My family and I just completed a 9 night stay at this beautiful beach and marina hotel in Northern Cyprus. The hotel sits within the Karpaz Gate Marina complex and opened in 2019. The marina opened in 2011 and changed the nature of leisure sailing on the northern shores of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
Arrival
We arrived at the hotel in somewhat unusual circumstances at 5am. We had originally planed to stay on a friend's catamaran in the marina for around two weeks. We arrived at the marina on Saturday afternoon just as the temperatures across half of Europe were climbing above 35℃. The boat doesn't really have air conditioning and was not very comfortable, we ended up sleeping on the front trampolines in the open air.
On our second night, at 4am, the lithium batteries of the boat caught fire and I got my family off the boat very quickly. After working out what was going on and knowing that the boat wouldn't sink and it was very unlikely the fire would spread, I got all our stuff off the boat and onto shore and helped the marina staff and then the local fire department put the fire out.
By 5am the marina staff came and picked us and our assorted bags up from near the boat with one of their golf carts and the night security guard managed to check us in to a gloriously air conditioned family room: two generously sized, interconnected rooms with a large ground floor balcony.
Changes
Our plan had been to spend six nights at the end of our stay in the hotel and I'd made an online booking for two separate rooms: one for my wife and I and another for the kids.
When we checked in at 5am and were shown what they called a Family Corner Cabin. These two rooms (actually there are three) are behind their own outer door which leads to two rooms with interconnection doors.
There is a third room in the little set but that doesn't have an interconnected door and nobody was staying in that room while we had the two.
The slightly larger room has a huge wrap around balcony and the smaller room a balcony running along the length of the room. My kids took the larger room (they wanted a table for a gaming laptop and they used the arm chair.
Both rooms have a generous ensuite with a large shower.
Smart Rooms
All the lights, air condition and the curtains are controlled from smart panels on the walls and on each side of the bed. Mood lighting, night lighting in the bathroom and all the other features are nicely implemented.
Breakfast
Included in the room rate is an excellent breakfast at the Hemingway's Restobar which is the marina restaurant. They bring a whole selection of small dishes like fresh avocado, tuna, home made jam, bread basket, local yoghurt and more along with a larger dish of your choice. My kids loved the pancakes and a Turkish dish called Gozleme.
Other Meals
There are two places to eat at the marina: Hemingway's Restobar and the beach club. There are a few extra items on the menu at the beach club but whilst we were in Cyprus the temperature was pegged above 35℃ so sitting outside in the middle of the day wasn't something we did too often.
We tried pretty much everything on the menu at Hemingway's and it was all good to excellent: consistently a very high standards, Salads were always full of fresh produce which came from their own gardens. Meat was good and tasty. When you stay at the hotel you get a 10% discount on the whole bill at Hemingway's for lunch and dinner.
Everything is priced in Turkish Lira so things like a burger or other main courses were around €12 or less. Very good value.
Beach Club
The hotel has a beach club with a huge infinity pool and a private beach in the little bay just at the entrance to the marina. You can pay to use these facilities separately, but when you're staying at the hotel this is included.
It's a 5 min walk from the hotel, but the hotel staff will take you or return you in a stretched golf cart if you want.
Cost
The midweek rate for a family cabin (which is really two separate rooms) was €286 and a €316 over the weekend. That works out at €148 a night average per room including breakfast. For a hotel of this calibre I certainly felt it was very good value.
Getting There
Unless you're flying to North Cyprus from Turkey, pretty much the only way in is through (south) Cyprus either Larnaca or Pathos airports. If you do this you have to cross a border. The hotel is about a 2 hour drive from Larnaca Airport but a little longer if you do what we did.
We did this in a taxi which was pre-booked and took us to Ercan Airport in North Cyprus where we picked up a rental car. It is cheaper to rent a car on the North side. You can rent a car at Larnaca airport and drive across the border yourself (you need to pay for extra insurance as you cross the border) but if you're staying more than a few days, renting in North Cyprus makes sense.
Wrap Up
All in all this was an excellent stay, I'll write up something more about things to do in this part of North Cyprus but as a quiet beach hotel with an amazing pool and great food, this was hard to fault.
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