Blue Horizon Palm Beach and Bungalows

I booked the Blue Horizon after our Cyprus holiday was cancelled. I opted for their garden bungalows for myself and my wife. We have never stayed in Rhodes before so this was an unknown to us. It was a difficult trip due to the restrictions. Reception did not explain everything to us or guided us to our bungalow, so we ended up zig zagging around pool area with our suitcases. The hotel and bungalows are very clean. The room is modern with cleaners coming in every 2-3 day due to covid. They are fully protected with masks and tunics. God knows how they work in the heat. The hotel is located on the beach but it has no sand, just pebbles, so buy beach shoes. It happens to be a windy part of the island, hence the windsurfing school in the same location. It is also located within the airport runway approach area with aircraft passing overhead quite frequently. So if you are a windsurfer and an aircraft spotter, this is the place for you. Towels are provided around the pool in exchange for your ticket you got at reception. You must return your ticket at checkout. We upgraded to all inclusive. Drinks and some snacks were available at the surfers bar. Not a great selection of AI snacks so we opted to buy gyro sandwiches(€2.80) each lunchtime as we did not wish to go to main restaurant. Sunbeds on the grass area and beach are not free and are €3.00 each. They are free around the pool area. Entertainment seemed to be a one man band for day activities and evening entertainment. It wasn't very good but could be due to covid restrictions. I can't really comment on evening meals as we like to go and explore the local tavernas. Overall the area was nice. I would recommend a trip to Rhodes old town, taxi was €13 and a visit to the valley of the butterflies €30+5 entry fee. Group A Car hire at hotel is €40 for one day.

So we booked this place very very last minute (two days before the departure) as our holidays in Portugal was cancelled due to the virus. We stayed here 10 days. Anyway, we expected nearly nothing and we were worried that there would even not be any water in the pool and everything will be shut. To our surprise, the pandemic does not seem to exist here and the pool was great, sun loungers, the bar just like normal with tiny differences of having individually wrapped straws and not serving any snacks at the bar. The entertainment was on actually, only the playground and the mini club was completely shut, which is understandable. The rooms were only cleaned every other day but we were fine with that. I think that our only problem was the restaurant where we had to queue for quite some time for the food as we are not able to get the food ourselves and everything is done for us behind shielded screens where we have to ask for each item to the staff who are all wearing masks. Sometimes this was frustrating because you ask for one item and they pile up so much on the plate that there i no room for anything else so off you go to queue again! Nevermind the amount of wasted food that they then have to throw away! Not happy about it! Also the frustrating thing was that every morning you have to queue up for coffee or tea and if you forget sugar or anything- go and queue up again for another 15 minutes by which time your coffee gets cold. Well, I must say we still were lucky to have the service and entertainment available and this is not a negative point, I totally understand it's in the best interest of the guests to keep us safe, it's just that it got annoying at some point. However, the most brilliant entertainment we had was the aqua aerobics done by Benny and he was super funny and really great! Somebody give that guy a raise! He did the majority of an evening entertainment single-handed as well! Cool! awesome guy! I'd also like to thank to Maria from the bar and the restaurant who always knew our order and I gave her a big hug to thank her just before we left! Also the fabulous lady from the beach bar (never asked her name! but working so hard and always getting us Pina Coladas with an extra banana liqueur even if there were people in the queue! Thank you lovely! We rented a car for 2 days and traveled around the island, which I can recommend! Lindos acropolys is really lovely! But watch out, don't trust the lady who rents the cars that there is a white sandy beach! There is no white sandy beach on the island! Go to the west coast to Tzambikos, that's the only sandy beach and it's lovely! The sea at the hotel is very rough, I'd describe it as a spinning cycle of a washing machine so unless you are going wind surfing or have proper shoes in the water and are of a strong built, do not enter. The kids had mostly fun in the pool all day and in general we had a very relaxing holiday considering the circumstances.

Positive: - clean - alcoholic gel available everywhere in the hotel - beautiful beach - sunset on the sea : wonderful ! - friendly and efficient staff - good localisations, close to Rhodes (rent a car agency in the lobby) Negative : - night animations too loud if you want to sleep not to late (our baby was awaked) - pool sunbeds are too old - some clients have been seen at the evening dinner in swimming suits. There should be a more strict dress code - food : not too bad but almost the same everyday