Elias Beach Hotel

The entrance to the Elias Beach Hotel is on the street side of the resort, and guests enter into a bland reception area. This opens up to a bright atrium at the back of the building where floor-to-ceiling windows span several floors, but the space is unadorned. Two adjacent lounges are carpeted, with drop-ceilings; the dated decor doesn't live up to expectations for a resort of this caliber. It's on the beach-facing side of the hotel that the resort earns its rating. Guests will find wide, palm-tree-dotted grounds with stone pathways connecting the tennis courts to the pool and sunbathing lawns. The property ends in a wide sandy beach, where families spend most of the day in view of weddings taking place on the hotel's large pier that stretches out into the Mediterranean.

Elias Beach Hotel is on a spacious stretch of beach, but the tradeoff is that it's quite a ways from downtown Limassol; the popular Old Port and Limassol Marina are 22-minute drive. There are some dining and drinking options just across the major road fronting the hotel, and a bus stop is right outside. There's also a convenient bicycle rental within a two-minute walk. A few cafes are clustered around the yacht-filled St Raphael Marina, about a 10-minute walk down the beach. A narrow promenade in front of the hotel leads along the beach to neighboring resorts. It's a five-minute drive to the archaeological sites around the Amathus Ruins, and about a 12-minute drive into downtown Limassol. Larnaca International Airport is a 36-minute drive to the east along the coast, while Paphos International Airport is closer to an hour drive to the west.

The hotel's 174 rooms have simple decor in bright cream and orange hues, and relatively cheap wood laminate flooring and tables. Run-of-the-mill amenities include 32-inch flat-screen TVs, coffee/tea facilities, and empty mini-fridges. The Standard Rooms are 26 square meters (280 square feet) and sleep up to three, with a small sitting area big enough for an armchair and ottoman. All have furnished private balconies with either sea or inland views. Superior Rooms get a larger sitting area with a couch, while Family Junior Suites add sliding doors to partition the living room and its two sofa beds from the main bedroom. There are also Executive Suites with more exotic furnishings in separate living rooms that have dining tables. The bathrooms a small, with average shower/tub combos. 

The hotel's wide sandy beach provides ample space for sun loungers, with water sports and scuba diving on-site (though run by unaffiliated companies). For more contained water fun, the grounds are centered around a large outdoor pool and kiddy pool, with daily activities and games for all ages. There are also a heated indoor pool and hot tub. The Serenity Health Club & Spa incorporates treatment rooms with the usual range of services, along with a steam room, sauna, and an adjacent fitness center with cardio and weight-training machines. A squash court and tennis court round out the exercise possibilities, though there's also a poolside ping-pong table for slightly less ambitious competition. An indoor kids' club offers supervised playtime, and the flashy Havana Venue hosts interactive activities by day, with live entertainment (and a bar) at night. There's also a poolside bar, lobby bar, and cafe. For more extensive dining, there are two year-round restaurants -- Flavours and Amadeus -- though both are really just separate dining rooms served by the same themed buffet (free breakfast is included). Blue Paradise, with an accompanying beach bar, is open seasonally on an outdoor terrace, serving Mediterranean cuisine. Seven Orchids is a seasonal pan-Asian restaurant that offers adult-only dining slots.