Merit Cyprus Gardens Holiday

The food was delicious, the sunshine was glorious, and the sea views were breathtaking. Service was truly excellent, and I had an absolutely wonderful, relaxing holiday at Merit Garden in North Cyprus. A perfect getaway!

Love this place! The hotel grounds are great, ideal for walking or just spending time there.

We went with our two children from 29th May to 9th June 2023, booked through Cyprus Paradise. After a five-hour flight into Larnaka, Cyprobus, a Turkish company, picked us up in a seven-seater Mercedes Vito and got us across to the North in a little over an hour. On arrival, Cyprus Gardens staff told my tired family and me there was no room at the inn. They eventually found our booking after half an hour, but communication was terrible and the place seemed poorly organised. The best parts were the buffet, which had an amazing mix of Turkish and continental food, the beautiful beach, the nice pool, the lovely plants and flowers, and the Moonlight bar, which was great for a cocktail at night. The dogs were super friendly, too. But they were everywhere, including the restaurant, under tables, and in the garden, and they seemed very hungry. The hotel scared them off to satisfy some guests, but there didn’t seem to be any system for looking after them. If you don’t like dogs, this holiday village isn’t for you. Staff generally weren’t very attentive. Waiters and waitresses seemed more willing to serve mainland Turkish guests they could talk with, leaving people of other nationalities to get their own drinks from the bar. Some waiters were rude and made sly remarks in Turkish, apparently unaware I understood them. I confronted them twice. There were also a lot of older men, especially casino visitors, around the pool with younger women, and plenty of openly immoral activity going on. The rooms were decent-ish, but not well maintained, as is typical in North Cyprus. Our front door number fell off on the first day, the back door wouldn’t lock properly, and its handle was nearly broken. The step down to the garden was falling apart, and the unkempt gardens had sprinklers that soaked our drying clothes at odd hours. One manager walked around pretending to be on his phone, looking as though he was dealing with the dog infestation. He was hard to miss, a Turkish Basil Fawlty sort of character. On our last day, we had a night flight back from Larnaca. The hotel gave us just two hours of late checkout and charged £70.00 for our dinners. Customer service was 0/10. I’ve never known stingier people, and the drinks were poor quality. Would I go back? No. A generous 4/10. NORTH CYPRUS, I LOVE YOU, BUT YOU HAVE A LOT TO IMPROVE. I don’t think I’ll see you for another ten years. Be nice to tourists and don’t be so tight.

The hotel really is surrounded by gardens and greenery. The trees and flowers are well looked after and give welcome shade on hot days. Rooms and common areas were clean, and the whole staff were friendly and helpful, with decent English when needed. I enjoyed the holiday a lot despite a couple of drawbacks. Our extra bed was tiny, more like a child’s bed. I’m 170cm tall, so it wasn’t a huge problem, but my legs were too long to sleep comfortably. For the price, a four-star hotel should provide a proper, normal-sized bed instead of an old, dusty sofa. In the main restaurant, someone kept playing the same three songs on repeat. It was extremely annoying. Maybe management wanted guests to leave sooner, but it was unpleasant and must have been awful for the staff to listen to all day.