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The Aphrodite Hills Resort is advertised as being an award-winning 5 star resort with a stunning golf course, “the best spa in the eastern Mediterranean”, its own village square with bars & restaurants.  Wow! It sounded too good to be true - which of course it was - but  having been impressed by the photos published on the web, my partner & I decided to rent one of the villas (with its own swimming pool) for a week. We booked it through Amathus Holidays.

If you’re thinking of renting a villa, read my story below. Or read the next article if you’re thinking of investing in a villa at the Aphrodite Hills Resort..

I have travelled all around the world - I mean travelled rather than gone on package holidays. Even if I fly, I tend to rent a car and drive around, not knowing where I’ll end up each night. Don’t get me wrong - I’m not a nomad and I don’t like sleeping rough (although been there, done that too in my youth) - quite the opposite. Given that I’m a designer, I’m very style-conscious and I have increasingly high standards regarding hotels, food and culture. However I despise touristy and self-proclaimed luxury places that are actually pretentious and artificial. Over twenty years I have travelled with friends and boyfriends and have discovered some fantastic places, hotels and restaurants - something you don’t experience during a package holiday. But I’m getting older and fussier. Driving around is fun, but can be tiring. This summer I wanted to escape somewhere for a week, where I could just sit around a pool, read and enjoy some piece and quiet. I didn’t want to fly too far and I didn’t want to go somewhere that was full of architectural or cultural treasures I’d feel obliged to visit. I just wanted somewhere with a bit of culture, nice scenery and good weather. I searched the net and Cyprus seemed the ideal solution, particularly a place called Aphrodite Hills, which is a new resort, built on mountains overlooking some dramatic scenery.

Having booked our holiday, we received a confirmation and invoice - but there were no instructions as to how to get to the place, from whom to pick up the keys or where we would take breakfast. We had to call the Amathus office a couple of times to confirm the details. We were told to pick up the keys at the hotel reception and that breakfast would be served at the hotel. When we arrived at the resort, we found that the keys were actually with the security guards and that the hotel did not know anything about serving us breakfast. The guards guided us to the villa which was about 3km from the Hotel and resort centre. If we had not hired a car, we would have been totally stuck there! The first night we could hardly sleep as someone had left the pool filter pump on, which was shaking the building all night. The next morning one of the Aphrodite Hills reps visited us and told us that breakfast was actually served at the Golf Club. She had our breakfast vouchers ready for us but said that Amathus had cancelled them for some reason. We showed her our confirmation of booking which clearly showed that breakfast was included. She promised that she would sort things out.  She couldn’t. Apparently Amathus made a mistake at the time of our booking and supposedly had sent a letter to our home address informing us of this. Of course we have never received such letter.  At the end, Amathus refused to provide us with breakfast (despite us having had a legally binding receipt) but we could not bother to argue over it.

The more serious issue was the noise at the resort. What the website and Amathus forget to mention is that Aphrodite Hills Resort is still a building site. Although hundreds of villas have been completed, there is building work going on everywhere. At the time of our booking we specifically asked about this issue, as I was suspicious of the title “new development“. We were told that the resort iwas still being developed, but the area where our villa was located was not in the building zone.

The truth was quite the opposite. During the day it was always noisy, sometimes unbearably so, and we were forced to spend most of our days elsewhere. This was not what we had wanted. We booked a private villa in order to relax; to swim, sunbathe and enjoy some peace & quiet by the pool. This was rarely possible. We had to go on daily trips, which were nice, if a bit tiresome in the heat, but this is not what I expected from this holiday. I complained to the managing company, they said they would talk to the developer to reduce the noise level. They obviously didn’t. The builders were still at it even on Saturday and Sunday. Given the nature of my job, building noise was the last thing I wanted to listen to. 

The Aphrodite Hills Management and Amathus were playing a blame-game with each other and we were in the middle. We decided to deal with the problem upon our return. Amathus now claims that our villa was not within the “main building zone” whilst Aphrodite Hills, the management company, claim that they offered us an alternative villa which we declined. At no time were we offered an alternative villa but, if they say they did, it means that they obviously accept that the standard was not up to scratch. This clearly indicates that they also recognized that the disturbances were unacceptable. See these photos for yourself - our villa was surrounded by building work!

Our rented villa:

Building work on the neighbouring plots:

Building work opposite (across the road):

So this is the story of our “holiday“. We asked for compensation or refund. Amathus Holidays have declined. If you want to rent a villa at Aphrodite Hills - don’t. It’s still a building site. If you’re thinking of investing in a property - don’t. Here is why>>