Holiday Village Atlantica Rhodes

This was the best family holiday we’ve ever had. We usually go to Cyprus, and although we LOVE Cyprus, this hotel beats anything we’ve ever stayed in there. We had a standard room in the activity area for the first couple of days and it was great, big comfy beds and immaculately clean. Then were upgraded to a deluxe villa with private pool completely free of charge because we just happened to be in the hotel room when they delivered a flyer saying that they had a villa available for anyone who would like to try it. The villa was AMAZING. Pros: (because honestly this review would be 65 pages long if I don’t stop myself!) Food was gorgeous, staff in the restaurant were fab, the entertainment was absolutely fantastic. We normally don’t bother watching entertainment on an evening but the team were engaging and enthusiastic. They even had fireworks one night! Cree was so fun to watch! The hotel was spotless, the water park was so good for our 5 year old. We didn’t want to leave. Despite being upgraded to the deluxe area (including the deluxe restaurant) we still ate in the main restaurant as it had a lot more choice for children. We did eat in the deluxe restaurant for breakfast which was great. Cons: the location isn’t great, there isn’t much (if anything!) to do outside of the hotel, but the hotel was so good that we didn’t care. The only downside about the private villas is that they face onto another hotel (not affiliated with the holiday village) and they were quite noisy at night. Luckily our son was so worn out by the end of the day that it didn’t wake him up. The air con didn’t work at first but they soon fixed it. It’s also quite hard to get booked into the other restaurants there (you get 1 visit to each throughout the week) - we did eat at the American place once and it was okay but to be honest we preferred the main restaurant. This place is well worth the money. We will definitely come back to this hotel! I can’t praise it enough.

Having our holiday cancelled to Egypt with two weeks to go due to Thomas Cook collapsing (we got our money back in 2 days) meant we had to scramble for another holiday, we happened across this one, we liked what we saw from the pictures and booked right away 2 days before we flew out. We stayed in the deluxe area in a top floor room, which was always clean everyday, large room with a good balcony, didn’t get too much sun on it but that was fine as we was out most if not all of the day. Only had one day of rain and epic thunder and lighting, rest of week was very warm for the time of year. We did spend most of our time out on Tui trips to Symi, Rhodes town, Lindos, which are all highly recommended to do. Our local guide Paul was brilliant and learned so much in just a few days showing us the sites and history of Rhodes. We made our own way to Tsampika beach with a cheap taxi ride from hotel, make sure you go early as only one bus trip back to Kolimbia each at 4:20pm and it gets busy. So best to get a taxi number if you want to stay longer. The area around the hotel has a few shops and a 10 minute walk away is the main town centre if you are looking for holiday souvenirs. When we did spend time at the hotel, it was what you would expect from a family style hotel, lots going on for the kids in the activity area day and night, the food was good, I don’t know what people expect but when we was there it was hot and found nothing wrong, yes it’s going to repeat if you stay more than a week but you should expect it and get over it. Our restaurant in the deluxe area served different food in the evenings and breakfast was always top rate, big thanks to Kostas and the crew for making us feel welcome everyday we saw them. As for the three on site that you need to book, again I don’t get why people found this hard, it as so easy, we was told not to use the machines by reps and go right to reception and ask, within a day we got 2 bookings posted to our room for American and Italian and even got a last minute day changed when they booked wrong day, just a quick chat with staff and it was rebooked for next day, brilliant! maybe people miss that first day meeting with the Tui rep which is a shame as we gained so much information, it really helped our week. The food in those was great, we liked the Italian more and would say is the one to go for, in the American you got all 5 starters as standard and that was bit much, even before you got your mains which we found on the large side. Evening entertainment is more aimed at family in the activity side but still enjoyable as lots of people go to that area, the karaoke in the Irish bar is a bit on the short side at 45 minutes and would benefit from being on more than once a week, and in the deluxe area it’s more relaxed with singers but still enjoyable. The pool area was always “towel” booked by 7am and people would not go back to them for a good few hours so get up early if you want a premium space in the deluxe area, we found the most space in the relax area which has the pool bar, even without the pre-towel system we always found a spot for two. Overall we found this to be a great find, the Tui and hotel staff were always friendly and helpful, we came across no issues while we was there. People we met said we got lucky not going to Egypt so maybe a blessing in disguise. Only thing I’d point out is that the tropical site of the hotel does feel out of place with the rest of the hotel and could do with matching up. But that aside, we had an amazing time and would recommend.

We stayed in the relax area, the room was spacious enough for the 3 of us (a couple with a 3 year old), the room was cleaned every day and the mini bar topped up. We didn’t get much sun on our balcony so I was glad we didn’t opt for a swim up room as it didn’t look like any of the rooms in our block got much sun, I’d have been disappointed if we had paid the extra and ended up with a swim up room in the shade! The pools were cold, but you got use to it once you were in and there were plenty of pools to choose from, the pirate ship splash pool area was fabulous and we loved the lazy river! Our little girl also had swimming lessons whilst there which she thoroughly enjoyed, she told everyone about Beth & Amanda the swimming coach’s when we got home, we could also see a vast improvement in her confidence in water. The food was pretty much what you would expect from an all inclusive, the main restaurant was like a canteen, and could be quite chaotic depending on what time you went. However there was a lot of variety and it did change slightly each night. We didn’t mind the self service drinks, however the hot drinks machine was very hit & miss whether it was working or not and a couple of times the soft drinks machine ran out. I was impressed with the range of food and snacks you could get throughout the day. Although there was no food available except ice creams at the relax bar you had to go across to the activity area. There are 3 restaurants, however you are only allowed to book 2, and booking isn’t easy we ended up asking at reception and they booked us in at the Italian (this was our favourite) and the greek (food was nice and got a lovely view of sunset over the mountains) but we were just allocated a day and a time. The resort was pretty spotless throughout my only one criticism would be the bins in the toilets always seemed to be overflowing, so could have been done with being emptied more frequently but that’s the only fault I could find regarding cleanliness. All of the staff we came across were very friendly. We went on a tui tour whilst there to the Acropolis in Lindos and Rhodes Old Town, both were beautiful and worth a We did spend the majority of our time in the hotel, making use of the pools, splash park and park but we as well as the excursion mentioned we did go to the beach one day but it was quite pebbly, sea was very clear, had we been there longer we would have ventured to a few different places. I would definitely recommend Atlantica Holiday Village to families, we were so sad when our last day came, could easily have stayed another week!