St Raphael Resort

We stayed at St Raphael hotel as a last minute holiday for 11 Nights as Cyprus has the lowest rates of Covid infections and we wanted to feel safe! The hotel was very quiet which made it feel more like a boutique hotel as there wasn’t any question of not getting sunbeds or tables for dinner etc The part that made our stay was our daily visits to the Seashells Healthy Living Resturant, it’s Vegan (we are not vegan) but it was fab, we had daily juices for breakfast which were sumptuous. And lovely lunches every day sitting looking out to sea. If you are all inclusive this is included and well worth a visit. What made it truly enjoyable though were our two daily waiters Mickalis and Andreas, they got to know us well and looked after us daily anticipating our needs and making suggestions on the menu. We felt truly looked after they did a great job, it really made our stay all the more enjoyable. Thank you guys👍😀

We had a lovely stay at St Raphael Resort in the last week of August, this was our family's first visit to Cyprus and it won't be our last. Admittedly the hotel was very quite for this time of year - running at about 1/5 capacity, but everyone of the staff made our stay perfect. We arrived around 11pm and we were quickly booked in, we booked a sea view room and were not disappointed, the view out was beautiful looking out over the pools, well kept gardens and then the hotel' beach and marina. The food choices were more limited than advertised due to the fact that one of the restaurants was not allowed to open due to restrictions imposed on the hotel by law, and even groups of 10 or more were not allowed and heavy fines imposed on the owners if found to be in breach. Having said all that the food we had in the buffet restaurant was of a good standard with a decent amount of choice, from fresh fruit and veg, to different meats and fish, as well as a selection of desserts and ice creams to keep the kids happy. The restaurant by the pool with the slide was superb during the day and served alcohol too - special mention to Alexia who went above and beyond to keep our party fed and watered. We ate out at the Sailors Rest in the Harbour which is open to the general public but is affiliated with the hotel and offers a 20% discount off the posted prices for hotel guests. The food here was at the upper end of scale and was served piping hot and quickly - however the drinks service was somewhat lacking and we were still waiting for our first round of drinks when the starters had been delivered - its a fairly minor issue all things considered but worth a mention. Both the swim up pool bar and the Captain's bar were great and staffed with some great characters - Otto, Dora, and Jack made you feel welcome and kept the drinks flowing (as they should on holiday). The beach was kept tidy and patrolled, the only downside was that there were no beach safes to lock away phones whilst swimming, so one of your party would have to stay behind - we were told that nothing ever gets stolen, but we were not wanting to leave said items just lying around. The water was clean and the sand gets very hot! The water sports kiosk could cater for nearly every whim. The family and I tried the kayaks, banana boat, jet skis and parasailing all at very reasonable prices. The hotel was spotless, there was numerous hand sanitising stations throughout and all the staff had to wear face masks. If using the buffet restaurant all patrons had to wear gloves and a mask - this was tightly monitored for everyone's peace on mind by the staff. All in all a brilliant week was had by all. Everyone of the staff was happy to see us there, the hotel, like so many others have suffered hard during this pandemic and I believe they were going to shut the hotel down at the end of September due to it not being commercially viable to continue over the winter months - not that they ever showed this during our stay. I wish them well for the future as this was a good holiday.