Kamari Hotel Reviews

'Classico' restaurant was excellent and the only one we would recommend. We didnt like having our main courses served before we had finished our starters - this happened in 2 other restaurants we tried! Hire a care and go to Fira and Oia both are fantastic. You can easily do the island in a day. Watch the car rental companies - as you are not insured for wheels, tyres and the underside of the car.

I dont want to be too crytical about Kamari as for some it would be perfect but having stayed on Samos,Keffalonia and Lesvos we found it to be too touristy and busy.The beach is OK as there are plenty of beds and eateries but it is like a car park its so gritty.Also be aware that the sea isnt child or non swimmer friendly.I like to walk out and snorkel a little but within my depth,here you take about 4 paces and then have to swim as it drops to about 20 feet so there is no playing going on.The sea front spreads for about half hour stroll and is a flow of eateries,cocktail bars,shops and craft stalls.Very cosmopolitan and not rowdy but again not for us as we prefer an old family run taverna.The other problem for us was that ouside these restaurants would be a front of house man entising you in which is a personal bug bare.I like to stroll with my family and chat but constant interuptions became a real hassle for us and we started taking a longer route around to avoid them.I can recommend hook bar at the rock end of the front for food and drinks and irini next door for coctails and delicious walnut cake.You also get less hassle at this end and its less expensive.There are a couple of ATMs for cash,a dozen or so mini markets, bakeries,craft shops,pharmacy and medical centre.All told there is plenty to do in the evening if thats what you want,its simply not our type of resort.

Kamari isn't the prettiest of places, when we first arrived the sights you are greeted with our dry, desolate areas with half built houses. It looks a bit of building site and well quite rough. However, once you get down to the seafront it is very nice indeed. The beach is black and rocky, and doesn't look too comfortable or clean, in fact due to the fact there are a number of stray dogs you can imagine how many are using it as their designated toilet facility. That aside there are plenty of restaurants to choose from you could stay for two weeks and not eat in the same one twice. There are a good mix of bars and shops and people are very friendly and helpful. What I liked about it was that it was decent mix of lots of nationalities on holiday and not an english bar in site (well except one up a side street and one called the lIverpool bar). It's not full of the usual boozy brits abroad, not too quiet but calm enough to have a good relaxing holiday. The food was okay, I have eaten in Greece in better places but we didn't have a bad meal and the cost of food and drink was average, but I think this is only because the euro isn't so strong at the moment. We got the local bus to Fira which only cost 1.40 and the buses ran until 1.00am so you could go and watch the sunset, have a meal and do a bit of shopping. Fira is a must see and a beautiful place, probably a highlight of the trip and Thomson charge about 23 euros for this, so stick with the bus. All in all Kamari is definitely worth a visit even if you use it as a base to higher a car and tour the island. Oh and watch out for all the weddings we saw at least five and we were only there a week. One last thing make sure you have a gyro and go to the shop that has the guy that thinks he's Russell Brand serving them, they are the best!!!! (The gyros that is, not Russell)

Kamari is more suitable for couples as it is mainly made up of bars and restaurants. It does not really have the traditional feel of a Greek village, there is no village squares or area where you see local sitting enjoying each other company, as we normally see in other places in Greece. I would imagine that there was not much there about 10 years ago, as most of the property appears to be fairly new, and some of it very stylish.

Having said that it is not unpleasant and the choice of places to eat is excellent. There is a public bus, which takes you into Fira, where you can catch buses to other places on the island. There is also a water taxi, which takes you from the beach, at Kamari, to Perissa, which is just around the headland, a nice little trip.

The beach in Kamari is horrible, made up of pebbles, shingle and a little bit of very course black sand. This is the same in the water, which drops quite suddenly. For most of the beach, the sunbeds are packed tightly together, not my idea of fun and relaxation, if you have a pool you would be far better relaxing by it. There is a lovely little church, overlooking the beach, which is a great place to sit, in the shade, and take photographs and watch the posing on the beach from the beautiful young Italians.

We found the people in Kamari not to be as friendly as we have found in other Greek islands, nobody was unfriendly, but nobody ever spoke to you, other than to ask for your order, again very different to what we are used to, having travelled to many different places in the Greek islands.

A great place for young couples, not much for families, I wouldn't say that I would never go again, but there are other places that appeal to me more than Kamari.

Kamari has a lot of character with loads of tevernas along the beach for lunch and dinner. The best taverna is Syrtaki run by the lovely, friendly Dimitris. Other good tavernas were Semeli, El-Greco, La Plaza and Poseidon. We hired a car for 2 days and explored all the island Oia and Fira are stunning also worth a visit is Meglahori and Pyrgos. We booked the boat trip to the volcano with Kamari tours 21 euros each. We also went to Fira on the bus 1.40 euro each way.