Emerald Apartments Reviews

We have just returned from a week at the Smaragdi 2 Apartments (they're actually called Emerald 2 Apartments when you get to the resort - I believe it was to distinguish between the Emerald apartments which are a Thomas Cook destination) and had a great week. Everyone seems to mention 'the hill' and some say that this ruined their holiday. Although, yes, the hill is quite steep and certainly not recommended for anyone with walking difficulties, those with wheelchairs or pushshairs, this hill should not put you off from booking. It did not spoil the holiday in any way, shape or form. And anyway, to get the fantastic views we saw from our balcony overlooking the bay, you do need to be quite high up. The owner is very friendly, but to see him you will need to go to the original Emerald apartments just across the road as the reception at Emerald 2 is closed! The beach is great, the sea is very inviting and great for kids as you can walk out quite a distance and the sea is still lapping around your ankles. The quickest way to get down to the beach/tavernas is to turn right out of the Emerald 2 and down the hill which brings you out in front of Hotel Fedra and Golden Sands Hotel. There is a small supermarket just on your left and another shop selling essentials. There is a cheaper supermarket if you turn right at the bottom of the hill and walk a couple of hundred yards along the road - opposite an Avis rental centre. To get to the beach, just walk past the Golden Sands Hotel and pick the best spot. 2 Sunbeds and Umbrellas are 7 Euros for daily hire. It wasn't very busy when we were there, so no problems with getting one even later on in the day. We found a couple of nice restaurants, the Vigli, which is also where we had the Thomson 'welcome meeting' - this can be found if you turn left at the bottom of the hill and walk a few hundred yards - you will see it's sign, you can either walk up the steps or up a hill - again a great view of the bay. The Fedra Restaurant was also very nice - and seemed to be the most popular, overlooking the beach. The only negative thing to say about the Emerald 2 was the fact that the linen/sheets should have been changed twice in the week, but ours were only changed once, and the cleaners didn't really seem to clean much either. The flights/transfers to the ferry and to the resort went smoothly, so all in all, a very pleasant time and we would certainly recommend this resort and accommodation to anyone.

The locals call the walk or climb up to the Emerald apartments Cardiac Hill and they are absolutely right. It really put a dampener on our holiday as you had to plan to minimise the times you returned each day. unless you are keep fit freak this accommodation is best avoided.

The beach in the resort was lovely but at the time of our visit there was a plague of wasps and we got stung 8 times, 5 of these whilst eating out at various tavernas.

All in all our holiday in Golden Beach was a complete disaster.

Just returned from a wonderful holiday ! Do not be put off by the walk up the hill - the views are spectacular and the climb is well worth it, just stop and have a breather half way! We found the apartments to be clean and bright with a lovely panoramic view of the bay. The place is run by Costas, who is a lovely man and extremely helpful. The pool was an added bonus.
Thassos is a very beautiful island and Golden Beach is a lovely resort - the sea was warm enough to swim in even in May.
We would recommend the Sotiris restaurant at the end of the bay - good, very reasonably priced meals and excellent service.
Do hire a car for a few days and especially visit Aliki, a very beautiful and interesting place in the south of the island.

Me and my partner have just got back from 7 days holiday at golden beach thassos. We stayed at the emerald apartments. Which is situated in the hills with spectacular views of the sea. The room was pretty basic and being our first visit to greece we did not enjoy showering in a wet room. Though the room was clean and we had a nice patio area with a table a chairs. Our room was on the ground floor, but our friends had a room on the 1st floor and although it was smaller then ours it had a wonderful balcony with a panoramic view of the sea.

Costas the manager of the emerald is a wonderful host. We spent many evenings up at the poolside bar with Costas
who makes you feel so welcome. The bar is a real nice area to chill out for a quiet drink and it is very scenic with a wonderful view of the sea. I have read in other reviews about the hill leading up to the Emerald as being very of putting and ruining peoples holiday.Well, im not the fittest person in the world but i did not find it difficult at all.Unless you are pushing a childs pram up it, or you have walking problems, then i dont see the big issue about it. To have great views you need to be up a hill. So dont let these reviews put you off. The food was very good with most restaraunts serving the same Greek cuisine. We enjoyed eating at Finikas for their good quality food and very freindly service and the Vigli is a real romantic restaraunt as it is situated on top of a hill and is open air with great views.

We really enjoyed our holiday in Thassos and will return to the Emerald next year

This was an allocation on arrival holiday and we certainly would not have chosen the Emerald Apartments from the brochure or a named accommodation. The reason is simple ";THE HILL"; which was a killer longsteep and winding. It is not as thought we are unfit as we both go regularly to a fitness club. This was a late booking and it was getting towards the end of the season so we probably did not see the best of Golden Beach as the weather was mixed. if you can go on the beach it is great but we needed to hire a car to explore the island as it was not beach weather everyday. The one advantage was the car negotiated the hill for us in first gear.

To summarise we would return to Golden Beach but earlier in the season but in no shape or form would we stay at Emerald Apartments again because of its position.

There are a few properties in Golden Beach on a hillside location which the Emerald apartments is one of them However unlike many of the others Costas the friendly owner does not put on a 5 or 6 times daily mini bus service. Therefore the long and steep hill is a real issue and it was an effort to climb back to our accommodation. Most other guests felt the same way and it was a real bone of contention. It really spoilt which was otherwise a lovely holiday. The rooms in the Emerald were adequate but in need of smarting up.It does have a small and nice swimming pool with a poolside bar.

Our advice to anyone booking into the resort of golden Beach look for one of the many accommodations on the level or ensure any hillside location runs a complimentary mini bus service.

Golden Beach is a lovely relaxing resort with a lovely beach and spectacular surrounding scenery although it is still growing and is in danger of loosing its Greek roots.

The Emerald apartments are a different kettle of fish. The apartments are located at the top of a long and steep hill (very long and very steep)which took away some of the gloss from our holiday. We felt exhausted after the climb and most other guests felt the same. Unless you were lucky enough to get a higher floor room the wonderful views were blocked by trees. The owner was friendly and there was a small but nice swimming pool here. Unfortunately the ";Horrible"; detracted from making this a perfect holiday. Our advise if considering coming on holiday to Golden Beach it is a great relaxing place but look through the brochures for other accommodation where the hill is not an issue.

The Emerald apartments are easily reviewed as it is sitiuated on a long steep hill which especially during the heat of the day is a major excercise and struggle to climb. There is no courtesy bus service up and down to the beach and we dreaded the climb every time we return back to the Emerald. Whilst the accommodation itself was average our holiday was entirely spoilt by the hill. Unless you really enjoy stenuous excercise in a hot climate we would suggest you looked for more easily accessible accommodation in the lovely resort of Golden Beach

If you enjoy climbing very steep hills this is the accommodation for you. If not avoid as the walk up to the Emerald is a killer and we are reasonable fit.We dreaded returning to our rooms because of the walk up The rooms are average but to take advantage of the views you do need one on the higher floors. There is a small swimming pool and a pool side bar which are both pluses. Your holiday here is dictated by the horrific hill- steep is not the word for it.A health warning would seem appropriate!!

I know others have said how steep both hills are up to these apartments but let me just warn anyone considering going - the hills are killers. Yes the views are magnificent once you are up there but you have to remember everything you need from the supermarket or go without.

We found the accomodation to be below average. There is only one patio door into the room and no other natural light. At night the shutters have to be locked and then the place is in total darkness, even if you leave your patio light on. As the weather was not too warm last week the rooms felt very cold and we used all the blankets on the beds, including the spare one. Having said all this, Costa the owner/manager? was very obliging and although we asked if we could move to another room, unfortunately it was Bank Holiday for Greece and all rooms were taken. We had no sun on our balcony area whatsoever because of the foliage (room 3). so beware, other higher up rooms had sun most of the day.

Still we found it very cheap to eat in Golden Beach, much cheaper than other Greek islands and the choice was fantastic and I'm a veggie too. I had 3 starters one day instead of a main course, this confuses the waiters a little but they sort it out.

All in all apart from the weather, the resort is good and a lovely safe beach, but it might be an idea to hire a car as we felt cut off as the bus service was non existent.

We were very disappointed with the room we were given as the balcony area was in covered in greenery. This would have been Ok if the room got the sun but it was in total shade all day. This made the room very cold and at night even colder. The rooms were only cleaned twice during our 7 day stay. Costa is a nice enough chap though. The hills up to the Emerald are Killers!, be warned! after an evening meal wait at least one hour or you could have a heart attack. The beach in Golden Beach is very good and safe and the restaurants round about were excellent too. If we go again it will be a lot nearer ground leve.

We really had a lovely holiday in Thassos, the accommadation was fine and the owner was very friendly, nice pool and bar which was nice to go back and sit at after you had been out for your evening meal. The hills up to the appartments are very steep we hired a car on the second day just to get us up the hill. Although the weather was very hot and not ideal for hill walking.

However the car came in very handy as we got to see the whole Island which is stunning, the roads are pretty quite as well which is good.

Most of the Taverna's have wonderful veiws across the bay one in particular that we all liked was called Green Sea, the food was fab even made home made chips. I always think that if a place can be bothered to to make chips from scracth then the rest of the food must be good, and it was. I have to say that we love decent food and that was what we got.

The ferry trip was only short and quite nice really as I wasn't looking forward to that part.
The Island is very green for Greece and the people were lovely, having been to quite a number of Greek places and this was a first in Thassos I would definetly go again and would recommend it.

What a lovely place

Stayed in the Emerald in Sept 03 for 2 weeks with Thomas Cook.
At the top of a very steep hill, so be warned, not too much trouble to us as we live in Derbyshire and are walkers so used to lots of hills! No fun after a big meal though. On the other hand, stunning views, very quiet and only a 5 min walk to the tavernas, supermarkets etc.

Basic studios, roomy enough, very clean, light and airy and a small terrace with couple of chairs and a table, enough facilities to eat breakfast/lunch on the patio and make a drink, but being Greece not much else. Lovely setting in masses of olive trees, lovely owners, couldn't do enough , great atmosphere round the bar, not noisy or boisterous.
Golden Beach stunning, the beach runs from Golden Beach right to Skala Potamia, you can walk between the two very easily by beach or road. Fantastic tavernas/restaurants, you can eat authentic greek and the Kostas, the owner of Emerald will recommend these if you ask him. We did not have a bad meal or service in 2 weeks.
If you want authentic quiet Greece in a lovely setting stunning safe beach, no discos just good food and drinks - then go.

We are going back next May, but to different studios, this time on the beach with sea views, what better a recommendation.
Ferry ride also stunning and a very smooth transfer at both ends.
Hired a car and saw the island, all lovely.
I am very fussy and this lived up to my expectations of basic accommodation but an excellent resort.

We read Adrian and Sarah's review on the Emerald Apartements This has encouraged us to write a review,as we remember them as we we were there at the same time; the first two weeks of July 2004. We actually had a drink with them at Dave's bar one evening before before making the horrendous climb up the hill to the apartment which was a real slog.

It is a shame because everything else about the Emerald was favourable but the many good points clouded into insignificience with the thought of that hill.

We wrote to Thomas Cook the tour operator suggesting that a courtesy mini bus is put on during the day. They replied with a standard reply ";Thank you for your comments and interest and your letter has been passed on";. We have heard nothing more and until we hear from one source or another that some kind of mini bus service has been put on we won't return to the Emerald. If they have we will. Simple!! . Reading other reviewers comments this seems to be a common theme and surely it makes sound business sense to do something about it.

We would endorse other opinions that the beach at this resort is as good as you will get. Also safe as it shelves gently into the sea.But when booking unless you enjoy torture stay clear of accomadtion description that says up a hill in this resort other than those that put on a mini bus service,

The tavernas in Golden Beach are very average and for a better choice we used to walk towards Skala Potamis and on the seafront before you get to the resort there is a great selection of tavernas serving a wider variety and all together better food.Our nomination for the best taverna must go to Krambousa where we suggest you try a Meza one night.

Maybe this was an excuse as we felt as the walk took 25 minutes we were justified in getting a taxi back which cost 6 Euros. This saved the dreaded walk up to hill at the Emerald at night. This hill spoilt what in every one aspect was a fantastic holiday in Golden Beach. we would recommend this resort to anyone who likes a good beach, a low key atmosphere which revolves around the tavernas at night.

If you want a lively more cosmopolitan night out go to Thassos Town one night getting the last bus in at about 6pm and then return by taxi which is inexpensive provided uou leave before midnight. You can also do all your shopping here where goods are cheaper and there is a greater variety.

We regularly read the comments on your site of resorts we have visited or are thinking of visiting and find them both interesting and useful.

Having read the remarks of several reviewers about the Emerald Apartments has compelled us to write about this accomodation where we stayed in June.

We would 100% endorse the great idea of putting on a mini bus service during the day to combat the strength sapping walk up the hill. Its a shame because like other customers we would not return to this accomodation because of this hill. To be fair all aspects of the Emerald are very satisfactory.

Otherwise we really enjoyed our holiday at Golden Beach which was very peaceful and great for beach lovers. We hired a car for 4 days to explore the island and it was an pleasureable experience. Even for us who don't do much on holiday 2 weeks at this resort without moving was too much and we wouuld have been bored without the car.

I hope both Thomas Cook (the tour operator) and the owner of the Emerald read this site to see the problems the hill causes their clients without any transport.