Larnaca Bay Resort

Nice.

The beach is just behind the house, and there are good restaurants nearby. The resort itself has about 40 houses, many privately owned. We booked ours through FeWo-direkt, a German vacation rental site. It sleeps up to seven and has a pool, three bedrooms with a bathroom each, plus a spacious, well-equipped kitchen and living room with Cypriot TV. Outside there’s a barbecue area by the bar, four loungers, and a table with six wicker chairs. The fitness room wasn’t usable because it was being used to store junk. We had to work out the keycard and beeper for the entrance and vehicle exit ourselves, which none of the descriptions had mentioned. The arrival page said someone would open the gate, but we waited 20 minutes before a local resident came to do it. After figuring out the system, we could come and go freely. I’m taking off a point for that confusion. Quite a few small things also need renovating, though that may be my German mentality.

The villas sit in parallel rows along the coast, and each has its own access to the beach. They differ in size, distance from the sea, and amenities, but all come with appliances, dishes, and towels. It’s a gated community about a 15-20-minute drive from Larnaca. There’s a shop roughly a 5-7-minute walk away, and two good restaurants serving seafood and traditional local food are around 10-15 minutes on foot. We’d recommend hiring a car, either at the airport or from a local rental place near the community. A Mazda Demio was €175 a week, before the deposit and other fees. For activities, there’s the sea with breakwaters and a playground in the village. About a 20-minute walk along the coast to the left when facing the sea, three hotels have a large natural paddling pool for children aged 2-6. You can also rent jet skis for 45 euros for 15 minutes, or try parasailing, boat rentals, and motorboat rides with seabed viewing. The water park in Ayanapa is a 35-minute drive, with adult admission at 40 euros and unlimited access afterward. There are a lot of Russians around.

The village feels genuinely secure, which is why I rated it excellent. It’s made up of individual villas of different sizes, with gated access to the beach. Just be careful if you come back from the beach and try to take the slightly open gate as a shortcut to the road without an electronic access card. You can end up stuck among the houses and gates that open automatically. I got lucky: after running through the streets for a while trying to find a way out, I managed to chase after a car leaving the village.