We visited Kalithea Horizon Royal Hotel at the end of September 2019, we stayed for 2 weeks and we travelled with FirstChoice/TUI. Top tip, if you want to avoid 1-1.5h coach journey from the airport to the hotel, rent a car or get a taxi.
Check-in
We arrived at Kalithea Horizon Royal Hotel around 10pm, check-in was quick but slightly confusing and both us and our luggage have been transported by minibus to our room. Our room was located on the first floor but no one helped us with our luggage. We quickly checked the room and we have been transported in the minibus to the main restaurant for the late night snack, which was very tasty, especially after whole day of travelling.
Room
We stayed in room 1014 (Superior Twin Room with Sea View and Balcony). Our room was located on the first floor close to the Mythos bar and pools and we had lovely sea and beach view. I wouldn’t call our room a superior room due to it’s dated looking decor. Bed was very good size, very comfortable and bedding was regularly changed. In our room we also had small table with 2 chairs, additional single bed (which didn’t look to comfy), chest of drawers with mirror and fridge (refilled every few days), 2 double wardrobes (1 with rail and second one with shelves), safe, tv with few English news channels, DVD and kettle with tea and coffee and only 1 socket to charge all of your electronic devices. You could use 2nd socket located in the wardrobe where the kettle was. Bathroom was quite big but quite basic. In my opinion it was missing this superior felling and additional lights over the bath would be great too, also please get rid of the shower curtain, it’s a 4 star hotel! The bathroom consisted of: shower in the bath and awful shower curtain, toilet, large mirror, sink, hairdryer and phone. I would love to see slippers and bathrobes in superior rooms. Balcony was quite large with 2 chairs, table and clothes dryer, large enough for drying your pool towels.
Pools and pool bars
At Kalithea Horizon Royal and Kalithea Mare there are few cascading pools to choose from: first set of 3 cascading pools is located next to Mythos bar (and 1 indoor pool with Jacuzzi is located inside the bar). This was the closest set of pools to our room and it has lovely view over the sea and beach. Water in all 3 pools was quite cold and each pool had different depth so everybody was able to find the right pool. There are plenty of sun loungers with comfy cushions and parasols but the ones with the best view over the sea need to be reserved on your way to breakfast. After breakfast there are still a lot of sun loungers left but you have view over the pool rather than view over the sea. Mythos bar was serving drinks, ice cream and snacks. We went back to main restaurant for most of the lunches. Next to Safari bar there is a kids pool with large splash park and cool looking sun loungers. At the back of the splash park there is 1 more pool, this pool looked quite quiet during most of our stay. Top tip: If you want to explore the splash park but don’t want to get wet, just go there in the morning before they turn on the water. Safari bar was my favourite evening entertainment place because it was under the roof, so it wasn’t so cold, it had popcorn machine (yummy), good shows and games section. Games section should be updated because some of the machines don’t work or are falling apart. Top tip: you can get change for the machines from the Safari bar or shop located in the reception.Next to main restaurant there is another set of 3 cascading pools, 1 kids pool and small Jacuzzi pool with amazing view over the sea. Again water quite cold. There are plenty of sun loungers around the pool but if you are looking for more space, peace and quite you can use one of the sun loungers with comfy cushions and parasols located on the wooden terrace just behind Aphrodite pool bar (it’s not on any maps but believe me it’s there). It even has it’s own Exotic pool bar. There are also 3 Jacuzzi located on the terrace. Unfortunately less than a half of the nozzles in the Jacuzzi’s were working during our 2 weeks stay. There is one more pool next to the reception but we haven’t used it so can’t comment on it. Each pool bar has self service section where you can get your own soft drinks or alcoholic drinks and if you fancy something else you can order it from the menu. Drinks menu is quite limited, most of the drinks that we tried were ok and presentation was always spot on. My favourite drinks were fruit cocktail and sex on the beach 🙂 You can also get snacks from most of the pool bars.
Beach
You can catch a mini bus to take you to the beach or you can walk to the beach though the main hotel roads or though the rocky road on top of the cliff (views are amazing and there are some great photo opportunities, so don’t miss it). Tourists with yellow bands (mostly from Kallithea Horizon Royal) need to pay for drinks at the beach bar, sun loungers and parasols on the beach. This was quite disappointing and we didn’t use the beach very often, just for swimming. It’s a rocky beach with crystal clear warm water, just remember to bring proper swimming shoes. Depending on your swimming skills you can relax and float in the shallow cove or try one of the deeper coves. Water is so crystal clear that you can see the bottom of the sea and the fish even without snorkelling equipment. You can catch a glass bottom boat straight from hotel harbour (you can find info at the reception or at the bus stop outside the hotel).
Restaurants
We ate our breakfast, lunch and dinner at the main restaurant or at Acropolis Taverna. During most of the meals we had a mix of food from both places on our plates. Food was delicious and there was a lot of variety available so everyone should be able to find something tasty. Sometimes there were queues to various stations but just pick something else and come back later or be patient and queue. Top tip: you can get freshly squeezed orange juice form Acropolis Taverna during breakfast time but you need to squeeze it yourself. It is quite messy but also a lot of fun. You also need to try freshly made wood oven pizza and Greek food. The main restaurant is very busy during dinner time especially before 9pm shows. There is also hot food being served during lunch in the gazebo close to Mythos bar and pool. I’ve tried hot dogs and it they were delicious.
Hotel grounds
Hotel grounds at Kalithea Horizon Royal are very well maintained and very clean. Around the hotel there are plenty of palm trees, tress, beautiful shrubs, flowers, sculptures, rocks and large balls with rocks inside them.
Staff
Staff members at Kalithea Horizon Royal Hotel are always smiling, very hard working and always happy to help. Everyone from reception, gardeners, housekeeping, mini bus drivers to restaurant and bar staff. Great job guys, this hotel won’t be the same without you.
Entertainment
At 9 pm there are 3 different shows taking place in 3 different locations around Kalithea Horizon Royal Hotel and Kalithea Mare, 4 including live music at Acropolis Taverna (next to the main restaurant, Safari bar, Acropolis Taverna and somewhere close to the reception). You can see everything from magic shows, dance shows, acrobats, comedy, Greek shows to live music. Some shows are performed by professionals and others by animation team. Animation team keep hotel guests entertained during the day and during the night especially with their Zumba dance (it looked like very hard workout). I didn’t take part in any of the daytime activities but it all looked like fun, especially if you want to exercise during your holidays.
Check out
Unfortunately we haven’t been able to to book a late check out, which by the way was very reasonably priced. We left our luggage in the luggage storage room and enjoyed our last day at the hotel as normal. By the end of the day we used showers and changing facilities next to Mythos pool (in this part of the hotel showers are the most modern and the biggest). I have a small suggestion. It would be amazing if hair dryers would be available here (there is hair dryer in the bathroom next to Mythos bar, so few steps away) and if you would be able to lock the shower room. But in general shower facilities are very good size and very convenient for people leaving the hotel in the afternoon/evening and unable to book late check out.
Excursions
We haven’t booked any organised excursions. I recommend using public transport and exploring different locations on your own. We walked to Kallithea Springs which is located around 20 min walking distance from the hotel, or 1 bus stop. We visited this attraction in the afternoon when it got cloudy and there were hardy any other tourists, not sure if it was the weather or time of the day. We also visited Rhodes old town. You can catch a bus, there is a bus stop just in front of the hotel, which will take you there in around 20-30 minutes, taxi is also an affordable option. You should get lost in old town and by getting lost you will finally arrive at all important locations and also you will find gems. I recommend purchasing 10 euro ticket covering entrance to the Palace of the Grand Master, Archaeological Museum, Decorative Arts Collection and Panag Tou Kastrou (church). You should purchase this ticket even if you are planning to visit only first 2 attractions. Last place that we visited was Lindos. This is a mus see attraction and a picture perfect town. We got there by bus, it took us around an hour one was and around 1.5h on our way back. Don’t listen to tour guides, if you arrive at Lindos in the morning there will be huge amount of other tourists trying to explore this amazing town. We decided to spend first part of the day at the bigger beach. You can rent a comfy sun loungers with a parasol for 10 euros and the view over Lindos and acropolis is to die for. You can also try various water sports, I went for paddle boarding which was great fun but quite exhausting. We left the beach after lunchtime and most of the tourists were already gone what allowed us to explore the town and the shops.
In general we had a lovely stay at Kalithea Horizon Royal Hotel and would recommend this hotel to everyone.
