Luxury hotels in Cyprus, the five-stars

Cyprus is known for its resorts, and the official list bears that out. Rather than repeat unsourced rankings, I pulled the five-stars out of this summer’s nine area lists and checked them against the general one. Here they all are, area by area. Everything else is in where to stay in Cyprus.

Forty five-stars

The general list records 40 five-star hotels, with about 9,800 rooms between them. They come in every size. The largest by beds is City of Dreams Mediterranean, in Limassol, with 966, followed by Sunrise Beach in Protaras, Leptos Coral Beach in Coral Bay and Atlantica Aeneas in Ayia Napa, all over 800. At the other end, Columbia, in Pissouri, has 95 rooms and Alion Beach, in Ayia Napa, 100.

Where they are

Paphos leads with twelve, spread across Kato Paphos, Chloraka, Coral Bay and Kouklia, home to Aphrodite Hills, as I explain in Paphos hotels. Ayia Napa has ten, several on Nissi Avenue and at Kryo Nero. Limassol has eight, but that’s where they weigh most, a quarter of all its hotels, and nearly all face the Amathus coast, as covered in Limassol hotels. The list is completed by Protaras hotels, the two covered in Larnaca hotels, Nicosia, Polis, where Anassa is among the Latchi hotels, and Cap St. Georges in Peyia.

Of the twelve in Paphos, these now have pages of their own besides those above, Olympic Lagoon Resort Paphos and the Annabelle hotel on Poseidonos Avenue, the Elysium hotel and the Venus Beach hotel by the Tombs of the Kings, the King Evelthon hotel and Azia Resort in Chloraka, the Coral Beach hotel in Coral Bay and the Cap St Georges hotel at Agios Georgios.

Outside Paphos, these also have their own pages, in Limassol St Raphael Resort, the Amathus Beach hotel and the Parklane resort; in Pissouri Columbia Beach Resort; in Larnaca the Golden Bay hotel; and in Ayia Napa the Alion Beach hotel and the Adams Beach hotel. From the Grecian group there are pages for the Grecian Bay hotel, at Kryo Nero, and the Grecian Park hotel, above Konnos Bay on the edge of Cape Greco.

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Firm or indicative

Here’s the detail few people mention. The register marks each establishment L, with a firm licence and classification, or P, where the classification is still being processed under the new hotel law, in which case it warns that the rating is indicative. Of the 40 five-stars, only ten carry an L. That doesn’t make the others worse, only that their rating isn’t final.

How I’d choose

Area first, then hotel. A 400-room resort in Ayia Napa and a hundred-room one in Pissouri are different holidays, even with five stars each. For peace and quiet, I’d look at the small ones, such as Columbia, Alion Beach or the Anassa hotel. For entertainment and pools, the big names in Ayia Napa or Paphos. And to combine luxury with a city break, Nicosia has two with a firm rating, the Hilton Nicosia and The Landmark, covered in Nicosia hotels. Three five-stars on the list are sold as adults-only, gathered in adults-only hotels in Cyprus. For a honeymoon, my ideas are in romantic Cyprus, and if it’s the wedding itself you’re planning, the Limassol board notes that many hotels have their own chapel, as covered in getting married in Cyprus.

So you do not lose the morning at the ticket office, browse tickets and tours in Limassol on GetYourGuide.

If you would rather go at your own pace, see the car hire deals in Limassol: the earlier you book, the more cars are left to choose from.

If you are staying the night, see the best hotel deals in Limassol for your dates: the well-placed rooms go fast.