Sofianna Hotel Apts.

We stayed in the Sofianna Hotel and Apartments during the last week of January 2006 on a self-catering basis. The Sofianna is located just up a side street at one end of Bar Street. As the name suggests this street consists mainly of bars and clubs along with a few restaurants and Internet cafes. During our stay approx two-thirds of the bars were closed and some others opened only when live UK football could be shown. This was not a problem as there were plenty of options for a drink. At no point could we hear the bars from our apartment situated towards the rear of the building. However, this may be different in the summer when all the bars are open. The Sofianna consists of a ground floor and two upper floors of rooms. One section of rooms is located around the pool area. The pool is large with a bridge over the middle. There is a pool bar (closed during our stay in January), table tennis table, pool table, table football and video arcade machines. There is also a heated indoor pool which we used and was very warm. Also there is a Jacuzzi, Gym and Sauna. The Gym and Sauna were locked but I guess a key is available from reception and there may be a charge, we didn't use them so don't know. There is also a laundrette, something else we didn't use. The Sofianna is 5 mins walk down a slight incline to the seafront and about 10 to 15 mins stroll to the harbour area of Kato Paphos; the brochures quote 100m and 500m respectively. Both areas offer an abundance of restaurants, and café bars. During our stay approx half were open but those that were were offering good value food including seafood daily specials and 3 course set menus from CY£5 for those on a budget. For the less adventurous there is a McDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut and Pizza Express. But do try the local food as it is fresh, well prepared and great value. The Sofianna is attached by a court yard to the George and Dragon pub which also is accessible from Bar Street. We used this pub to have a drink and watch a couple of football matches. They weren't serving food but may in the summer. But to be honest there are so many places serving food you won't starve! Our room in the Sofianna was a decent size and consisted of an open plan bedroom, living room and kitchen area along with a bathroom. We had two single beds pushed together. There was a TV with BBC1, Sky News and MTV in English, a coffee table and chairs and a dressing table. The built-in wardrobes also featured a safety deposit box which cost CY£5 for the week. The bathroom featured a bath/shower. There was also a small balcony with table and chairs. We travelled with Cosmos and although we didn't book any trips through them we did hire a car for 4 days and clocked about 500km travelling around the various towns and villages. The car was hired through Europcar and as they had a 4 days for the price of 3 offer available and the cost seemed comparable to the many car hire places around the Sofianna and resort in general. But remember that we were here in the low season which may impact on the deals available. Something worth noting is that we wanted a soft top 4x4 but as it was January they didn't want to give us one, in case it leaked they said, so we were upgraded to the next more expensive hard top model at no extra cost. Overall the Sofianna offers good value for money, is clean, has courteous staff but could use a lick of paint in places. We would happily stay here again.