Condé Nast Traveller - Anassa, Cyprus
April 2016

No discussion about really great family hotels in Europe is concluded without a mention of Anassa. The five-hour flight may push tolerance levels of parents with really small children to their limit, but it’s significantly less painful than a long-haul search for sun in the shoulder seasons. Cyprus’s balmy climes and warm waters are especially rewarding when leaving a blustery Britain to reach them. The hotel is both smart and sophisticated, and reassuring relaxed when it comes to knee-high guests. The acres of cool marble, vases of blouse white peonies and domed cupolas of the main spaces give way to breezy bright suites with flashes of nautical blues, terraces big enough to eat breakfast on and separate bedrooms (so no tiptoeing around snoozing children in the dark). Here is a place that understands kids no matter the age or stage. The even-praised Baby Go Lightly service means you don’t have to lug buggies, potties or nappies, while slick operator Scott Dunn runs the Explorers programme (from four months and upwards) with a gang of jolly English nannies dispensing and games and organising arts and crafts, as well as green-fingered escapades in the fruit and vegetable garden. Older kids will be wear themselves out with tennis, squash, and mountain-bike adventures on- and off-road. Out in the bay there’s a fleet of powerboats for water skiing and snorkelling trips, plus dinghies, catamarans and Laser Bahias for RYA-approved sailing courses. All of this comes in a glorious setting of that rare combination of beach and mountain.
INSIDER TIP For bigger broods, or if grandparents are in tow, try one of the new villas with kitchenettes and infinity pools.