I saw a good deal on travelzoo for Lapethos resort in Kyrenia, North Cyprus. It said 5 stars half board and was a great price so I went for it. I stayed the second week in November 2011. I must say I was disappointed even though I only paid a small amount. It is a resort I would call 2 stars and no more and everything is done cheaply. Examples are that at breakfast there were only 2 cold drinks available - a cheap orange SQUASH or the cheap lemon SQUASH. At dinner they offer you a drink, but at the end of the meal you are asked to pay for it (whats the point in saying it is half board with dinner if you don't even get a drink included?). There is a distinct lack of variety and even fruits lacking, and to make matters worse they have a rule that no food or drink can be brought into the resort at all, so if you are thinking of popping out to get some fruit FORGET IT. The corrupt security guard tried to charge me 50turkish lira because I tried to bring a bottle of water into the resort (you cannot drink the tap water so they try to make money by charging you for bottled water which is 4 times cheaper from the shop across the road). The security guard argued with me for 15 minutes and when I finally told him to leave me alone and walked off, he tried to follow me to my room.

Often there were no tables available or those that were were dirty still from the last people and there was no rush to clean them. Finally, the room facilities were poor, no kettle or anything but worse still the toilets in our room dripped/leaked loudly constantly (as did most other peoples) and although they send a handyman to fix it, it carried on throughout the stay. There were lots of niggly bathroom problems and measly things such as one key per room even if there are 4 of you in the room. In future I would pay more to stay elsewhere! and to make matters worse I am not typically a fussy person

We had a Travelzoo special offer to this resort. We arrived late and expected sandwiches so we were pleasantly surprised to get a variety of salads, hot food and drinks. Our room was in the Rosa Court, an older part of the complex and it showed. Although the room was reasonably clean the carpets were stained with spilt drinks. However, there was hot water all the time and towels changed daily. The meals as far as we were concerned were very good. A wide variety of salads with soup and hot food. The pool area was very good and had its own bar. There was also a second quiet pool again with its own bar. All the staff were excellent. The location is out of town but the Dolmuses run very regularly to Kyrenia for 3.5TL. Overall - recommended for the money we paid.

We stayed here for one week 15th of October. it was lovely the staff were all very helpful ,the breakfast was wonderful I was full to bursting every morning boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, toast jams fresh breads and rolls Hams and Cheeses fried potatoes hot dogs, fresh fruits and lots more .The room we stayed in was basic We were in the older part of the hotel but refurbishing was going on everywhere but it didn’t affect our stay .The spa was shut my husband always uses the spa on holiday and asked where he could go to use a spa two days later they opened it and he used it two days running. There was plenty of beds around the pool and although music was playing it wasn’t to loud .We used the little buses to go into the town and harbour we had some lovely meals out. Very cheap three meals and two rounds of drinks just £25. yousif( sorry if thats not spelt right) was very helpful he was the holiday rep, the staff who dealt with are transfers arriving and coming home were the best we have had on any holiday .and there was Goven( sorry about the spelling again) the barman who smelt as good as he looked and very friendly especially with my husband mmmm .my only grumbles the beds in our room were a little hard and the pool was freezing the sea was warmer! All in all a good holiday for the money we paid £250 each

We stayed at the Lapethos 15th to 29th October. We arrived at 11pm at night and were shown to the dining room for a sandwich and drink. After reading previous reviews, we didn't expect any more than that. We were then shown to a room overlooking the main pool. The good points were that it was quite spacious and the balcony overlooking the pool was very nice. Alas the bad points were that the carpet looked like someone had spilt sump oil over a large area of it, the cupboard housing the mini bar/fridge had no handle so we used a nail file to see what was in there. The bathroom had an open drain in the floor which looked filled with sludge and the overflow in the bath had slipped and there were black bugs in the bath. As well as all that the water was cold. Not somewhere we wanted to spend the next two weeks in!
However, when we went to the meeting with Yussef the next morning, he asked if everyone was satisfied and when we explained our circumstances to him, he dealt with the matter immediately and we were then transferred to the main building overlooking the car park but into a far far superior room and from then, apart from a few days with no air-con (they eventually gave us a portable unit) we were more than happy. Cannot fault the bedroom staff and how they looked after us. The room was immaculately clean.

The food, I am afraid, on the whole was very poor - but - having said that, we, in all honesty, did find some things that were ok. It also has to be said that as we only paid £400 each for 14 days holiday, we could hardly complain and to eat out was so reasonable.

We found The Cabin just great for a spot of lunch and the Veni Vici Restaurant was absolutely fabulous - £36 for two for a two course meal (Stuffed Mushroom in Stilton Sauce and Fillet Steak with trimmings - yum yum!) and a couple of drinks - we went four times in all! Then for an English Breakfast - jump on a dolmus and go to Kyrenia (Girne) and just a little way past the dove fountain there are two or three cafes that do a brilliant breakfast for 30 lire for two - £10.25 including lovely mugs of tea.

The only other criticism we have is that there was little to no entertainment of an evening in the hotel and if we hadn't met some lovely people the first week, we would have been at a loss with what to do. The surrounding hotels did have some entertainment some nights and we availed ourselves of that occasionally.

We did hire a car the second week (our new found friends had gone home) and we enjoyed visiting Nicosia (Leftkosa) and Farmagusta as well as Bellapois - which was particularly beautiful.
All in all a very nice holiday, yes we did have some misgivings - couldn't quite decide whether the hotel had just been taken over by another company having been run down and they were trying to re-furbish or whether they were trying to keep it afloat. It seemed as though they had closed part of it - the Spa, the Casino and slides in the Aqua park. Whether this was because it was the end of their season or what - I don't know. It has to be said though that the pools and all the outside areas were very well maintained.

However, although it wasn't any where near the best we have stayed at, it certainly wasn't the worst.
We should say thanks to Youseff and Ercan who do a sterling job.

Would I recommend this hotel? - if you want a quiet holiday, are getting a bargain break and are willing to eat out - yes. However it has too many minuses to entice us again.