El Greco Hotel Reviews

First Choice, El Greco, July 2008. Good clean hotel, maid service every day, lots of short stay visitors, staff very friendly and helpful, 10 minute walk to fira, pool water freezing(refreshing). Good facilities with A/C, pool bar, snack menu through the day, restaurant open at breakfast 8-10 dinner 7-11, good selection.

Hotel about 5 - 10 minute walk from Fira centre which is a pleasant walk on a warm night. Very clean, fresh linen every day. Breakfast lovely with plenty of choice and not rushed - very relaxed atmosphere. ALL the staff very friendly, even remembering our names! Sat at pool bar many a night until after 1am.

Plenty to do on the island - buses are cheap and run a regular timetable - Kamari and Perissa both offering clean beaches with plenty of sunbeds and lots of bars and restaurants. Red beach is also worth a visit but the walk down a bit scarey if you're unsteady on your feet. Unfortunately the archaelogical site at Akrotiri was still closed following an accident last year - still, that's just the excuse we need to return again in the future.

Eating out not as expensive as we expected - just look around. Caeser restaurant in Fira was excellant, we ate there 4 times during our 2 week stay! Some of the bars overlooking the caldera a bit pricey - 20 Euros for 2 drinks!

The only downside was the driving, we hired a quad bike for a few days but negotiating the one-way system through the town centre was a nightmare and very busy all day, every day!

We will definately return to Fira in the future and stay at the El Greco Hotel - we had such a fantastic holiday there this year.

We stayed at the El Greco Hotel, Fira, Santorini in September 2004 for 2 weeks. In retrospect this was 1 week too long!!! Booked independently over the web for flights and accommodation and got a good deal so no complaints about that.

Our opinion on the hotel is that if you want a very very quiet holiday then this is for you. If, like us, you want a quiet holiday but with some entertainment/music in the evening or perhaps even the bar open to have a drink when you return to the hotel - you have picked the wrong hotel.

Hotel is attractive and nicely decorated - reception area and bar is stylish. Found out from the staff that pool bar and bar in reception had not been opened all summer. Question - WHY?? Not staff shortages as there was plenty of staff about. A complete mystery.

The maid service was excellent though, our bed linen was changed every day (yes every day) clean towels, and very thorough. Top marks for that.

The two guys on reception were great, very polite and helpful - they are 4* without question. Always ready to chat and gave us lots of info on what to do etc (and we certainly needed help for that as there was zilch at the hotel)!!

There are two swimming pools and our large and pleasantly decorated room was in a block of 8 apartment/suites built around the smaller of the two swimming pools. It all looked so idyllic from our room, but it was like a morgue. No 'holiday atmosphere' whatsoever.

Also breakfast at the hotel left a lot to be desired. Very disorganized - although the selection was OK, had to wait for clean plates, cutlery, bread, no fresh milk, no fresh orange juice. Every day the same. All rather inferior and not a 4* choice at all. All in all we made the best of our holiday but we would not stay at this hotel again. This hotel is classed as 4 star. In our opinion it just limps in as a 3*star.

We have since learned that travellers to Santorini tend not to go for 2 week vacations. Mostly people go for 3-4 days - see the spectacular views in Fira and Oiu and then travel to another island. (Wish we had done that as we were bored stiff after a week).

The views are spectacular in Fira but of course the inevitable ";tourist traps"; are everywhere and if you decide to have a meal in a restaurant on the Caldera side - be prepared to take out a bank loan before you sit down and order!!!

If you like plane spotting, then Kamari is for you. We did enjoy sitting by the beach in a bar (yes one that was open) HIP HIP HOORAY and watching the planes come in. There are lots of restaurants in Kamari and shops - we liked it there.

We have been to Greece many times, Crete, Halkidiki, Zante and Athens, but by far Santorini is the most expensive.

All in all we made the best of our holiday in Santorini - the jewellery shops in Fira are very interesting! But we would not go back to the Island or this Hotel - not for us.