Last August, I watched my daughter refuse the buffet dinner for the third night running because they weren't doing chips. My son wanted to eat at the taverna down the road where his friend's family were staying. Meanwhile, I was mentally calculating whether the extra £400 we'd paid for all-inclusive was actually saving us anything at all.
This is the reality of all-inclusive holidays that the brochures don't quite capture. And after 12 summers coming to Protaras since 2014, I've stayed in enough different hotels on enough different board bases to give you the real picture for 2026.
1. The Headline Numbers: What You're Actually Paying
Let's start with the money, because that's usually why you're considering all-inclusive in the first place.
A mid-range family hotel in Protaras in August 2026 will charge you roughly £1,200–£1,600 per week for half-board (bed, breakfast, dinner). The same hotel on all-inclusive? You're looking at £1,600–£2,100. That's an extra £400–£500 for the week, or about £57–£71 per person per day.
Now, what does that £57–£71 actually get you? Lunch, soft drinks throughout the day, alcohol (usually local wine and beer, sometimes spirits), and snacks. If you're a family of four, that's theoretically £228–£284 per day in food and drink value.
Sounds good until you check what those same things cost in Protaras town. A decent taverna lunch for four—nothing fancy, just grilled fish or chicken, salad, bread—will run you £35–£50. A bottle of local wine, £6–£10. A beer, £2.50–£3.50. Soft drinks, £1.50–£2 each. So realistically, you're looking at £50–£80 per day if you're eating out for lunch and having drinks.
On paper, all-inclusive covers that and more. But—and this is a big but—it only works if you actually use it.
2. The Buffet Reality: What Kids Actually Eat
Here's where all-inclusive starts to unravel for most families with young children.
Buffets are designed for adults. They offer variety, yes, but often not the variety your six-year-old is willing to eat. I've stood in front of countless buffet spreads watching my kids push food around their plates while I mentally subtract value from what we've paid.
Most Protaras all-inclusive hotels offer the same core rotation: grilled chicken, some kind of fish, pasta, rice, roasted vegetables, salad. It sounds reasonable until you remember that your child will eat exactly three of those things, and one of them is the rice.
The hotels know this. They also know that parents get frustrated watching their kids go hungry, so they'll usually make something simple on request—chips, plain pasta, an omelette. But now you're not eating from the buffet. You're asking for special meals. And the staff, while lovely, are clearly serving the same requests to fifty other families.
Last summer, I stayed at a hotel where the kids ate from the buffet maybe 40% of the time. The rest of the time, we either made do with what they'd eat (usually not enough to feel like a proper meal) or we went into town. So we were paying for all-inclusive but eating out anyway.
3. Lunch: The Hidden Cost of the Buffet Model
Most all-inclusive hotels in Protaras offer lunch at the pool or a casual restaurant. Sounds convenient, right? And it is—if you want to stay at the hotel all day.
But here's the thing about Protaras: you don't want to stay at the hotel all day in summer. It's too hot, the beach gets crowded, and there's a whole town to explore. Fig Tree Bay is stunning, but you'll want to walk along the seafront, grab ice cream, visit the shops, maybe head to Pernera or Paralimni for a change of scenery.
Once you're away from the hotel at lunchtime—which you will be, probably three or four days a week—you're either buying lunch in town or you're eating the packed lunch the hotel gives you. A packed lunch from a Protaras hotel is usually bread, cheese, cold cuts, and maybe some fruit. It's fine, but it's not worth the premium you paid.
And if you do go into town for lunch? You're paying twice. Once in your all-inclusive fee, once at the taverna.
4. Drinks: Where the Math Gets Fuzzy
The all-inclusive drinks package usually includes local beer, local wine, soft drinks, and coffee. No spirits, usually, or only basic ones. No imported beer, no premium wine, definitely no cocktails.
For a family with young kids, soft drinks matter. A lot. Kids in the Mediterranean heat will drink three, four, sometimes five soft drinks a day. At £1.50–£2 each in town, that adds up fast. If you've got two kids, you're looking at £6–£20 per day just on their drinks.
So all-inclusive does save you money on that front. A week's worth of soft drinks for two kids could easily be £40–£140 if you're buying them out.
For adults, the savings are less clear. Local wine in a taverna is cheap—£6–£10 a bottle. Local beer is cheaper still. Unless you're drinking heavily, the all-inclusive drinks package isn't saving you much. And if you want anything other than basic local stuff, you're paying extra anyway.
I've never met a family that came to Protaras and didn't want to try a proper taverna dinner at least once or twice. And when you do, you're paying for that meal on top of your all-inclusive fee. So you're not really saving anything that week.
5. The Taverna Question: Why You'll Want to Eat Out
This is the emotional part, and it matters more than the spreadsheet suggests.
Protaras has genuinely good tavernas. Not fancy, not trying to be something they're not, but proper family-run places with grilled fish, slow-cooked stews, local wine, and owners who know their regulars. These places are part of why you come to Protaras.
A family dinner at a decent taverna—four people, grilled fish or meat, salad, bread, wine, soft drinks—will cost you £50–£75. That's not cheap, but it's not outrageous either. And crucially, it's an experience. Your kids get to see how people actually eat in Cyprus. You get to sit outside, watch the sea, chat to the owner about their family. You're not in a buffet line at 7 p.m. with 200 other guests.
If you're on all-inclusive, you're paying for dinner at the hotel. If you want a taverna dinner, you're paying for that too. Most families do this at least twice a week, sometimes more. That's £100–£150 extra on top of what you've already paid.
Now, could you do the same on half-board? Yes. But you're only paying for one meal at the hotel, not two. So the math is different.
6. The Stress Factor: Buffets and Family Arguments
Nobody talks about this, but I'm going to.
All-inclusive hotels with kids can be stressful. There's a pressure to
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