Nestor Hotel — Hotel in Ayia Napa

We stayed here for 2 weeks in August and as a religious review checker myself, I thought it would be useful for a honest review of the excellent, the good, the average and the less impressive elements. ||Firstly, if you are booking this hotel for an all inclusive holiday, I would|Book through Tui. The reason I say this is because if you don’t your wrist band will be cut off at check out time (12.00pm) and you will not be entitled to any of the food/ drink etc without paying. ||Luckily, as Tui guests we did not have to have ours cut (which was great news) and considering our transfer was at 9.30pm this meant we could access everything (food, drinks, etc) all day at no extra unexpected costs like some other guests experienced. ||Excellent|-Location- you are so near everything you could need, and although it is near the strip, you wouldn’t know it, as there is minimal noise to be disruptive to your sleep. ||- All staff- we found everyone to be pleasant enough and everyone seemed to be working hard at all times. We could not finish this section without some personal mentions (and actually highlights to our stay) ||-Christina (lifeguard) she was just absolutely amazing to us throughout our 2 week stay. She works incredibly hard and is so professional in everything she does. As a fellow lifeguard I was impressed with how vigilant she was to ensure that all guests are treated fairly and that the hotel policies are followed and that safety for all guests was paramount. ||-Elvis and Ellie (animators) what a duo- we are religious sun worshippers but their encouragement and inclusivity in the activities made me get off my sun lounger and join in (yes that is a first ever). Lovely touch of giving out certificates. ||The good |- Food cannot be faulted- good selection, presented well and tasted nice. However, we thought we would also give some fantastic recommendations for local near by restaurants if you didn’t want to stay in.||-Los Mexicanos (best Mexican I’ve ever had) |-Da Vinci Italian (excellent) |- Karamelomeno (excellent Gyros) |-The Bakery Co- excellent coffee and pastry/ panini’s |- Tommys Bar is one to visit if you love Karaoke- you need to visit this bar, great fun! ||-The Pool - good size, always clean, great seating around the ledges (in the water) which are ideal for reading on. Only thing to note is that they do not allow any inflatables (unless bouyancy aids for kids who can’t swim very well) or ball games in the pool (which isn’t the end of the world) when you are a 5 min walk from the beach. Whilst we are on the beach- Kaliva Beach- well worth a visit literally 3 mins from Nestor. ||-Sun loungers- really comfy - not a huge rush in the mornings but most are taken by around 9.00am. ||The floating sunbeds around the pool are great ( we had them 4 times) but be mindful that they cost €20 for the day and that includes drinks service, fruit pots, cold towels and a mini icecream.|If you want them be prepared to be down and waiting by the Lifeguard station by 8.00am as people do queue for these and they go very quickly. ||The average||All inclusive drinks selection- not all classic cocktails are included but the local spirits and beer was fine. If you like rum I would recommend the Caribbean Cooler- it’s yummy. Nevertheless, it would have been good to have a frozen cocktail aka Daquari on the menu too). ||The Rooms- Although housekeeping are absolutely amazing and work so hard and keep the rooms immaculate, they were on the smaller side and I think could have an update (especially the bathroom) but it wasn't unpleasant. Storage in the rooms is limited and there isn’t a lot of room to hang clothes. ||Evening entertainment- other than Elvis (The Big Friday Night Act not to be missed) the other nights are rather lack luster. we personally think they are a little dated, and leave a lot to be desired. Having said that, Billy and Ellie (along with the lovely Helen) run Bingo which is well worth the €5 for a strip. Prize funds were up to over €230 some nights. They always divide this to play for 1 line and then full house. ||Side note- entertainment starts quite late and often the “main act” doesn’t start until 10.00pm/10.15pm. ||Less impressive elements ||-you only get one room key for 2 people. |BUT |You can get another one! a word of warning if you lose the key (we did) it’s a €10 fine if you do not return both. ||- There are no irons in any of the rooms, and although there are designated “ironing room” on floors 1 and 3, it’s a tiny cupboard and the iron is covered in residue from where previous people have burnt items. I did report this to reception (more than once) and unfortunately nothing was done (despite being told it would be rectified). ||-Fridge in room- works really well but I think that when you are paying for all inclusive it would be nice to have a range of soft drinks (cans) or even a bottle of water in the fridge that are replenished daily. ||If you are a couple looking for a chilled one this is...

Review

Location This hotel is a few minutes walk to Nissi road’s pubs and restaurants. The main clubs are 15-20 minutes walk away. Airport is 45-55 minutes away depending on taxi/ coach transfer which all take the same main highway from Lanarca Airport The beach is a short 5 minute walk away Nissi beach is 45 minutes walk in the heat or a taxi ride of just under 10 minutes. Rooms Most rooms are 12m and as the building is an L-shape they either face the pool which is the better view or partial sea views. A powerful hairdryer is hidden in the desk drawer The main room mirror is well lit Bathroom is pretty small, they do supply fresh towels each day and the usual tiny shower gel, body lotion and a shampoo/ conditioner in one. (Bring your own shampoo and conditioner if you prefer as it’s a combined product) Tip, bring a hanging makeup/ toiletries holder as there is one hook in the bathroom and very limited counter space Standard rooms are all twin beds that they will remake as a double if you ask A kettle, tea, coffee and milk are supplied in the room. Each room has one UK socket between the desk and mirror and another EU socket near the balcony door. No charging points near the bed. There are 20 Deluxe rooms in the corners of each floor and my photos show the difference - bigger rooms with a sofa area, much bigger bathrooms larger glass sided balconies a fresh bath robe each day and bottled water Housekeeping work hard and rooms are cleaned to a high standard if your not messy

Noise My 1st room, 235 was in the middle of the corridor and as there are noisy non-soft close doors on rooms the nightly doors slamming as people left for clubs at 1am and returning at 4am-6am was enough to wake me up two nights in a row (July) If you are a light sleeper, consider a corner room or deluxe room upgrade just to get a decent night sleep. There are a lot of very young guests during summer months.

Food/ Main Restaurant I personally didn’t struggle to eat any day

Breakfast 7-10/30 was by far my best meal, with custom omelettes and freshly made eggs, great fresh fruit and a huge choice of pastries

Lunch 12-2:30 was still pretty decent, with hot and cold options

Dinner 7pm-9:30 The menu is themed: Monday - Greek Tuesday - Mexican Wednesday- Italian Thursday- Carvery Friday - Oriental Saturday - BBQ Sunday - Chef’s Buffet Your sweet tooth is catered for here from chocolate puddings, cakes and a hot baked selection each day.

Service is flawless with super attentive staff taking your drinks orders at lunch and dinner. Liliana and Panos were great at remembering my drink of choice.

The snack bar is very popular with almost everyone eating hot toasted sandwiches, burgers etc. special mention to Michael and all the team that work super hard in the heat on this bar. Drinks were free poured and always strong! Cold coffee, frappes are good too.

Spa - Special mention to Zoe, Manos and Alice For the Divine Duet couples treatment Absolutely amazing full body massage So good that we treated ourselves to a facial massage on our last day. If you book on the day you arrive you can sometimes get a promotional discount

Gym and indoor pool are available from 8am - 8pm I managed a decent workout, dumbbells are limited so used the machines instead.

The outdoor pool is a lovely temperature and is popular during the day. They have a strict no inflatables policy, even for kids. So forget any ideas of floating on the pool. There are jacuzzi style beds in the far end of the pool. The beds immediately surrounding the pool incur a surcharge per bed per day which guarantees you drinks and snacks served to your bed all day. Worth it if your there all day. There are lots of beds and I never struggled to find one. Of course there are beds with towels with no one around for hours…

Evening entertainment This is aimed at adults and varies each night

Reception The team here also try hard and are pretty firm with guests who are noisy, abuse of rules is dealt with...

Starting off the hotels location is ideal with the main part of Ayia Napa being a few mins walk away, as well as the harbour and the beach being a 5 minute walk.

Upon arriving to the hotel we was greeted by the caretaker who was very friendly and help and even helped us take our suitcase in, also the gentleman who checked us in was polite and helpful telling us about how everything worked etc.

The room was nice and well lit but quite small as opposed to our exceptions , there wasn’t any power outlets near the bed which was slightly annoying just one by the tv. Beds were very comfortable too. The bathroom was okay bar the shower was quite narrow, also unfortunately the shower it’s self wasn’t great with lack of pressure and angle adjustment. There is a balcony too which did provide a view of the pool and which does look lovely at night with the blue led lighting around it. Cleaning staff did come and clean the rooms quite frequently and were all lovely and friendly. However the fresh towels did have strange smell to them which wasn’t ideal.

Sleeping was an issue some nights due waking up as some guests and groups of teenagers mainly from the Uk making noise and being loud shouting etc at stupid times 1-2 am and then again at 5-6am when they came back from the clubs. Which was annoying to say the least but we did manage okay but if you do have kids or are a family even a light sleeper you might want to take this into account.

Regarding the food we did go for the all inclusive option which we did end up regretting. The breakfast itself was good and was self serve with a range of breakfast items including a self serve hot drinks machine, fruit juices, cereal, toast, eggs etc. and a freshly cooked station available on request. Unfortunately lunch is where it went downhill, it was a buffet again but you had to be seated to order your drinks. There was a lack of variety and what we did try was average at best, the desserts wasn’t too bad though however. Moving onto dinner again it was the same being seated and having you’re drinks order taken then going up to get your food. There was more options available for dinner but again for us it was average at best and some food wasn’t hot enough even though it had just been brought out. There was options available to have a dish cooked by a chef but even these weren’t too great. However on a good note the desserts were great especially the hot cakes which were delicious. The staff and dinner were friendly and happy to help.

There is an open bar next to the pool where you can go open and order your drinks, the cocktails were good but not so much the mocktails as they was a tad bit too sweet. Also note after 11pm you do have to pay for your drinks even if you’re all inclusive but you do get a discount.

Moving onto the pools the outdoor pool was good with a some jets down the end and you can rent the luxury sun loungers for a cost of €5, which is reasonable considering you a button to get you’re drinks etc brought to you. The indoor pool was okay not much to say it was just regular pool. There was a gym which we did try to use and unfortunately all the machines were outdated or not working properly, so if you did want to get any type of workout you can use the dumbbells which were good enough.

On checkout we was able to leave our suitcases in the luggage room until our transfer time was was useful, they do offer changing and shower facilities also but annoyingly you do have to use you’re towel. Also the staff on the checkout desk weren’t too friendly when was checking out and did come off slightly rude.

Overall we did have a decent time at the hotel, however I am not sure if I would stay again unfortunately but this is in our...