Head for the hills in Cyprus

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  Aphrodite Hills, Cyprus

Villa holidays can conjure up images of long lazy afternoons by your pool, relaxed evening barbeques watching the sun set and spending time with friends and family. However, the reality can mean fraught discussions over whose turn it is to go to the supermarket, questions on where the last of the milk / bread / gin has disappeared to, and headaches for those in the group who are not used to living in such close proximity to children.

But, all is not lost. I have potentially discovered the ideal solution – the self-catering hotel holiday. At Aphrodite Hills - the sprawling 578-acre resort 10 miles east of Paphos in Cyprus – you can combine the flexibility of a villa break with the luxury and pampering of a hotel and spa stay.

Made up of a 290-room InterContinental resort hotel, pretty amazing spa, nine-court tennis academy, 18-hole championship golf course, and more than 100 privately owned villas, town houses and apartments available for rent, Aphrodite Hills is a force to be reckoned with on all levels.

My family and I took a three-bedroom apartment with use of a communal pool in one of the “villages” within the resort. It may have been a shared pool but we were among just a handful of guests in the vicinity as it was the first week of the summer season. The peace and quiet was entirely welcome, although thanks to the almost eerie perfection and cleanliness of the resort it was slightly reminiscent of The Prisoner at times.

To ensure we hadn’t inexplicably fallen onto the set of the late-1960s spy fiction programme, we explored the bars, restaurants and facilities located at the centre of the resort, the Village Square, to hunt for signs of life. Thankfully, this was a success.

Within the Village Square, we found the Anoi Pub and Bar, the Pithari Taverna serving Cypriot dishes in either mezze or a la carte style, Zimi Pizza and Pasta, and L’Atelier, a chic al fresco French brasserie. Opposite this is the Clubhouse, the heart of the resort’s golfing community, with yet another restaurant, this one overlooking the golf course, and The Retreat, the resort’s enormous spa – which naturally also has a restaurant. Going hungry, it seems, is not an option at Aphrodite Hills.

Retreat and surrender

With 27 treatment rooms, specialised hydrotherapy, couples’ massage rooms and outdoor massage pavilions, The Retreat is showpiece spa. Within its cooling walls I opted for the ‘thermae’ experience, a detoxifying treatment based on ancient Roman methods and involving a ‘journey’ through a series of rooms progressively increasing in temperature and tempered with cooling showers or rooms full of ice shavings interspersed between them.

Initially you’re extremely self conscious as you’re dropped off at the Laconium, the first room which is at low humidity and where you are told to relax for 15 minutes, a strange concept as relaxing for an allotted amount of time tends to have the opposite effect. From there, it’s into the steam-based Caldarium for 15 minutes, and onto the Frigidarium, thankfully only for a few minutes, a chilled room where there’s an option to rub ice shavings into your limbs to stimulate circulation.

After this the temperature is notched up as you drift into the Sauna and then into the steamy and surreal Hammam, with colourful glass panels in the ceiling. By this point you’ re unable to think for yourself and I found myself contemplating the possibility that I was to spend the rest of my days wandering between rooms in a robe and slippers for specific amounts of time.

The final room is the Tepidarium – after a lukewarm shower – where you’re encouraged to sleep for 20 minutes or so on heated stone beds. Seemingly brainwashed by this time, I did just that. I awoke feeling relaxed and energised, and slightly at a loss now there was no one to guide me on my 10-minute walk back to the apartment.

Golf and tennis may well have been extensive at Aphrodite Hills, but during my brief stay, I opted instead for an hour’s horse riding. Whisked by 4x4 into the hills above the resort I found myself on George’s Ranch, where I went out for on an amble on stunning ex-race horse Apache through olive groves with panoramic views of the coastline and countryside.

On day three of the holiday, some of us felt we really should strike out and dare to leave the resort so hopped on the shuttle bus from the hotel reception to the Zias Beach Club 20 minutes away.

It may have been the fact that we’d left our temporary home or that reality wasn’t up to much after the pristine Aphrodite Hills but we found ourselves scrambling to get back on the shuttle after the quick drink, pebbled beach and sea breeze left us dishevelled and unimpressed. We retreated to the pool bar at the InterContinental.

Had we inadvertently become part of the Aphrodite Hills’ Prisoner programme? Potentially yes, but it was a very pleasant programme to be in.

By Louise Prior

Location: Cyprus