Columbia Beach, the resort on Pissouri Bay

Halfway between Limassol and Paphos, on Pissouri Bay, sits Columbia Beach Resort. It’s a curious case on the register, because what its website sells as one resort is listed as two hotels. I explain why, what it offers and which traveller will make the most of it. For the rest of the south coast, see Limassol hotels.

Two hotels on the list

The August Limassol register lists two hotels on Pissouri Bay with the same website, Columbia Beach, a four-star with 73 rooms, 154 beds and a confirmed licence, and Columbia, a five-star with 95 rooms and 194 beds and an indicative rating. The resort’s own history fits, because Columbia Beach Hotel opened first and Columbia Beach Resort fifteen years later. Today its website presents them together as a five-star with 169 suites in 75,000 square metres of gardens, a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World. I compare all the island’s five-stars in luxury hotels in Cyprus.

What it offers

Suites range from junior to family suites, some on the hillside with a private or plunge pool, and all with balconies. You book room only and add half board or full board. The spa is called Hébe, and among the restaurants Bacchus Fire + Raw stands out. There are pools, a chapel and a beach of around two kilometres on the bay, with water sports and lessons for beginners.

To sleep close to everything, search places to stay in Columbia Beach Resort Pissouri on Expedia and filter by area before price.

Families

The Den kids’ club takes children aged 4 to 12. Between 1 March and 30 October its hours are 10:00 to 18:00 and closes on Mondays, and in winter from 9:00 to 17:00, closed on Sundays and Mondays. Morning and afternoon sessions are free; the lunchtime one costs €25 plus the meal. Babies from 4 months to 3 years have the Cub Life crèche, booked a day ahead, and there’s babysitting from 17:30 at €20 an hour, for at least two hours. Booking is compulsory for both The Den and Cub Life.

Bringing the dog

It takes a single dog per suite, no heavier than 15 kilos and healthy and vaccinated, with a €50 nightly fee and never less than €100 a stay, and there’s a cap on the number of dogs in the resort at once. Dogs can join you on the outdoor terraces of bars and restaurants, but not indoors. The paperwork is explained in Cyprus with a dog.

If you are short on time, see the best tours in Pissouri and pick one that fits your day.

Why I’d choose it

To me it’s one of the finest places on the island to switch off with good service, as a couple or a family, with Aphrodite Hills and its golf roughly eleven kilometres in a straight line towards Paphos. The trade-off is that you’ll need a car for almost any outing. At 95 rooms, it’s one of my boutique hotels in Cyprus. Pissouri, the village that gives the bay its name, is the quiet alternative in the Limassol district.

Where the bus does not go, a car does: compare car hire in Pissouri before you arrive rather than at the desk.

To sleep close to everything, search places to stay in Columbia Beach Resort Pissouri on Booking.com and filter by area before price.