Hotel Atlantica Portobello Royal

We should have been in Japan but felt very fortunate to end up here. This is a beautiful hotel designed to make the most of the stunning sea and pool views. And we really enjoyed our two week stay. Highlights: Delicious fresh Mediterranean food every day. Thanks to Kostas for ensuring my husband had gluten free meals every night, and the gluten free pizza for lunch was fab The service from all the staff, who are all very friendly, hardworking and helpful Our morning stretching class on the beach with Lucia Swimming in the sea and the exceptional pools Listening to the opera group on our balcony. Meeting Nicholas, the pool bar ginger cat - he will join you for (your) dinner if you sit at the back of the restaurant in the evening, as well as pre dinner chin rubs We felt very safe, because the hotel is really diligent about Covid precautions and there is ample space at the beach and the pools. We will return.

We came for 2 weeks during the dreaded Covid but had a lovely time, here are my thoughts... Pros - lovely staff, Tina served us breakfast each morning and soon remembered our drink order and would say hello whenever she saw us. Tall blonde lady (sorry can’t remember her name) who I assume was the manager was extremely friendly. Young girl in the lounge bar with mousy hair was rushed off her feet but never complained. - there’s a great selection in the main restaurant, the Greek restaurant by the beach is amazing, only wished it was open of an evening - cleanliness! The cleaners were constantly cleaning and one day I could see them cleaning a rooms balcony, ensuring it was safe - spa! A massage is a must, I had two - the beach is on the door step, it is a bit rocky but the sandy too - our room was lovely and spacious and cleaned every other other day - aqua gym and stretching on the beach with lucina was great, she’s very supportive - a choice of pools, where the sun beds were busy but the pools themselves were not Cons (not many) - a welcome pack in the room would be helpful. Every all inclusive is different so we were unsure of rules. It took us a few days to find out about aqua gym. There’s an app but has very little info - when we arrived we felt very safe as sun beds and sitting areas were spread out. As the hotel got busier more sun beds and chairs in the lounge were put out which created over crowding, obviously trying to please everyone I would certainly return to Porto bello royal and recommend it to others.

We stayed at this hotel for 1 week during September opting for a cheap room (Double with inland view/terrace). Overall I would describe this hotel as not currently offering its 5 star potential likely due to COVID and lacking staff. Note that due to the proximity to the airport you will hear loud airplane noise although this isn’t frequent enough to be problematic ROOM We were allocated a room by the main pool. The bed was nice and comfy although me and my partner had one lumpy pillow each. The maid comes by everyday offering fresh towels and water (two small bottles) with normal room cleaning occurring every other day. WiFi is decent and free. Our room had a balcony which was nice but we rarely used it as there is very little privacy between neighbours and it felt as if you were in other peoples business FACILITIES/RESTAURANTS This for me was the biggest let down and made it feel less 5 star and more a low end 4 star. The hotel likes to tout its many swimming pools as a winning feature though being honest there are only really maybe half the number of pools described they are just larger pools segmented with walkways. The waterfalls in some of the pools are also barely ever on. There are two outdoor jacuzzis. The indoor pool and indoor jacuzzi are both currently closed. The amphitheater where the entertainment was held is also closed. To replace this some entertainment is provided by the lobby bar on the terrace but there is often lots of competition for tables go for dinner and go straight there if you want to stand a chance of getting one. The entertainment wasn’t great on the night we went. The arcade by the hotel mini market is a good laugh if your into that sort of thing and like to mix it up. The water park is free and great fun although most rides need two people so hopefully your partner is braver than mine if you want to make the most of it. Evening walks are nice along the beach (go left) albeit slightly rocky There are 5 restaurants the main restaurant for breakfast lunch and dinner gets old quite quickly with the same repeated food on most days with breakfast being the worst of these repetitions. The choice and quality is worse than other 5 stars I have stayed in. E.g no live cooking stations, variety of meats and cuisines. They do theme nights Mexican, French etc but they contain maybe one key dish from these cuisines they rest are just rehashed versions of the generic dishes from regular days. The Greek is nice and probably my favourite. Lots of nice fresh salad, souvlaki, gyros and taztziki...very tasty. This is only available for lunch and must be prebooked. The Mediterranean is also lunch only but I wasn’t as fan as it was very fish dominant. The Chinese restaurant is closed which was a massive disappointment. The Italian was nice, buffet style as per all the other restaurants. This is the only other evening option for food. There is a snack bar/ice cream place which is decent and servals throughout the day. Snacks are baguettes and wraps. EXCURSIONS During these times we thought it best not to plan anything in particular but we did venture into Kardamenda which is a 10 min taxi ride (9 euro). There is also a bus available (1.80 euro). The Alvi restaurant we visited was fantastic really good quality food, nice staff and you can book online would definitely recommend going. There are a lot of lively bars catering for English/ German holidaymakers and shops open until ten.