Louis St. Elias Resort & Waterpark — Hotel in Paralimni

Just returned from a wonderful stay at Louis St Elias in Protaras 17th-24th October. |It was our first visit to the area (although we have visited Cyprus in the past) and did not disappoint. ||The accommodation ||We stayed in a 1 bed apartment between the upper and lower pools. Although the apartment could do with a bit of refurbishment, the bed was very comfortable and there was plenty of space in the living room for the kids and plenty of storage. There was also a huge balcony with a seating area. |Unusually, for an all inclusive package holiday, we were always able to go out at 8/8.30 and be able to get sunbeds. No 6.30am scramble needed. Could be different in busier weeks though. ||The rooms with private pools looked lovely, but I don’t think we would have made use of the pool with everything else going on in the hotel. |We spent one day at Fig tree bay where the beach was beautiful, if a little crowded and the sea was warm. There is a free shuttle bus available from the hotel to get to the beach. ||The food||The food was delicious and varied. Every day there was a different theme in the main restaurant. We ate out in Protaras on a couple of nights. It was a 15 minute walk downhill to the main strip, and a €10 taxi back to the hotel. There were lots of restaurants and bars to choose from, all reasonably priced. |We particularly enjoyed our visit to the on site Greek restaurant where we had the meze. The food was delicious and plentiful and even our super fussy kids ate well. |Drinks were good quality and mostly branded spirits. ||The entertainment||The jewel in the crown of this hotel was the fabulous entertainment. Huge thanks go to the exceptionally talented group of entertainers who kept us and our kids busy with quizzes, activities and a glitzy professional show every night. Special mention goes to Ryan and Lola who took time to meet us in reception to say goodbye before we left for home. Such a lovely touch in their incredibly busy day. |Picky picky picky will be an earworm for a long time. ||The staff||All the entertainers and staff from the cleaners to the bar staff to the general manager to the pool lifeguards were super friendly and looked to be actually enjoying their job. |The hotel got very busy towards the end of our stay but they all kept their professionalism and friendliness throughout. ||There were a few negative points |- broken sunbeds were annoying but we’re coming towards the end of the season|- Noisy aircon at night time, but we didn’t complain as we were having a great time|- Very busy towards the end of our week so difficult to find space to sit at the entertainment and spaces around the pool went quicker|- Would benefit from a pool table to keep the tweens and teens entertained|- Pool was a bit cold but ok once you got in||None of this would detract from me giving the hotel a 5* rating. |I would not hesitate in recommending Louis St Elias to anyone...

This is a wonderful hotel, made wonderful by its hard-working, personable and very friendly staff, and it’s lovely food. The whole resort was also kept immaculate - considering the number of people and the AI/poolside drinks/snacks aspect, it was always so clean and tidy. We went as a family of three, and it was the perfect hotel for primary-school aged children to be entertained in a safe environment, allowing parents to relax. I would describe the room we had as comfortable, clean and tidy, but not luxurious. This was exactly what we were expecting though and the bed mattress was incredibly comfortable. We had a problem on the first night with a balcony door lock in our room, and first thing in the morning the manager had a handy-man with us fixing the issue (they had also offered us the option to move rooms immediately, which we declined) - amazing service!). The entertainment crew were also brilliant - seemed to know everyone by name (who chose to interact with them). They ran the kids club (all British team, DBS checked, etc) which was in a lovely little space in the heart of the complex, and also ran all the activities at the ‘family’ pool. The family pool is the one adjoined to the water slide pool, which was definitely pretty lively throughout the day and again at night as this was close to the stage area. The entertainment crew ran the daily stretch yoga, poolside kids competitions, kids club, and then popped up at night again for the kids disco, and various shows and quizzes. All optional, and all up in the busier ‘zone’ which could all be avoided by staying at the ‘quiet’ pool close to the main bar and restaurant for those without children or wanting a more peaceful life (we threw ourselves into the liveliness though, and loved it, as did our child). The food was a real highlight - very fresh, so much choice, and in particular the Greek Cypriot food was lovely. We ate out one night but honestly the quality of the food at the hotel was better, so we didn’t bother again. The ‘tasting menu’ restaurant Mezze was also very good, so would recommend that. The whole resort catered to children brilliantly, including at the buffet and spa where you could do an adult and child’s massage. The facial I had was also wonderful - really left my skin hydrated after a week in the sun. The hotel is set back from Protaras next to the beautiful chapel of St Elias (go up for sunset!), and this is a good thing - makes it feel more peaceful and secluded. Protaras is a busy touristy place complete with Starbucks, MacDonald’s etc. The free hourly shuttle bus took only minutes and was a great perk, but we mostly stuck the hotel as our goal was adult relaxation and child fun. Being able to use the resort all day (poolside, all bars/restaurants etc) after checkout when you have a late flight was also brilliant. This hotel is a shining example of how the staff...

We arrived at the Louis Saint Elias hotel after a pleasant stay at the Louis Althea Beach hotel of the same Louis Hotels network. From the outside you can tell that the hotel has been recently renovated. We and our friends received two far rooms (from the resort center) and we asked to change rooms for this reason and other reasons (bathroom with the door that does not close, folding bed for one of the children or instead of a real bed). The hotel being full, we were moved to another room the next day in the middle of the day. This one was much larger, better placed into the center of the resort, with a large terrace and a good size bathroom. Unfortunately there was a strong smell of sewage at the entrance to the room. Too there was no soap or shampoo in the bathroom when we arrived and after calling the reception who said they were too busy, we had to go and get some soap by ourselves. After the first shower the bathroom was flooded with water coming out of the toilet bowl and a terrible smell. We continued to shower after this long day and the next morning two plumbers came to open the sewers in front of our room... It's a shame that it wasn't fixed before our arrival... Another issue, there were no adapters available to charge our phones and only the next morning we managed to get one. The air conditioning was very noisy and tiny compared to the size of the room. The interior doors date from the 60s, which is surprising for a renovated hotel. The hotel seems new and renovated but on closer inspection there has been a lot of effort to save money and some of the "finishes" in the hotel are of very poor standard.

In terms of food, there is an excellent choice even for vegetarians and the quality was high (not enough fish unfortunately). The restaurant itself is not big enough for the quantity of clients in the summer and the service could be better (the restaurant manager did not want to stick three tables for us and it was only after insisting that he did).

One of the BIG problems with this hotel is the lack of shade and the lack of trees, which makes the walks into the resort very unpleasant given the heat in the summer.

The quieter pool has no shade and no ambiance at all. On the other hand in the children's pool with the slides there was terrible noise with entertainers shouting in English and non-stop music coming out of a small poor quality speaker.

The evening shows were invested and of good quality.

In summary, this hotel seems at first glance to be of a high standard, but the service should be better on certain points and the hotel could be better maintained. I don't think I'll be back there but highly recommend the Louis Althea Beach hotel for a family, which is cheaper, older but much more intimate, better ambiance and nicer resort for a family, and the team is very friendly, always ready to help and...