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Kos (Greece) Reviews |
Phil Jones - Leighton Buz
Guest
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We booked this holiday on the basis of other reviews on this website and were in no way disappointed. We arrived at 1:30 in the morning to be welcomed by Billy who was still serving guests in the bar. We dumped our cases in the room and returned to the bar to start our holiday from minute one. Immediately Billy made us feel welcome and we had a good laugh with Jimmy, Dave and Chris with lengthy discussions about black steak and Tabasco.
The rooms were very clean and basic, however no more basic than any other Greek apartment/room we have stayed in. Plenty of room for two. The small balcony area overlooked the pool.
Te hotel is run by Billy and his brother Costas along with their parents George and Mama. All were brilliant. Billy and Costas ran the bar, they were great fun and always willing to chat and have a laugh.
The pool area was large and tidy with plenty of sun loungers. Lounger mattresses could be hired at 1 Euro per day. The pool area was never crowded even when hotel was full. The pool itself was large and 3m deep at deep end, ideal for all.
The Olympics were on while we were there and Costas in particular displayed a vast knowledge of all sports, especially those that Greece were good at of course.
There were quiz nights and BBQ nights both of which were very enjoyable and the whole atmosphere of the place was intimate and friendly where everyone got to know each other.
Louise ran the pool snack bar and helped out in the bar some nights. She did not need a microphone with her Barnsley accent to be question master at the quiz night.
The hotel offers a range of snacks through the day at the pool and these were very good.
The resort itself has something for everyone. The beaches are not the best but a 15-minute bus trip from the bus station to Tigaki for 1.30 euros is worth it. The beach there is far better and you can wade out for ages at waist height.
Kos Town has plenty to explore from ruins to bars, restaurants to shops. There is a harbour area and an old town and it took most of the two weeks to see it all. Buy a map though because it's easy to get lost, especially at night. We ate in numerous different places and did not have a bad meal. A particular mention to La Strenga, Palace and Panthenon as they were particularly good, welcoming and cheap.
I would imagine it difficult for those with little ones in pushchairs, as the streets are tree lined with the trees obstructing the pavements. However there are plenty of side roads to use to get to the town without the great risk of being run over.
We hired a car for one day which is all you need to tour the island. Well worth it thought to get up into the mountains to Zia.
Overall this was a superb holiday in an excellent location made all the better by staying at the Bahamas. We normally holiday in different places every year but this one would really tempt us back. The sixteen year olds certainly want to return.
Many thanks Billy, Costas, George, Mama and louise for an excellent holiday - Sound.
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Clare & Lee
Guest
Voted this Destination:Not voted yet
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After reading the reviews on this site about the hotel, I was worried about going...but when I got there I was pleasantly suprised. The hotel was fantastic, and much more than I expected.
It is certainly up to its 3.5 star standard and on arrival at the hotel you are greeted by very friendly English-speaking staff that cannot do enough for you. There are two sites to the hotel, and our room was located on the side with the sports pool, bar, shop and disco.
The other site consisted of the restaurant, bar, lounge, animation room, pool and Theatre. The sites were seperated by a 50m walk.
Rooms were extremely clean and maids came round every day to change the towels, make the beds and generally clean the room and bathroom with every attention to detail. They even had a huge TV and a lovely balcony with table and chairs.
I thought the fact the disco was near our room was going to be a problem, but it was actually sound-proofed and you couldn't hear any noise what so ever. I got a good night's sleep every night!
Food was lovely. I can't see why everyone was complaining about it. For breakfast you can expect a choice of cereals, fresh cheeses and hams, as well as Greek yogurt and honey, fresh fruit salad and apricots. You are also offered hot food with a different type of egg every day (fried, boiled, scrambled with peas or omelette), chopped frankfurter (not my ideal choice), baked beans and potato fritters. There was also a sweet Greek dish and watermelon for afters. You can also help yourself to fruit juices and fizzy drinks in the restaurant or take your own drinks from the bar.
Lunch was ok. Pretty much what you would expect for dinner but without the soup.
Dinner was excellent. Everyday there was a different soup to choose from, and you would also be offered a choice of about 4 different savoury rices and pastas, Greek salad, Tzaki, olives and cheeses. Then there was a choice of a hot pasta dish. two different meats, chips (yes every day) and two choices of veggies, as well as fresh bread. For afters you can expect watermelon and a sweet dish such as cake or mousse.
The hotel was located about 3 to 4km from Kos Town centre and only about 2km from Lambi. A bus would run every 15 - 30 mins from outside the hotel from 7am to 11:30pm and costs just 1 Euro 20 Cent one way.
One down point for some people would be the entertainment, as it was mainly in German, and translated into English. Although I can't really comment on it as I went in to Kos Town every night and didn't stick around in the hotel after 9pm, but the REPs did seem to do a good job.
I can thoroughly recommend this hotel to anyone, although i'm not sure how children would feel about some of the traditional Greek dishes we were served at dinner time. Although the hotel was mainly German 18-30 based, but when I stayed there, there were a couple of families, and many people aged over 30, and they seemed to be enjoying themselves.
This hotel was very good value for money!
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Janet Johnson, Wigan
Guest
Voted this Destination:Not voted yet
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Just returned from a brilliant holiday in Kos. Stayed at the Continental Palace Hotel which is a 15-20 minute walk into Kos Town. Hotel very impressive and clean. Maids attended daily. Air conditioning could be better and dining room was not cool enough. Staff very friendly. Night time entertainment not brilliant but that did not bother us as we were out every night. Excellent pool with very good snack bar. There was no fighting for sun beds. The beach was just across the road but a pebbly beach and beach shoes recommended.
No complaints with the food. Good variety every evening and good variety for breakfast - although they could put the pancakes and scrambled eggs on the menu every morning instead of every other morning! Worth hiring bikes for 3 euros per day - excellent value. Great taverna not far from hotel called "Europe Bar" with tables actually on the beach right next to the sea - excellent! They also do an excellent proper English breakfast with real English sausages!! Kos Town great for night life if you want it and great for shops and lovely harbour. Great trip to Bodrum, Turkey which we booked direct at the harbour and we travelled by the Flying Dolphin which only took 20 minutes. Good value - only cost 45 euros for 4 of us.
All in all an excellent, chill out holiday in a lovely hotel and we did not want to come home.
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Steve, Heidi, Charlie,
Guest
Voted this Destination:Not voted yet
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Dimitris Studios - Kos Town
Just got back from two weeks here and on the whole, enjoyed our stay very much
Packing
As the holiday was at the end of August, some of the evenings were a little chilly, most of us wore jeans and shirts at nighttime. During the day it was very warm and the pool at the apartments was a god send.
Flight
Flight out was delayed by about two hours but it was smooth and the airline efficient. Seats were a little cramped ( I am over six feet tall) but you can put up with it for the four hours it took to get there. Food on board (Monarch airways) was good though no videos were played during our trip, instead we had to rely on BBC repeats for the entertainment (The Office, Little Britain etc.)
Accommodation
Excellent. We only required a room on holiday to sleep in and stow our luggage, so luxuries are neither a necessity nor provided. Rooms were basic but clean, the maids came in almost every other day. There is a pool bar serving good food and beer and is open twenty four hours a day. People are friendly and there were enough sun beds for every one. The pool was clean and reasonably warm but was not really big enough if everyone decided to go in at once! Showers are fairly warm, as they are solar heated. Will still never get used to putting toilet paper in the bin! Ever!
Noise
For those who are light sleepers, the cockerels and barking dogs may well keep you awake. Some noise can be heard from the pool bar in some of the rooms, but generally it is fairly quiet.
Bars
Best one to visit is Blues Brothers on the Marina. Be warned, the cocktails could stun a Rhino. Most of the others are OK, and the promotions seem fairly good, but beware, a lot of the drinks and shots are watered down or contain a lot of fruit juice. This does not make them such good value. Any place on Bar Street will get you plastered, but the prices did not seem that different to back home when you work it out. Ten cocktails came to 42 Euros in one place. Careful also about some places which charge 3 - 4 Euros for Mythos (the local beer) as some of these are pints and some bottles (which are smaller). We tended to go to the local supermarket and pick up beer, vodka etc and drink this before setting off (bottle of Mythos was about 68 cents and a 750ml bottle of vodka between 2.50 Euros and 7.50 Euros).
Food
I may be a bit biased here but I love Greek food and most places were excellent for price and quality. Stuffed tomatoes and stuffed vine leaves were the best. There is also an excellent Mexican restaurant (Red Hot Chilli Peppers) (careful with the peppers that they give you, one poor Dutch guy could not speak afterwards, much to the merriment of his friends). Jacksons is OK for food, a nice setting on the beach, but there is not much on the menu.
Someone has said before that the prices of food away from the Marina are cheaper and this was the case. If you are going to eat, try the small tavernas in the back streets of Kos Town, you will save money and the food seems to be of a higher quality.
Weather
The first week we were there was lovely in the day and cool at night. The second week it got warmer all round. There did not appear to be that many mosquitoes around, certainly not as many as Corfu last year, but I would strongly recommend one of the plug in deterrents, candles and sprays that are available, just in case.
The sun is stronger over there so use a high factor in the first few days until you get used to it. Make sure you drink plenty of water ( no alcohol!) during the day and eat regularly and properly. Sunstroke is not funny and will ruin your holiday. Drink as much as you like in the evening, but make sure plenty of water is drunk during the day. It is cheap and freely available so use it!
Overall
Best bar - Blues Brothers
Best food (don't know the name but as you come out of the apartments head towards the main road and turn right. At the big crossroads turn left and it is the second to last taverna on the left.
Best night - mates birthday (Scuba diving in the day (we are all beginners and it cost 45 euros for the day) plus a trip into Bar Street at night).
It is about a twenty-five minute walk to Kos Town from the studios but there are numerous bars on the way. The lighting is not as bad as some have made out; we had no problems. I would highly recommend getting motor scooters and exploring the island. Therma was great! You get to sit in a pool in the sea just beside a fissure in the volcano. Hence the pool is lovely and warm (but smells of Sulphur a bit!). Tigaki beach is OK, not all that it is cracked up to be, but Zia and Pyli are well worth a visit.
Incidentally, scooter hire cost us 12 Euros a day, which is a lot cheaper than other islands that we have been to. Remember to take your driving licence with you if you want to hire one. Also, due to a number of accidents, wear the helmets that they provide. Police are fining people 80 euros each outside the town, but do not seem too worried in the town itself. The helmets may look silly, but they do keep you safe and stop your head from burning (for those of us who are nearly bald!)
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Fiona Hinton
Guest
Voted this Destination:Not voted yet
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I have just returned from a holiday in Kos with my friend (16), her sister (14), their father and his girlfriend. We all had a fantastic time. There were 43 apartments but only 3 with air conditioning, we were lucky to have one of them! In each apartments was the usual, a 2 ringed electric hob, a small fridge/freezer, a toaster and kettle however, there was no hairdryer in the apartment. It was clean and ran by a family who were very friendly and spoke extreemely good english. The swimming pool was shared with the Oscar Hotel and was easily accessable however, it was ridiculously deep even at the shallow end!
The rep for Thomas Cook, Danielle Burke, was very friendly and helpful and friendly. The introduction meeting was fairly lengthly but well worth listening to. We took a trip to Nisyros, a neighbouring island, to visit a dormant volcano which we all found interesting. Bubble beach was also gorgeous with it's clear seas and plenty of activities for the children to take part in. A trip to the Greek Fantasia in Zia, Kos was a fantastic experience with greek food and dancing, i'm sure we'll all agree we drank too much wine that night!! it was also good for children with face painting and a play park. We ended up stranded at the Greek Fantasia but another rep, Paul Evans, extreemely liked by the girls, helped us get a taxi and it was paid for by Thomas Cook.
Kos Town was full of life and interesting things to see. All the restaurants we ate in had good food and service. It was all only a couple of minutes walk from the apartments. Bar Street was 5 minutes away and very popular!
All in all, we loved our holiday. We didn't see a cloud for a whole week. The flight home was very poor and tiring having been 5 hours delayed at Kos and then having to stop in Munich for 3 hours! Apart from that, Thomas Cook was excellent! I hope you enjoy your holiday as much as we did!
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Clare Linforth
Guest
Voted this Destination:Not voted yet
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Kos Town makes for a fantastic holiday. There is something for everyone.
The Aegean Houses are by far the best appartments we have ever stayed in. They are advertised as Kos Town but they are actually located in Lambi, which is about a 5/10 minute walk into Kos Town itself. There is maid service every single day with your towels and sheets changed. The hotel is exceptionally clean and tidy and the staff are extremely helpful.
Restaurants in Lambi & Kos Town are varied with the ones along the harbour front a little on the poor side. Steer clear of the Amazon Restaurant (they serve boiled cucumber with everything and rare steak when you ask for well done!). Also stay away from El Paso Mexican Restaurant - try El Pancho on the same road as the hotel instead. Try and head into Old Town (at the back of the square) for a good meal especially an Italian called "Otto e Mezzo". The food and wine are out of this world. Also head into Tingaki to the Meni Restaurant and Spyro's Restaurant if you feel like a change of scenery. For the late drinkers head into Bar Street. Nowhere gets busy much before 11.30pm so don't go out too early. Try the Saloon Tex (mad barman called Mike likes to fill you with free shots) and for those that like their RnB music head to Famous club after 1am for a boogie. Take a day trip to Turkey for a Turkish Bath which is well worth the visit-book through Thomson as it works out cheaper. Also take a drive down to the Thermal Springs in Pisaldi for a relax in the thermal mineral water.
All in all a fab holiday and we will certainly be returning to the Aegean Houses.
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