A joint project by Hong Kong billionaire Lawrence Ho’s MELCO and Cyprus’s CNS Group. MELCO has a handful of luxury properties spanning Sri Lanka, Macau, and the Philippines. City of Dreams Mediterranean is the company’s first luxury hotel in Europe, having opened in July 2023. The 14-storey behemoth boasts 500 rooms, 12 tennis and padel courts (plus 2 pickleball courts), almost ten dining options, eight swimming pools, and its own casino. Put simply, this five-star hotel is hedonism personified.
Location
Limassol is known as a playground for the wealthy – downtown you’ll find designer shops, sports cars, and yachts in the harbour. City of Dreams is around a 20-minute drive from all that. Still, it stands relatively alone on the outskirts, with Limassol Greens Golf Club and the Marcos Baghdatis Tennis Academy for company. The sea is visible from higher floors and the hotel runs a shuttle to Lady’s Mile beach regularly in summer. The closest airport is Paphos International, around 45 minutes away, and the commercial port is a 10-minute drive.
Rooms
City of Dreams has 500 rooms and suites across 14 storeys. Each has modern, fresh interiors with rattan wardrobes, Mediterranean blue colour palettes, and intricately embossed patterned leather-effect oversized headboards. Every room is flooded with natural light, and those on higher floors have far-reaching views inland, salt lake, or sea views, which are sought after. Premium rooms and suites boast generously sized balconies made for a pre-dinner glass of Keo, as well as corner sofas, rainfall showers, and freestanding bathtubs with salts and zesty Natura Bissé orange-and-tangerine amenities you’ll want to take home. Tech-wise, 55-inch TVs have screen mirroring, and Nespresso machines come as standard.
Service and facilities
Waiting staff remember your favourite coffee and even what jam you like on your toast, and receptionists are kind and curious, always asking about your plans. While customer relations workers are swift to help with requests, be it needing a sewing kit, toothbrush, or arranging a shuttle to the tennis academy across the way. The service style is a well-tested blend of efficient and not too OTT.
Where COD excels, however, is in its facilities. It calls itself ‘Europe’s biggest integrated resort’ which in layman’s terms could be taken to mean a high-end resort with facilities galore and a massive, Vegas-style casino that spills with guests smoking and gambling until the wee hours.
Aside from that, there are eight pools depending on who you ask (including the private suites) – some are for kids, others for the hotel’s ‘Wet Glam’ pool parties every Saturday. The relaxation pool is popular for its swim-up bar. You’ll find folk sat partly submerged swilling Aperol Spritz or piña coladas throughout the day in summer. Come winter, guests head indoors to use the indoor pool, hydrotherapy pool, sauna, steam, and cold plunge. Or to work out at the good-sized gym, which comes with plush, interactive TechnoGym machines, cold towels, and complimentary water.
Renu Spa specialises in a collection of massages – from hot stone to relaxation – and facials using premium 111SKIN branded products developed by leading Harley Street plastic surgeon, Dr Yannis Alexandrides. Within the spa, guests also have access to gender-separated saunas, steam rooms, and cold plunge pools, alongside the plush Parisian Balmain hair salon.
Elsewhere, the hotel partners with local golf courses, shuttling guests across the way to Cyprus’ newest course, Limassol Greens. Golfers should expect to find an accessible but enjoyable 18-hole course with impeccable fairways and greens, plenty of birdlife, and a gorgeous modern 19th hole. The clubhouse has big TV screens, excellent smoothies, and all-day breakfast and lunch options, from granola bowls to club sandwiches. Another, Aphrodite Hills, is slightly more challenging. The PGA course, located a 30-minute drive away in Paphos, benefits from knockout views, tricky holes that cross valleys, and undulating fairways.
Food and drink
Breakfast at City Of Dreams Mediterranean is served in Aura until 12 pm – a boon to late risers or anyone who’s been up late grinding at the poker tables in the casino. The buffet-style breakfast offering is lavish and plentiful. There’s an Asian, international, and Cypriot section serving everything from shakshuka and halloumi to gyoza and beef bacon, an omelette station manned by a chef making egg dishes to order, and a Mediterranean area with pastries, pancakes, fresh fruit, real honey, and salads.
For a casual, poolside lunch, guests usually head to Aqua to dine alfresco in their swimwear. The menu consists of pizzas, pastas, salads, hummus and halloumi sandwiches, plus smoothies, fresh juices, and cold coffees (the frappé is a solid choice for a refreshing, non-alcoholic pick-me-up).
Prime Steakhouse is an upmarket, starched-white-tablecloths and perfect-mood-lighting dining room unfortunately located just off the casino. As the name suggests, they deal in premium steaks from as far and wide as Japan, Canada, the USA, and Australia. The knowledgeable team walked us through the cuts on display in the dry-aging fridge.
Anais is City of Dreams’ high-end French restaurant that spills out onto a veranda overlooking the pool. Standout starters include superb tuna ribbons in a ginger, kaffir, and soy dressing, and a moreish spinach salad drizzled in truffle oil. Must-order mains include the roasted corn-fed chicken and slow-braised beef short ribs. The restaurant also boasts excellent cocktails, live DJ sets, and a fire show on Fridays – a booked-out hit with hotel and off-site guests.
For a Chinese and Japanese infusion in an elegant setting, Amber Dragon is on hand (again, looking out toward the casino). Signature truffle duck puffs, a lychee mocktail, and the resort’s renowned Peking duck, which you can watch being fired in the open kitchen in the vaulted-ceiling dining rooms, are the highlights. For dessert, the elevated chocolate mousse is phenomenal.
The Lounge is a daytime dining spot serving all kinds of lunch items – the club and steak sandwiches are substantial, worthy dishes. The elegant restaurant also specialises in pastries and French-style desserts – hazelnut éclairs, cheesecakes, and tarts galore. Every Sunday, there is a cake fair from 6–9 pm showcasing all of them for half price (a steal at €4). Each restaurant also features seasonal cocktail specials, like the spring tea-infused cocktails served at Amber Dragon.
Fact Box
Rooms: Superior double rooms from £275 per night (breakfast included)
Website: cityofdreamsmed.com.cy/en
Address: Nikou Kavvadia, Limassol, Lemesos 3150, Cyprus