TUI MAGIC LIFE Plimmiri by Atlantica

Excellent resort complex. Very good facilities. Clean, modern, well maintained - great pools, nice well kept, extensive, grounds. We booked a junior suite, which gave us a separate living room. Very spacious, very comfortable, clean and well maintained. Nice, large patio. The accommodation blocks are well separated, and quiet. Good sports facilities and very good children facilities / pool / club etc.. The main facilities are centralised, and can be a bit of a walk, from some of the accommodation. We were lucky in being housed in block 40, which was only minutes from the main centre. Good dining / bar / coffee facilities - food was buffet style, with good choices. Bit of a hike to the beach - which is gravel and stones. Superb entertainment team, put on good shows and themed evenings - Also ran a series of fitness classes. Main downside is that the complex is soo remote and a long drive to visit Rhodes town and, for airport transfers. Families could easily send a very good holiday, just enjoying the hotel complex. But, if you want to shop, or sight-see, its a long drag.

First off I’d like to say what a lovely hotel this is and what a great holiday we have had. That said there are one or two areas where the hotel could improve. Last year we stayed at the Blue Lagoon Village in Kos so I thought it would be useful if I offered some observations between TUI Magic Life Plimmeri v Blue Lagoon Village Kos. Both hotels are five star and are similar in cost. Both hotels are relatively new and both are immaculate. The rooms at Magic Life in my opinion are slightly better than the blue lagoon village. There is not much between them but magic life has bigger bathrooms and a separate toilet. The pool areas in both hotels are great and equally good. Both have a number of pools, an active entertainment pool and a couple of quieter pools. Where the magic life definitely excels is the pool with the slides which is in the middle of the resort and carries on the immaculate theme. Blue lagoon has a slides area but it is a good ten minute walk from the main pool and is very tired and dated. Both hotels have superb sports facilities with tennis courts, separate 3G football pitch and volleyball courts. Magic life is fantastic for tennis, they have around 6 courts and professionals coaching is available three times a day as part of all inclusive. Magic life is good for sport and is really what this hotel is all about. Exercise classes,cycling, dance classes and weight training and boxing. Blue lagoon is good but facilities at magic life are just a little better and they are more geared for sport. Day time entertainment and kids clubs. This is where blue lagoon is clearly the winner. I have two kids aged 7 and 10 and to be honest we were a little disappointed with the activities on offer for this age group. Don’t get me wrong, there is stuff to do like archery, tennis and football but blue lagoon reps were just far more engaging. At blue lagoon my little lad played kids football every day at 4.30 without fail. They had high ropes and kids water polo. At magic life there was only 1 football activity for kids all week which was called family football. You could meet the reps at the wonderbar around 10am and if there was enough interest they would arrange a game but in the whole two weeks we were there this never happened. I have to say the entertainment team at blue lagoon were so much better than at magic life. I expected one of the sports team to be coming around the sunbeds getting people more involved like they did at blue lagoon but this did happen. Magic life rely on a time table that is on the app which is perfectly ok but sometimes people need a bit of encouragement. Sport at magic life is fantastic for adults but not so good for kids. With the facilities they have this could easily be rectified. Evening entertainment at magic life is poor. The reps work ever so hard but they seem amateurish and they don’t have many professional productions. Magic life do have an amphitheater but on our visit this was only open a few times and the shows were very average. The blue lagoon on the other hand was excellent. The team were so well rehearsed and the shows were well put together. Now you may not think this is an issue but trust me if you have to watch this stuff for two weeks your patience will run out pretty quickly! Biggest problem at magic life is that there is only one main bar. Everything happens at the wonderbar and if you want a change from mini disco or perhaps a quiet drink away from the madness you can’t. There is an adults only bar above the wonderbar which is lovely but not much good if you have kids. Blue lagoon on the other hand had the main entertainment show bar, the shake and mix bar and a quiet cocktail bar. Evenings were by far better in the blue lagoon. Food at both hotels is good and your usual all inclusive fair. Magic life in my opinion has the best food. Every night we found something really nice to try. I have to say I was really impressed with the food at magic life. Lovely breakfasts with freshly squeezed orange juice, omelettes, fresh fruit and a great hot and cold buffet. Lunches were equally impressive with authentic gyros, lots of pasta, pizza and salads. Drinks at magic life were fantastic. The beer was good, House wine drinkable but what stood out were the cocktails. All freshly made and all the usual favourites like pina colada, mojito, Margarita’s etc. Special mention to Christoph in the adults only who is a top fella and one of the best barman I have ever come across! Superb cocktails, as he used to say ‘I’m not good, I’m the best!’ One tip to the management at magic life would be to get more bar staff. In the day time there was just one barman in the pool bar and he was struggling to cope. Long queues to get a drink is not what you expect in a five star hotel. At blue lagoon you had waiter service to your sunbed, not a huge thing but it’s the little things like this that make the difference on holiday. The wonderbar was equally understaffed and they had queues out the door at busy times. Another little gripe, no ice cream available in the day time at magic life. Kids drove me crazy for the first few days. After that we had to buy them from the little on site shop. At blue lagoon kids could get ice cream and pancakes all day long. The beaches at both blue lagoon and magic life are similar. They are both private and provide free sunbeds and a beach bar. Both are shingle and I would recommend beach shoes so your feet don’t hurt. Other than that the sea and the setting is beautiful at both. Nothing better then swimming in the sea! So to conclude we have really enjoyed our stay at magic life,the hotel is lovely, the food great and the people so friendly. The island of Rhodes is beautiful, some amazing beaches and pretty villages. We would definitely come back to the magic life,hopefully the management can make a few changes for the kids football etc and a few more staff behind the bars and this place would be superb.

The times of the flights are awful and then the travel to the resort seems to go on forever . It would have been nice to arrive in the room to some snacks . The resort itself is nice and clean finding your way around for the activities was a bit of a nightmare to start with , but download the app makes it easier to find out what is on and you soon get used to where the places are . Loved the aqua cycling and the water aerobics Milly was so funny . The food was lovely and we always , as a family found something we enjoyed the greek restaurant omg how much food ! make sure your hungry the night you book that but was fantastic. The entertainment at night was a bit of a let down which was a shame . The silent disco was fab but at the end of the night one of the rubbers had come off on the headset (wear and tear ) but i was told very rudely by the entertainment team i had broke it and had to pay 50 euros , anyway a few trips up to the front desk to sort this out , there was no way i was paying this. Another couple had the same and what i found unusual is that the front desk wanted cash not card , so i do wonder who's pocket this goes in so be aware ., you do sign if you break it you have to pay which is fair enough but not if something falls of it which can be super glued as i was told by a rep before i handed them back . So the last day i was quite upset & angry and spoilt the holiday a bit which was a shame ..