Crowne Plaza Limassol

The Crowne Plaza Limassol is an upper-mid-range chain hotel housed in a six-story block between the main coastal road and the Mediterranean Sea. The lobby is cool and inviting, with a mix of crystal ceiling lamps and recessed lighting, cream and brown marble, and neutral toned sofas and benches. A wall of windows looks out onto a sea-facing terrace with additional seating and the whole space doubles as a lobby bar. However, the bulk of activity at this property takes place at the lower level, where there's a pool and direct access to the beach. The property attracts a mix of guests, with lots of vacationers from the United Kindgom in the summer months (including plenty of families) and a steady stream of business travelers from Cyprus and abroad come wintertime. 

Crowne Plaza is located right in the heart of the Limassol city center, right on the beach and across the street from The Oval, an unusual office building shaped like a flattened egg. It's about a 45-minute walk or 10-minute drive to Limassol Castle, in the heart of Old Town. Getting to Limassol Marina takes just a few minutes more. Further afield, it's about a one-hour drive to both Larnaca and Paphos, each of which has an airport. The capital city Nicosia takes just over an hour to reach, as does Mount Olympos. 

This Crowne Plaza offers a variety of room types, ranging in size from 20 to 50 square meters (215 to 538 square feet). Most units have a king bed or two double beds, and some rooms add sofa beds and/or sea-facing balconies. There are also a few Superior Rooms with Sea View Terraces on the second floor, complete with huge terraces that look right out on the sea along with a variety of suites, all with whirlpool bathtubs and separate walk-in showers. 

All have a similar business-style decor scheme with dark-wood floors and light-wood contemporary desks and bedside tables, plus either two-toned purple throw cushions and bed runners (in standard categories) or turquoise cushions and blue-and-yellow bed runners in Deluxe and Superior Rooms. All rooms come with Crowne Plaza sleep kits that include aromatherapy roll-ons, pillow sprays, and slippers and bathrobes. Other standard amenities include wall-mounted flat-screen TVs, free safes, coffee- and tea-making facilities, and minibars. Convenient tech extras like USB charging ports by the desks and bright LED-powered bedside reading lamps are nice touches. The bathrooms are nice, but they don't look as newly renovated as the rooms. Bathrooms are covered with off-white and gray tile and come with shower/tub combos, bidets, hairdryers, and simple toiletries. 

This Crowne Plaza has a ton of great features, including a notably large number of dining options, particularly for a hotel of this size. Along with 24-hour room service, there's a Lounge Bar serving food all day, a beach bar (Lime), the poolside Med Pool Bar (which offers drinks and light meals) and an Italian a la carte option, La Brezza. Breakfast is served buffet style at Haven, which also offers lunch and dinner buffets during the summer high season, with the occasional theme night. 

Wellness and recreation facilities include a 24-hour fitness center with a good selection of modern cardio machines and free weights. There's also a spa with massages and treatments, as well as an indoor pool with adjacent sauna and steam facilities. These can cost extra, but are free for hotel guests for a few hours every morning and evening. Note that the fitness center can get busy at times since the hotel offers a membership program for local residents as well as day passes for visitors. Just outside the fitness center is a lovely patio area with a large outdoor pool and lounge chairs. The adjacent (and not particularly impressive) brown-sand beach is set with more lounge chairs and a sectioned off area with calm, but dark, water that's decent for swimming. Other outdoor amenities include grass tennis courts and a small playground for children on a grassy  patch overlooking the sea. The hotel offers a special running program, with maps of local 5k and 10k routes. 

This hotel's business facilities are equally on point, with both indoor and outdoor meeting space and dedicated staff for event planning and support. Spaces include the Executive Boardroom with a flat-screen TV and printing facilities. The larger Westminster Suite can be divided into up to four spaces. There's also a mid-sized Med Meeting Room that seats up to 40 guests boardroom style. Wi-Fi is free throughout the hotel and there's free on-site parking for guests.