We have just returned from a lovely holiday at the Amada Colossos Resort in Rhodes, Greece and I thought I'd write a quick review in case anyone is looking for some holiday inspiration as we begin to adventure and holiday abroad again!
We visited during our October half-term holiday which falls a week earlier than much of the UK. The resort was full, but mainly with adults and older children. We booked the holiday as a package with TUI as they are currently offering fee-free changes if you need to alter your booking due to Covid-19 related issues. At the time we visited, fully vaccinated adults and unvaccinated children under 12 could enter Greece freely with just a Passenger Locator Form and our unvaccinated 12 year old needed to take a private antigen test two days before arrival which was easily booked through TUI.
We stayed in a swim-up family room which sleeps four. This room had a large private terrace with two sunbeds, and access to a long pool shared with nine other rooms. There was a sliding partition to separate the two sleeping areas with a double bed and two single beds. Because it had been so long since our last holiday abroad we splurged a bit for a fancier room than usual, and are very glad that we did as the room was fantastic. It's swim-up rooms all the way for us now!
We loved having access to the pool from our room and it was great to have two guaranteed sunbeds as well as two chairs and a table. The terrace was hot and sunny in the morning and shaded in the afternoon. As well as the view over our pool we could also see over the main pool and had a wonderful view of the sea in front of us and to the side.
The water in the swimming pools and the waterpark was a little chilly and you really had to brace yourself to jump in! Once you were in it was fine, and it was nice to come out into the sunshine and warm up. The waterpark was open for most of the day, but not all the slides were open at once, so if you wanted to try them all you had to visit at different times of the day. They were also closed for disinfecting for an hour over lunch. Our children did find the water a bit too cold to spend very long here, but plenty of other people didn't seem bothered. The area seemed to be well supervised with a good variety of faster and slower slides. There was also a lazy river and pools to splash around in.
We spent most of our pool time in the pool by our room, but we did venture out a couple of times. There was quite a lot of sunbed reserving going on which was a bit of a problem, but we always managed to find at least one lounger spare. We don't tend to spend long sitting by the pool anyway, so we only needed somewhere to put our things while we were in the water.
The main pool is very large, with a separate adults only area at one end. It was never busy with people swimming so there was plenty of space for relaxing on a float or attempting to swim the long length all in one go.
We also spent an afternoon on the private beach. We found plenty of sunbeds here, and there is a bar close by for drinks and snacks. The beach is quite stony, so we were glad that we had read this in a review before we went and so came equipped with water shoes. The sea was usually calm and no colder than the swimming pools. It gets deep very quickly so it's perhaps not so good for toddlers and small children to play in, but it's great for swimming as you don't have to go out too far from the shore. The water was beautiful and clear.
We don't tend to travel for the food, so the buffet restaurant in the resort was more than adequate for our needs. It did get quite busy at peak times so we tried to get there as soon as it opened for meals. There were always several clearly labelled vegetarian options as well as a separate children's buffet with simply prepared vegetables, chips, nuggets, salad bits, ice cream and so on. There was a different theme every evening in the main restaurant, for example Mexican, Greek or Italian, and there was plenty of bread, salad and so on. There were also lots of delicious desserts, including an amazing chocolate fountain buffet one evening!
The resort also offers three specialty restaurants which can be booked during your stay - Asian, Greek and Italian. We didn't eat at these though as our children get on better with the buffet dining.
The resort is situated really well for travel to other places on the island - we visited Rhodes town (about 20 minutes on the bus), Lindos (about forty-five minutes by taxi) and Faliraki (less than ten minutes by taxi). There is a bus stop right outside the resort and a taxi rank a minute's walk away. The taxis have very clear pricing so you know in advance how much you'll be paying. The buses were convenient and easy to use, however we only used the bus to get to Rhodes and back as on our outward trip the bus was very crowded and we had to stand in the doorway which wasn't very comfortable.
There are some small shops within a few minutes walk and the hotel also has a supermarket and souvenir shop. We found the prices in the shops very reasonable compared to similar places that we have visited, there were some lovely cheap souvenirs to buy like hand painted bowls and ornaments along with postcards, magnets and so on. You could also buy inflatables, snorkels, beach shoes and that sort of thing as well as toys, games and snacks in the supermarket.
There is a very large Waterpark just opposite the resort which looked pretty amazing if that's something that you are interested in. It was closed at the time of writing but it looks like it will be opening again for 2022.
We had a lovely stay at the Amada Colossos Resort. We felt that it represented good value for money with plenty to do in terms of swimming and relaxing. The food and drink selection was very good, and there was no problem with getting food or drink when we wanted it. The staff were friendly and helpful and although it was busy it all felt clean and well organised.
Here you can see a short video that I put together with some clips from around the resort, including some footage of our swim-up pool.
A note about Covid-19 considerations (October 2021)
We felt that the coronavirus precautions taken by the hotel were excellent. Both staff and guests were strict about wearing masks indoors, even when just going to and from rooms. The buffet restaurant did get a little crowded, but masks were worn, plastic gloves were provided and used for handling utensils, and the tables were situated at a good distance from each other. There was plenty of outdoor dining space and bar seating, and when wet weather meant that it was necessary to eat indoors there were two sessions for dining to make sure that everyone could be accommodated safely inside.
However I must mention that unfortunately my husband tested positive for Covid-19 on our return home. There's no way of knowing where he caught it of course, although we feel that the places on our holiday where we were most vulnerable were on the flight or the local bus rather than at the resort as it genuinely did feel like a safe environment.
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