I stayed at this place 2 nights with my friends. The apart rooms are spacious with 3 bedrooms, a living room, a big kitchen and a bathroom. The furniture and the decoration style was not really modern, but the surrounding and the garden was very well maintained. The pools were clean. Our only problem was that the way to the restaurant was really long. Riverside could be a very good location for long term rentals in North Cyprus.

I have been in august 2010 and 2011 ar riverside.
Hotel is very beautiful and well maintened, rooms are very clean and spacious and the garden surrounding the hotel are very very beautiful.
There are three pools very well kept with a lovely clean water and many sunbeds where take the sun.
Very good the idea of the pool for only adults that is very quiet.
I will be again this year because also if the resort is a little far from kyrenia also the village near Riverside and the bar and resturants near are very beaufitul and in a nice place.
Great is also the ranch bar where i go all the nights with magnificent views of the hills and mountains.
also good the courtesy bus for the beaches, great idea.
Beyaz is an excellent director of the resort.

We have recently returned from a lovely stay at this hotel in Alsancak.
We stayed in a Superior Villa, which was very clean and roomy for the two of us. We should have had a cleaner every other day, but found that this was more frequent, which meant that we were cleaned nearly every day! Only one problem with this. The sheets were changed each time, which meant that we had to make the bed every time as the clean sheets were left folded on the bed! The bathroom although a little dated had everything you needed, clean and always had hot water. The shower is in the bath and has a proper shower screen instead of a curtain so you do not flood the bathroom every time you take a shower!

The hotel gardens were very well maintained and the pathways were swept everyday to keep the fallen blossom & leaves at bay. The cats were everywhere so if you are afraid of them or are not a cat person Riverside is not the place for you! There are notices asking people not to feed them, but as most of the clients are British.....!

The Hotel Pools are very well maintained and clean with plenty of beds for us, but we were there very late in the season! The Water slides were only switched on at their allotted time when the staff were asked to do so and were great fun for two big kids like us (45 going on 5).

All the staff were very friendly and helpful, Especially Abdulla in the Ranch Bar (I do hope his family are OK after the quake). We hired a Jeep from reception, which was great fun. When we had a small problem with the windscreen washers we were given a new Jeep without any fuss. We thought £17 per day for 12 days hire was a very good price, but we were told by an ex-pat that we could've got it cheaper elsewhere, but we were more than satisfied.

The location of the hotel is a little out of the way, but after a little exploration we found a few Restaurants and Bars within walking distance namely Green Valley, Sungate, Hillside, Drop In Cafe and Cyprus Queen. The Cyprus Queen was always our last watering hole before we headed back.

If you would like a special meal out with traditional Turkish Meze then we fully recommend that you go to Cenap in Alsancak Village. Make sure you do not eat anything all day before your visit as it is a set menu and you are fed continuously! We paid roughly 50TL per head including drinks.

One thing to watch out for is that the staff do clean the pathways with water, which can make them a little slippery.

We went into Kyrenia (Girne) a few evenings on the Dolmus, which are an excellent way to get a round cheaply (3.50tl) the Taxi back after midnight was 34TL. Kyrenia is a lovely harbour and has a multitude of Restaurants and bars to choose from, but you will pay more (approx double compared with the restaurants near Riverside, which were excellent value).

If you are going to hire a car and go up to the Karpas Peninsular we would strongly recommend that you take an overnight bag and stay up there as it is a very long way (it took us 2 and a half hours to get there and nearly 3 hours to get back in the dark) There are several beach huts for hire, which have all the mod cons (air con & electric). We found that the beaches on the Karpas Peninsular were "World Class".

Unfortunately the beach for the Hotel (Camelot) was closed, which meant that there were no cushions for the sunbeds and no cafe open there. The local municipal beach was open, however even though this beach had beds there were no cushions. Escape Beach has the best facilities, but was 15TL each for the day and full of posers! The food was excellent, if a bit pricey and the beer was dear! We Found a beach just off the Girne Road in Karaoglanoglu. (Take the turning for the Mercure Hotel and find the Kervan). this was 3tl per bed for the day.

In summary we had a fab time and will be back one day, but will make it earlier in the season as the middle 2 weeks in October were a little quiet, the evenings a little chilly and the weather was a little changeable.

This was our first visit to Northern Cyprus & this is how it started:-
We telephoned Riverside on our departure from Stanstead Airport to advise of our anticipated late arrival 9.15 pm & book a taxi to collect us from Ecran Airport. Flight No's given & credit card details accepted & fee of £35.00 paid. We were adivised that a driver would be waiting for us he would be holding a display card with our name & hotel. '' To ensure we had the right driver''.
IT NEVER TURNED UP!! We tried to phone the hotel from Ecran Aiport but there was no reply. Even a very kind Airport Security Guard tried to phone on our behalf without success!! We then had to pay an additional £45.00 for a Taxi from Ecran Airport to the hotel some 45 minutes drive away. On arrival at the hotel we were told by the receptionist''There had been a mistake??? and she produced the credit card slip which had gone through. We advised the receptionist that we would call the credit card company in the morning to cancel the payment she said ''Maybe you can use it for your return journey'' It was getting very late and we were tired by this time & we didn't want to cause a fuss... so we agreed.
However, four day's into our stay we decided to take a couple of tours.. as we didn't have a car. We booked through lady called Avis at the Hotel. Bellapais & St Hilarion hotel pick up 0900 return 13.30. A very good tour guide & a lovely nice lunch for £70 per couple. Recommended by another guest & agree with whole heartedly.. The next tour on the following Friday before we were due to leave Karpass Peninsula hotel pick up 08.20 return 19.00. We waited in the hotel reception from 8.15am along with other guests who were taking the trip. A coach arrived & we went to board giving the guide our booking slip, he said... This is not your coach its on its way. That coach departed & we were the only couple left in reception. After an hour we asked the reception to find out what was happening?? she phoned the tour guide... but his phone was switched off!! She advised us she would try again after 20minutes.
She called him again & asked me to speak to him... Wait for it... he said ....YOU HAVE BEEN MISSED OFF THE LIST SO WE WILL HAVE TO CANCEL.. then there was silence!! An apology no!! But the receptionist did say ''They shouldn't keep guests waiting like that''
Fed up.. as we had been up since 6.30am.. We went back to our villa.. which was next to the childrens pool & could get very,very noisy.. got changed & took the 12.30pm (complementary) bus to the beach.
We were on a self catering basis but the on site Mini Maket was closed & had been for some 4 week due to illness?? Our rather dated villa had a Partial Kitchen with a Kettle,Toaster, 4 Gas Rings & an old Fridge.The Dining/Lounge area ...had needs updating.. stained carpets & a T.V that didn't work. The Bathroom.. a shower in the bath.. that didn't work well either, a leaking tap in the over sized hand basin. That said when we reported the leak it was repaired very quickly! Even though they damaged the basin replacing the Tap.

There was no information in the villa for the independent traveller at all.


The staff are friendly & helpful, the pools & grounds are all maintained to a good standard its just a pity the accommodation & restuarant (Chips & Salad with everything) were not the same.

There are a great number of Cat's on site which the Hotel asks Guests NOT to feed but unfortunately it's NOT adhered too!! Which can casuse many Guests a problem.

Four star! We think not.