Accommodation

Hotel Louis King Jason (http://thekingjason.com/)

We picked the King Jason purely on the excellent reviews that we had seen online – and were definitely happy with our choice. We chose to fly from East Midlands – which gave us the choice of a Sunday flight with Jet2 on Half Board or a Saturday flight with Thomson on All Inclusive. We wouldn’t normally book AI but the Saturday flight was more convenient for us and didn’t cost much more than the Sunday flight/package so we decided to go for it.

We arrived at the King Jason late at night and were quickly checked in and shown to our room. As there was still 30mins of AI drinking time left, we dropped our bags and headed straight to the bar for one of their King Jason Special cocktails – this was the first of many that week! First impressions were good, but we didn’t get a chance to properly appreciate the place until the next morning. We had booked a studio room and had requested a sunny room on a high floor, and ended up in room 22, on the first floor, overlooking the restaurant and the main pool. It would be fair to say that it was a bit noisier that we would have liked, but it was nice to be so close to everything. The newer deluxe studios are behind the main buildings so are quieter, but with less atmosphere too. The room itself was pretty big, with a decent sized kitchen area, plenty of storage space and a well kitted-out bathroom. The cleaners came in everyday and the place was always spotless – the only small complaint was that the air conditioning was very noisy – luckily for us we were able to keep the room cool without it most of the time.

Normally when we go on holiday, we spend very little time in the hotel as we like to do a lot of sightseeing, but on this occasion we just wanted to relax so we ended up spending most of our time by the pool. The hotel wasn’t full so we had no problems getting a sun bed every day, or finding a spot in the hydro contact pool (which was great). Being on AI gave us the opportunity to cool ourselves down with regular mocktails and milkshakes too, and the staff would occasionally bring around pieces of fruit, which was a nice touch. Not that we really needed the extra food to be honest – the huge amount of choice at breakfast, lunch and dinner meant that we were never hungry or thirsty! We thought the food in the restaurant was excellent, along with the service – I don’t think we’ve ever been to a hotel where the staff have been so quick and helpful, and we’ve certainly never been anywhere where the manager (the famous Andreas) has mucked in with the rest of the staff. They are all an absolute credit to the hotel and worthy of the high reviews. We don’t usually go back to the same hotel twice, but we would certainly consider the King Jason again if we were to ever return to that area.

Things to do

We spent most of our time at the hotel, but we did fit in visits to Paphos Castle, St Paul’s Pillar, the Archaeological Park and the Tombs of the Kings, which were all very interesting. See http://www.visitpafos.org.cy for further info, It’s also worth downloading the audio guides for the Tombs (Google ‘Tombs of the Kings audio guide’) as the site is not very well signposted.

Thomson Excursion Prices as at September 2013

- Morphou – 75 euros
- Nicosia – 49 euros
- Famagusta – 79 euros
- Love Cyprus – 54 euros
- Kykkos VIP - 65 euros
- Discover the North – 69 euros
- Treasures of Troodos – 35 euros
- Limassol Shopping – 20 euros
- 4x4 Adventure – 75 euros
- Surf & Turf – 85 euros
- Real Cyprus – 75 euros
- Undersea walkers – 45 euros
- Wave Dancer Fireworks – 59 euros
- Wave Dancer Full Day – 58 euros
- Wave Dancer HD BBQ Cruise – 48 euros
- Half Day Ocean Flyer – 48 euros
- VIP Catamaran Adults only – 79 euros
- Aqua Catamaran Cruise – 49 euros
- Noah’s Ark – 55 euros
- Fasouri Waterpark – 35 euros
- Paphos Zoo – 20 euros
- Bubble Makers for Kids – 45 euros
- Mega Day Pirates Cruise – 48 euros

I am glad the weather was so much better than expected. We have just discovered AI too. We normally are quite adventurous but there is something to be said for a holiday where you don't have to worry or plan about anything. We all need relaxation at times.

Thanks for your review Corinne sounds like you had a great, relaxing time. So pleased the food was good & you were never thirsty

Ah yes, we enjoyed working our way through the cocktail menu!