Perfect if you want to get away from it all but are not a foodie
by TripAdvisor Member Danskgirl
It clearly said in the the booking info. we had that it was away from the 'main drag' & that was what we wanted so hey presto between that & the great spa it was perfect in that respect.
Only problem was the food - hotel restaurant had a pretty boring looking menu on the evening meal front and as there no vegetarian option so we didn't/couldn't actually eat there. There is however a nice enough Italian restaurant on the premises but it was expensive and theres also a grill/pizza house. Breakfast in the hotel was fairly mediocre too.
The air conditioning was a bit hit and miss and one night it conked out altogether so at 5am we had to get up and go for walk as it was too hot in the room but walking around the area at that time of day is quite nice as its cooler & there is a few interesting nooks and crannies - there are also some pretty savage looking dogs so avoid what may look like a short cut back!
Other than that staff, cleanliness, swimming pool all as you'd expect and the spa as I have said was lovely. Jacuzzi was free a good bit of time so you'd have it to yourself. Standard of massages was good too & that can be a hard thing to find in hotel spa's.
You can easily get a bus to the village which is lovely, also recommend renting car (they will drop it to the hotel) and see the island - a great place for churches & megaliths or even the Popeye film set which is bit of fun. As the beach at the hotel is pretty non existent its worth noting boats go from outside the hotel to Comino - nice for a swim but crowded. Also if you have a car you can get to nicer beach's but you can get buses there too. Further down the road is the ferry to Gozo which is defo worth a look and a day trip to Valletta is also a good idea.
In summary I probably would not go this hotel again - but then again 14 days in Malta is probably enough for one lifetime when there is so much more world to see ;)- but it was fine.
don't expect a 4 star hotel...
by TripAdvisor Member carmel99
We've just returned from a 5 nights stay at Riviera. All in all it was a ok-hotel, just never expect a 4 stars standard. I would highly recommend to rent a car, as the hotel's beach isn't really one where you would like to spend your days, the hotel food is of very poor quality and the guests mainly consist of huge travel groups. There are no queen size beds, there's only 5 tv channels and no movie channel, room service is as bad as the meals in the restaurants, there's no possiblity to eat under open sky, the minibar is empty, the elevators clang through the hotel all night long, the nearby sewage plant often fills the air with very displeasing smells, the cleaning is spare, the spa's interior is unintimate, the pool is small and crowded and the overall service is very uncharitable. However, the hotel's location is ok if you plan on driving around and take a ferry to Gozo once in a while. Try Il-Mithna for very nice food in Mediena.
Great spot
by TripAdvisor Member WilliamNornIron
Having read some of the reviews we were a bit concerned about going to the hotel Riviera. but it was agreat hotel and we had a great holiday. The staff were very friendly and helpful. Our room was lovely with a great view. We had booked B&B and the breakfasts were lovely. The pool area was great with plenty of loungers and two lovely pools to swim in. The hotel is in a quiet spot but this was no problem as we had hired a car. If you hadn't the use of the car there are really no other eating places in the immediate area. The hotel's bistro has great food but I wouldn't have wanted to pay their prices for a meal every night. The choice too of food for lunch at the hotel pool was very limited. As we had a car it was great to nip over to Mellieha just a couple of miles away for lunch and also to go there of St Paul's Bay, or St Julian's for our evening meal. A few other negative things were the poor airconditioning system in the rooms and it did take two days to get our safe deposit box activated. The noisy lifts which some have complained about we didn't hear. In my opinion despite these few niggles this is definitely a good 4 star hotel. If you come looking for faults you'll find them, but if you come for a relaxing holiday and are chilled out, you'll love it here, but do hire a car.
4 star facade, 3 star hotel, 2 star service
by TripAdvisor Member KeeweeStockholm
I found this hotel incredibly disappointing. Despite the fact that the lobby, spa facilites, and pool deck were all very good, the general 'can't be bothered' attitude of the hotel left a sour taste in my mouth. The TV system was broken, with only one English language channel working. I reported this once a day for the first three days until the guy at reception got a bit angry and I gave up. The system was never fixed by the end of my stay, and noone even mentioned it, gave updates, or apologised for it. This would be a small thing usually but for the fact that the hotel is in an isolated area and the entertainment consisted of terrible unrehearsed cabaret. In short, there was absolutely nothing to do. The rooms are certainly not what you would expect from a four star hotel in Western Europe, but they are ok. The indoor pool, coffee machines, drinks machines etc were also out of order with no fix in the forseeable future. I also experienced the prolonged wait for a room described by other reviewers here.
If you want a relaxing holiday, this could be for you, but it may be too relaxing as there is nothing to do. The food is not great, and in reality a car is needed to access other restaurants on the island. If the hotel advertised itself as the three star hotel it obviously is, it would avoid dissapointing customers, and a more customer friendly attitude on behalf of the staff would go a long way to compensating for the lack of that fourth star. It could have been so good...
Rather Pleasant
by TripAdvisor Member felicity29
My husband and I recently stayed at the Riviera. We wanted to split our time between the north and the south sides of the island, since we heard a lot of the islands history lies in its southern cities. We really enjoyed our stay and the view from the room onto the open med was breathtaking at sunset! The room was quite clean and airconditioned. If you want peace and quite we really do suggest this hotel, its was in a great location for driving around the north shore. It was really easy to book the room also. I also enjoyed spending time on the beach 'hola' as well as the pool area.
On our arrival the room was not quite ready and we had to wait about 45 mins to check in however, our luggages were placed in the luggage room and we were compenstaed with a number of refreshments by the pool deck until we were called to the room. In general the food and service there were both pretty good. You do not always have to eat at the hotel restaurant, we ate most our meals at the hotels bistro and hola beach.
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