Lucinda Parker
Coral Bay Beach Hotel, Coral Bay – Honest Review (10-night stay, All Inclusive)
We have just returned from a 10-night all-inclusive stay at Coral Bay Beach Hotel as a family, and whilst we did have a nice holiday overall, unfortunately we wouldn’t return or recommend the hotel.
The positives first:
The buffet food was excellent with a great variety every day, and everything we tried was very tasty. The waiting staff throughout the hotel were attentive, friendly and always served with a smile. It was also lovely to see the chefs regularly walking around checking the food and speaking to guests.
We stayed in a Family Suite Duplex, which was spacious, comfortable and ideal for a family. The air conditioning worked brilliantly, which was much appreciated in the summer heat.
The hotel itself was spotlessly clean. Housekeeping did a fantastic job every day and were always friendly.
Our two girls absolutely loved the kids’ club. The ladies working there were warm, enthusiastic and genuinely seemed to enjoy spending time with the children.
The evening bar also had a lovely atmosphere and was a pleasant place to relax.
Unfortunately, there were several disappointments that really affected our stay.
The biggest issue by far was the smoking and vaping around the swimming pools, particularly the children’s pool. There is a huge ashtray overlooking the children’s pool, and every day people were smoking and vaping on their sunbeds around families with young children. To reach the children’s pool you often had to walk through cigarette smoke.
We raised this with reception. The duty manager told us smoking was not permitted around the pool and assured us it would be dealt with. However, nothing changed. The following day, when we spoke to another member of reception staff, Kurana, she simply told us people could smoke anywhere in the hotel and walked away while we were still speaking. The large ashtray remained exactly where it was. We found this very disappointing and inconsistent.
For us, this alone is enough reason not to return.
The Wi-Fi was also extremely unreliable, constantly dropping in and out. Combined with very poor EE mobile signal in the area, staying connected was frustrating.
The hotel advertises several restaurants, yet during peak summer season it was almost impossible to get a reservation. We stayed for 10 nights and only managed to eat in three of them despite being all-inclusive. The reservations process was disappointing, and the lady managing bookings was not particularly helpful or accommodating.
The sunbed situation was another frustration. Unless towels were down by around 7:45 am, you had very little chance of finding beds later in the morning. Although the main pool is attractive, it simply isn’t large enough for the number of guests staying at the hotel, making it feel overcrowded.
The choice of alcoholic drinks was also fairly limited, particularly wine and beer.
The music played around the pool throughout the day was loud, repetitive dance music. If you’re hoping to relax by the pool with a book, this probably isn’t the place for you.
The exterior of the hotel is also looking tired in places and would really benefit from repainting, particularly around the rear of the property.
Overall, we don’t feel this is a genuine five-star hotel. In our opinion, it just about reaches a four-star standard.
We genuinely did enjoy parts of our holiday, but by around the fifth night we felt ready to go home.
It’s a real shame because many of the staff work incredibly hard and deserve recognition. However, the hotel’s unwillingness to properly address smoking around young children completely overshadowed the positives for us.
It will also be interesting to see whether management responds to this review. Looking through previous reviews, they seem much more inclined to reply to positive feedback than constructive criticism.
Rada Budilovsky
We had a wonderful stay! The service was excellent, the rooms were clean and comfortable, and the pools were lovely. The hotel is also very close to the beach, which was a big plus. The food was delicious, and overall, we really enjoyed our time here. Highly recommended!
Jane B
We are currently staying in the Coral Beach Hotel near Paphos in Cyprus. The stay up to now has been mixed, our room is lovely a good size with all the amenities you could want, with the extras of a free mini fridge stocked on arrival and restocked in 7 days, free glass water bottles to tackle the plastic issues, and slippers. The rooms are kept spotless, the staff in the main, apart from the bar staff, are lovely and very accommodating. The evening bar staff are grumpy, unhelpful and ask you to wait for table service that never comes. The poolside staff are lovely, attentive helpful and work really hard.
The food is delicious and travelling with my vegan daughter she found food at every meal except one...but we could order off the dedicated vegan menu...definate plus. I would like more breakfast options which there may have been e.g. vegan croissants, plant based spread for toast, option of plant based desserts, and if you have a plant based dish eg chickpea salad, don't add butter to it ...it makes it non vegan! Whilst there are multiple restaurants within the hotel, none of them offer a plant based menu option and we could only book one, which had a bruschetta starter.
The views are lovely but the one major downside which is not the hotels fault, but a major factor is the sea is completely full of waste, and plastic and micro plastic on the beaches around the hotel, I can't stress enough this is not the hotels responsibility but governmental and worldwide, but it is truly awful to see . So if you are not choosing the hotel for the beach it is excellent. If it's a beach holiday you want i'd pick elsewhere 😐. The other issues we encountered was the hotel is used for weddings and outside events. So for the last 3 days a large group have commandeered the poolside loungers, drank a lot shouted a lot and played their own sound system, and the men have been a bit sweary and difficult to walk past, I'm sure they are having the best holiday ever, however for me it's annoying and for my 15 year old having to walk through them all it's intimidating. Not sure the hotel can do much about this, just a note to self to not book a hotel with wedding facilities 😄.A slightly muted end to a good but not great holiday.
dina sh
The hotel is beautiful, very clean, air conditioned and offers warm, attentive service and great food. There are a few restaurants in the hotel and it’s better to order a place in advance.
The pool is large and there is also a private beach.
The location is a bit far from Paphos city (around 20-25 minutes by car), but there is a bus station right next to the hotel. Also, there is a nice supermarket and an ice cream shop just across the road.
The hotel is for family friendly but it’s also romantic and peaceful.
The rooms are big and spotless, they are cleaned every day.
We’ve truly had a great time.
Highly recommended!
Adrian H
We stayed here as a birthday surprise for my partner, and it turned into a really memorable experience. The room and the view were stunning, and we were lucky to have great weather even in February.
A special thank you to Tiina, the Customer Relations Manager, who truly made the difference. She surprised us with a complimentary gift in the room and made us feel genuinely welcome and cared for throughout our stay. Also a big thank you to George, the porter, who was very friendly and left a great impression.
The restaurant offers different themed dinners every evening, which keeps things interesting. The buffet salads could have been fresher and the coffee was just okay, but overall the food was good.
The cocktails included in the all-inclusive package were excellent and definitely a highlight.
Overall, a place we’d happily come back to.
