Is the Amara Hotel in Limassol worth the money? Mostly yes. The rooms are the best we have stayed in on the island, but the pool area is too small and the restaurants cost more than what arrives on the plate.
Our rating: 4 out of 5. Amara is one of the best designed hotels in Cyprus, and it is not particularly close. Stylish sea view rooms, a genuinely good valet, a beachfront position and restaurants carrying some of the biggest chef names in Europe come together here. It is also expensive, and a couple of parts of the stay have not kept pace with the price the rest of the hotel has set.
Getting there: book an airport transfer with KiwiTaxi (affiliate link), compare hire cars on Auto Europe (affiliate link), and pick up a local eSIM from Airalo (affiliate link).
Is Amara Worth Staying At?
Yes, if you want one of the genuinely five star experiences Cyprus has to offer and the budget is there. A lot of five star properties on this island are five star in name only, but Amara earns it. The rooms, the location, the design and the valet service are all excellent, and together they put the hotel ahead of most of its competition.
Where it loses points is a pool area that cannot quite handle its own guest numbers, and a dining scene that is very good rather than fully matching what it charges. We stayed in a sea view room last year, and over time we have eaten in every one of its restaurants, each of which has its own full review on this site. Everything below comes from that stay and those meals rather than from the hotel’s brochure.
Amara at a Glance
- Best part: the rooms, which are large, sea facing and beautifully finished.
- Weakest part: the pool area, which is small for the size of the hotel.
- Cost: from around 450 euro a night in the off season, and much more in summer.
- Best restaurant: Beefbar, followed by Locatelli, then Matsuhisa.
- Good for: couples, food led travellers and anyone who cares about design.
Where Is Amara?
Amara sits on Amathus Avenue, on the stretch of coast east of Limassol where most of the city’s luxury hotels are concentrated. The ancient site of Amathus is barely a kilometre away, and the centre of Limassol, with the old town, the castle and the marina, is around eleven kilometres west. Larnaca Airport is roughly fifty kilometres away, and Paphos considerably further.
This is a resort location rather than a city one. You will want taxis or a car to get into Limassol in the evening, but for a stay built around the hotel, the beach and a few good dinners, the position is ideal. Our guide to where to stay in Cyprus covers how this part of Limassol compares with the rest of the island, and our Limassol guide covers the city itself.
For the transfer from Larnaca Airport, book with KiwiTaxi (affiliate link) or GetTransfer (affiliate link). If you want to explore beyond the hotel, compare cars on Auto Europe (affiliate link).
What Is the Hotel Like?
Amara opened in 2019 and comes from the same group behind the Elysium in Paphos. The interiors were designed by the Rockwell Group, and it shows. The style is genuinely stylish rather than generically luxurious, mixing clean modern lines and floor to ceiling glass with materials and details that feel rooted in Cyprus rather than lifted from an international catalogue.
The building is arranged so the sea is visible almost everywhere, from the lobby to the bars, and the hotel makes the most of its beachfront setting rather than wasting it. The valet service also deserves a specific mention. It is one of the better ones we have come across on the island, and after a long drive or a late dinner you notice it immediately.
What Are the Rooms Like?
This is the part of the stay that fully justifies what you are paying. Rooms are large, comfortable and sea facing. All 207 of them face the Mediterranean, most with a private balcony or terrace, and the bathrooms are finished in marble with a bath and a separate shower. What stood out most in our sea view room was the quality of the finish. The furniture is solid and well chosen rather than generic hotel stock, and the overall feel is classical and Mediterranean rather than modern minimalist.
The detail we liked most was the bath. It sits right up against an opening into the bedroom, closed off by shutters rather than a plain sheet of glass. Open them and you can lie in the bath looking straight through the room and out to the sea, with different settings depending on how much privacy you want.
The comparison that comes to mind is City of Dreams Mediterranean, another luxury resort in Limassol, which also includes a casino. It uses a similar idea, with the bath looking into the bedroom, but there it is simply a glass pane with blinds. That sums up the difference between the two hotels. City of Dreams feels functional and mass produced, while Amara feels like a Mediterranean hotel that somebody actually designed.
At the top end there are seafront cabana rooms with their own private pools and suites with considerably more space, but even the standard rooms feel generous by Cyprus standards. Nothing is tired or dated anywhere, and after reviewing several older resort hotels on this coast, the difference is striking.
How Much Does Amara Cost?
Amara is not cheap. The lowest rate we have managed for a room, in the off season, was around 450 euro a night, and prices climb well beyond that in summer and at weekends. For Cyprus, that puts Amara near the top of the market, alongside properties like Parklane.
For what the rooms and the setting deliver, we think the room rate is fair. It becomes less consistently fair once you add the restaurants, where a stay can get very expensive very quickly. For this kind of money you could be looking at a genuine five star in London or Paris, and Amara holds up well in that comparison on the rooms, less well on value in the dining rooms.
Is the Pool Area Crowded?
This is the one part of the hotel that does not match the rest. The pools themselves look good. They are well designed, beautifully finished and photograph well, which is presumably why they feature so heavily in the hotel’s marketing.
The problem is space. The pool area is small for the size of the hotel, and there is not enough room around the pools for the number of guests it can hold. On a busy day it feels tight in a way nothing else about Amara does, and at a hotel charging these rates, having to think about when to claim a sunbed feels wrong. In peak summer, the beach and the spa become the better places to spend the afternoon.
What Is the Spa Like?
The Amara Spa is one of the largest hotel spas in Cyprus. It has an indoor heated pool, saunas, a gym with personal training and classes, and an adults only seawater infinity pool overlooking the sea that is reserved for spa guests. One unusual detail is that a section of the ancient Limassol city wall, uncovered during the hotel’s construction, is preserved inside the spa itself.
For guests who find the main pools too busy, the spa is the obvious escape. For a wider comparison, our guide to spa hotels in Cyprus covers what the other leading properties offer and what they charge.
Which Restaurant at Amara Is Best?
Dining is where Amara puts its name on the line. Three big chef led restaurants sit on site: Beefbar from Riccardo Giraudi, Ristorante Locatelli from Giorgio Locatelli, and Matsuhisa from Nobu Matsuhisa. The hotel also runs Armyra, an open air seafood restaurant by the water, and The Dining Room for Cypriot dishes, along with a rooftop bar on the eighth floor. We have eaten in all of them. All three of the headline restaurants are genuinely good, none of them are cheap, and in our view the price at more than one has crept ahead of what arrives on the plate.
Beefbar
Ranked on food alone, Beefbar comes out on top. The meat is exceptional, the wine list is built properly around it, and the service matches the room. It is also the most expensive of the three in practice, because a proper dinner for two with a decent bottle of wine comes to 300 euro or more. In this case we think the price is justified, and Beefbar sits high in our ranking of the best restaurants in Cyprus.
Ristorante Locatelli
Locatelli comes second on food and sits close behind Beefbar on price. It is the one restaurant here where we think value for money is the weakest link. The cooking is good, but it is priced at the very top of the market for what actually arrives, and that gap is harder to overlook than at Beefbar, where the quality of the meat carries the bill.
Matsuhisa
Matsuhisa comes third. The room is striking and the name carries enormous weight, but the food did not match either for us. Our full review of Matsuhisa Limassol goes into exactly where it loses ground.
Where Else Should You Eat Near Amara?
If you want to leave the hotel for dinner, Limassol has the best restaurant scene in Cyprus and Amara is a short taxi or drive from most of it. On the marina, BEGE is possibly the best fish in Cyprus and Pyxida Limassol is the more relaxed fish option. In the old town, Meze Taverna is the classic meze. For steak, Prime Steakhouse is a serious alternative to Beefbar. Our ranked guide to the best restaurants in Cyprus has them all, and for an evening out with wine, pre-book a driver back with KiwiTaxi (affiliate link).
Who Is Amara For, and Who Should Look Elsewhere?
- Couples on a special occasion: the rooms, the design and the dining make it one of the strongest choices in Cyprus for an anniversary or a celebration.
- Food led travellers: few hotels anywhere in the eastern Mediterranean put this many serious restaurants under one roof.
- Anyone who values design: if the look and feel of a hotel matters to you as much as the facilities list, Amara is among the best on the island.
- Families with young children: Amara does have a family wing with its own pool, a kids’ club and a creche, but the hotel as a whole feels built around couples and adults. With a pool area already tight for space, hotels designed around children are a better fit.
- Anyone watching the budget: value for money is hard to find here, especially once dinners are added. For a beachfront stay on the Limassol coast at a fraction of the price, the Atlantica Miramare offers a very different trade, with dated rooms but direct beach access and a good breakfast.
How Does Amara Compare?
Amara’s real competition in Limassol is Parklane, the Four Seasons and City of Dreams Mediterranean. Against City of Dreams, Amara wins clearly on the finish and feel of the rooms. Older five star resorts on Amathus Avenue such as St Raphael and The GrandResort sit in a different category, closer to semi luxury, and our recent stay at St Raphael, a few minutes further east, showed how wide the gap between two five star hotels on the same road can be. Further afield, Adams Beach in Ayia Napa has a beachfront restaurant with a setting that looks like it belongs at Amara’s level, which shows what Amara gets right in execution.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Much Does Amara Cost per Night?
The lowest we have found was around 450 euro a night in the off season. Summer rates are considerably higher.
Do All Rooms Have a Sea View?
Yes, all 207 rooms face the sea. Most have a balcony or terrace.
Is Amara Good for Families?
It has a family wing with its own pool and a kids’ club, but the hotel feels built mainly for couples. Families have better options on this coast.
Which Restaurant at Amara Is Best?
On food alone, Beefbar, followed by Locatelli, then Matsuhisa. Locatelli is the weakest on value.
Do You Need to Stay at Amara to Eat There?
No. The restaurants operate as destination venues and take outside bookings.
How Far Is Amara from Limassol Centre?
Around eleven kilometres east, so a taxi or car is needed for evenings in town.
Where Is the Best Place to Eat Near Amara?
On site, Beefbar. In Limassol, BEGE for fish and Meze Taverna for meze.
Is the Pool Area Busy?
In peak season, yes. The pools are attractive but the area is small for the size of the hotel.
How Do I Get to Amara From the Airport?
Book a private transfer with KiwiTaxi (affiliate link), or collect a hire car from Auto Europe (affiliate link). The drive from Larnaca Airport takes around 45 minutes.
Final Verdict
Amara does the big things right. The rooms, the location, the design and the valet are all genuinely excellent, and the finish of the rooms alone puts it ahead of most of the competition in Cyprus. Where it loses points is a pool area that is too small for its own guests and a dining offer that is very good rather than fully matching its prices. It is still one of the standout hotels on the island, just not a flawless one.
For more on how we score, see how we review hotels and restaurants in Cyprus.