We have just had the most fabulous holiday in Cyprus and I thought that I would let you
know about some of the details.
Having young children, and the diabolical expense that goes with them, followed by the
Covid pause on travel, meant we hadn’t been on a holiday abroad for five years. We also
realised that we had never been away just the five of us. Holidays had always been with lots
of other people and whilst it is great fun being away with friends and family, it isn’t always
the most relaxing. Nor do you actually see that much of your spouse or children!
So, we made the decision to try and go away every year just as a family; last year we did this
and went to Salcombe, which was brilliant. This year however, I was absolutely determined
that we would go somewhere abroad. As much as I love the UK, holidaying here is definitely
not the cheapest option and I was desperate for some assured heat and sunshine.
After a bit of searching, and an alarming discovery that the kind of holiday I was hoping for
seemed to cost about £10,000, I decided to get some help and came across Lyndsay Roberts
who works as a travel broker. Lyndsay is based near York and describes herself as “an
independent concierge service who works on your behalf to understand exactly what you
want from a holiday” and then takes away all the hassle of booking it! Lindsay takes
commissions from the bookings that she makes, so you don’t actually pay for her services. I
gave Lyndsay my brief – it had to be hot, I didn’t want to have to do any cooking, I didn’t
want anything too commercial, or too kid-centred (think huge plastic water slides), and it
needed to be tasteful and in beautiful surroundings. We were sent lots of different quotes
and places and mulled it all over for a few months. Once we had made our decision, Lyndsay
then booked everything, organised our flights and even printed our tickets and sent
everything to us in advance.
Our chosen destination was Cyprus and we stayed at the 5-star Almyra Resort, which is very
family friendly and slightly smaller than some other resorts. We opted for the half-board
package, which included breakfast and dinner, but not drinks or the kids-club.
We had two rooms that interconnected; the three children had a bed each in one room and
we had a lovely double. Not having stayed in hotels before as a family, I was unsure how the
sleeping arrangements would work, but it was fabulous to have joined rooms with lots of
space. To keep costs down, we did not have a sea view, but there was so much fun to be
had in the resort that we literally only slept in our rooms and didn’t find this a
disappointment!
The Almyra Resort was absolutely brilliant for our needs as a family. As well as being right
on the beach, it also has three different pools; the children’s pool was completely shaded
from the sun (which my doctor husband really loved) and shallow enough that the children
could easily and safely play. I bought a swimming toy bag from Amazon for just £15 and it
kept all three of my children thoroughly entertained! The second pool was deeper and for
both adults and children, and the third pool was adult-only. James and I took turns to go and
sit and swim in the adult-only pool which gave us both some golden relaxation time.
The Almyra Kid’s Club was also brilliant. All the staff spoke English and there were all kinds
of on and off-site activities. We booked the children in for an afternoon, and they loved the
three different activities they did. They would happily have spent some more time there,
but at 30 Euros per child per half day session, it was quite expensive and they were pretty
blissful playing on the beach and in the pools!
Our package allowed us to eat in the main restaurant of the Almyra Resort and the food was
excellent with a huge amount of choice; lots of local Cypriot dishes, but also cuisines from
all over the world, fabulous salads and gorgeous puddings! Eating in this restaurant was free within your package. You could also eat in two restaurants in the sister hotel next door Called Annabelle. With a budget of 28 Euros per
person, which you could top up, or you could have what was on the chefs menu that night within your package.
It was fun to have this variety and we went across twice for dinner and cocktails at hotel Annabelle.
Overall, we had an absolutely fantastic time. The resort was brilliant and enabled us to have
some quality time together as a family and made it all very easy. Including flights, transfers and accommodation, the holiday cost came in at around £4000 for two adults and 3 children. We then spend an additional £600 on drinks,
kids club, lunch, taxis and some adult time in the spa (including a massage each!).
Things I would do differently… In hindsight, we probably would have been better off staying
on the full-board package. The children (and the parents!) would have definitely enjoyed
more of the Kid’s Club, and, if it had been cheaper, we would have sent them again. The
journey to Cyprus is long! Whilst the holiday itself was easy and relaxing, the journey was
not. If we were to go this far again (the flight was four hours) it would be better to go for 10
days rather than just a week.
Things to be aware of… The weather was very hot in July. Apparently, April is a lovely time
to go to Cyprus but the swimming pools are very chilly so you might not get so much
distraction time from them for children. Because it was so hot, I hardly wore any of the nice
clothes I packed! We all spent most of the holiday in our swim wear and I could have done
with more loose things to just throw over the top of my swimmers! The children lived in their Bride & Bert towelling robes pretty much all week which I highly recommend ad/pr use the code SimplyC for 15% off.
Top tips… Almyra had transfers to and from the airport included in the price. This was so
welcome after a long journey with children and something I would definitely opt for again.
Whilst Cyprus was very hot, the plane was freezing and so don’t forget to pack trousers and
jumpers for the journey!
You can watch my Cyprus vlog here on my YouTube channel.
I hope you are all having a fabulous summer and survived that crazy and intense heat! To
see what I am up to over the school holidays, don’t forget to check my Instagram and
Love Caroline xxx
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