Soft beds in Santorini?
 

I'm trying to find a hotel for one night, for 3 adults. We don't mind where it is, but somewhere with a private balcony overlooking the caldera would be nice. I've found several which fit the bill, but when I come to read the reviews on tripadvisor, I read 'hard bed' 'bed hard as nails' - are there no (reasonably priced!) soft beds in Santorini? If anybody could please recommend a nice hotel (up to €220) with beds (preferably 3) that aren't too hard, I will be very, very grateful!

Thanks.

Hi,
I loved the beds at the Esperas. It fits your other qualifications.


Yipper

I second Esperas -- thought it was a lovely hotel and the beds were not hard.

Thank you both, very much for your recommendation. The hotel does, indeed, look lovely - but it would cost €350 for the night we'd require and that's way over our budget.

I'm beginning to think that I might have to take an inflatable bed with me! :)

Wow, Esperas has really gone up in price....

I would search for previous posts by Brotherleelove2004, who is an expert on Santorini. He has posted hotel recommendations for all budgets many times before, and can probably advise you on the "soft bed" issue, too!

Sorry, I have no clue as to which hotels have the best beds. Last one I tried had a mattress so hard and lumpy I had a back ache for 3 weeks, and the mattress was brand new! Makes me wonder where they get them and why they're so poorly designed.

No worries brotherleelove - I suspect I asked a daft question! However, I do have a bad shoulder/neck, which only get an awful lot worse on hard beds! I'm seriously thinking of taking at least a sleeping bag or topper to sleep on! I so wish there were Marriots!! :)

Hard beds are a fact of life in Greece. I sleep on my side and need a soft mattress.
I have managed to survive by asking for extra pillows. I make a little nest which I snuggle into which soften things up a bit and have had fairly good sleep. Ouzo and wine help too.
Good luck

But why would you want to sleep on a mattress soaked in ouzo and wine?

The ouzo and wine might soften it up a bit?! <chuckle>

I'm very seriously thinking about buying a duvet in Athens and dragging that aroudn with me on ferries and things, so that I can put it on top of the mattresses to sleep on!

Good luck finding anywhere to put a big fluffy duvet on those ferries! However, just last night, NBC news ran a segment on how people are coping with long airport layovers, and one of the items featured was an inflatable air mattress(also had tent feature so that if you're sleeping on the floor of the airport you have some privacy!)weighing 5 pounds that fits into a carry-on bag. Maybe you could use it to top off a hard mattress!

Hi Weadles - yes, I'd thought about that, but thought they'd be too bulky! I wonder where I can buy one of those in Athens? I'd rather not try to pack one and fly with it - I like to take lots of clothes! :) I also always take a pillow, squashed into one of those bags you vacuum the air out of - and I always leave it behind before I go home!

Talking of ferries ... I always thought, longingly, of Greek ferries with decks to enjoy the sun and views on. But the high speed ones have no decks. :( Can anybody please tell me how to try to make sure you book window seats, at least? Would these be economy seats or business class ones?

We booked business class on the high speed ferry, but I don't think it guarantees you a window seat. We did it because we wanted extra space. What we didn't realize is that business class passengers have to exit through the downstairs economy class section, so you're last ones off the boat.

Keep in mind that the highspeed cats rock from side-to-side so if the seas are at all rough, sitting at a window will provide the most opportunity for seasickness. If that's the situation try to move to the center line of the ship.

Thanks guys - sounds dreadful! I remember taking the hydrofoil from Porec (then Yugoslavia) to Venice, back in the 70's, but it was a short journey. I'm beginning to wonder if it might not be a better idea to fly, at least from Athens to Mykonos, despite the higher cost (and that I'd be dragging an inflatable bed with me!:))

If you can budget it, fly. You never know whether your ride will be a calm one or not. I've posted my sob story before about a bad hydrofoil ride, but you can guess what that was like with nearly everyone on the boat sick!

Weadles, I just looked up the air fares and am in shock!
(for 3 adults, June)
Athens - Mykonos - €436
Mykonos - Santorini - €664!!
Santorini - Heraklion - €469

Thankfully, our planned flight back to Athens from Chania is still €144, but for how much longer?

Did you look on Aegean? I'm plugging in various dates in June and coming up with about 60E per person roundtrip.

You must be looking at SKYEXPRESS for the other flights. AEGEAN doesn't fly those routes. SKYEXPRESS is a very small plane ( 19 seats, I think) so that's probably why the fares are so high. I'd try to check all this out with Brotherleelove2004, who really knows about transportation between the islands.

No, it was Aegean - or, at least, on their website!

I think we have decided to skip Mykonos and Santorini (regretfully) and spend extra time on the mainland before flying directly to Crete - that will be far more relaxing. At least one more night in Nafplio - and then we'll be looking for 3 more nights. Are there any nice beaches on the Peloponnese? If not, we might head on to Crete and spend some time on the east side (we're going to be spending a week in Chania province).

All this stuff about mattresses reminds me of a really funny little book written upteen years ago by Corey Ford, called "How to Guess Your Age".

The line I remember was

"You know you're over 40 when you wouldn't go to see the Taj Mahal if it meant you had to sleep on a cot."

Just sayin'.

travelerjan,

Thanks for the laugh! I guess I can still plan a Taj Mahal trip!