then this is an added option available to you. In the winter, this pool is heated, but it’s hard to imagine Paphos ever being anything but boiling hot.
Ice Coffee Frappe
Considering the heat, I didn’t really fancy drinking copious amounts of coffee, but I still wanted my daily fix of caffeine. I was therefore delighted to see a range of iced coffee’s, such as iced latte or iced cappuccino.
But it was actually the iced coffee frappe that was the tastiest, virtually everyone was drinking them, plus once morning turns to afternoon, you can request alcohol to be added!
The Drink Menu
There were plenty of drink options available on the all inclusive deal, while if you paid for the deluxe option then you can swap the house spirits for brand names, as well as a couple of other cocktails.
So let’s dive into what you get:
Spirits with mixers
- House gin (deluxe get Gordon’s, Gordon’s pink and Bombay Saphire)
- House vodka (deluxe gets Smirnoff, Absolut or Stolichnaya)
- House tequila (deluxe gets Jose Cuervo Silver & Gold)
- House whisky (deluxe gets Johnnie Walker, J&B, Famous Grouse, Jameson, Jim Beam, Jack Daniels and Chivas Regal 12 Y.O)
- House rum (deluxe gets Bacardi, Captain Morgan’s Dark & Spiced Gold plus Havana Club 3 Anos)
- House brandy
- House Liquers (plenty from almond to orange, Peach Schnapps to Cherry Brandy), deluxe gets the brand versions like Disaronno, Baileys, Malibu and Cointreau
Cocktails
I’ll start by listing all the cocktails that everyone gets, ending in the deluxe options:
- Tom Collins
- Gin Fizz
- San Francisco
- Sex On The Beach
- Black Russian
- Bloody Mary
- Tequila Sunrise
- Brandy Sour
- Dry Martini
- Singapore Sling
- Cosmopolitan
- Amaretto Sour
- Margarita
- Brandy Alexander
- Ouzo Special
- Blue Lagoon
- Cuba Libre
- Mojito
- Frozen Strawberry Daiquiri
- Frozen Lemon Daiquiri
- Mai Tai
- Pina Colada
- Aperol Spritz
- Hugo
- Kir Royal
- Belini
- Negroni (deluxe)
- Espresso Martini (deluxe)
As you can see from the above, the cocktail list is huge and the fact you don’t have to be deluxe is brilliant. Obviously I would love an Espresso Martini, but you could equally order the Ice Coffee Frappe and ask for alcohol to be added for something similar.
Mocktails
- Virgin Strawberry Mojito
- Virgin Cosmopolitan
- Summer Cooler
- Fruit Punch
- Shirley Temple
Beers
- House Draught
- Alpha Draught
- Shandy Draught
If you have the deluxe option, then you can get bottles of Alpha, Keo, Carlsberg, Sol, John Smith, Heineken, as well as a non alcohol beer.
Wine
- House Sparkling Wine
- House White Wine
- House Red Wine
- House Rose Wine
On top of all these, there are a number of soft drinks, hot drinks and fresh water stations. They give you a bottle of water at the start, which you carry around with you and top up at the hydration station.
The Beach
The beach was beautiful, with turquoise water and nice sandy beaches. The waves were surprisingly big 2 of the 3 days we went down there, making them fun when jumping waves.
There are hotel sunbeds which you can relax on, plus plenty of watersports located right next to the hotel which are easy to book.
It was nice watching sunset each night from the beach, with the palm trees all around you, it creates such a brilliant holiday feel.
Adult Only Holidays
I’ve always wanted to stay in an adult only holidays resort, so I was delighted to find out this was one. The children friendly hotel by Leonardo was actually just next door. But this meant we got a pool just with adults enjoying themselves, rather than kids splashing and screaming.
I don’t want to offend any parents, but it is nice to avoid kids where possible when on holiday, so this was absolute bliss.
The Restaurants
So I’ll dive into what I had, but unfortunately I didn’t manage to try all the restaurants as they were all booked out by the time I arrived. I can imagine if you were there for a full week then you could probably book yourself in, but with just a few days, they weren’t available.
When you arrive, you need to instantly go over to the information screens (like a giant mobile phone) and go to ‘restaurant reservation’. Here you can choose the date and see what is available. Do it all for the whole holiday as soon as you arrive.
Breakfast
Breakfast had all the usual ‘English Breakfast’ options you might be hoping for, such as sausages, fried eggs, poached eggs, boiled eggs, baked beans, hash browns and bacon. There was an omelette station as well, but it seemed to only be manned on weekends.
There was a pastry section, with everything you’d expect as well, such as bread, croissants, Danish pastries, pain au chocolates etc.
There was also a fruit and yogurt section, including multiple flavours of yogurt, as well as fruit like watermelon, bananas, apples, fruit cocktail, dried apricots, tinned peaches and tinned pineapple.
You could find some cereals and porridge, but I didn’t bother with these, as I feel like I can eat them anytime back home, so I stuck to the shiny exciting things.
Finally, there was a salad section, which had multiple
You had plenty of coffee machines dotted around, so you didn’t have to queue for one, as well as fruit juice machines and fizzy drink machines.
Lunch
While I didn’t manage to book any of the restaurants for dinner, the Italy restaurant is open for everyone at lunch.
From there, you can get pizza buffet-style, while they also had a spaghetti station where you could order it to be made with either pesto, Bolognese, carbonara or one other (a tomato based on but can’t remember the name).
The pizza was probably the best food they had, it was really scrumptious and they didn’t go easy on the cheese, so I definitely put on a few pounds and I have absolutely no regrets.
Just outside of the Italian restaurant section was another free-to-all cooking area, where you could order fries, jacket potato with beans and cheese or with salad, spiral potato sticks, chicken gyros, hamburger, cheeseburger, veggie burger, hot dog or a chicken hot dog.
Of course, we went for the jacket potato with beans and cheese, I would recommend asking for some extra cheese as they didn’t put much on initially.
The spiral potato stick was ok, albeit they slightly overcooked it.
I also had a chicken gyros, which I probably would have enjoyed more after a couple of drinks as more of a drunk go-to, while it came with chips which were decent.
At the buffet, back where we ate breakfast, you had a new array of options available to enjoy. There were a couple of soups available, changing each day, while the carrot and coriander soup was really nice.
Throughout whatever meal you were having, there was always the salad buffet in place, which contained plenty of healthy options, as well as things like houmous, cream cheese and a pesto dip.
Some of the foods available included a garlic bread with cheese (plus another with bacon), pizza, lasagne, roast potatoes, a cous cous meal, roasted aubergines, samosas, white fish etc.
Dinner
Dinner had many similarities to lunch, but I love that they did mix it up, trying to keep you guessing.
Some of the meals they had included a beef stew, spinach rice, breaded chicken Milanese, garlic bread with cheese, carbonara, pizza, steamed vegetables, chips, Mexican potatoes, burgers etc.
There was a main cook section, manned by a chef, which changed each day. Day one they served a whole salmon, day two was taco night, day three was a noodle dish.
As with the lunches, you had the salad sections, which was fun to sift through and try all the various dishes available.
Desserts
Throughout all the lunches and dinners there was a dessert table available with everchanging options. On the last day they had a black forest gateau, my favourite cake in the world, so you can imagine the joy on my face.
They had numerous other options, such as a Maltesers chocolate cake, tiramisu, lemon meringue, jelly etc.
They also had an ice cream section, plus a rice pudding section.
The Room
The room was a great size, with a huge bed, so plenty of room to spread out, which is key when the weather is warm, you don’t want to be bumping into each other with hot arms.
The TV was also a good sized flat screen on the wall, not that we used it at all on the holiday, but always worth highlighting.
The balcony we had was a really good size, with two chairs to relax on in the evening. There was also a clothes hanger which was really useful to ensure the swimming shorts and bikini were washed and dried by the next day.
The view from the balcony was of the beach front, which was stunning to look out on while getting ready.
The shower had a good amount of water power, while it was a decent sized shower head so it was a very refreshing shower each morning and before dinner. The shower gel was a bit intense with the scent, so I’d bring your own if you can.
The only annoyance with the room was around the air conditioning. We could get it to turn on from 5:30pm, but it didn’t seem to turn on during the day. Not the biggest issue, as you’re out all day, but at one point we went up at 3pm and frustrating it wouldn’t turn on.
The bathroom came with all the bits you’d hope for, such as a shaving set, shower cap, ‘vanity kit’ and body lotion, plus they had dental sets of toothbrushes with toothpaste, which is always amazing as we have forgotten ours in the past.
The room had a mirror and a dresser which Raquel appreciated. I personally appreciated that the cleaners came round at around 9-11am, much earlier than most places I’ve been to, so it will be cleaned quickly and you don’t turn up in the afternoon still hoping for a clean towel.
Activities
The best activity was the water aerobics, I’ve seen these in the past and been tempted, but when going on other holidays it has normally been a mix of kids/parents and old people. But this being an adult only, the average person getting involved was between 25-50 years old.
I loved the water aerobics, the instructor got really into it, but it’s also quite relaxed being in the water, so you can go as hard or easy as you like. It certainly helped to sweat off the hangover in a fun way.
They had a few other daytime activities such as yoga, but we left these. In the evening they had live music, such as a pianist, a saxophonist and a guitarist.
On the Saturday night they had bingo in the club, followed by a pub quiz, both of which I loved. There were prizes for the winners, including a massage and a bottle of champagne.
There was a room (oddly labelled ‘squash court’) which contained a table tennis table, as well as a dart board. You collect the equipment from reception if you want a game, while we had to have a few matches of ping pong after a few drinks.
My one negative comment around the activities would be that we were hoping for more evening entertainment than just live music. Whether it was comedy, impersonators, acrobats, jugglers or karaoke, it would have been nice to mix it up, as largely it was just a single musician playing quite calm music. Even a band playing on a Friday would have been nice.
The Gym
Let’s face it, my gym days are well and truly behind me now, I might have a go at a spin class, but I can’t be bothered to lift weights anymore.
However, I can say the old me would have been impressed. They had a smith machine, a pec dec machine, lat pulldown machine, free weights and a couple of weight benches, a pull up bar, a barbell bench and bar, plus treadmills, and crosstrainers.
The gym was a really good size, back in the day I used to squash myself into tiny hotel gyms and have to share just a few dumbbells with someone else, but this was really impressive.
Watersports
We didn’t get involved in any watersports in the end, but we would have if we stayed a few more days, but we really just wanted to unwind and switch off.
They had parasailing, which I’ve loved on previous holidays and we kept seeing people going out doing this, so it was tempting as time went on.
They also had a number of jet ski’s, plus wakeboarding, pedalos and a banana boat ride. Called San Antonio Watersports, they really were located right outside the hotel on the beach front, so you won’t have to go far if you’re tempted.
Cute Cats
The hotel had a good few cats that wondered around the sun bed area, which was really cute. They were very friendly, as I presume they’re used to being fed by guests.
They’re not like normal strays, they’re well groomed, so I presume the hotel looks after them as well, but they came up and were very friendly, so it added a nice joy to our relaxation.
Altogether I think there were 3 or 4 cats, but it was the same cats each day you see, so not like hundreds everywhere but more like 3-4 resort pets.
Resort Flight Luggage Check-In
Are you ready for the best part? I’m serious, this was mind-blowing! If you book Leonardo Plaza Cypria Maris Beach Hotel & Spa with Jet2holidays then they offer a free resort flight check-in for your luggage.
But what does that all mean? Ok, on our last day, we went up to reception where they had a Jet2 staff member setup. You hand your suitcase to them, they collect all your details like your passport info, then they take off your suitcase to the airport for you.
It means you don’t have to carry it with you. But not just that, you don’t even have to check it in at the airport, they arrange that all, so you can just go straight through security. The next time you see your suitcase is back in the UK.
I asked if they do this anywhere else, but it’s purely something that happens in Cyprus, I wish I could have this on every holiday! It made our final day stress-free.
Where Do You Fly From?
While I’m used to heading from Gatwick, for this package you had to book yourself onto flights from London Stansted Airport. The security times are pretty quick, albeit the passport checks when you return are still relatively slow when compared to other London airports.
There is also a decent lounge in Stansted, I didn’t use it this time, but I normally love a lounge, especially if you’re going to blow cash in an airport anyway.
Final Day Check-Out
This might sound like something basic, but it’s something I really appreciate. When we checked out, all we had to do was hand in our key cards and then we could keep on our wristbands. This meant, despite not leaving till 5:30pm, we could eat all the food, relax by the pool, use all the facilities and then casually get ready.
Of course, you can pay extra to also have the room, but what’s the point, as they have showers and changing rooms, so you don’t really need the room any longer.
Transfers
One of the benefits of booking Package holidays to Cyprus with Jet2holidays is that the transfer is included in your booking.
This means that the moment you arrive and grab your suitcase, you will see Jet2 staff members waiting at the airport to direct you over to your coach. It’s impossible to miss them, they have big signs, they’re all in red and they’re dotted all over.
The coach is air-conditioned, big seat areas and will head to each resort, of which there were six stops in total, with our journey taking around 15 minutes.
On the way back, with our flight at 8:30pm, they came to pick us up at between 5:35-6:05pm. As a few come along, depending on who you have booked with, if you’re not sure then the bus driver will come in and shout your name so you can feel assured (or you can ask and they have a list of people they’re taking) so you won’t get left behind.
Excursions
OK, as I have mentioned throughout this blog post review of Leonardo Plaza Cypria Maris, I was just after some relaxation and didn’t fancy doing any excursions.
But if you do, then there are plenty of options right on the doorstep of the hotel. There is a golf course nearby, which I would have loved to have tried but Raquel isn’t a fan.
There is also a waterpark near by, something we both love and would have done if we were staying for longer. The Paphos Aphrodite Waterpark has a lazy river, a free fall ride and plenty of tubes to shoot through.
You could also book yourself onto a jeep safari or a segway tour of Paphos, plus there was a diving site nearby where you can see a shipwreck!