Sunshine Rhodes

We had an 8 night girls holiday at The Sunshine Rhodes Hotel and I must admit, we were very apprehensive after reading the reviews and seeing photos so we were expecting the worst....however, we were actually pleasantly surprised and had a great time! Especially for the price we paid too.

Lets start with the Hotel - its not a 4* star hotel and would probably be a very generous 3*. Its worth noting though that the Hotel was one of the first to be built in the area so bear this in mind as you would never get a sparkling shiny new feel from this and its part of its charm. The hotel and grounds itself are really pretty, clean and huge! We were in an apartment in block 6 and I cannot complain about our room at all. I gather from photos and reviews on here that maybe we were lucky with our room. Obviously some the fixtures and fittings are older and repaired a little sloppy but doesn't detract from the fact they were clean, habitable and we used them to sleep and wash in. We had a bedroom with 2 single beds, a bathroom and a large living room/kitchenette with a fridge. The towels got changed when we asked but the beds were only made up each morning rather than changed which didn't bother us either - I mean I only change my bed once a week at home. There is so much to do in this area, we didn't really stay in the apartment much. We had two balconies and the views were gorgeous. We watched the lightning storm from them one night and it was amazing, I watched the sunrise from them every morning and I would never get bored watching that. Overall block 6 was a winner for us. We also had two ginger kittens outside our block which of course we fed every day. The cats in the area are very well fed and looked after - they really love their cats and the history behind why there is so many is fascinating. The pool areas are ok with plenty of sun loungers but we spent all our time on the beach where the hotel has private beds and umbrellas. You will need beach shoes to go into the gorgeous turquoise sea as its very rocky.

The Food - We didn't actually mind the food. It was mostly different every day but not really a 4* menu. We always found something to eat every breakfast, lunch and dinner though so no complaints and plenty of choice. Lots of Salad, Bread, Rice, different meat dishes, pastries, potatoes, cheeses, Soups, desserts etc. After I see a photo in the reviews, I was completely panicking that I wouldn't eat anything so I have attached lot of photos of the food to reassure you that it was totally fine. Always something for everyone. The snack bar on the poolside however was very poor and we ate there once but it wasn't pleasant at all. There's are an abundance of amazing local restaurants, cafes, cake and coffee shops literally on the same street as the hotel. We went out a couple of nights to the Italian, the cocktail bar next door to the Italian with live music and El Greco which is a 5 min taxi ride where we danced, tried local food and smashed plates with our dinner all night (highly recommended experience and a must if you visit - but you need to book!).

The Drinks - This is where I dropped a star from my review. The all inclusive drinks consists of about 5 choice of drinks and is really poor for an all inclusive. Lager on tap (which wasn't bad), box wine on tap, cocktails made with local spirits and fizzy local soft drinks on a machine where you help yourself which were very sweet and sickly. The cups they are served in are the flimsy small plastic cups you get from a dentists waiting room, very flimsy and tiny. We read this in the reviews though so we came prepared and brought our own personalised hard plastic cups for the holiday. We also brought large drinks cups with straws to put our own drinks in as we didn't like the bar spirits at all and brought our drinks from the local shop. There is a shop on site that sells alcoholic drinks, soft drinks and snacks etc that is run by a lovely gentleman and extremely competitively priced considering he is on site. We brought all our mixers from here.

The Entertainment & Staff - Ok, so we found Billy adorable and quite charmingly funny. We only watched the entertainment a couple of nights but this man never stops. Entertaining all day around the pool area and then all night - he deserves a raise and a better budget for his acts so he can buy proper props! Billy also speaks about 4-5 different languages so we were amazed at his talents! We did go out a few nights as there was local bands playing, football in the sports bars and lots of bars to try but no complaints about the hotel entertainment from what we saw. The Hotel staff were also all really lovely and they work so hard. The hotel is huge and they have a lot of guests to serve at all times so its a busy hotel.

Area - You are very close to the airport and yes, the planes did fly over quite a lot but you are in a flight path right by the airport. They didn't bother us and we quite enjoyed watching them coming in to land whilst we were laying on the beach. I personally didn't hear them at night. We also got a taxi from the hotel and spent a day on the Old Town which was fantastic and The Monastry with free roaming peacocks. Both were amazing and the history was fascinating especially with how old some of these buildings were. The street of knights was on my bucket list so that was ticked from the Old Town. Taxis to both was about 20 euros so well worth it.

Overall, I would not come back to this hotel as I have stayed in nicer 4*, but I don't regret going either. We both had a well needed relaxing holiday with lots of sight seeing and fun thrown in with no dramas. Your holiday is what you make of it and we had a great time. The Hotel itself could do with improvements to raise its standards but overall not a bad Hotel, just could improve in areas.

Perfect location Great atmosphere Rooms brilliant Value for money is spot on Cleanliness is top tier Noise level is just right Service is amazing everyone goes above and beyond The animation team are the best you could want ! Lily, Teresa, Assia, Billy and Shelly are all lovely, polite, bubbly, enthusiastic and you can tell they love what they do.