Marmara Hotel Reviews

i've been reading everyones reports about the resort and the accommodation and i totaly agree that lygia is absolutley fantastic but i've not seen any mention of the art club .i've been there on many occasions with my partner and this is what i've found there. great choice of music friendly atmosphere lively evenings spiro the bar owner will make you feel more than welcome ,(word of advise don't drink with him,you'll be there all nignt ) this place is a must ,i'm going back in sept see you there.............rosie and ted

flights from gatwick on time as ever with first choice.

arrived late on sunday evening and first impressions were that it was a little isolated.

next morning our thoughts were correct, abt 15 minute walk along busy road into ligia, but when you got there more than enough bars, bakery, etc just watch the walk

we ate at 5 of the local bars/tavernas and found the food quality to be poor in all of them, not making you ill just not very nice food, ie kleftico, and local dishes. they seem to have learnt from the spanish though and dish up chips at every oppurtunity. best food we had was at the end of the lane by our appt excellent greek salad and food was better than walking into the town

lovely beach 5 mins walk away (along that road)

accom - very very basic, just 2 rings, no toaster or microwave ! however, whilst basic very clean, rooms cleaned every day apart from one and towels / linen changed on thursday. our room was overlooking pool and sea which was lovely

whilst we were ther temp hit 42/3 degc, and the local mozzies bite like hell, between us we had some 30 bites !

pool area very nice overlooking the sea with usual bar food, beer etc - its a self service bar ! or honesty bar, where if the son or mother are not there you take what you want and pay later !

got a taxi into lefkas town only 8 euros each way and get the mother to order you the taxi and they will arrange a pick up time / place as well for your journey home as taxis are few and far between, some lovely bars / marina in lefkas town and we easily spent 6 hrs there shopping and eating and of course a beer or 2 !

all in all and value for money excellent, if you want to loose yourself for a week (wouldnt advise 2) then brill holiday

The other reviews for these studios and resort are pretty comprehensive so I will just add a few extra comments.

We too had a large room overlooking the pool - it cost a little bit extra but was worth it as we had a view over the pool and out to the sea and mainland mountains. We were lucky, others were not so fortunate and had rooms overlooking the car park. I am finding this room allocation lottery a real pain. If you book early and pay the full price there is no guarantee you will get a better room than someone who booked last minute and paid half the brochure price and I feel this is wrong. I would really like to see the holiday companies give more information about rooms, sea views etc and give us the opportunity to book a particular room and pay a bit more if necessary for a balcony view. Fair enough, if you pay for allocation on arrival you generally have to accept what you are given but I am sure I am not the only one that would like to know in advance what sort of room I will be getting (ok rant over !)

Lygia had just about opened in June, I have to say we were a bit disappointed with the majority of restaurants in the village. The food was ok but really poorly presented e.g. stifado in a bowl piled on top of a load of chips. A first in one, was a Greek salad with no feta cheese and the most expensive too - thanks Mickey !

As far as we were concerned the best place to eat by far, was the Seven Islands - unfortunately the furthest away from the accommodation at the far end of the bay. If you like they will take you into the kitchen and show you what's on offer. One evening 1 mythos, 1 metaxa brandy, a portion of garlic bread and a plate of fruit was all given to us compliments of the management - the bill for the rest was about £15 for two. We just wish we had gone here earlier rather than later. They have another place of the same name in Lefkada, it has a different menu but is really good too. We sometimes ordered half a dozen starters (a sort of meze) which made a nice change from the standard Greek fayre.

We ignored the dire warnings from the rep and hired a scooter for the week, it was hired in Lygia and cost 10 euros per day, some are cheaper but ours was a 125cc and so a bit dearer. It is a great way to get around the island if you are confident on 2 wheels - the roads are pretty good even the ones up in the mountains as long as you keep to the ones with tarmac !

All in all we liked Lefkas, we even liked the main town, it not beautiful but has a real Greek feel about it, especially later in the evening when everyone is out and about, the locals were really friendly.

Having been to lefkas twice before we decided on another foray , previously having stayed in gheni opposite nidri .
this time we opted for ligia not through choice as our budget allowed us too .
the appts were very clean and the pool area was fine ,

the bar is a little small and offers few meals only snacks and appears a little cluttered at times but hey this is greece at its raw form so no probs .

ligia itself is on the main road and nidri the main focal point of the resorts activity is a good 12 min taxi ride , be prepared to pay about 10 to 13 euros each way .
the restaurants in ligia are sparse and if you are on a 14 night stay you will have exhausted them by the 4th or 5th day !
best to eat in nidri at ,panorama or el greco , marisas on the beach is good too ,there are loads so u r spoilt 4 choice,
in gheni there is hippocampus ,this is superb and well worth a 17 euro taxi ride to getr to.
if you stay at mamara , a set of wheels is a must be it a scooter or car .
overall its ok .

Our second trip to Lefkas. Booked with First Choice on the net and was allocated on arrival.

Studios were great, we had a large room, with a double bed and a single, very clean, maid service daily, also had a great sea view, air con at additional cost if you want it E3 per day I think. Pool, bar and snacks on site too. Situated about 700m from a small shingly beach. The studios were on a hill so not suitable if you have difficulty walking. Nearest shops about half a mile away. Very peaceful setting and we loved it.

Our rep Julie was brilliant she had all the first choice places on Lefkas to deal with but was always punctual, helpful and very good humoured despite having the usual lot of wingers to deal with (wanted a different room, too far from the shops, the local beach wasn't sandy etc etc!!)

Our ";next door neighbours"; Ken and Sue were nice too which made a pleasant change.

We visited all our old haunts including the Titanic restaurant in Nidri which now has a sister place the Yefsi situated on the harbour front. The food is still brilliant.

Another good restauant is the Seven Islands in Ligia, you have to walk down a residential road towards the sea by the bakery and the place is right on the front. Avoid the fish type places on the harbour in Ligia except for the one nearest Nidri, they are not so good and expensive.

Went to Karya again and renewed our aquaintance with the English lady in the square, always a good coffee there!

We also took the Captain Aristides ferry from Nidri to Kephalonia and took the car E35 one way for two of us and the car. We found a hotel in the square in Sami and stayed one night for E40, this was the best room in the place, air con and a brilliant view of the harbour.

We hired a car direct from the airport via Argus.com which was considerably cheaper than the first choice ones. The service was excellent, the car good and the man was waiting with a notice in the arrivals hall for us as we landed. We paid a deposit beforehand and the balance when the car was delivered, worth noting that the man was not too keen on having a credit card and we paid cash. Would have been helpful to hAve known this is advance as it could have been difficult. The car came from Eurohire we discovered.

All in all another brilliant holiday in Greece. As usual the only down side was meeting a few other Brits who moaned about everything...one wonders why they bother to go abroad... they might benefit from doing a bit of research too before they go!

Arrived at Preveza Airport with no delays whatsoever from Manchester. Good flight with First Choice, who at the moment are our favourite holiday company. Soon on our way to the Marmara Studios in Lygia. The weather when we arrived was lovely for the beginning of May in the low 80's. Transfer from airport very quick and trouble free - First Choice were very organised.

The studios were very nice (the coach drops you off at the bottom of the road and a van from the studios picks your luggage up and leaves you to walk the 2 mins to the hotel). We were very happy with our room it overlooked the pool and was very spacious with one double bed and one single all nice and clean. The family who run the studios are very nice and helpful especially the mum who didn't speak much english but smiled all the time. Some of our fellow travellers were alloted rooms on the side of the hotel with not very good views and no sunshine on their balconies in the morning. Still can't have everything we were lucky.

Our rep Julie turned out to be very good - Marie lost her purse in a taxi coming home from Nidri with money and credit cards etc. in. She rang Julie and told her the taxi had been booked from the International Restaurant - Julie turned up at our apartment 30 mins later. She had been to the restaurant and contacted the taxi driver. The next day Marie was handed back her purse with everything intact. Well done Julie.

Lygia itself is a very small resort while we were there, there was a lot of concrete being laid around the tiny harbour which made it not so very nice to look at and walk through. Also we found that walking from the studios to the harbour (about 15 mins walk( was difficult because there aren't any proper pavements just a line which signifies the edge of the road. Cars drive very fast along here and make you feel very vunerable when walking back in the dark. This was Chris' nightmare as she constantly worried about cars hooting at us and the chance of being run over!! She asked me to mention this.

Because it was early there were hardly any bars or taverna's open which made it necessary to travel if you wanted variety (only 4 taverna's open and just 2 bars). We travelled into Nidri 3 nights (bus in only one euro) and taxied it back - the rep told us it would be 20 euros in a taxi but we bargained and paid lowest fare 7 euros highest 13) always set price before you get in taxi. Buses are wonderful almost all of them are new and very comfortable complete with a bus conductor. We caught the bus into Lefkada - not a very inspiring place but good bus terminal, and had a nice meal on the harbour. Very busy place gorgeous food almost the last restaurant with a very short name - sorry can't remember. It seemed to be the in place! However when we asked for coffee after our meal we were told ";Sorry ladies - too busy to serve coffee"; That was the first time we have ever been refused coffee after a meal. The name was something like AKA or OKA worth a try for the food though.

Had a lovely meal at the International Restaurant on Nidri front and also The Paris bar which is further along, the barman there speaks very good english and was very helpful with information regarding the resort. We went on a trip with First Choice on a boat called the Odysey - full day around Scorpios, barbeque on beach and swimming etc. fabulous can really recommend this for 40 euros worth every penny. Crew/food was lovely even saw dolphins!!

Didn't have a bad meal the whole time we were in Lefkas.

The island is lovely very green and unspoilt however, if we were to go back we would definitely go to Nidri as everything can be accessed from here without having to spend money and time on catching buses and taxis. The holiday ended up costing more than it would have done in time and money if we had stayed in this area.

Lygia was too quiet at this time of the year and I can't really see it getting much busier - the choice just wasn't there even on a small scale but maybe it would have been better much later on in the year. Saying that all the people in the restaurants were more than nice and it was just a shame that not all of them had bothered to be open for the start of the season. We don't mind quiet but do like more than was on offer at this time.