Golden Bay Beach Hotel — Hotel in Pyla

Avoid!!This is not a 5 star hotel , maybe a 3.Rooms are very dirty, cleaning is made poorly ( they dont vacum or dust and use the mop in every room bringin in hair from other room, we found hair on toilet seat).The room is full of dust and falling apart, furniture all broken , walls with moled.The balcony never gets cleaned, we found it dirty at check in, pretty sure the water in the hot tube was never changed either. Towels were stained!!!!The furniture is old broken and and all the drawers smell of vinegar. Cleaning lady never throws away any rubbish in the room other than the small bins( they gave us complimentary fruit but we didn’t eat it went bad and was left in the room, also the plate of fruit was never removed from the room when empty or even moved to dust the table)Cleaning of the room was very late around 1-2 in the afternoon when was time to put our baby to sleep. The sofa in the bedroom was impossible to sit on ,felt like sitting on a sofa with no cushion only the skeleton.All inclusive is not all inclusive is some inclusive, they gave you a menu and you can have what is on the menu on certain hrs. Pool bar opens late and they are really rude especially if u are on all inclusive. Asking for a drink at the pool bar felt like begging for it, we felt humiliated and someti felt ashamed to ask for anything.the sodas are cheap on a machine not bottled drinks .Not acceptable for a 5 star hotel to give guests fast food drinks. The tables on the beach bar never get cleaned. Food is bad , all tastes the same and not much selection. Breakfast is every single day the same. Food that is served on lunch is sometimes served at dinner. At dinner time there is no selection of food for children. Baby pool is not safe at all, as its 90 cm pool only filled half around 45 cm and if children stay pr play close to the edge could easily fall and get hurt. The pool with the slide is open only 2hr a day. 90% of staff is rude and annoyed . They serve the tables really slow and sometimes ( most of the times) you finish eating and still waiting for a waiter to ask you what you will like to drink.Also the room has thin walls , you can hear people talking, filling up the bathtub, snoring etc, and the balcony has no privacy.If one wants to use the hotube or just enjoy a drink on the balcony it will be impossible as guest in the next room can see you.In the room there is a power box really loud that kept us awake throughout the night.I will attach photos. Avoid and save your money

Ps: As a response to the hotel’s feedback on my review: We always used the green button on the door , my husband switched it off one day because he needed to use the room and switched it on again when leaving the room and the cleaning lady told him off as if she wouldnt clean it because he switched ot off a few min before. The ala cart menu is with extra payment and we were all inclusive guests, and besides one day at the pool bar i asked for a latte cramel and the bartender looking at my bracelet with duch a disgust told me i canr havw but i van have a frappe really firm. A 5 stat hotel bartender would have said “ Yes of course, but unfortunately that drink is not included on all inclusive menu is it ok to charge it on the room?” so having this attitude will make guest feel unwelcomed and ashamed to aak dor anything. The brekfast selection is not vast as its every sigle fay the same.Unfortunately all your selection was moastly for people that eat fats . If you stay one week ormore it bv gets impossible to have the same breakfast selection every day. Some personalised omlets at least would have been a plus as this is an option even in a 3-4 star hotel. The greek tavern serves the same menu every night soagain boring.The roomswere not cleaned properly the balcony was never cleaned and the jacuzzi besides the fact that i am almost sure the water was nevwr changed from previous guest as we got a nasty skyn rash after using it once for less then 10 min as it was broken and we couldn’t set the temp...

Pretty good hotel, pretty bad everything else The good… The hotel itself is pretty good. My wife and I visited this hotel during the off season (end of October) and it was a really good experience. Quiet, moderately clean (more about that below) and the staff is super friendly and helpful. Our room was upgraded free of charge (yay!) and the view from the window is amazing. The room itself is spacious enough, the bathroom is superb, the balcony is great and the variety of TV channels (if that even matters) is large and includes channel in almost every language imaginable. The breakfast is nice, with a large variety of dishes (fish, vegetables, bacon, eggs etc – Pretty standard). Dinner is nice as well, when every evening there is a different “theme”. Even though we were visiting during the end of October, the pools were not too cold and the fact that there were not too many visitors in the hotel made the trip feel very intimate and many times we had the pleasure of swimming alone. If the pools outside were getting a bit too cold, we could use the inside pool, which is heated to about 27C/80F. There is also a Spa but we haven’t used it. The beach is about 20 meters from the pools. Just outside the hotel there is a bus station that takes you straight to the Larnaca center and across the street from that station there are 3-4 restaurants and a general store. The fact that we had a general store nearby was extremely useful (water bottles are WAY cheaper than those provided by the hotel). The hotel reception staff is really great – not only our room was upgraded, we asked for a late check out and were allowed to stay for additional 6 hours with no additional charge! There is also a free wi-fi but it really sucks - Everybody are using the same network so 99% of the time is pretty dead. Small tip – Usually we are very smart travelers but in this case we forgot to make sure that our charges fit the sockets. The electric sockets in Cyprus are the "Type G" (British BS-1363) but don’t worry – In bathroom, the hairdryer bottom has the Standard European and North American sockets as well, so you don’t really need to buy any transformers. (Important to note that the voltage is 220/240 V)

The bad… Ok, so now it’s grumbling time. The hotel and the rooms are pretty clean, but the bed and the sheets didn’t feel too clean. The bed itself was a bit too uncomfortable for me and I had very hard time to sleep. I have to admit that it was not the case for my wife so maybe it’s just me. The food, even though there was a pretty decent variety of dishes, felt a bit stale, very repetitive and just… Well… Not a 5 stars hotel kind of food. All in all the hotel doesn’t feel like 5 star hotel – The pools are rather small (I can just imagine how uncomfortable that can be during the mid-season), the food is ok-ish and the outside area of the hotel is nice, but really not impressive. I don’t have too many complaints as all in all the experience is mostly positive it’s just … well, not 5 stars hotel. Just an idea for the hotel stuff – It might be nice to have a toilet brush. Just sayin’ :)

…And the ugly This part is less about the hotel, more about the surrounding area. Do NOT eat at the restaurants outside the hotel. The food is rather expensive and extremely not tasty. It is better to pay about ~29 euros in the hotel and have a full 3 course meal than paying these restaurants. And about Larnaca – 20 minutes after taking a bus (1.5 euros ticket) you find yourself at the center of Larnaca. It’s basically a promenade with few American restaurants (Starbucks, Burger King, MacDonald’s’ – You get my drift) about 30-40 shops… And that’s it. Seriously. It will take you in the worst of cases about an hour to go through every possible store and place of interest in the city and that’s it. There is nothing to do there. At all. Maybe it’s due to the fact we came late in the season, but the place is pretty much dead and boring. We just preferred to stay and enjoy the pools...

The Golden Bay hotel is a well established, modern beach front hotel in Larnaka which benefits from a wide range of facilities and delivers good quality and service.

We stayed in a Mini Suite (106) which was comfortable for 2 adults & 2 children who shared a fold out double bed. With the bed back as a sofa, this would be a luxurious room for 2. Room 106 seems to have a larger than average balcony and wonderful view of the sunrise, it is the room pictured on the Golden Bay website.

All the room amenities worked well and included the all important hot tub, a Nespresso machine with capsules provided, safe, well stocked mini bar, digital TV & kettle. The room has UK standard power plugs. The bathroom was well stocked with toiletries, clean and with plenty of towels. The hot tub was perfectly at temperature, clean and easy to use although you'll need 2 people to remove and install the cover.

The hotel offers dining in the Yacht Club restaurant, a bar menu and room service. Similar dishes are offered in the bar and the restaurant so you could choose to eat in either with the restaurant also offering more a la carte options. Pricing is very reasonable and simple options are executed well. Themed evening buffets are served which are advertised outside the spa. Breakfast offers a wide range of options and is generous and excellent quality.

The spa and indoor pool seemed very pleasant, co-located with the indoor gym. The pool is small but warm and well appointed and offers enough room to splash and play happily. You will receive a card on checking in which is exchangeable for towels and there is a plentiful supply of large fluffy ones to choose from ! The spa offers a wide range of treatments but we didn't have anyone who volunteered to try them.

The outside amenities and beach front seemed very good with a large outside pool and swim up bar, being maintained at the time of our visit. The hotel has a private beach which was calm, shallow and great for kids. There is also a toddler pool and water slide - overall in hot weather you could happily find enough for several days fun splashing.

Staff were friendly and pleasant, particularly the bar staff and front desk. Parking is free in the front car park however be warned even in off season this was busy. Taxi services are available in the car park and car hire available opposite the hotel. There are also a small number of surrounding shops and restaurants, none of which we tried as the hotel bar food proved more than enough for us !

Rooms on the 1st floor - 107, 108, 109, 110 & 111 directly face the sea at the beach end of the hotel. Rooms 101 - 106 & 132 - 140 have a sea & sunrise view with lower numbers closer to the beach. Rooms 113-131 face the sunset with lower numbers closer to the beach. These rooms have more of an inland view. Room 106 has a larger than average balcony, Room 107 has an enormous balcony.

Overall the Golden Bay Beach hotel is an excellent place to stay whether friends, family or just...