The Hotel Club Phaethon Beach in Paphos is not the hotel for a relaxing holiday.

The hotel is near the airport, although aircraft noise is not much of a problem. However, the hotel is a long way from Paphos (about 50 minutes walk), although there is a bus stop outside. The hotel itself is shabby; for example: concrete flaked down from a lintel above a hall door - one time chunks of the stuff fell on us. Public areas are noisy, smoky and filled with undisciplined children, even though it was in term time. Unsupervised children played in the lifts and had fun kick-boxing the pool table. It must be hell in summer. Sun beds are regimented on concrete, very close together. Swimming pool was taken over by men playing with a ball. Children were ignored by parents, and one little girl got into difficulties in the pool, and her father (when he eventually noticed) thought it was funny! The 'beach' (I use the word loosely) was a narrow stretch of beaten earth leading to a sharp drop which had two foot of seaweed at the bottom.

Hotel Club Phaethon Beach is fantastic! I went for 2 weeks with my husband and children, aged 7 & 5.

On arrival the check in was speedy and because we had arrived in the evening and missed dinner, the hotel had provided sandwiches, fruit and drinks in our room.

The rooms are bright and plenty big enough for 4. I was expecting bunk beds for the kids but the room had a king size bed and two single beds. There was plenty of wardrobe space and the maids cleaned the rooms 6 days a week.

The quality of the food and drink was the best I have seen for an all inclusive hotel. The cocktails and Baileys were particularly welcome! The restaurant had plenty of choice with themed nights, such as Chinese, Indian, the good old roast beef and Yorkshire Pudding. These were in addition to the usual good selection of food. The children had their own buffet with limited choices. The snack bar by the pool had a lovely selection of salads and about five different main courses each day.

The Atrium bar, in the reception, is waiter service, the staff are friendly and efficient. Most of them are from Eastern Europe. The pool bar is self service for soft drinks, beer, tea and coffee. If you wanted anything stronger you had to get it from the barman.

The pool was kept clean generally although it was a bit on the cloudy side one day. There are plenty sunbeds for everyone.

The animation staff do a great job organising activities morning, afternoon and evening.

The kids clubs were popular but I didn't have any trouble getting the children in. The evening sessions ran 3 times a week which allowed the adults to have a quiet meal.

There was entertainment on in the nightclub every evening, starting with the mini-disco, followed by bingo, some sort of show, then a disco till midnight.

I would definitely recommend this hotel to anyone with a young family.