We’ve just come back from a 5-night stay in Paphos and it was a lovely holiday! There was a bad day, but I’ll talk about that further down.
We were kindly gifted flights from Ryanair, which helped cut our holiday costs down! I am very grateful for that! I know they do not have the best rep, but we’ve flown with them five times this year and never had any major issues!
Unfortunately, whoever booked our flights mistakenly put little miss as an adult, which meant we had to check in at Stansted instead of online. The check-in queues were insane! We got to Stansted just before 3am and I couldn’t believe my eyes. Always make sure you get to the airport at least 3 hours before your departure time. We spent 45 minutes in the queue!
I’ve read articles and seen tiktoks about checked luggage just being left for anyone to tamper with, so I decided just to bring hand luggage. I used our great Ryanair-friendly bags from Decathlon again.
The line for security was also insane, but it seemed like there was a separate queue for families to use.
The flight was 4 hours long, and it was a breeze coming out of Paphos Airport. I paid €45 for the taxi to our hotel, which was less than 30 minutes away. I wish I knew how easy it was to get the bus, as it’s so much cheaper. 2 buses to our hotel would’ve cost me just €6 return.
The hotel.
I used hotels.com to book our hotel because of their rewards system. Collect 10 Nights, Get 1 Free* to use on over 275000 hotels worldwide.
We stayed at Venus Beach Hotel and I paid £609 for half board (breakfast and dinner)
The good
The swimming pool was lovely
It’s right on the beach
There’s a Lidl right opposite
Most of the staff are friendly
The lady who ran the kids club was as so sweet!
Less than 30 minutes from the Airport
There’s a bus stop right outside
Close to McDonald’s and kfc lol
The bad
Evening entertainment was terrible
The indoor pool was closed
The food was okay. Nothing special
The ugly
The hotels attitude to racism is the reason why I would NOT recommend you stay here!
Now I’m not blaming the hotel for racist guests. That’s completely out of their control but their attitude towards the situation sucked.
A quick recap of what happened little miss was playing with a bunch of white boys. One of them asked her if she knew what the n-word meant. She, of course, said no. He told her it meant “kind” and that she is a n word. Another boy told her it means “beautiful,” and that she should approach me and use the word. She, of course, did so with a big smile on her face. I have never been so shocked in my life and immediately approached the mother of the boys and, of course, they denied it and she defended them. She then went to the hotel reception to complain about me! The audacity lol.
I spoke with both guest relations and the hotel manager and it was just “we don’t know who is telling the truth”
You cannot be on the fence in a situation like this. They made me feel like I was overacting which wasn’t nice at all. There’s no room for racists or racist sympathisers in society!
It was a shitty day but I did my best to not let it ruin the rest of our holiday.
Paphos Aphrodite Waterpark
Probably the best waterpark we’ve ever been to! It’s great for young kids. To be honest, it’s great for the whole family. There’s something for everyone to enjoy! We had the best day, and I was tempted to book a second day. It was that good!
A single adult ticket costs €31, and children’s tickets (under 12 years old) cost €18. Kids under 3 years old can enter the waterpark FREE of charge.
You can find more info here.
Pirates Adventure – Jolly Roger II
This cruise is a family favourite and welcomes all ages aboard to enjoy the action-packed Pirate show. A relaxing day for parents, and an entertaining experience for children.
Little Miss had the best time making new friends onboard and joining in with all the fun pirate-themed activities. I must say it was very cool sailing around on a pirate ship!
This experience is €25 for kids and €45 for adults. This includes transfers to and from your hotel, a welcome drink, food and more!
More info can be found here.
Other things to do with kids
I came across “Things To Do In Paphos with Kids” on Tripadvisor so you might want to check it out.
I did love our time in Paphos despite that one crappy day! We will be back!
Our entry into the water park, the boat ride and flights were complimentary but all views are my own.
