My husband and I picked this hotel from the Portland Holiday brouchure (same as thomson, but slightly cheaper). We arrived to have our suitcases taken to our rooms. Prior to going out to paphos we upgraded to a superior room and were lucky to have had one of the renovated rooms which was great. We also had a sea view which was amazing but a bit of a let down to the side of our view with a cafe/restaurant called Vardas.
We couldn't fault the staff who were most helpful and bent over backwards to help you out, in particular Christina the guest relations manager who also provided some greek lessons to guests.
The food was fantastic particularly if you are vegetarian, there's pleanty on offer and the desserts were scrummy.
We upgraded to the all inclusive drinks package which worked out well because of the location of the hotel there's not much you can walk too, a couple of supermarkets across the road, which are alot more cheaper than the hotel.
The hotel also had a little in house shop but we found this expensive.
Unfortunately we were charged for using the fridge even though the fridge was on and open on arrival. We'd filled this up with drinks to come back and find that it had been locked.
We had waiter service by the pool which is fab, especially in the heat, but a bit annoying when you have to keep signing for the drinks (even if you have gone all inclusive).
There is a little tavern by the beach which belongs to the hotel, where they serve the lunches which was okay, and they had planned on doing a meze evening from monday 21st, which would of been really good if we hadn't already departed.
In the brochure the hotel was quoted as saying it was for 'couples only' which was great on the first week, but unfortunately on the second week, and probably when the german and greek schools broke up, there was quite a lot of children and kids around the pool area.
The entertainment was really disappointing considering that the hotel was so fantastic, we spent most evenings going to bed early, or having dinner late so that we didn't have to endure the tacky entertainment provided by Thomsons which was a mixture of very crude comedians, poorly produced singing duo's and poor themed evenings. We felt sorry for the Thomson entertainment reps, because they were both really nice (Mark & Debbie).
We would go back to this hotel, probably out of the school holiday period and maybe not in a superior room next time to see what it's like. It's ideal if you want a quiet holiday, but its a ten minutes from the centre of paphos, and you could not walk it, but there is a bus which for 1euro 50 cents (single) takes you into paphos and there are loads of bars and restaurents. In particular a lovely restaurent with beautiful food and good value, called Gormet Tavern situated up near the water fountain. This was lovely, I had houlimi cheese with aubergines and courgettes and vine leaves stuffed with mince. Cyprus is great if you are vegeterian because there is loads of fresh fruit and vegetables.

My Wife and I stayed at the Golden beach for 2 weeks in June and after staying at the hotel for the 5th Time Now i must say it has gone right down the tubes compared to what it used to be.

I think a lot of it is that Thomson have cut right back on things ie Entertainment but Maurace Grumbleweed and The 2 Guys From Hull That Sing Adam & Leeroy were Brilliant (watch out for them on X Factor) Dave Bettan was good but we did see him last year' The rest of the entertainment well say no more !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The hotel needs to upgrade were required they paint the outside walls but the interior doesnt get done. They were planing on closeing for all of Jan this year but thomson said no as holiday makers wanted to stay so i suppose we can all thank thomson for that but i do understand majer upgrades are on there way due to the other hotel beeing built next door.

I must Say the Food Is Still Really Good at the hotel But people need to be able to go B/B so they can Go Out To The Restraunts etc Like Harmony's and the Little Genie and taste real Cypriot food not Just Hotel Food beleive me the food over the Road at Hoarmonys was Brilliant A 3 course meal with a bottle of wine and brandy cost us just over 50 euros so not to bad.

A Lot of really nice people at the Hotel (Cypriots) have gone and have been replaced by eastern europeans who dont listen to what you say as the night you leave they turn the beds over for you and leave a Rose etc Justa Nice Farewell touch' this time they banged on the door' i was getting changed and my wife was in the bath takeing a shower, I said please come back in 30 minuits - They never came back as they didnt understand.

The manager 3 years ago was so careing and would do anything for you but now it has all changed.

Poor old George in the Reastraunt He seems so Depressed _ Is He Part Time Now ?? he used to be such a happy guy.

This Is still a really good hotel and would still go there but we have bought a 2 bed appartment in peyia due for completion in jan 2009 so if we ever stay at a hotel we will be back.

Lee Dodd

Middlesex.

We have just returned from a 2 week stay at this hotel on 9th July. We have been to the Atlantica Bay hotel in Limassol for the last 3 years and decided to try a different Thomson Gold hotel with friends who we met at the Atlantica Bay. We booked this hotel in January on a half board basis although at £850 it was not cheap. However, we did expect a high standard in view of our experience at the other Atlantica hotel. We did not book all inclusive at booking but upgraded on arrival to the all inclusive beverage package for 17 euro per person per day which is excellent value. We were aware that this was available as they offer this at all Atlantica hotels and I would strongly recommend that anyone does this.

We were under the impression from speaking to people at the Atlantica Bay that this was the better hotel but were disappointed when making our comparisons although people who had not been to the Atlantica Bay or Atlantica Imperial in Rhodes had a good time. Whilst our room was very nice and modern, many of the other rooms in the hotel were tired and needed upgrading. In general, the whole hotel needs to be modernised and upgraded which was the main problem. The hotel is also quite remote and there is nowhere to go for a walk during the day.

The facilities were not as good as the Atlantica Bay either with the pool being far too small and was not cleaned sufficiently (there was a lot of algae in the pool). Whilst some of the staff were good and helpful (George in particular remembered our drinks orders without prompting), many could not understand English at the Beach taverna and struggled with our orders. The beach taverna was not as good as the Atlantica Baty either as they don't have a separate bar and decking which was great last year.

With regard to the Thomson Gold entertainment, this has deteriorated significantly and it appears that Thomson may have embarked on a cost cutting exercise compared to the acts we saw 2-3 years ago. There is much more reliance on audience participation and any main act (only 1-2 per week) didn't come on until about 10-30 pm. Although we did join in on some of the audience participation, some nights we eat out or sat in the lobby bar. The food was ok but not as good as last year either.

In general, the hotel needs to be revamped and extended, another pool building, a separate beach bar and more patio space.

I did note some complaints from other reviews about placing towels on sunbeds at 6 am. However, I do get up early on holiday and we did sit on our sunbeds until breakfast as the hotel management were removing towels up to 8:30 in the morning. If we want to do this so that we get sunbeds together it should be our choice and others cannot criticise. Getting up early is something I do anyway on holiday and we got to know quite a few people from our chats in the morning which was enjoyable.

Despite our reservations we did have an enjoyable holiday with our friends but would choose to stay at a different hotel next time. If anyone is thinking of going to this hotel, I would recommend that they stay at the Atlantica Bay hotel in Limassol instead. We were also recommended the Atlantica Imperial in Rhodes which is supposedly far superior to any of the Cyprus hotels although this soon gets booked up quickly and is quite a bit more expensive.

We have just returned from a week at the Atlantica Golden Beach (25June-05July). The hotel is magnificent and we have never experienced such incredible service before. We were upgraded to All Inclusive (value for money). We were upgraded to a Superio Room, not the lovely renovated ones but still it was a wise choice.
By the time we arrived we felt so welcomed. We had a refreshing welcome drink and by the time we went to our room the suitcases were already there.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was so lovely that it was hard to drag ourselves away from the hotel.
All meals fantastic, especially dinner. More than 20 seasonal salads and 15 hot dishes, fruits, cakes ice cream.
The head Barman was even serving us "Sex on the Beach" in the pool.
Restaurant are great with extremely pleasant waiters/waitresses.
All the staff very friendly and helpful as nothing was too much trouble for them.
Overall I would say this is probably the best hotel we have ever stayed in and therefore I would certainly recommend it to everyone without any hesitation.
For sure we will return in September for anothe brilliant week.