Ethra Reserve Kalidria

We had an amazing week at the Alborea/Kalidria! The beach was beautiful, sand is super clean and fine.. the beach bar is cool.. we took the e-bikes back and forth to the beach which had kid seats, also mega fun for toddlers.. the bungalow was clean and spacious, with two bathrooms, one with a tub, one with a shower.. The food was awesome with a rich breakfast, lunch and dinner buffet! Making it super easy having a toddler… the team was really professional and nice, they let us bring food to the beach for pick-nicks.. and the best part was Giuseppe the manager which sorted out all our extra needs, he even found an amazingly nice and trustworthy nanny to keep our daughter a few hour every day. Coolest manager ever.. That gave us the chance hang loose and romantic dinners enjoy dinner. After dinner there’s always a big show for kids at the amphitheater, the spa, bug outside pools, the playgrounds, the bars, ecc.. it all made for the perfetct family vacation.. Loved it, will probably become a family tradition…

The best thing about the hotel is the hotel itself, the rooms are clean and spacious and well equipped, the beds and mattresses are of very high quality and so are the windows, doors and the AC. Due to the exceptional architecture, every room has a similar very nice view to the park and the hotel is an excellent place to relax. Moreover, the beach, which you can reach by a small toy train that goes every 30 minutes, is fantastic, if you like a quiet atmosphere without music. At the beach you can take mile long walks pretty alone. The food served at the dinner, a four-course dinner, is really excellent, if you like meat or fish. You can select each course from three options. For vegetarians, the options are fewer. The quality of the breakfast is lower, the eggs are sometimes cold and not all food is quickly refilled but most products are very good, in particular the cheese. On the downside, the service in the hotel is of mixed quality. The beach bar should be open until 6, but sometimes closes at 5:15, the service at the bar at night is constantly hiding from the customers (but they serve you drinks once you find out where they hide), and the service at the breakfast and dinner is rather chaotic. There is a dining area outside, which is very nice and romantic, and a dining area inside with the charm of a college food hall. Understandably, when it is raining, one has to sit inside but in our second week the management decided that it would be more convenient for the hotel to serve the dinner always inside, regardless of whether the weather is nice outside, a very unfortunate decision for a hotel that claims to have 5 stars, as I found. There is not much entertainment at the hotel, which I liked, but there is a musician at the bar who is very fine, though more on the melancholic side. If you look for entertainment and amusement you can walk to the Valentino Resort next door, which belongs to the same company, but this resort and its entertainment are of a very different level than Kalidria. Overall, this hotel does not make the impression of an exclusive 5-star hotel, rather a 4-star superior, which is fine since the price is one for a 4-star superior hotel. I recommend it to persons who seek relaxation without entertainment in a beautiful environment and have some patience concerning the service.

The place was very nice and relaxing, some negatives stopped me from giving it a 5 rating. For a 5 star hotel I expected better breakfast options such as more cooked options and pots/mugs for tea. Also the limit of 1 complimentary bottle of water per room per stay was too little. Reception was often busy and with only 1 or 2 staff on duty so we had to usually wait. We booked half board and on our 3rd day we asked to swap dinner for lunch but they advised it was not possible at all which I found unreasonable. Plus sides - lovely and quiet, great spa treatments and facilities, good food The beach and sand were great (road works meant it took approx 15-20 mins by buggy to reach there)