What is it? Louis Phaethon Beach, a 4* hotel part of the Louis group of hotels
Where? Paphos (or Pafos) on the west coast of Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean
Description: [view_from_our_balcony.jpg] Desperate for some winter sunshine & relaxation before the onset of the December madness set in, but with her husband’s holiday allowance all spent, Kirsty decided to brave it on her own & set off with her toddler son to Paphos, to see whether she was really as independent & capable as she thought! But a 5 hour flight with 2 bags, 2 pieces of hand luggage & a trolley – could she really manage? Just how “single-adult-plus-child-friendly” were the airports and airlines?
Recently appointed by Louis Hotels as a “Family World Centre” it boasts plenty of activities, entertainment and facilities especially for children. With average Pafian temperature in November still a mild 21°C, it seemed a fantastic solution for both mum & son
A huge timetable of sports, games & activities for adults and older children are offered by the Animation Team including a morning walk, Archery, Crazy Golf, French bowls, Table Tennis and much more. The large outdoor pool with separate children’s pool, two playgrounds (one themed as a pirate ship) and an indoor pool as well.
For the adults each night there are ballroom dancing lessons run by the resident ballroom duo, plus bingo & quizzes. The animation team run a kids disco and present any certificates from the sports activities or children’s club, before taking the children to the ‘Film Club’ (supervised DVD watching in a nearby room) for 45 minutes during the bingo and then return to give a performance on stage, ranging from ‘Aladdin’, a UV light show, a ‘Crazy Cabaret’ or specialist dancing shows such as Russian or Irish nights. The team are lots of fun, and what they lack in skill they make up for in enthusiasm!
One of the advantages of the ‘Family World Centre’ status is that the hotel can provide plenty of equipment, especially for babies, should it be needed, so that you don’t need to travel with it. For example, pushchairs, baby baths, sterilizers, blenders and baby monitors are all available for free hire besides the more obvious provision of cots and highchairs. The restaurant provides an early children’s tea from around 4pm each day, although children are still welcomed during the main sitting from 6pm. There is a baby’s creche which also contains sterilizers and baby’s toys, games and books. Plus ‘Snazzy Sarah’, the hotel’s superb children’s representative runs the twice daily ‘Santelino’ children’s club.
Massages and a whole range of beauty treatments can be booked at reception and are carried out in your room, plus the indoor swimming pool also has a large Jacuzzi whirlpool, steam rooms and saunas. But with almost guaranteed sunshine all year round, lazing by the pool or the sea with a good book was pampering enough for me!
Local activities: For families with older children, there are numerous archaeological remains in the local area, including the Acropolis, the Roman Temple of Asclepius, the Baths of Aphrodite, the Catacombs and the Mosaic floors of Paphos (very impressive I remember from my last visit to Cyprus, around 8 years ago, pre children!). However if you have toddlers or young children, cultural stimulation is probably not high on the agenda, and therefore a trip to the huge Aphrodite Waterpark (open May to October only) or the Pafos Aquarium with it’s 72 tanks of fishes, crocodiles and sharks, or just a trip on a glass bottomed boat from Pafos harbour may be more in order. The Pafos Bird Park, opened in 2003 seems to have a fantastic reputation and families I spoke to that had been really enjoyed it. Besides birds there are also deer, giraffe, snakes and even a crocodile!
Wish we had known: …that British Airways were so hopeless with families these days – we didn’t get priority boarding either at Manchester or at Paphos and meals weren’t included on our ‘BA Connect’ flights. Budget airlines wherever possible for me from now on! I can’t see what you are paying extra for.
Our top tip: Don’t forget towels for the beach/pool – there aren’t any to hire, although the towels you can buy at the well stocked shop are very reasonable and lightweight so not a problem to take home again.
Kids say: I don’t want to go out anywhere, I want to go to the Kids Club (hence we only spent 2 hours off site having lunch at Pafos Harbour!) – Luke, aged 3
Getting There: We booked directly with the hotel www.louishotels.com but take care when booking on their website as it’s a bit misleading at the payment stage when they only take a deposit. Room rates start from €44.50 per person per night (Cyprus joins the Euro 1/1/08) for a minimum 4 night stay, and only slightly more for a shorter stay. There are many regional UK airports serving Paphos airport & the hotel is only a 20 minute transfer away. Thomson appeared to be the major UK tour operator with reps based at the hotel each day although more offer it during high season including Portland Direct.
About our stay: Due to other commitments, I was very restricted to the days we could visit Paphos, and just managed to squeeze in 5 nights away before the onset of the December madness (made worse in our house by my son’s birthday, father’s and father-in-law’s birthday, all within a week of Christmas itself!) Therefore the only flights that suited us were with British Airways to/from Manchester. Thankfully I know my way around Manchester airport pretty well and was quite pleased that I easily managed to navigate myself from the long stay car park to the check-in desk via the courtesy bus, with Luke, his pushchair, a suitcase, a bag and 2 pieces of hand luggage, but was relieved to rid myself of the luggage for the hold! Surely that’s the hard part over with and it should be easier from now on? Loading up the pushchair with the items of hand luggage we trundled through security (unload, coats off, collapse trolley, encourage Luke through the X-ray machine, & repeat in reverse at the other end!) and with an hour or so to spare before boarding I thought we could waste some time in the restaurant. Couldn’t understand the lift & decided it didn’t stop at the mezzanine floor for the restaurant, so dragged Luke, trolley etc up the steps. But then we hit a bigger problem. So just how are you supposed to carry a tray of hot food/drinks whilst pushing a child in a heavily laden pushchair? (definitely not one hand steering!) Not wanting to leave Luke at a table alone, yet not sure we would get a table at all after getting our food in the busy restaurant, it ended up a bit like a relay race with me & Luke, the pushchair and the tray of food being members of the team – except I did each leg about 3 times! Anyhow somehow we managed it and after twiddling our thumbs, digging out colouring pages and crayons from the hand luggage, eventually it was time to make our way to the gate. Explaining to the BA staff that I had a small child & trolley, they told me to collapse the trolley and leave it at the desk to be loaded. Fine, my predicament has been noted I thought, so I should get priority boarding to settle him in his seat before the adult travelers start queuing in the aisles However, when it came to boarding, those needing assistance (wheelchair users) were boarded first, then a lady with a small baby was approached to board, then before I knew it, it was a free-for-all, and we were herded along with the rest of the bunch. Now Luke is only 3, so whilst not a baby, he’s clearly still a young child & I expected to get just a little bit of assistance. After me expressing my annoyance to the staff when checking our passports, it appears I’d been overlooked – okay, well perhaps it won’t happen on the return leg then? Hmmm. The flight itself passed without incident (the portable DVD player I’d bought the week before proved a very good investment) and we landed in Paphos around 7pm. Being a small airport made managing the luggage a lot easier and after a short taxi transfer to the hotel we arrived at Louis Phaethon Beach by which time it was quite dark. At check-in I decided to take advantage of a fairly low cost upgrade from half board to all-inclusive (it’s just easier!) and arrived at our room to be met by an ex-pat concierge delivering our luggage. The room was fairly small, and although there was plenty of space with our 2 twin beds and a sofa, I’m sure it would have been quite a tight fit if you had to use that sofa as a third bed. The general condition of the hotel was, whilst exceptionally clean, a bit worn, and was showing its age (built in the 1970s). The hotel owners are gradually refurbishing the common areas, and all the bedrooms had recently had new soft furnishings. The electrics are of typical Cypriot/Med quality with light flexes being strewn across the ceiling, however all appeared to be safe and certainly nothing concerned me from a child-friendly perspective. So, if the general surroundings warranted a 3 star rating at best, I thought there must be something else about the hotel that made it 4 star. The next few days didn’t disappoint. [pirate_ship_playground.jpg] The service was superb, the facilities and entertainment were excellent and the restaurant food was delicious, with a huge amount of choice and every single day brought several new dishes on the menu. The pool was freezing though, as, although the temperature was generally warm enough to sunbathe in swimwear, the sun wasn’t hot enough to warm the pool sufficiently. The indoor pool closed during two hours over lunch, which is the same time that the kids club was shut, so I’ve suggested to the hotel’s general manager that it should be opened during those times to give parents a solution to occupy an hour or so. And he agreed that this would be considered. Also, I felt that the facilities available to families (such as early children’s teatimes) could be explained in a letter at check-in, as most families I met were unaware of the huge range of services offered. [paphos_harbour.jpg] A special mention has to be made of Sarah, the children’s club courier. She worked as the courier for Thomson during the summer and has been recently employed directly by the hotel for the winter season and the 2008 summer season. Luke was originally nervous about joining in with the other children at the kids club (averaging around 8 kids in winter) but, although she’s only young, she is a natural with kids of all ages & knew just what to say to tempt him to stay. And from that moment on, he loved it! The timetable at the kids club is based upon a different theme each day and the activities are varied during the 2 hour morning and 2 hour afternoon session. Luke was inconsolable one day when he fell asleep after lunch and missed an afternoon session! During the summer season that children are split up more to make sure the activities are age- appropriate. Sarah also takes the kids to the ‘film club’ and is a member of the animation entertainment team for the evening shows. The journey home also passed quite smoothly, a late evening flight meant Luke slept much of the way. But I received the same ‘un-special’ treatment from the BA staff at Paphos – only wheelchair users (and their 3 or 4 accompanying able friends/family members!) appeared to receive priority treatment, and any families with young children were just ferried to the steps of the plane on the buses with the rest of the passengers. This left me at the end of a queue to climb the steps, carrying a toddler who had fallen asleep and trying to manage 2 pieces of hand luggage as well. Not the most stress-free end to the holiday, but other than changing my airline, I’d definitely go it alone to a ‘Family World Centre’ again. Although perhaps less hand luggage would help next time! [Kirsty McGregor is Chief Executive of entertainthekids.com and lives in Halifax with her husband and son Luke]
Created: 2007-12-27 19:58:41.890
