"We arrived very late at the Papantonia and were greeted by the friendly and helpful Constantinos. All the reception staff are so helpful at the Papantonia, we spoke to Agnes and Constantinos the most but all were amazing. We were shown to our room and due to arriving late found a packed lunch in our fridge, ham and cheese sandwiches, fruit juice, water and fruit, very thoughtful!
The room was spacious, fine for two adults and two kids, just not a lot of storage for cases or clothes, not a huge deal at all. The rooms were cleaned daily and have fantastic airconditioning which was an absolute must in the scorching heat. We used the fridge for both drinks for the room and aftersun.
The atmosphere is great, very friendly from staff which I think made the other holidaymakers the same, everyone was really friendly, helpful and we spoke to other families to find out where to go for trips and nights out. Another family we spoke to were so helpful and told us about where to walk to such as Pernera or Protaras, the local bus routes, the church on the hill, just a nice community feel to the place.
There are two decent sized pools, with lifeguards keeping watch from 1000-1800. They often get stick for not letting kids jump in but we didnt have a problem with this as the depths aren't really enough to be bombing in, there is a roped off adults only section for a quieter swim in one pool. Also no food around the pool with meant little to no ants so fine by me, grab a snack and have it in the shaded bar area.
Food was great for us, it's not 5 star but superb value for what you pay to visit, and the chef took time to listen to a chap with coeliac issues. The breakfasts are both cooked and continental, fruit and cereals, pastries, with fluffy pancakes and freshly fried eggs or omelettes.
Dinner and tea (lunch and dinner if you are from the South) are similar, plenty of options for all even our picky kids, lots of chicken nuggets, pizza, chips hot dogs and fish fingers but then a nice selections of fresh salads, and piping hot meat and fish options, pork is on every day but with different sauces. Lots of fresh veg and rices and a superb array of desserts. Other all inclusives have had varying temperatures of food but it was always nice and hot. The waiting staff like Mohammed and the lovely lady with glasses who has been there 13 years are so friendly and polite and treat you like royalty.
The bar staff are great, Sotos - the legend! The new lad was also really brilliant, happily filling our Stanley cups we took which was one of our best ideas to date, good spot by my wife from Tiktok! Again all the crew are so canny and welcoming, treating you like family.
Sunbeds are always a hot topic, this is variable at Papantonia, there is plenty of space, we wanted to be able to see our kids in the pool as they aren't the most confident swimmers so I was happy to go down and grba us a couple of beds, we didn't keep two extra for the kids letting them use ours when the eventually emerged from the pool, we also borrowed a decent chair from the entertainment area beside the pool. You can still appear at 9ish and get sunbed most days, but some days it is busier and the hotel staff bring extra sunbeds out when requested. I neglected to bring any sliders/flip flops and the paths are honestly too hot to walk on without them, (I got some for 10 Euro at the legendary Napamore shop which is 25 metres from the hotel and a total godsend, they have EVERYTHING).
The hotel location is great, pubs like the Station are near but not too close, you can cut through the neighbouring apartments to get straight onto Potami beach (with a Costa coffee too) and it took us about an hour to make it to Fig Tree bay one evening all along the spectacular seafront. Buses and taxis are plentful and not too expensive.
We would absolutely go back to the Papantonia mainly for the staff, they make a 3 star hotel feel like 5 stars."
