Cali Resort and Spa - Adults Only

This hotel is absolutely stunning. It’s spotless, beautifully decorated and the facilities and staff are amazing. They genuinely cannot do enough for you. Even the restaurant staff remember what room you’re in, and when I looked confused at the wine list, Adam was there instantly to help me out. I honestly cannot fault the service, cleanliness or quality of the hotel itself. The rooms are lovely, if a tad small, but beautifully decorated. Although an iron in each room would be helpful rather than having to ask for one every evening.

If this hotel were rated purely on the above, then 5 stars wouldn’t be enough. However, as a 5-star premium all-inclusive, it falls short.

Had this simply been rated as an all-inclusive hotel, my review would have been 5/5. But when you advertise yourself as premium all-inclusive, expectations are naturally much higher.

For a premium all-inclusive, I would expect things like grilled fish cooked to order, perhaps kebabs one evening, or some other variety rather than a fairly standard buffet night after night consisting of lasagne, meatballs and pasta, pizza, moussaka and an array of dried-out meats and vegetables. The salads, to be fair, were amazing — and if you wanted pizza and salad every night, you’d be very happy!

The wine included in the all-inclusive package was, unfortunately, very disappointing. The Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay were clearly very basic wines, and the rosé tasted like vinegar. The lovely restaurant manager explained that they have a great selection of wines available from the wine list — but obviously these come at an additional cost. Again, that’s fine at a normal hotel, but when you’ve paid a premium for an all-inclusive experience, I would expect a better selection to be included.

There is another restaurant, which was lovely, but you can only use it once a week. The breakfast and lunch options were absolutely fine, but unfortunately the food didn’t really get better than that.

Reading some of the other reviews, it seems I’m not the only person who felt disappointed by the food and drink offering.

Then there’s the evening entertainment. A couple of nights were genuinely entertaining, particularly the Greek night and the Dotty Duo, but the rest was pretty underwhelming. Of course, you don’t have to watch it, but because the entertainment area is right by the pool, you can hear it from your room anyway — so you may as well stay and watch while enjoying the cocktails, which, incidentally, were included and were actually very good!

Yes, we could have gone out in the evenings, but that rather defeats the point of paying for an all-inclusive holiday. I shouldn’t have to leave the hotel to find the atmosphere and variety I expected to have already paid for.

The atmosphere around the pool was also very lacking. There was music being played, but it was so quiet that it barely created any atmosphere. Perhaps a DJ playing chilled-out music during the day would make a huge difference. They did this one day and it was lovely.

On that same day, they offered a bottle of champagne with white glasses and an ice bucket — very bougie and a lovely touch — but then the bottle was €110. Again, it’s the little things that make me feel they haven’t quite understood what premium all-inclusive means. Include something like that occasionally as part of the package and suddenly it feels premium.

Another issue was that people who weren’t staying at the hotel were allowed to use the pool. On one particular day, there were a couple of girls who were being loud and rude to the staff and had brought their own food and drinks. Several complaints were made, but nothing seemed to be done until people started leaving the pool.

We did complain, and I have to say the staff went above and beyond to make us feel better and deal with our concerns. The service really was exceptional. But ultimately, these are things I feel should have been better managed when we had paid a premium price to stay at a 5-star premium all-inclusive resort.

Overall, this is a beautiful, spotless and incredibly relaxing hotel with fantastic staff and service. But if you’re expecting a true premium all-inclusive experience, with a wide choice of food, quality drinks, atmosphere and entertainment, I don’t think this quite delivers.

If you’re happy with a more basic all-inclusive offering and your priority is beautiful surroundings, cleanliness, peace and fantastic service, then absolutely go here — but expect to pay a premium for it.

For comparison, I’ve stayed at Stella Island and paid a similar price for a week. There, we had five different restaurants to choose from, five different pool bars and lunch spots, fantastic wine and much better entertainment. If you’re looking for something that feels a little more special and genuinely premium, I would choose Stella Island instead.

That being said, it was still a very relaxing holiday, and the staff deserve enormous credit for how attentive, friendly and helpful they were throughout our stay.

My husband and I had the most wonderful hydration facials with Panos and Anna. They were both so professional, friendly and attentive, and made us feel completely relaxed throughout the treatment. Our skin felt incredibly fresh, hydrated and glowing afterwards! You can really tell they care about what they do and take the time to make the experience special.

Thank you, Panos and Anna, for such a lovely experience. We would definitely recommend them and will be coming back! ✨💆‍♀️💆‍♂️

Absolutely loved this place , great location, great facilities, wonderful staff , cant find fault with this hotel , everything was perfect 👌 👍 😀