MAP Hotel, Nicosia: Review of the ultra-boutique hotel
Nicosia/Lefkoşa, Europe’s last remaining divided capital city, is not exactly flush with luxurious hotels oozing modernity. Mainly of the hotels around look like they’ve not been refurbished for a few decades yet charge a pretty penny for you to stay the night. I was excited to see that MAP Hotel is attempting to change this with their focus on über-modernity, smart touches and beautiful design. Let’s take a look at what it has to offer.
Location
Those looking for a city centre location near the hustle and bustle of Nicosia will not be disappointed. You’re within a 5 minute walk of the famous Ledra Street and close to the Green Line border which, if in normal times, would allow you to cross to the Turkish-occupied/led zone. If you’re looking to get around the city easily and see all the main sights then this is a great location to stay at.
Hotel design
In short, MAP Hotel has put a lot into their design language. Throughout the building there is an attention to detail in ensuring that wherever you are in the hotel you feel like it all comes together as one, without feeling sterile or like a chain hotel. The outside of the building is sleek and understated, whilst walking into the lobby opens you up into the world of MAP - geometric themes, splashes of colour on otherwise black or white walls. I love it - and would love to have this aesthetic at home.
The room
We opted for the Iconic Room - the mid-range offer between the smaller “Essential Room” and large “The Suite”. It’s been a while since a hotel room properly made me go wow - the last probably being Cordis HK at Langham Place. Upon entering the room, you’re greeted with a personalised message on the television as the electric curtains open - albeit revealing a slightly lacklustre view of the balcony and office block across the street. The balcony is a decent size, although we didn’t personally use it, but I suspect the seating - which is made from a single moulded plastic - would be particularly uncomfortable after a while.
The room itself is extremely spacious featuring a large king-sized bed as the centrepiece, flanked above by more trendy artwork. The bed itself was a delight to sleep in but featured rather irritating grey perma-cushions against the wall instead of a headboard. These served just to fall over and were pretty annoying when you was trying to get comfortable.
Elsewhere in the room, there is a nice countertop area with two bar stools for your morning in-room Nespresso - albeit with no milk or tea on offer. This area also features a hidden miniature refrigerator with complimentary water, and no mini-bar, as well as electronic safe.
The bathroom is what you would expect in a property like this. Rainfall shower with handheld shower head, high quality Elemis amenities - including shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, cotton wool, toothpaste/brush and make up remover - as well as the obligatory HUGE mirror. This made for a very comfortable experience when using the bathroom - and also meant I had no need to bring my haul of shower essentials with me. Too often hotels provide low quality shower room amenities that make your skin itch - so it’s good to see a hotel that is not part of an ultra-luxury chain to invest in known brand amenities.
If you’re visiting Nicosia on business, I would not recommend using the desk in this room. Although it is a nice size, the chair will be uncomfortable for extended periods of time and not suitable to work at a laptop from. They do provide a nice, hefty notepad for note-taking though- which I’m surprised hasn’t been eliminated as a result of Covid, likewise for the in-room telephone.
Lighting and electronics in the room can be controlled by two master control panels in the room - one near the door and one near the bed. These can alter the lighting to different pre-defined moods such as comfort, ambient or relaxed, as well as control the air conditioning and curtains (although the description of curtain on/off didn’t work as expected). The same room functions, as well as television, can also be controlled by downloading the MAP Hotel app to your mobile phone - making it an even more seamless experience for hotel guests.
If you’re here for an extended stay there is ample wardrobe space just after the entrance door- although strangely not many hangers which seems a bit of an oversight. Note that the internal picture below only shows about half the wardrobe.
GRID Gym & Legend Spa
On the lower ground floor, MAP Hotel have invested in a pretty impressive gym and spa setup. Although I used neither, the equipment in the gym was of a high quality and manufactured by TechnoGym whilst the spa continued use of Elemis products.
SCALE Restaurant
As much as I loved the design at MAP Hotel, there was one thing that was exceeded this - the excellent breakfast at their sister restaurant, SCALE. Located on the ground floor at the roadside, Scale is open throughout the day and can be accessed through the hotel or a separate entrance. Upon arrival, we was greeted with sublimely cooling welcome cocktails - a lovely gesture from the hotel. This may have been to mask an issue with the room being cleaned since we arrived quite early, but they covered it perfectly with this no-fuss welcome drink!
The design of SCALE is a little more exuberant than the main MAP Hotel. There’s a lot more splashes of colour, blue and red in-particular, but this creates a stylish location to chill out and meet friends for a meal.
We only visited SCALE for breakfast, since it was included in our room package, but it was an absolute delight. Here’s a look at the menu offering:
The quality was absolutely brilliant. The breakfast basket welcome would have been enough on its own with fresh pastries, bread and brownies.
The main breakfast course we then opted for was the Salmon eggs - high quality smoked salmon with fresh eggs are a perfect way to start the day. It tasted and looked sensational - I just wish I could eat it right now! I would expect quality of this in an expensive London joint, not in Nicosia, but SCALE have got their breakfast offering off to a tee.
Although not noted anywhere, you could order more than one tea, coffee or juice per person. Again this was of a great quality and was one of the better coffees I had whilst on the island (besides the country’s signature Frappe drink).
Odds and ends
The hotel opened in 2019, so has had little use due to the Coronavirus pandemic - meaning everything is still very new. That being said, parts of the building are still out of access notably the top floor conference rooms and roof bars. Hopefully these will open soon and will be a good spot for evening drinks looking over Nicosia at sunset.
The verdict
I’d already done my research prior to visiting, and knew I was going to love this place before I stepped through the front door. Although I’m not likely to visit Nicosia again, this must be on your list to stay at - you will not regret it.
