Les

After spending the past couple of weeks in Turkey (currently in Antalya), we're heading for Kos (Greece) on May 4th or 5th (still undecided) for one night, then moving on to other islands and northern Greece over the next month.

I need a recommendation for a nice hotel in Kos Town, near the harbor, and would appreciate any help you can provide.

This trip is somewhat unstructured, no advance reservations anywhere (except for our return flight in June), just decide what we want to do or see, and do it. so it's likely that I'll be asking for other recommendations as the trip progresses. This forum is a great resource.

Thanks again for any help you can provide.

mariha2912

Hello!
I hope you are aware that 5th May is the Greek Easter Sunday this year, so rates and availability might be influenced around this date (?)
Not sure what a "nice hotel" is supposed to be, this means different things to different people...
On walking distance by the ferry port you may want to check Kos Aktis. I haven't stay there my self, just used the attached cafeteria, but it seems to be a modern-designed hotel on a very good location. 10 minutes walk to ferry port, 15 minutes to old fish boat harbour, 10 minutes walk to modern marina. I think all or most rooms are facing the sea and windows/balcony doors are huge so as not to disrupt the views...

A couple of lanes back from seafront you may want to check Alexandra beach which is more spartan/has a more city hotel/industrial feel and in reality is not on a beach, but usually offers good low season rates and staff is very accomodating. Rooms might be a tad bit noisier though.

Enjoy your trip!

Les

mariha,

Thank you for the hotel suggestion. From what I could see at their site, the hotel would qualify as "nice" by my definition, so I booked the room for tomorrow. I also booked the ferry from Bodrum, in case Greek Easter Sunday caused reservations to be scarce (thank you for that information).

mariha2912

Just signed-in today after a few days off line.
I hope everything worked fine for you! Enjoy your trip

Les

mariha, the Aktis hotel was better than good, it was just what we were looking for. Thank you again.

Now I have another question, since you were so stellar in responding to my first one. I'll be in Chios in a couple of days, and I'm again looking for recommendations for a nice hotel. Since you so clearly understand my definition of "nice", I would appreciate any recommendation from you (and others who may be following this thread, of course).

Thanks

clausar

I assume that you will have a car during your stay on Chios.

I would recommend either Karfas, at 6 km from the city of Chios.
Have a look at Plaka Studios :

http://www.plakastudios.gr


If you want to experience something different, i would recommend the Kampos area with the great old mansion houses.
I especially like the Archontiko Riziko.

http://www.chios-riziko.gr/default.asp

Les

clausar,
Thanks for the hotel information.
We will be in Chios for 2 days, but we plan to rent a car only for the 2nd day, because the ferry from Samos arrives in the evening and we won't be doing any sightseeing on the first day. Therefore we'll need a hotel in Chios town, close to where the ferry arrives, and where we can rent a car.
The hotels you recommended look very nice, but are not conveniently located for us.
Thanks for taking the time to reply.

clausar

Les
in that case your options are a bit limited since there are not many hotels in Chios town.

There is the all time classic Chios Chandris Hotel, that has an excellent location .

http://www.chandris.gr/chios/default-en.html

or the Diana Hotel, that is a small city hotel next to the port :

http://www.diana-hotel-chios.gr/

Both meet your criteria of being close to the port and are decent hotels.

Les

clausar, having looked at the distances from the port, it seems either of these hotels is easily reachable by taxi, so I think the two are possibilities for me. I could taxi back to Chios town to rent my car, and then drop it off at or near the port when I leave.
What I need to know before I book is whether the hotels have an elevator. My wife can't negotiate many stairs. Unfortunately, I can't get this information from their web sites (or I missed t when I looked).

Also, based on reviews at TripAdvisor.com, I'm considering the Mouzaliko Hotel in Kampos (same issue with stairs). Do you know anything about this hotel?

Thanks again.

clausar

Les,

Both the Chandris and Diana have an elevator.
I don't know the Mouzaliko Hotel, but i phoned a friend of mine, who is from Chios and she said that it is a good very small hotel, like most hotels in Kampos.

Kampos is 5-6 km away from Chios town

Les

clausar, sorry I couldn't respond sooner, but the wi-fi connection at the Doryssa Hotel (where I was staying in Samos) went belly-up for a couple of days. I finally booked at the Mouzaliko Hotel in Chios (this is my last day in Chios before heading back to Samos for a day so that I can catch a ferry to Syros). The wi-fi at the Mouzaliko was so bad as to be unusable, until tonight (otherwise, this is a unique B&B, beautifully situated).

So now I need a recommendation for a hotel in Syros, preferably in the port city of Ermoupolis (that's where I believe the ferry docks), since we only want to see the city, not the rest of the island. It's particularly important that I have confirmed reservations, because the ferry arrives at 1:30 AM, not a good time to go hotel hunting.

As usual, any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

mariha2912

I stayed for a night in Hotel Hermes back in 2010, at the far end of Hermoupolis harbor. For one night it was ok, tiny tiny rooms with decent views. Not the best for longer stay though. For longer stay I might look on Vaporia area, many restored mansions etc around... Maybe Syrou Melathron (?)

clausar

Marihas recommendation is excellent, i stayed at Syrou Melathron 2 years ago and loved it.
Apollonio Palace is another good hotel in Vaporia, which is for me the nicest place to stay when in Ermoupolis.

Les

mariha and clausar,

Well, we're back on Samos. We were hoping to get a ferry to Syros tomorrow (Sunday), but owing to the vagueries of life and the impact of the Greek Easter holiday crowds, the ferry was totally sold out, so we decided (or it was decided for us) to cool our heels on Samos for another couple of days and head for Syros on the next ferry (Tuesday).

Thanks for your hotel suggestions.
The Apollonio Palace looked good, with good reviews, but the room type we want was not available for all our dates.
The review of the Syrou Melathron (on TripAdvisor) were not as encouraging, so I'm still looking. At least now I have a couple of more days to find one.

Les

Hi, again.

We ultimately booked at the Apollonion Palace (we were able to get a very good rate for a nicer room than we wanted, because it's low-season). Thanks again for the recommendation.

Les

Just an update before heading to Mykonos today.
Thanks, mariha and clausar, your recommendation for the Apollonion Palace was great. The hotel was just what I wanted (although the high-tech shower reminded me of a Star Trek transporter - I was sure that if I accidentally hit the wrong switch, I'd be disassembled into my component atoms!).

After 3 days in Mykonos, we're heading to Athens to rent a car, then drive around northern Greece for about 2 weeks. Nothing firm, just pursue whatever interests us, but if we have some inkling of where we'll be next, I'll probably be back on this thread asking for more recommendations.

Thanks.

mariha2912

Glad you enjoy your trip! Have fun : )

Les

Hi, again.
We're now in Thessaloniki, spending our third (and last) night at the Hyatt Regency near the airport(by the way, if ever there was a hotel that deserved a 5-star rating, this one is it).
We're heading for Ouranopolis tomorrow, and could use some more of your excellent suggestions for a hotel.
Thanks, hope to hear from you soon.