Strand Village Apartments Reviews

We went in May 2005. Our first holiday together and neither of us had been to Halkidiki before. We arraived at about 8.30 in the evening after a 6 hour flight delay. We strolled about 10 min to the centre of Hanioti which was a square to be greeted by a traditional Greek celebration.

Our room was basic but very comfortable. The view was onto derilict land but was quiet and secluded. The other side was busy as building a new set of appartments was going on. The pool area and patio was quiet and straight onto the beach. We couldn't ask for any better on our stay.

We even attended a Greek BBQ which was very good. We frequently sat during the day outside a bar in the square and went to the Sunshine Bar in the evenings of which the owner and staff were very pleasant.

We would definately go back there as it's a lovely place to stay and would go to the Strand again. Unfortunately, the transfer took around one and a half hours.

This is the worst accommodation we have ever stayed in. The room was smelly, damp and overlooked a building site. Afer complaing to Thomsons we were eventually moved to a much better accommodation. We were not informed of the building work before departure (most of Thomsons apartments are facing this work. I understand Thomsons are now informing people before they travel and offering alternative accommodation. Take a tip from me take the alternative accommodation as it alsmost certainly will be better than the Strand Village !!

BEWARE - These are the worst apartments we have ever stayed in. On arrival we were directed to our rooms which overlooked a building site and rubbish dump. (We hadn't been notified of any building work). The rooms were terrible - really smelly - very musty damp smell - and the beds were also damp. We refused to go into the rooms and sat up all night until eventually Thomsons moved us to another compled (we had to pay for the privilage).

I would not recommend these apartments to anyone.

We had high expectations of this hotel from reading all the other reviews and we were not disappointed.

After an hour and a half transfer we arrived at the hotel around 10.30pm, checked in and were struck by how pretty the courtyard area looked at night with all the stained glass windows. Our room was on the ground floor and was very spacious. Two single beds, sofa bed, dressing table, wardrobe, breakfast table and small kitchenette with all the appliances (apart from oven and grill - not that you needed it). The bathroom was also very nice and we had a small terrace area with table and chairs. Our only intial critisism was the building site that we overlooked, but the builders only worked for a few hours a day and didn't bother us at all.

The public areas of the hotel were very nice, with a reasonably sized pool, resturant and bar area.

The best aspect of the hotel was that it was right on the beach. Plastic/beach shoes are recommended for going into the sea as some parts were rocky and home to sea orchins. The rocky parts are also home to lots of fish so it is worth bringing along your snorkle. 2 sunloungers and 1 parasol with table cost 6 euros a day which we though was reasonable. The fesh doughnuts sold on the beach thoughout the day are recommended! Just listen out the the guy shouting ";fresh dougnuts"; - you cant miss him.

The resort was just up the road (about a 5 minute stroll) a focuses around a square with streets going off from each corner. Loads of shops, bars and resturants to take your pick from. Restuarants to look out for -
The Garden, this was our favourite and we strongly recommend you try their Meze. This is a meal for two and cost 24 Euro. We also enjoyed Gusto Italiano (try the baked feta - best ever!), Lesse Steak House and the Kassandra Roof Top restuarant. These were all fantastic!
For a midnight treat you must try Kpenes, this is a great pancake bar or try one a the greek fast food outlets for their famous Gyros (kind of like a kebab).

We also took the opportunity to hire mountain bikes. This cost 10 Euros a bike, until 10.00pm and we used Rent-a-Moto (next to Love Island bar in the main square). We cycled to the next resort of Pefkohori, appromimately 30 minutes cycle along flat, quiet roads. Pefkohori resort is based along a beach with loads of shops and resturants. We tried The Zihni Cafe which we really enjoyed. Take your bathers as we needed a dip in the sea to cool down.

We stayed for a week and went on three excursions (through Thomson):-
Markets and Mountains - The market was like you typical market only hotter. The market had loads of fruit and veg stalls and stalls selling cheap tat. The mountains in the afternoon took us on a 90 minute bus ride to a local resturant which was typically greek - with a feast of wild boar and greek dancing. Watch out for the owner - he has a screw lose and swears that his honey is as good as viagra!
Sunset Cruise - check the weather if you decide to go on this as we were caught in a mini storm at sea!! This is for couples only and we really enjoyed the evening. They had a great band and nice food with a romantic atmosphere.
Mount Athos - We were really disapointed. It was a very long day.

Overally we really enjoyed our holiday and we would come back again.

This was our first time to hanioti and we were well impressed the boys really enjoyed it they met lots of friends and the main square is so safe lots of places to eat and not over expensive the beer is not over priced and wine really cheap both boys want to go next year the place is clean and very friendly i work for a travel company and this is one of the best resorts i av bin to we only went for a week but 10 days wud av bin even better the weather was ace and the people were super with the boys most places to eat were ace im fussy with me food but all restaurants were really clean with a good choice of food roll on next year

First impressions - good quiet location and lovely reception and staff. Having requested an upper floor with sea view we were a bit disappointed to be on the ground floor with a hedge view! However, this turned out to be a blessing as the room was right next door to the shop and the sun came round on our terrace in the afternoon so it was kept cool.

The room was basic, we had a microwave yes but the cupboards smelt of damp. We didn't require the cooker (it did work) as we dined out at excellent tavernas such as La Romantica, Lesse Steakhouse, Greek Garden Tavern (huge portions of moussakka!!), Apxontika and Garrys Fast Food (for Greek salad surprisingly!). Upon recommendation from the rep we ate at Tropicana but it was yuck - my 'cod fillet' was buried under 3 inches of batter and the waiter service was careless. For a heavenly meal and ideal location walk to the next resort of Pefkohori and eat at Danny's restaurant - service was 10/10 and the food to die for. Also on the way call in at Kelyfos cafe for a latte sitting out on wooden deck chairs facing the sea with red roses in the garden.

All in all we had a fab relaxing holiday - the beach was pebbles but that meant no sand in uncomfortable places! Also it was lovely and peaceful with only about 30 people out in a day and no children - we prefer off peak! Yannis, Vlassis, George and Sugarman are all fab and keep you entertained. They are true gentlemen and want to see you having a good time. We have no complaints at all about the resort or hotel and being two girls holidaying alone we felt 100% safe in the hotel and resort at all times. Recommended 100%

How the Thomson brochure rates this as 4 STAR is beyond me. In fact when we arrived and saw our room, my wife initially wanted to go home!

The rooms were indeed spacious - their only positive point in my eyes. Not only were there were stains on the bedding but the sheets were frayed and at the edges, and were thin enough to filter coffee. How we managed to spot any of this in the poor lighting provided is an amazement still.

Being self catering we expected to be able to cater for ourselves, but how can you with no oven, grill, or kettle, or even a full set of crockery or cutlery. In fact all we had to cook on were 2 hobs that were so close you couldn't use them both at the same time. I guess when they say self catering what they mean is bringing your own!

As catering for ourselves was problematic, we sampled ";Goofy's Restaurant"; by the pool - just the once! Unfortunately the bad taste left by the poor food offering deterred us from trying the other buffet/restaurant, so I can't comment on that!

The pool itself was very small with no lounge area, but the hotel is practically on the beach, which compensates.

In all our holiday was not a complete disappointment. We found the reception and bar staff at the Strand to be friendly and helpful to counter the shabby conditions of the hotel itself. And the Strand Village IS located right on the beach as I mentioned and just 5 minutes walk from the bustling square in Hanioti, which is filled with bars and pleasant restaurants.

That 4 STAR rating is frankly absurd, but if you can get a really cheap deal then this could be a place from which to base your holiday. I suggest you don't go with any expectations and make sure you spend most of your holiday time elsewhere. I recommend a day on the beach followed by a ";boujourdi"; or a ";meze"; from a local restaurant (Tropicana is good), finished off with plenty of ouzo before heading back to the hotel!

Strand Village came up to all expectations, clean well kept rooms, friendly staff, excellent amenities.

There is lots of wildlife in the area, swallows, sparrows, lizards and unfortunatley WASPS - obviously a bad time of year for these pests, problems were mainly on the beach. We searched for some Citronella Insence sticks only to find them on the last night in a shop past Zorbas.

Hanioti centre is only a 5 minute stroll away, with plenty of excellent eating places. We found Zorbas, across the square past Billy's bar to be the best value and excellent food.

It is also worth a 1hour stroll, or taxi/bus ride to Polycrono to eat at George's restaurant which is situated in one of the streets off the promenade. We ate here 2 years ago and he remembered us!

We will definately be returning. I did not want to come home!

Arrived home on 1st September after spending a week at the Strand Village apartments. I have been wanting to go to Halkidiki for many years now but have been putting it off until the children were a bit older.

When we arrived in Thessaloniki we had approximately an hour and a half transfer to Hanioti. This included several drop offs on the way. We arrived at the Strand Village at 1.30 a.m. and were greeted by a friendly receptionist who booked our 3 families in very quickly and gave us the keys to our rooms. We had opted for studio apartments and found them to be perfectly adequate for 4 people. There were twin beds, a put up bed, a bed settee, dressing table, two bedside tables and one wardrobe. The bathroom was o.k. with a shower, and the kitchen area had 2 hobs, fridge and microwave. We never used the facilities to cook a meal just the microwave for boiling water and the fridge for keeping items cool. We had a large balcony with table and chairs and a view of the sea (room no. 218). Safety deposit boxes can be hired at reception for 15 euros a week, and we also paid for a late check out room until 10.00 p.m. on departure day at a cost of 32 euros.

The apartments are ideally situated on the beach, and of course you have the famous Leonardo to look after you during your stay. Two beds and a parasol were 5 euros a day. The beach is shingly which we liked as it does not stick to you like sand, but if you have sensitive feet you must invest in some beach shoes as to walk into the sea you encounter pebbles and rocks. Further up the beach by Hanioti village the beach is sand but it is packed! You can also do all the usual water sports which Leonardo will organise for you.

To get to Hanioti square you turn left out of the apartments and it is literally 5 minutes up the road. The square has several roads going off it which are all used by cars and mopeds so be careful when you are walking especially at night.
There is a cigarette kiosk in the middle of the square and a supermarket on one of the corners, but to get more variety turn right at the Central Cafe, walk up to the main road, turn right and there is a large supermarket on the main road.

In Hanioti there are lots of cafes, bars, restaurants and souvenier shops selling everything from sunglasses, football tops, shoes, bags, pottery and jewellery.

There are lots of places to eat out and these are the ones we tried. The Garden -fantastic kleftiko, fillet steak and chicken nuggets for the children. Lesse steak house - meals o.k. but all the children ordered chicken burger and expected them to be like Birds Eye one's and of course they weren't. Central Cafe - breakfast 5 euros very nice, toasties, omelettes etc, ok for a snack, but our absolute favourite was Amethysos.
Breakfast 5 euros 40 cents and you get a full english, with orange juice, tea or coffee and rolls. The evening menu is very extensive, you are spoilt for choice, but what made it the best was the brilliant service, the way the food was served and the cleanliness. Could not fault it at all.

Overall a fantastic holiday, would definitely return to the Strand Village but may look at booking direct next time.

Having picked the Strand Village as a late booking because we wanted to return to Hanioti, I read the reviews on this site to get a feel for the hotel and find out where the cheapest places to eat and drink were. Having returned now I felt I had to put finger to keyboard and provide maybe a more realistic spin on the other reviews placed by the Hanoiti die-hards, the lovestruck young girls and older 'Shirley Valentine' ladies views. First impressions were very good. Excellent reception service (nice and cool too when you arrive from rain-swept England in your jeans!). Rooms were much better than our previous trip to Dionysis studios 5 years ago. The Strand Village is perfectly situated - on the beach in seconds and a short stroll from the lively town centre. Got changed and went straight on the beach. Fantastic view, plenty of places to chill right out under the shade, lots of kids for ours to make instant friends with. Heaven!

I then went in search of the infamous Leonardo. After accusing the two, instantly amiable, bar staff of being the man in question I was disappointed to find that the actual Leonardo was a bit of a sullen chap, with a terrible taste in music which he bombarded the beach dwellers with while they were trying to relax of a day. The barrage of Bon Jovi and other heavy metal coming from the bar wasn't much better but we overcame the aural difficulties! I suppose Leonardo was coming to terms with the fact that impending fatherhood does not go well with working the beach all day and greek dancing once a week so his thoughts may have been on something else. Welcome to our world!

Back to the bar. Drinks were quite expensive (but there's always the mini-market at the front with the delightful Christina serving) but the best bet is to wait until 19:00 then get hammered on the strongest cocktails for 3 euros! The boys behind the bar were excellent. Yanis and Vlasis were chatty, lively, funny and very friendly to my whole family. Nice one boys! The front desk folks, such as Christos and the girl (who's name I didn't catch) were superb especially when the girl arranged for my daughter to see a paediatrician instantly when she fell ill. Great service. But the lynch-pin to this whole operation is Gregory (a.k.a. 'George??). He's the man who sorts all the hotel supplies, he's the handy-man and the music and karaoke man. What an unsung hero!

I felt that TUI rep Damien was excellent in all aspects from arrival, to seeing us off as we weighed our bags in. Good, hard work in searing heat with a shirt and tie on!

Downsides to the hotel: pool area was a bit dodgy. Slippery crazy paving, etc. Yes the beach is shingle and the reef just off shore a sea-urchin haven, but hey, that's where the best fish could be seen when snorkelling. But the worst things were the showers. Absolutely pathetic when everyone was getting ready to go out. And the other one - which is no fault of the hotel's - were the WASPS. There were wasps with EVERYTHING! Breakfest, lunch, dinner, drinks, ice-creams. You know why there were no wasps in the UK this year? Because they were all on holiday in Hanioti!!! I must have killed 50 to 60 in my 2 weeks there. Bit of a problem when your wife suffers severe allergic reactions to wasp stings and the kids so far are an unknown quantity. Fair play to the Strand though as they got these poison ball things on the last couple of days and this kept some of the eating areas relatively wasp-free. I would say this is the one thing that will stop us coming again. The Greek government must provide free or subsidised pest control or the tourist industry is going to die on it's ar$e.

Something I must recommend is the Family Cruise. I thought it a bit expensive, even with one free child, but by lunchtime I realised it was money well spent. The kids reps were great, the boat and views fantastic and the island we visited and the waters we swam in were to die for. Gorgeous! Mind you even the wasps managed to find you 5 miles out to sea - little sods!

As far as eating out we found the 'real' Greek restaurants and Italian/pizza places to be the best value for money (e.g. La Romantica where on the last night the manager and waiter stood on wasp patrol either side of the table while we ate - what service!).

Though the tone of this isn't entirely positive, we had great holiday that we'll be talking about for years. Nice one TUI and The Strand!

Hanioti itself is a great place, plenty of Bars and Restaurants (Both Italians, Spiros and Lesses our favourite)
Kassandra roof top gardens is the dearest, food was okay service was poor.

Accomadation is not 4 star (officially 3 star) but the price of the holiday probably reflected this.

The strand village is fantastic!

When i went in july, it was my third time, staying at the strand, also i might add, we have already booked yo go back next year! for our 4th time!

The rooms, are a good size, and very clean. Also they offer facilities such as a fridge,hob,ect.

The strand is great if you love the beach!also if you want a friendly,relaxing environment!

In my opinion the staff really make the strand fantastic, rolando, yannis and chrisos are all lovely! and alot of fun!Hanioti offers alot of nice bars, and restaurants, blue and sunshine bar being my personal favourite! if you want to go somewhere to eat, go the kostas fast food, the food is good and cheap! The strand is ideal for families, couples and children up to the age of 18!

The studio we were given was very good, quite spacious, a good view and as well equipped as most in Greece. There were some who weren't as lucky. We were on the first floor, the ground floor studios were more like sub basements which looked as if they had been sunk into the ground. this seems to be quite common to the area, if we had been given one of these we would have asked to be moved. Also the studios on the other side of the building faced right onto a building site although this should be finished by next year.

The reception staff and cleaners were excellent, very friendly and efficient, as good as I have seen anywhere. I wish I could say the same about the bar staff who I found were on the whole sullen and unhelpful. I can't see what the fuss is about the famous Leonardo he puts on an act for the tourists but clearly isn't really interested. The Amstell is 2.50 euros for a small bottle so we didn't use it much.

The pool is as bad as any I have seen, small and no sun beds, not that there would have been anywhere to put them and it was overlooked by the building site. We used the pool at the Hanioti Palace, which was excellent. The bar staff are friendly and the beer didn't cost a fortune.

Hanioti is a really nice resort, plenty of bars and restaurants without being to noisy and in your face. It is a few months since we went so I have had some trouble remebering names but all the restaurants were very good except Pasta Roma which is a sort of greek Pizza Hut. The one I particularly liked was called the Delphi,I think, off the square. Food and service both exceptional.

It pays to look around for sunbeds on the beach. Some are free if you buy a drink at the bar, some such as the ones at the Strand, you have to pay for, for which you get the privilege of having music blasted in your ear.

The sea is lovely but to get into it you will have to walk over rocks and stones. It is well worth investing in a pair of swim shoes. Outside the resort area the beaches are quiet but there are not many sunbeds around.

Overall we really enjoyed our holiday and would certainly go back

Our first Greek holiday, having previously been only to Fuerteventura and Lanzarote. What a wonderful surprise! We've booked to return for the same 2 weeks in 2006 as it was so good. The Greek people are so very friendly and kind. The room accommodation was clean - and kept clean beautifully, with adequate equipment. The lack of kettle and toaster proved to be far less of a problem than we had originally thought. We used a small saucepan for boiling water and decided if we can't manage without a toaster for 2 weeks, we should stay in the UK for our holidays! Strand Village staff were exceptional - very friendly and helpful. The Thomson rep Damien was also very good and helpful.

Beach - Strand Village apartments is on the beach, so no long treks with beach bags. There was some building work going on next door when we were there but that should be finished by the end of 2005 season and was not too noisy. You can do paragliding from Strand beach, ask Leonardo, the beach boy - and jet skis from nearby - possibly Hanioti.

Eating - There are plenty of places to eat in Hanioti itself. The places on the main square are OK but get off the main square and you'll find some real treasures such as The Old Tavern, run by a UK/Greek couple (past Pella Beach hotel on the road to Pefkahori), the food is great, especially the chicken New York! There's the Maharani Indian which does an excellent meal for 2 (25 euros for poppadums, onion bhajis, 2 main meals, rice, nan bread and ½ ltr of wine) and Dionysos, a Greek restaurant, just off the main square, serving excellent mezze dishes (a variety of starters which you share and is you main meal) as well as international dishes. Each of these serves an excellent variety of quality food and their service is first class, very friendly and you feel like old friends very quickly! The waiter in Dionysos knew the 2 local football teams (1st and 2nd dv.) there are in our home town!

Out and About - We walked to the nearest 2 villages Polychrono and Pefkahori - about an hour each way for both. Interesting and gets you into different villages than Hanioti. We also hired a motor scooter (15 euros a day for a 50cc which took us both - excellent value). There is a crash helmet law in Greece but you won't see any of the locals with them on! They come free when you hire a bike. We went south and then up the other side of Kassandra peninsular and saw views and places we would never have seen and had fun on the bike, sore bottoms too, especially as Greek roads are somewhat potholed!

We went for 2 weeks and wished it was longer - unusual for us! Not the place for 18-30s (thankfully) but great for couples and families. Very, very relaxing holiday

Found the apartments very clean we did have two problems but they were sorted straight away, If you have a travel electric Kettle its worth taking it as there is only a small pan to boil water for hot drinks. We found that drinks were very expensive at the hotel but food and drink down town very reasonable. We tried a different place every night and never had a bad meal. We had a chat with Leonardo who has a partner now, who I think works at the hotel, so he won't be so close to the female guest as in the other write up's.

We booked a Sunset boat trip, meal, entertainment etc, canelled at last minute, bad weather, so the thomson rep said. No wind , rain or rough sea, think he was telling porkies, and not enough people had booked, Talked to a couple of people down town and other trips had also been cancelled. (start of season). There is a big supermarket as you turn into Hanioti which is half the price of the small ones in town. Found there was not a lot of places that changed cash, and so all the places that did, gave a poor exchange rate and charged commission. I used the cash machine in the square in the end.