Hotel Panorama Reviews

I read reports on this hotel and booked it based on these reviews. I agree with other comments, it is family run and everyone is really friendly which gives it a very relaxed atmosphere. The rooms are basic and as others have said you have to pay for the safe,fridge and air conditioning being August and 43 degrees this was needed. I would add that I wish I had taken a travel kettle and hair dryer as the room didn't have these. The rooms are on a steep hill so may not be suitable for people who have mobility problems unless you are on the first level but then you miss out on the fantastic view out to sea. The hotel has a pool which is 3 metres at the deepest point and plenty of sunbeds. Even though we were there at the peak of the season it didn't feel crowded and we always managed to get sunbeds. We ate lunch twice at the hotel and had three evening meals, they were all excellent and resonably priced. I also took a basic picnic set so that we could eat on the balcony of the hotel. There are a number of supermarkets and a bakery in Petra so there is plenty of choice of local produce. It was lovely watching the sun go down with a glass of wine!!

panaroma excellent clean modern friendly ask for high floor if want views i emailed hotel direct and asked for high floor air con fridge and safe got all of these had to pay 60 euro well worth it booked hol 3weeks before 139 each a bargain eating places the horseshoe womens cooperative snacks in day horseshoe and pizza palace great pizza horseshoe great combo starter for 2incl fish and meats fish platter at night excellent as well 17 euro for 2 nice bottle of wine in most restruants 7 euro house wine about 4 didnt have any house preffered molyvos at night harbour restruants gret captains table excellent allthough every restruant looked great 5euro in taxi from hotel 50 min walk and wouldnt try it at night hotel food only tried one afternoon basic but others seemed to enjoy great pool area but we prefer beach 2beds and brolley at beach 4euro free at hotel nice place for aweek wouldnt go for 2 would have to hire car i think nice clean quite bars pirates bar at molyvos best 4us stunning views over sea great sunsets beach at petra better than molyvos but molyvos better choice of restruants and little bars get a taxi most nights my tip 5euro well spent catch the sunsets outside pirates bar great hol

Just back from a lovely hol.

Hotel- the cleanest ever! Cleaners every day except Sunday, linen change twice weekly.

Great pool and exceptional poolside furniture. Friendly bar, reasonably priced drinks and snacks.

They have a very strange arrangement with luggage! You take your bags off the coach about 2 miles from the hotel, and they are delivered by truck. You are dropped off the coach about 100yds from the hotel and finish your journey on foot! Don't know why, I've seen coaches in far narrower streets! Can only think it's to stop any dust blowing across the pool area.

The rooms are in small 1 and 2 storey blocks up the hillside behind the pool and reception. The very lowest rooms only have a view of the back of reception or into the kitchen so should be avoided if possible. The ones on the 4th and 5th levels have amazing views, but phew its a climb! Rooms on upper 2nd and 3rd levels are probably the best!

The resort Petra commences about 300 yds away and runs along the front. The bars are relatively inexpensive and we found that the standard of the restaurants was generally high. Our favourites were (in order)
1. The Traditional.This is up the back streets. They have a Greek ";Dancing"; night Monday with organised trips from the hotel. We also went one other night independantly and the food was superb.We tried to go back on another 2 occasins but it was closed- end of season midweek I suppose. Lots of locals eat there- says it all. We saw a Priest dining there!
2. Women's co-operative. Ate there twice. All trad greek with some unusual dishes. The moussaka is the best I've ever had. Yum-yum!
3. They don't have the name written in English but there is a sign of a horseshoe on the wall. We went there 3 times and were never disappointed.

Avoid. Only disappointment was Christos, tough meat, small portions,cold frozen chips, vinegary house wine- and the most expensive!

If you want to catch British sport go to the Reef Bar- they have Guiness and John Smiths too if you can't do without!

The atmosphere in resort is fairly quiet, but it may be livelier high season I guess.Great for couples.

We hired a jeep and ventured further afield. The next resort of Molyvos is bigger and more cosmopolitan. Visit Mollys bar for a warm welcome and balcony views over the harbour. The restauant Sansibal was amazing and the very finest without paying daft money. The Pizzeria/Italian Gallianos was also very good. We have read many good reports about the restaurant ";Captains Table";. We were disappointed when we tried it I have to say.

If you don't want to drive a taxi is 5 euros each way- we did that twice! There is also a daytime bus service, or you can walk- it took us just over 1 hour.

Back to food we only had 2 disappointing meals in 2 weeks and that is a great result!

We also went to Kalloni Skala and Sigri which are very small picturesque resorts.Drive up the hill to Petri for fantastic views over the resort and bay, and to see Turkey accross the straits.

We really enjoyed Lesvos. It's largely unspoiled/uncommerciallised with the right amount of tourism to stop it being dull.

The Panorama has many return visitors, a lot were there when we were there, one couple on their 15th visit! That's a bit obsessive if you ask me, especially when there's such a big wide world, and so many Greek Islands alone, to explore. We won't be booking for next year for that reason only, but wouldn't rule out a return some time in the future.

Enjoy!

The Panorama Hotel in Petra. Lesvos is family run and located about 500 metres from the villager of Petra.

There is a pavement alongside the beach so it is safe walking, but it is a bit uneven. The hotel is situated off the main road along a track.

The first thing that struck us about this hotel was the cleanliness in all areas. It was absolutely spotless - especially the pool itself, it just sparkled and looked so inviting!

The hotel is built up a hillside which does give you stunning views over Petra and the sea, but if you are in one of the higher rooms, you may find it hard work going up and down several times a day. In our opinion, it was worth the walk up and down and if we went again, we would definitely request a high room.

Breakfast was traditional Greek: bread, jams, cheese, meats, cereal, tea, coffee, juices - and the most marvelous Greek yoghurt that was so thick you had difficulty getting it off the spoon.

We had a couple of lunches (Greek Salad, Tuna Salad etc) and they were good. We didn't eat any of the evening meals and didn't go to the weekly BBQ, so we can't really comment on the quality of entertainment.

Our room was spacious enough - it had 3 beds in it, with 2 singles pushed together, a fridge (if you want to use this, you pay 3 Euros a day), masses of wardrobe/drawer space, a safety deposit box (at a charge of 6 Euros per week), TV and a balcony. The furniture was polished pine. Air conditioning was also available at a supplement.

I don't know if our room had just been redecorated, but again it was spotless. None of the usual squashed mozzies on the walls.

The bathroom was very clean, with nice tiles and a ceramic shower tray and a clean shower curtain. I hate yucky mucky shower curtains!

The 2 sons generally looked after the bar and meals and were very pleasant.

The reception area was lovely with high ceilings, marble floors, lots of comfy sofas and a big TV (we were there for the first part of the World Cup).

There was a very well stocked library and access to the Internet (not sure about the charge for that as we didn't use it).

The pool was quite large, 3 metres depth at the deep end. There were lots of sun beds with a few big umbrellas and running down one side and along one width was a veranda that provided shade if you wanted it.

We would definitely choose to revisit this hotel.

One word of advice for the ladies:
If you intend to walk up and down from your room to the reception area (rather than using a car) and along the pavement into Petra, leave your high heels at home! They will be totally impractical on the paths between some of the higher rooms and reception. The pavement into Petra is quite uneven too and I wouldn't have wanted to negotiate this with heels or even wedges on!

The Hotel was lovely soo friendly and extremely clean, the pool was a good size and the snacks round the pool were lovely and very reasonable priced.

The walk to the main stretch of restaurants was only about 10mins away which we thought was a lovely walk - you could walk most of it on the beach if you wanted to! most the restaurants look out to sea and the sunset is lovely (take your camera as it would make a lovely photo!) there is enough eating places to choose from - we didn't eat the same place twice.

All in all I would definatly recommend this family ran hotel and resort as it was a really relaxing place, just right for couples or family's with very small children who are wanting a peaceful holiday.