Latest Reviews for Samos Town

We stayed at the Galaxy Hotel on the recommendations from others on this website and I thought I would fill in the gaps that I would have liked to have known about before we came. The Hotel is ok, the rooms are quite small but clean, as usual the room allocation is a lottery some rooms on the top floor facing the town are lovely, others at the back are gloomy and overlooked. When we arrived we were allocated a ground floor room with a pool view, we felt really overlooked as anyone around the pool could see right into our room. I asked for a change but was told there were no other rooms available. We had been up since two in the morning and after unpacking fancied a siesta (it was siesta time) The Eagles, Hotel California was blasting out from the bar and we couldn't sleep. I like the Eagles but when the CD started over again I had had enough and said I was not prepared to stay in that room. The receptionist could see I was far from happy and magically found another room at the top of the hotel away from the noisy pool area, it was quiet and had a view across Samos and all was well. So once you have got yourself a nice room you have to steel yourself before entering the bathroom. We saw 2 of the bathrooms for ourselves and they were the first thing mentioned by other guests that we met. Firstly they are very small, they are also very dark (which may be a blessing as you can not see the mould encrusted tiles until your eyes have acclimatised) they have no window and the extractor fan did not work (in either room that we saw) The ceiling is dark wood and the tiles are orange!!! It is probably the worst bathroom we have seen in over 20 years of visiting Greece although I am sure that are worse out there somewhere.

Ok, so once you have a nice room and have come to terms with the bathroom, what about the rest of the hotel, the town and other resorts. Well, generally the hotel is good, it has a very nice pool, good quality loungers, tables and chairs and nice gardens. The receptionists are friendly and helpful. Breakfast is buffet style and consists of bread, jams, honey yoghurt, cereal, cheese, meats, eggs (hard boiled) tea coffee and juice (more like squash) You can eat this inside, around the pool or in the gardens and can have as much as you want

It is a five minute stroll down the hill into the town where there are plenty of shops, bars and restaurants. Samos Town looks good from a distance but it is not really a tourist resort or as picturesque as some other resorts in the island. On the other hand it is very Greek, so if you ant to experience the culture it is a good base. The thing which spoilt Samos Town for us is the very busy dual carriageway separating the sea front from the shops and bars, there is nowhere in the main bay to sit right by the sea and have a drink or a meal, you have to take in the view looking across the busy main road. Having said that if you go east past the port and round the corner there are some bars and restaurants where you can sit by the sea, the sunsets are particularly spectacular from here.

We didn't get all around the island in a week but if we went again we would definitely stay in Kokkari, although if you want a beach holiday and have young children the sea may be a bit wild on the north coast. Pythagorian seemed a nice place although the beaches were small and packed and that was at the beginning of June. Samos was quite breezy while we were there, I am not sure if that is typical but we got the impression that it can be a tad breezy a fair bit of the time.

Despite the dire warnings at the welcome meeting we hired a scooter for the week, we hired a 250cc scooter and it cost £10 per day, 50cc scooters were about £7 per day. The main roads on Samos are very good and it is easy to get around, there are some nice walks too, get a map and head off into the mountains, there are some lovely views.

We did have one dodgy meal in Samos Town but the food was generally good and prices quite cheap. As a guide a meal for 2 with a starter and main course and beer or wine was about £14.00. We liked Steps - east end of town and up the hill a bit - nice views over Samos from here. Avli - off the High Street west of the main square, and The Garden - in the middle. Don't forget to go the bar with the yellow seats to watch the sunset - see above.

We went with Kosmar, in January we booked to go to Pythagorian but at the last minute (May) they changed our holiday, no apology just a letter addressed Dear Client saying that our accommodation had changed. The new accommodation was £80 each cheaper than we paid when they made the change but they refused to charge us less saying it was the same price when we booked originally. When we said we would cancel they said we would forfeit £200 being our deposit. Be very aware when booking with Kosmar, fine if things go to plan, but they really do not want to know if there is a problem and they do not respond to your letters either.

Hope this helps your holiday planning for Samos.

We went to Samos in late Sept/early Oct 2006, knowing nothing about the island before booking. We wanted to stay somewhere Greek, but not too quiet and the brochure descriptions of Samos Town seemed to offer what we wanted.

Accommodation
We stayed in the Hotel Aeolis, which is on the harbour front not far from the ferry terminal. We asked Thomson for a sea-front room at the time of booking, but as we booked quite late we were told that all the rooms allocated to Thomson had already been booked. Disappointingly we had a room round the back of the hotel overlooking the shopping street. The balcony was tiny and there was a huge tree in front of it cutting out any light and making the balcony chilly and unusable. There was noise from the street in the morning as the shops opened and more annoyingly at about 2 am when people leaving the bars started their motorbikes under our window! However, another guest who had a room nearer the front of the hotel told us that he was kept awake by the music from both the Aeolis bar and the bar next door, so maybe a sea-front room wouldn't have been so good after all! The room was a basic Greek hotel room which was starting to look a bit tatty round the edges - single beds, a tiled floor, a shower built over a bath with a shower curtain (with reasonable water pressure and constant hot water) and thin towels - extras were a so-so hairdryer and a rather old and very noisy fridge. The room was cleaned every day (including Sundays) and the towels were changed daily and the bed linen changed every other day. The reception desk was manned 24 hours and the receptionists were friendly - one male receptionist enjoyed testing my very rusty Greek!

The bar was very modern-looking with comfortable seats inside and outside overlooking the sea. It was very popular with the young locals, which meant that loud music was played throughout the evening, which we found off-putting However, in the day time and early evening it's a pleasant place to sit and have a drink. The roof terrace of the hotel had a small pool, which was big enough to swim in if no one else was in it (which at that time of the year they weren't, as the water was unheated and therefore not pleasant to swim in!) There were also sunloungers up there overlooking the sea, but there was a breeze up there all the time, which could be quite chilly once the sun left the roof top. Also the pool bar was unattended most of the time, so it was hard to get a drink when we wanted one. Breakfast was only served until 10 am (it was served on the roof terrace for the first week and then moved to the ground floor in the second week) - we missed it most days as we like to lie in on holiday. We had breakfast three times - if we got there early there was a small selection of hot food (scrambled egg, sausages), but if we got there too late the hot food had all gone. The other choices were the usual cold buffet of bread rolls, tinned fruit, yoghurt, honey, fruit juice (not fresh) and not great coffee, so we didn't feel we missed much by not having the breakfast!

Eating out
We went to Gagou Beach quite a few times over the fortnight, which is a twenty minute walk from the hotel (turn right onto the harbour road and follow the coastal road until you see a sign to Gangou Beach pointing downhill). The beach is quite small and pebbly and sunloungers are set out along the beach. There is a restaurant and a couple of bars by the beach. We went to the Vergina Restaurant for lunch, which overlooks the sea - they had a good choice of snacks and main courses. A typical (for us) lunch of two fresh orange juices, two Greek salads and a portion of chips (!) came to 16 euros. One of the waiters was also responsible for the orange sunloungers on the beach in front of the restaurant. A sunlounger cost 3 euros for the day. Beware - the Vergina wasn't open on Sundays in late September and there weren't any other cafes around Gagou Beach open, so we had to walk all the way back to Samos Town to get something to eat!
In Samos Town itself there is a good choice of restaurants for evening meals, but not so many if you just want a snack-type lunch. Most of the bars in Pythagoras Square (the square with the statue of a lion on the harbour front) serve drinks and ice cream or yoghurts, however, the Samion Café had a good selection of sandwiches, salads, etc (and huge portions!) A vegetarian club sandwich with chips, a tuna salad and two bottles of Greek beer came to 12.50 euros. Sitting outside any of the bars in Pythagoras Square is a great place to people watch and just look at the sea!

We tried most of the restaurants listed on other reviews and found that the quality of the food was similar in most of them, but the ones away from the sea front offered better service (we didn't feel so rushed). Our favourites were Garden (from Pythagoras Square turn right onto the harbour road and turn right by the Aeolis Hotel, take the 2nd turning on the right into the shopping street - the restaurant is on the right, it's well-signposted), Steps (there are signs to Steps on the harbour road between the Aeolis and Samos Hotels - look for a car rental place on one corner and a 'Chinese lantern' bargain basement-type shop on the other) and Avli (turn left out of Pythagoras Square and walk along the harbour road past the National Bank of Greece, then turn right by the Bank of Greece, then turn right onto the shopping street and Avli is two or three shops up on the left next to the Alessi homeware shop). Garden is set in a sheltered courtyard and the woman who serves is very friendly without being too overly attentive. I wasn't impressed with every meal I had in Steps - the chicken had been cooked from frozen, although I did like the baked potatoes. One evening they played jazz music instead of Greek music, which made a nice change and, of course, the views over the town at night make up for the slightly mediocre food. Beware on windy nights though! A typical meal of a Greek salad, two souvlaki main dishes and 1 litre of house wine from the barrel came to 20 euros. Avli was the most expensive of the three restaurants and seemed to serve the smallest portions, but the setting was very pleasant - a nicely designed courtyard, which was completely covered (ideal for rainy or windy evenings). It was one of the few restaurants to offer a vegetarian option and the waiter was very friendly and chatty.
Some of the bars and restaurants (particularly on the coastal road between Samos Town and Gagou Beach) had closed by the time we arrived on 20th September, so we weren't able to try some of the places recommended in other reviews.

Bars
We tried various bars for an after-dinner drink. The Museum Café (continue walking down the shopping street from Avli and turn left into a small park) was a very quiet bar in the pleasant surroundings of the municipal gardens in front of the museum. I can only guess that the reason it was so quiet in the evenings was the location - it's quite a way from the main bar area. We also went to the Hotel Samos bar, which was popular but the clientele was a bit older than the Aeolis and the music was much quieter. It's more or less the last bar on the harbour road and that section of road is a bit quieter, as the youngsters on their mopeds don't come that far down to pose in front of the bars! I tried some of the Kaimaki ice cream - it is known as 'antiseptic' ice cream and did have a strange almost mentholly taste, but is served with a very sweet cherry sauce which takes away the antiseptic flavour. I don't think I'd have it again!
We went to Café Europe (next to the Aeolis) a few times as they showed live football on an outside screen, and it was mainly full of Greek men watching the football - we felt we couldn't talk without fear of disturbing the football fans! One evening after the football finished the owner put on some Joe Cocker, which made a nice change!
The average price of drinks in Samos Town: a large lager was between 3 to 3.50 euros; half a litre of house wine was between 2.60 and 4 euros; a coffee was between 2 and 2.50 euros; and a small bottle of water was 1.50 euros.

Beaches
We visited three beaches on Samos: Gagou, Pythagorio and Kokkari. All are pebbly beaches with rows of sunloungers on them. Gagou is the smallest, but was never crowded. The sea was a beautiful clear blue and quite warm for the time of year - much more comfortable than the hotel swimming pool. The worst bit was getting in and out of the sea - the pebbles were big and very slippery. I invested in a pair of rubber shoes (all the tourist shops in Samos Town sell them), but still managed to slip on a big pebble getting out of the sea. Kokkari and Pythagorio have a similar problem, but there was a small walkway built into the sea on Pythagorio beach with a step ladder going into the sea. However, the sea around this walkway was dirty with lots of litter and seaweed floating around - not as clean as Gagou. A sunlounger at Pythagorio cost 2.50 euros for the day. Kokkari has two beaches - one with sunloungers and lots of bars behind and another beach to the east of the bars and restaurants had nothing on it, but is nice if you want to get away from the tourist trappings.

Both Pythagorio and Kokkari are small tourist resorts with an almost endless row of waterfront bars - the ones in Kokkari are literally on the waterfront, in the middle of the village where there is no beach. Kokkari still retains traces of the fishing port it once was and is pretty. There didn't seem to be much to keep you occupied for a fortnight. Pythagorio appeared to be the most touristy of the two places, with lots of shops dedicated to tourists. The waterfront bars have a through road to the harbour running in front of them and there is the constant sound of aeroplanes taking off and landing (as the airport is very near) and the noise from the ferries! Both Kokkari and Pythagorio are easily reached by public bus from Samos Town. Samos Town to Kokkari takes 15 minutes and the fare is 1.20 euros each way. Samos Town to Pythagorio takes 20 minutes and the fare is 1.30 each way. (Take the 5.15 pm bus back to Samos Town for a different route - via Mitilin - and see some inland villages. This journey takes about 40 minutes and the fare is 1.80 euros.)

Trips
We went on two Thomson-organized tours: the island tour and the trip to Ephesus. The island tour cost 39 euros per person, however, there were additional costs of 3 euros entry into the Temple of Hera, 3 euros to walk into the Epalinos Tunnel and 1 euro entry into the wine museum, which we weren't informed of by the Thomson rep when we booked our trip. Some of the stops didn't really seem worth it - the Temple of Hera is really just a field with some pillars and broken remains scattered around it. The Greek tour guide did her best to make it interesting, but her visual aids of some tatty photocopies from an old history book didn't help to convey how impressive the temple once was! We didn't attempt going into the Epalinos Tunnel as the guide has warned us that it's very narrow and slippery. Those who did go in, couldn't have gone very far as they only had 5 minutes or so before the coach left. It was interesting to hear from the guide about its construction, but we could have read about it from a book, as we didn't see anything! The monastry was in pretty surroundings and the guide told us a little about the Greek orthodox religion - we had a short amount of time to look around the church in the grounds and there was a gift shop in the grounds. There was a mid-morning stop at a hill top café where we were given a free bowl of locally-produced yoghurt and honey that was delicious.

We then drove through Karlovassi, which is an ugly town - it's not a tourist resort, it's an industrial port - and had lunch at Potami. The food was OK and there was a selection, including some vegetarian dishes, but it was overpriced and there wasn't waiter service. The tour guide gave us the options of having lunch at that restaurant or going to a snack-bar café up the hill or walking down a waterfall and going to the beach (sadly there was not time to do more than one thing!) After lunch we went to a pottery shop and saw a demo by a woman making a pot. There was lots of time to shop (everything was very touristy, but hand made if you like that kind of thing). Then we went for a drive around the less-developed part of the island - we saw lots of signs of fire damage. The rep pointed to traditional villages somewhere up a hill, but unfortunately we didn't visit them.

We stopped at Kokkari for an hour and had a coffee by the water and the final stop of the trip was the wine museum on the outskirts of Samos Town, where the guide gave us a very informed introduction to the wines of Samos and then we had a short amount of time to try them. If you only buy one wine to bring back with you try the delicious honey-flavoured sweet wine produced by local monks (apparently the Pope drinks it!) The trip was slightly marred by the fact that there were three coaches doing the same tour at the same time (an English-speaking one, a German-speaking one and a Dutch-speaking one). The English-speaking one always arrived last at each place and we had to wait for the tour guide to finish talking to the German-speaking tourists before she spoke to the English-speaking tourists, which meant that we were hanging around when we first arrived and then having to rush back onto the coach at the end! This was most annoying at the wine museum where we turned up much later than the other two coaches, but had to leave at the same time as them, not giving us much time to taste the wines, let alone look around the museum! However, the English-speaking guide (Sarah, I think) on our coach (an English woman who lives on Samos) was very informative about life on Samos in a chatty way and she made the trip worthwhile.

The trip to Ephesus cost 79 euros each and it was a long day (8am to 7 pm). The ferry takes approximately 2 hours each way. We had one and a half hours at Ephesus with a guide - there was no time to wander around on our own. It was very crowded (even though it was early October) and also very hot , with no shade or breeze. (The toilets at Ephesus were the cleanest I've ever seen - you pay 50 cents to go, but an attendant cleans the cubicle before you go in, so it's worth it!) We were then taken to a restaurant next to the ferry port and served a set menu of salad, chicken or meat ball kebabs and fruit for 9 euros (the food wasn't particularly good and the portions were small and it was very rushed). I would advise people to go off on their own for lunch, if you don't want to go to the carpet museum after lunch (we didn't!). We had two free hours in Kusadasi after lunch - there is not much to see there, mainly jewellery and carpet shops. We didn't like the place - it's very expensive and the pressurised approach to get tourists into bars, restaurants and shops is very off-putting - we were so happy to get back to laid-back Samos! There are some designer-brand shops in the port along with a duty free shop (euros seemed to be accepted everywhere, so we didn't need to take any Turkish currency). Next time we wouldn't go with Thomson - we would organize it ourselves as there are lots of shops selling ferry tickets on the harbour road in Samos Town and there are taxis which will take you to Ephesus and at Ephesus you can hire an audio guide. The ferry back was a bit rough and many people were looking very queasy!

Other information
- The sunset at around 6.30 pm at the end of September. Leave Gagou Beach at 6.15 pm to get pretty views of the sun setting over Vathi from the road near Gagou Beach on the way back to Samos Town.
- For the most-generous free bar snacks buy a drink in the Hotel Samos bar - one night we were given a plate of salami stuffed with feta with each drink we ordered (almost a meal in itself) - a pity we'd already had dinner!
- Samoan wines are very pleasant - the house wine that is served in a jug in most restaurants can be a bit hit and miss, but on the whole they were drinkable (the worst we had was the house red in Di Napoli - pure vinegar!). The bottled wines that you can buy in most off licences are very good quality - I like dry white wine and found the Samena, Doryssa and Ageri wines very pleasant (you can try these in the wine museum).
- Beware of buying imported goods from the international shops in Samos Town, which include Benetton, Body Shop and Alessi. I bought an unusual corkscrew in Alessi for 57 euros (£39.50) and found out that it only cost £23 in the UK!
- The post office is quite a walk out of the centre of Samos Town - further down the harbour road from the bus station, but you can buy stamps for post cards at the touristy shop nearest to Pythagoras Square (next to the 'Chinese lantern' bargain basement-looking shop).
- We explored the steep, narrow streets of the old part of Samos Town, that is known as Vathi. It's a pretty and peaceful place to escape from the tourists and the traffic (although we were amazed at how fast some cars were driving down alleyways that were only just wide enough for a car to get down!).

We had a lovely holiday on this small and quiet island that hasn't lost its Greek character to tourism. The only thing I would change is to book the Hotel Samos earlier to guarantee a sea view room!

We arrived about three in the afternoon, it looked very pretty with stunning views from the hotel terrace. Shhhhh!!!, it was very quiet, and we tiptoed round to our room so as not to disturb the few people around the pool. Still that's what you go on holiday for isn't it?

This hotel isn't for everyone. Situated up the steepest hill you could imagine. Fine, you can get a taxi back at night from the square in town (3 euros), but if you just go down to the beach (10 min walk), you have to walk back up again......nightmare, not nice at all, especially in that heat. Nice little beach, and the taverna there serves up some brilliant giant prawns. This is not a relaxing beach holiday, if that's what you want go somewhere where there are no cars and motorbikes whizzing past you.

The Ino is NOT children friendly, they threw away three blow-up lilos, and a couple of balls, simply because we'd left them around the pool in the evening. Breakfast at first looks lovely, but no changes at all in 14 nights, gets boring.

Didn't rate the food at the restaurants in Samos town, although heard good reports about 'Steps'. Didn't go there as there were too many of them.

All in all wouldn't be back to Samos in a hurry

Just got back from a very relaxing week in Samos.

Weather was excellent, sunny everyday with temps reaching +30C. Night time temps were superb being able to amble around the town in a shirt/t-shirt and trousers/shorts.

The scenery and setting is super for a ";town"; with the harbour and then the hills surrounding the bay. It was quite interesting watching the HUGE ferry boats coming and going. The Ambelos mountains add to the backdrop to make the scenery quite stunning.

The hotel was superb with a great rooftop terrace and pool offering fantastic views.
The maid was the happiest maid we have EVER seen on any holiday! Our room was on the third floor offering partial harbour and hillside views together. The room was compact and very clean. The air-con was excellent. The Samos Music Bar, which is part of the hotel, has seating next to the pavement as well as an air-conditioned area inside. This was busy every night with 95% of the clientel being Greek and chatting away happily with the music at background level.
We stayed on a BandB basis. The breakfast menu was decent ranging from omelettes, Greek yogurt and honey with fruit to a cold buffet and sliced chocolate chip cakes.

There are dozens of cafe's, bars, restaurants around the town and along the long harbour front. The meal prices average
around 5-6e Euro's with the portions being generous.
We ate at the following:
Di Napoli, (lunch) excellent pizza/pasta (as well as Greek food).
El Greko, great pizza at lunch and ";Chicken on Fire"; at night...very tasty.
Garden Tavern, (lunch) HUGE portion of whole fried calamari, nice shady setting amongst grape vines and pomegranates.
Steps, (night)fantastic view over the harbour and as a previous reviewer stated, the prawn saganaki was superb with enough for two as a starter! Chicken in honey and tomato v nice. Chicken souvlaki very tender.
Avli, (night)another lovely setting and good food. Pork with plumbs, different but nice.
Christos, (night)home cooked food which you're invited to choose from the kitchen.
Fish Tavern, (day trip around the island) at Potami near Karlovasi, another super portion of whole fried calamari!
Also tried the ";fast food"; at a kebab place on the front near to Lions Square, very tasty and cheap!
All of the above washed down with Mythos beer and a mixture of Samos wines at around 2e a glass/bottle. Half litre of table wine 4e :-)

A trip around the island gives a flavour of whats on offer and a chance to see the marvellous scenery and other towns. We did a coach tour (37e each) although hiring and driving seems pretty easy as the roads are fairly quiet out of town. For those interested in ornithology there were peregrines, eagles and an osprey!
Walked round to the wine museum, 1e entrance and sample as much as you like LOL! The archeological museum in the town was good too(3e). So much history!

As mentioned in another review, the landing is different as it involves a circuit out to sea then a couple more circuits to approach runway 09 which means a couple of sharp turns over the inland/mountain side of the airport. The pilot did explain to everyone :-) We should have landed at Halkidiki to re-fuel on the way home as the plane is limited to its take-off weight at Samos. The pilot announced that we have enough fuel onboard to get back to Manchester if the take-off wind conditions were right, which they were, which meant we got back to Manchester one and a half hours early! Pity the taxi company weren't checking flight times. We had to have a drink at the airport waiting for the taxi to arrive!

All in all a very nice holiday which wasn't ";touristy";, a bit like like Granada or Girona is to Spain. We bought a guide book and a map on the net before we went which proved helpful in getting to know a bit about Samos before we got there :-)

samos ought to be called the isle of steps but we still had a lovely 2 weeks holiday with fanstatic veiws and beautiful scenery we had very good meals at the avli resturant just passed the town square we stayed at the galaxy hotel loue and his two sons where great company running hotel bar and amy the receptionist was lovely and made every one welcome whatever the nationality

the weather was red hot the whole 2 weeks the only sandy beach is at psli-almos very clean and the sea is shallow for a long way out looking straight across at turkey one and a half hour across by boat the rooms at the hotel are basic but spacious breakfast a good selection for bb janice kosmar rep was great good fun and very helpful if you needed it hope this helps if if travelling to samos for hols enjoy

Allocation on arrivals are always a risk but never had one as bad as this!!!

Very frosty reception on arrival,but did ask us to join them for a wellcome drink,when we had got settled.
One small can of Heinikan later and with no bottled beers or draught beers served here we were starting to worry.
Yes rooms are basic,shower brill in our room ,but no hot water after 6pm .
Views very pretty at night over bay all lite up, but we were very disappointed in Samos Town night life,no really nice cosy bars,or restarants by the sea,unless you get a taxi out of the town.
Breakfast is a set menu with no room for diversefaction,not good for us veggies,
so after 2 days of bread and butter we stop going,shame cos we missed some one requesting more butter and things turned nasty.

Don't ever ever take food round the pool even if you are a guest and have paid for the privelage and paid for drinks from the bar ,we wittnessed one couple being treated like naughty school children for eating 1 apple yes apple !!!

The workmen moved in ater two days to dig up the road and you had to negotiate a plank to gain access to the hotel for the rest of the week ,this was something to do with the drains which could account for my altercation with a rather large Rat on my balcony one sunny evening whilst enjoying the sunset(not after that I didn't.
It wasn't so much the resort but the family that run the Hotel its self (not Greek by the way) one was particulary rude when i asked for a sandwich but not toasted and her reply was what the hell was that going to taste like because the bread was frozen ,we never ate there or stayed roung the pool again,(I think they got he message)

My advise as I could go on and on is dont bother with this Hotel ,Samos Town worth a visit ,Koukkari the place to go for beach and bar life and cannot wait to stay there we are looking to book as I speak.

Diana Studios are situated just outside the town, nearer to the old capital of Vathi. Accommodation is basic and fairly small (our 'kitchen' was a sink and a portable plug-in one ring cooker which disappeared behind the door as you entered) but perfectly adequate if you're only using it as a base. Maid service was only twice during the week but for the cost of the holiday (under £400 for both of us) there was really nothing to complain about!

The only problem was the location of these apartments - the brochure says 800m from town centre - what they don't tell you is that this is the vertical distance! To reach the centre we had to go down several flights of steps and walk around the lovely harbour - great on the way out but not so good coming back! We counted the steps - 154 in total so this accommation would certainly not suit those who struggle to walk far.
We hired a car for 3 days but parking near the apartments was a problem as all other guests had the same idea!

The best restaurant in town has to be The Steps (only 49 of them) - the food was great, the view over the entire harbour was unbelievable - service fantastic and far cheaper than we could have expected - eg E4.80 for Moussaka. We ate there every evening having been so impressed the first night, but sampled several other establishments for lunch.

We loved Samos - it is much greener than a lot of other Greek islands, most of the roads are tarmac and there is such a difference between the north and south coasts and the complete peace and beauty of the mountain areas. One of our favourite 'finds' was Ormos Marathakambos - a perfect little fishing village with lots of tavernas along the harbour front, but no obvious sign of where all the people they obviously expected would stay!

We didn't get our hire car via the rep [never have, never will] but she was quite forceful about making sure you have full cover so we got ours from Aramis who have offices all over the island including the airport. Manolis delivered it to the Diana apartments (a new Picanto, only 1000k on the clock). Nothing was too much trouble - he even invited us to the house he is building on our next trip! A great company to deal with.

We will definitely return to Samos but will choose different accommodation next time, although Samos town is still a good place to be based as it is not too commercialised or 'touristy' like we found Pythagorion.

Let's get this straight right from the off - The Ino Village is not for everyone.

It's a little way out of town (20 minutes stroll but back up (and it is UP) is a bit of a drag), it's quiet during the day and you're left to your own devices. Sound good - go there ! Sound bad - don't. It's as simple as that. We found it superb - after a very stressful year it was exactly what we needed. Our ";superior"; room with sea view, air con, fridge and safe was excellent - very clean. I would put it in the ";medium"; size - not as large as some rooms but bigger than others and it had a fair sized balcony from which you could watch the sun go down which was a bonus..
At night the place becomes quite a bit livelier - the bar staff are good fun if a little eccentric and, if there's a crowd in, it can get a bit noisy but let's face it you ARE on holiday so why not relax and enjoy things.
It seemed to attract a very cosmopolitan crowd - there was a large party of Dutch people there and some Germans - luckily there were only a few English people there (no yobs) and they were good fun.

The only thing which did detract from it's charm was the fact that there was no money changing facility which we found odd - we've been to worse places where they can change money and it seemed strange that we couldn't do this there -you can sign stuff to the room but I don't like doing this as you can easily lose track of money that way. I believe that the Iona Maris down at Gangkou beach changes money but most of the time we used one of the tour companies down in the town - except for the few occasions when their computer went down. Here's a little tip - use the first travel agent as you walk into the town - the one with the steep steps which is dead opposite the ferry port. This was open till late and always seemed to have money - not only that they did it with a smile on their face not as if they were doing you a huge favour.

Best restaurants

Samos Town is not blessed with a massive number of restaurants. We found the following to be good.
";Steps"; which was subtlety different from everywhere else - sort of East/West/Greek/Mediterranean fusion. Almost impossible to describe but we enjoyed it (and I am a very fussy eater)
";De Napoli"; which is basically a pizza restaurant but very good
";Verginia"; on Gangkou beach which served huge portions for little money - we never tried this at night but during the day it was fab
Other than that there were plenty of restaurants but they were all pretty much of a muchness. Owing to the fact that it's not particularly a holiday resort and people live and work there none of the restaurants were bad - they cannot afford to be so I think I will stick my neck out and say that I think it difficult to get a bad meal in Samos Town
We ate in the hotel a few nights and the food there was superb - the only reasons we didn't eat there more were a) after lounging around the pool all day and eating there at lunchtimes we wanted a change of scenery and b) there wasn't a huge amount on the menu (but as stated above I am fussy)

All in all Samos Town was a wonderful choice. We found that most people there had followed the same tried and trusted way through the Greek islands having been to Santorini, Rhodes, Skiathos and Kefalonia before ending up on Samos. It really has got a little bit of everything but it is it's own unique place. We hope to go back but are worried that it would not be as good the second time arou

Let's get this straight right from the off - The Ino Village is not for everyone.

It's a little way out of town (20 minutes stroll but back up (and it is UP) is a bit of a drag), it's quiet during the day and you're left to your own devices. Sound good - go there ! Sound bad - don't! It's as simple as that. We found it superb - after a very stressful year it was exactly what we needed. Our ";superior"; room with sea view, air con, fridge and safe was excellent - very clean. I would put it in the ";medium"; size - not as large as some rooms but bigger than others and it had a fair sized balcony from which you could watch the sun go down which was a bonus..

At night the place becomes quite a bit livelier - the bar staff are good fun if a little eccentric and, if there's a crowd in, it can get a bit noisy but let's face it you ARE on holiday so why not relax and enjoy things.
It seemed to attract a very cosmopolitan crowd - there was a large party of Dutch people there and some Germans - luckily there were only a few English people there (no yobs) and they were good fun.

The only thing which did detract from it's charm was the fact that there was no money changing facility which we found odd - we've been to worse places where they can change money and it seemed strange that we couldn't do this there -you can sign stuff to the room but I don't like doing this as you can easily lose track of money that way. I believe that the Iona Maris down at Gangkou beach changes money but most of the time we used one of the tour companies down in the town - except for the few occasions when their computer went down. Here's a little tip - use the first travel agent as you walk into the town - the one with the steep steps which is dead opposite the ferry port. This was open till late and always seemed to have money - not only that they did it with a smile on their face not as if they were doing you a huge favour.

Best restaurants

Samos Town is not blessed with a massive number of restaurants. We found the following to be good.
";Steps"; which was subtlety different from everywhere else - sort of East/West/Greek/Mediterranean fusion. Almost impossible to describe but we enjoyed it (and I am a very fussy eater)
";De Napoli"; which is basically a pizza restaurant but very good
";Verginia"; on Gangkou beach which served huge portions for little money - we never tried this at night but during the day it was fab
Other than that there were plenty of restaurants but they were all pretty much of a muchness. Owing to the fact that it's not particularly a holiday resort and people live and work there none of the restaurants were bad - they cannot afford to be so I think I will stick my neck out and say that I think it difficult to get a bad meal in Samos Town
We ate in the hotel a few nights and the food there was superb - the only reasons we didn't eat there more were a) after lounging around the pool all day and eating there at lunchtimes we wanted a change of scenery and b) there wasn't a huge amount on the menu (but as stated above I am fussy)

All in all Samos Town was a wonderful choice. We found that most people there had followed the same tried and trusted way through the Greek islands having been to Santorini, Rhodes, Skiathos and Kefalonia before ending up on Samos. It really has got a little bit of everything but it is it's own unique place. We hope to go back but are worried that it would not be as good the second time around.

Our first time to a Greek island and believe we chose well. Bumpy landing - rather windy day. Warm welcome at hotel which appeared to cool as the week progressed.

Room basic but clean - what you'd expect for a 2** - but a radio would have been nice. View from balcony fabulous though. We were right opposite Hotel Samos and where the big boats came in so always something to look at.

Moussaka first night at hotel very nice. Walked down to town afterwards and hired a scooter - great fun - but perhaps should have walked a bit further on and hired one with a bigger engine. Dave has a full motorbike license so could have hired more than a 50cc which would have got us up the hills a bit quicker!

First day was to Kokkari - lovely. Most of the beaches we visited were pebbly but fine by us cos didn't have any sand to remove from places you didn't want it. Taverna great value - 5 euro for 2 chairs and brolly also included a beer or a coffee. Windy first day - of course we weren't getting burnt cos it was windy!!??
Make sure you walk up the hill at the end of the harbour else you might miss that pretty bit that goes on the postcards!

Pythagoria - so cosmopolitan. Would chose to stay here next time cos so lovely to walk round at night. Samos town was really nice to but I do like to be beside the water and sitting just feet away from a lovely harbour here and at Kokkari at night was fabulous.

Samos town - To begin with didn't think we find many restaurants cos on the front and Lion Square are mainly cafes who sell chip meals and snacks but a walk round the back streets and you'll find quite a few.

Meal at Alvi first night was my best of the week. Garden Restautant lovely too - in fact all food was just great. Christos (or something like that)in an alleyway worth a visit. The owner (Yanni) took us in to the kitchen to show us the food - not something we see much of here. Well worth the walk up the steps to Steps Taverna - beautiful view over the bay and food pretty good too.
All were such good value.

Visited Pythagoras' Cave. Make sure you have plenty of water and stamina - we never made it to the cave just the chapel!

Booked out own trip to Kusadasi for the day. Good experience. Didn't go to Ephesus and should have. Was so hot just wanted to stay out of the heat but someone on the boat home said there was a breeze there so wished we had. Bazaars are a nightmare and really turned us off Turkey. Kebab was nice that we had tho' so was the icecream and milk pudding shop we experienced - lovely puddings.


Feel we have only touched the surface of Samos and will definitely return (altho not the The Plaka). Thomson Small and Friendly was good and met some great people.

Our experience although just a week has got us truly hooked on Greece.