Koukounaries Hotel Reviews

Koukounaries is obviously a resort that has grown to support tourism and does not have a centre, instead it is more of a strip of hotels and restaurants, with a couple of bars thrown in. Catching the bus to town in the evening is a must, but there are plenty of excellent restaurants to choose from if you don't want to bother. My personal recommendations would be Hera, the taverna belonging to Muses Hotel, Ilia's Orchard serves piping hot food to an excellent standard. If you enjoy sharing meze, make sure that you pay Captain Mikalis a visit, the starter meze is fish based and the meat platter for 2 people is excellent, we got 1 very large pork chop, 3 lamb chops, 3 pieces of chicken, 1 village sausage and a few small roast potates. I would recommend a side order of rice or potatoes with this meal. The Village, near to bus stop 26 serves a fabulous stuffed garlic bread. It is a flat bread, so not doughy at all, stuffed with Feta, tomatoe and oregano, it's delicious and worth a trip for this alone. Agustera is the best bar, next to the supermarket. Beaches. The main beach is beautiful but I found it over crowded and the sun loungers are packed too close for my liking. Loud music is pumped out all day. If this is not your thing, take a 25 minute walk to Agia Eleni. This is a smaller beach with no music in the morning and gentle music in the afternoon. There is a Taverna and toilets available on this beach. You will be told that it is a 1 hour stroll through a pine forest to Mandraki Beach. Don't be fooled. One hour is a conservative estimate, best to hire a jeep to visit this beach. You can drive trough the forest, but the coast road is easier and much prettier. If you want to take the bus to town in the evening, it costs 1.8 euros and runs every 20 minutes from 7.00am through to 1.00am the following morning. some of the funniest moments of our holiday were on the bus, so i would recommend the experience. Once in town, head for the cushions on the steps in the Old Port that belong to "Rock and Roll". Happy hour is from 7.00pm to 9.00pm and prices are similar to those paid every where else at this time. Be prepared for a hefty bill if you go at any other time. Food at Asprolithos, which is signposted from bus stop 4 is excellent and the standard of service is very high. Bonaparte is a delightful change from the norm, again, food is of a superb standard.

Koukounaries is at the opposite end of the island from Skiathos town, the bus stops and turns around here.It is easy to get a seat on the bus into town and they run pretty regularly. Over the seven years we have been visiting the island the standard of the restaurants seems to have improved. This year we ate at The Village, Muses twice and Strofillia twice. All very good meals. The prices seem to have gone up over the past year but we managed to eat for around 35euros, two starters, two mains and a litre of house wine. So no bad value compared to home.

Koukounaries is by far the best resort in Skiathos, the beach is absolutely lovely with warm clear sea water. With this in mind there are regular drop off from boat trips which makes is quite a busy beach. My advice on this is to go earlier in the day as the boat trips start coming in from about 2pm. Small tavernas on the beach, food ok and reasonably priced. Costs 8 euros for 2 beds and a brolley all day long. 2 Supermarkets in Koukounaries both about same cost wise but one bigger. Bus service is ok if you dont mind a sweaty armpit in your face, they litrally cram people on those buses but is alright if you go early enough and avoid peak times like 6pm when everyone coming back from Koukounaries beach into town. There is only one main road in Skiathos which goes right from Skiathos town on a but route to Koukanaires at the end (bus stop 26) which makes it perfect for hiring a car, we did and it was great, no chance of getting lost. We went up to Skiathos dog shelter which is up the winding road next to bus stop 18 and if you are a dog lover its well worth a visit. They let you walk the dogs between 9am-2pm and dont forget to make a donation as they really struggle for funding. Skiathos town is great, everything there that you need. Its split into the newer bit which is more expensive and the old port which is lovely and a bit cheaper to eat out, more authentic variety here as well. One must is the boat trip which is advertised at Koukounaries beach, we paid 10 Euros each for a boat trip to Lalaria Beach for an hour (which had the clearest sea I have ever seen, the photos make it look like a swimming pool) then onto another beach(cant remember name but was lovely) for a few hours then back to koukounaries - whole trip lasted all day well worth it. Other beaches in skiathos we visited were, Agia Paraskevi (bus stop 16) absolutely lovely and not to far off the bus. Troulos (bus stop 20) again lovely, really nice taverna on this one which makes up fresh sandwiches while you wait. Marmaras this is like the skiathos palaces own beach, only very small and mostly guests from this hotel. Overall loved Skiathos and would definately go back again but maybe hire car for whole holiday. Will try not to worry about the exeptionally short runway at Skiathos airport which you can see from the plane, you can see the worry on peoples faces when they see it, just be prepared for the plane to brake hard as soon as it hits the ground you will be fine, its a buzz!

Koukounaries resort fantastic for beaches and chilled out cocktail drinking but if you want somewhere really lively you'd be better off heading for Skiathos Town. We wanted a chilled out holiday though so it was perfect for us! Mandraki & Elias beach was accessed out of the gate by the pool area and turn right - good 20 mins walk through lovely forest area, some of it uphill. Koukounaries beach was as busy as they say it is at peak time but go approx 11am and there are plenty of sunbeds and it didn't feel claustrophobic as it's huge! Banana Beach nice through the day but a bit Ibiza party crowd when the sun went down - I'm a party animal in my mid thirties but the loud music on repetitive almost drove me mad!! Ambelakia Beach (accessed by turning sharp left as if heading for Banana and go past the derelict Xenia Hotel) was lovely - steep to get to and steep stairs down but maybe this is why is seemed a lot quieter and peaceful! Nightlife - Stamelos Bar was great for cocktails - not sure about the restaurants next to it - we had a very dodgy meal on first night. Wholeheartedly recommend Elias Mandraki hotel restaurant - come down from apartment and 5 mins on the left & Asprolithus restaurant in Skiathos Town was totally amazing - the best food we've ever tasted. Would go back again!

An excellent holiday.