Ioannis Golden Beach Hotel Reviews

This place is like going to a third world country ,its horrid the bars .......there isnt any !the restraunts are rubbish too.
If you like wasps and like to be bit all the time then this is the place for you !!!
asked for a single bed for my daughter and got a park bench with a yellow colour stained mattress,no air con ,you have to pay for fans,the bathroom or shower room was a death trap with wires hanging out and all !!!!
The rep was useless to say the least,would not move us and said the island was fully booked
dont go here its rubbish !!!!

I have just returned from 2 weeks in Thassos. The island was beautiful and I thoroughly recommend going if you like beaches, mountain scenery and relaxation.

The Hotel - Although I would return to the island I would choose different accomodation.

On arrival one of the owners of the hotel was very gruff and unobliging with nearly all the guests - all of the hotel managing staff continued in this vein throughout the whole holiday.

There were three people in our party and we had booked a room which was advertised as a triple - in entering the room we could see this was not so, just a double with a put-up bed shoe-horned in. The room was far too small for us - we have the bruises on our arms and legs to prove it from banging into the furniture continously!

The bathroom was ok - but the extractor fan looked very dangerous with wires coming out of it, there was also a pipe coming up through the bedroom floor which would be very dangerous for young children.

The rooms next to us were all being re-furbished so improvements are being made - although we didn't welcome the fact that we had to walk through a mini building site to get to our room.

Luckily we didn't spend too much time in the room but when we did is was very noisy as we were situated near the reception/dining and over the laundry rooms - we got rather tired of hearing the washing machine banging around at 11pm.

The hotel is in a great location set back from the main road but only 1 minute walk from a supermarket and 5 mins from the best beach on the island. The pool area is lovely but not suitable for very small children as at its shallowest it was just under 1 metre deep. The pool bar was very nice but the prices were very steep.

If you are basing your choice of hotel on the BandB facility, I wouldn't go with this hotel. Although the dining area was spacious and spotless, the breakfast was very much geared to the German guests - ham and cheese on bread and a bizarre set yoghurt. There was a choice of 3 cereals and also honey, nutella and jam for the bread (the toaster was out of action until the last day of our stay). Many of the guests brought in there own breakfasts and just had juice or cups of tea at the breakfast area.

One rainy day we decided to have a look at the gym that was advertised - what we found were rusty broken machines that hadn't been used in months and a couple of dumbells.

The resort - Golden Beach IS the best beach on the island - and is set on the most beautiful bay. The Golden Beach end of the bay is very relaxed with a dozen or so restaurants and a few supermarkets. We visited Fedra the most as it had lovely food and the friendliest staff.

If you fancy a bigger choice of eateries, shops and bars then take a taxi or half an hour walk to Skala at the other end of the bay. This resort has more to offer in the evenings as it has a strip of shops/cafe's/bars etc to suit all tastes - we found Thassian to have the best food.

Instead of paying for the tour operators trips we hired a car from Potos one week and Hermes the 2nd so we could travel around the island. Hermes was much cheaper (68 Euros for 5 days)and the lady extremely accomodating, dropping the car at our hotel and taking us back to the hotel when the lease had finished.

The island was very easy to explore - 1 road round the whole island - and it only takes about 2.5 hours to drive around non-stop.

We think you should visit Paradise Beach which is only a 15 min drive away. Its advertised as a nudist beach but this is only at the far end. There is a steep track to drive/walk down but the beach is well worth it. Take your own food though as the cafe on the beach is very pricey.

Places also worth visiting are Panagia - a small mountain village you pass through to get to Golden Beach with numerous springs, Thassos Town and Potos for souvenir/local produce shopping, Pachy beach on the northern tip of the island - this is like a beach from the Caribbean and the Archangelos Monastery for spectacular views.

I recommend Thassos for those of you who like a relaxing holiday but I would suggest staying somewhere other than Ioannis.

Back to Thassos, it is our 4th visit to the island, it is perfect if you want peace and quiet.We found the Hotel to be very clean and adequate for what we needed, plenty of sunbeds around the pool, pool bar which served very nice toasted sandwiches. Breakfast was usual things, bread, greek yogurt- very full fat but yummy, ham and cheese, cereals. We have hired cars in the past but it is so easy to get around by the local bus. We walked to Thassos town one day on the coast road!! a beautiful easy walk, took us 3 hours, stunning views, had lunch and got the bus back in time for a dip in the pool.If you want lots of tacky shops and bars then this is not the place for you.

We have already priced up for next year, so thats just about sums it up.

First thing you need to know about Thassos is that it is known locally as 'Bee Island' - it really lives up to the name. Whatever you have heard about wasps/bees in Thassos, be prepared as its much worse!! They dont seem to be agressive, they're just a nuisance.

Hotel is nice and spotlessly clean, maid service every day. Usual stuff for breakfast, toast,jam,cereal, nothing too fancy. The only thing about the hotel is the lack on A/c in the rooms - we had a room above reception which was one of 3 which had no shade on the balcony at all. This made the room stifling hot - fan was pointless. We asked to be moved to another hotel with A/c (willing to pay obviously) but rep was unable to as all the Thomas Cook hotels in the area were booked up. Hotel refused to move us to another room lower down with shade because it risked upsetting new arrivals if they found out they're room had been swapped (how would they have known??? And the fact that we were upset seemed irrelevant!!) Anyway, we found a lovely little hotel around the corner called Stefanos which had A/c so we paid to stay there for the second week.

Beach is lovely - really shallow and sea crystal clear - no jelly fish and plenty of sunloungers (7 Euros a day).
Only a handfful of Restaurants to eat at. To be honest we thought there would be a few more. Fedras is nice (v.posh) and food good but very slow at serving and if you want your bill, forget it!!!
Viglis has lovely views and nice food - stuck in a 70's time warp though which we found quite amusing.
Camp Site in Golden Beach is huge but very civilised. Didnt get any noise.
Ferry Journey is very well planned, we thought we would be hanging around at ports etc but very efficient and no waiting.

All in all not the best holiday we have ever had, but had some good points.
Dont think we'll be back but I can see why some people would go back year after year.

We had never booked a package holiday before, prefering the freedom of making our own arrangements. We really enjoyed travelling with Thomas Cook. The rep was very friendly and available, but did not do the hard sell we were expecting, and left us to our own devices. The travelling was very easy on a package. We would recommend NOT going through passport control at Kavala airport until the last moment on your return journey, as there are not enough seats for everyone in the departure lounge, plus nowhere to buy food or drinks, and no smoking! However, after a great holiday, everyone made the best of it.

The resort was just what we wanted - a beautiful long beach, with plenty of cheap sunloungers available even in mid August. The water in the bay is clear, shallow and very warm, and we often saw small fish swimming below. The beach is surrounded by pine covered mountains on all sides of the bay. There is a huge campsite full of greeks by the beach (useful for facilities!), as well as giving us the feeling of being in an authentic greek resort.
The Ioannis hotel was very clean with good facilities. Unfortunately there were no double beds. The pool is large, and the pool bar service is really friendly.

Golden Beach is a great place for a relaxing holiday, with several restaurants along the seafront, and plenty of other places nearby to vist (Panagia well worth a vist).
We did the Thomas Cook 'Cruise' excursion. it was a lovely day, but not quite as sold - i.e the succulent barbeque turned out to be a few fatty burgers and horrible coleslaw, and none of the crew seemed to know where we were sailing. It's worth going for the swimming and chance to see the island.. but take a map and eat something before you go!

Golden Beach is a lovely place for a relaxing holiday, and we will definately be going back to Greece again, and hope to find another equally green, beautiful beach resort.

Well back to Thasso again,Was there in 2000,still one of the best island we have been to,don't tell anyone about it as it is so quiet and peacefull.Hotel and surrounding area lovely, plenty of places to eat and drink (Fredera,Vigl's and Finikas)
all first class food and drink.Neenans Irish bar nice watering hole made to feel welcome by Mick and Wendy.Not much more to say about Thassos such a beautiful Island.

Lovely hotel. I have stayed in quite a few Greek ones and this was almost luxury compared with some. Very convenient location for the beautiful beach and other amenities (including Supermarket Makedonia where you get cheap cigarettes). Having read this web site before we left, we found the Fedra restaurant (about 10 minutes walk to the east of the hotel along the beach). It is true; the menu is enormous as are the portions. A lovely week spent on an unspoilt, uncommercialised island

Just back from our holiday in Thassos. Had a very relaxing time staying at the Ioannis Hotel, Golden Beach. Staff there extremely helpful and very friendly. For the time of year everywhere at the resort was amazingly quiet - we think in a few years time it will all be alot more commercialised but at the moment it is lovely

The beach is a very short walk from the hotel and is beautiful, the water very clear and warm, brilliant for snorkelling and fishing (you can buy a line with a hook from the supermarkets for 1.5 euro's). Water sports are available on the beach which were reasonably priced, our children especially enjoyed the ringo's.

We ate at a different place every night our favourites were the Kambrussa and the Green Sea both located on the way to Scala Potimia. Fedra's was nice but more expensive than most. The location of Vigli's was lovely but the service was definitely lacking in friendliness compared to everywhere else. Eric's bar was worth one visit just to meet the guy who does look like a smaller but heavier version of Eric Cantona - very very friendly guy.

For anyone looking for a quiet relaxing family holiday where you can just chill on the beach this is definitely the place to visit.

The Ionnis Golden beach/club hotel is a just brilliant no frills hotel. The staff are very friendly and helpful. The Golden beach is the best on the island although there are many other beautiful beaches. Michael at Avis car rental is a lovely man and also very helpful. Just up the road towards Panagia, a new bar calles Black and White has opened by Kostas and is a good place for a drink in the evenings. It is more like a bar than a taverna.
Whilst on the island, it is a must to visit Kastro, Kastro waterfalls, Lakos Marion and its waterfalls and the top of Mount Ipsarian (if you can find them!).
We have been to Thassos many times and look foward to returning eavery year.

I was a bit worried when I read the reviews on Ioannis Golden Beach, but I thought it was actually a great place. The rooms were very good by Greek standards - no plugs and small handheld showers is pretty standard. Anyway who lives in the bathroom! The beds werent that hard and the breakfast was a standard continental with some cooked bits added (eg beans and hard boiled eggs). On the plus side the new pool is fab and didnt get crowded, even though the hotel was pretty full. The staff were really helpful (and did find me a plug for the sink) and the rooms were cleaned well every day. We had a lovely little balcony with table and chairs.

Other points made in reviews are pretty accurate - the island is beautiful, Vigli has great views and staff but Fedra did have good food and great staff too. Hire a car from Potos - excess around £90. Rates were cheaper than Avis (Thomas Cook do a hard sell there, so just sit through it and then walk down the road!) and the only difference on insurance is the excess - Avis is £15, so I suppose it depends how much risk you want to take. We went with Potos and found driving very easy and as long as you dont go off road and take car, I dont think Avis is worth the difference.

And the acid test - would I go back ...... yes tomorrow if I could!

Lovely holiday spent here the first week in MAY 03, we were the first english tourists out at that time, bliss!!, the hotel was spotless, nice large room that slept the three of us easily, no put-u-up for the third person but a proper single bed.Good greek breakfast each morning- toast, suasages, beans, boiled eggs and cereals always available.The staff were very friendly throughout our stay. The pool area was kept clean and tidy. The hotel is approx 3mins walk to the sandy beach , there is a supermarket behind the hotel also and lots of tavernas within easy walking distance . The weather was very hot(high 30's) for that time of year. The area is quiet with only the tavernas to walk to in the evening but if a nice clean hotel, nice pool, nice sandy beach and good tavernas is what your looking for you cant go wrong here!.We hired a jeep from Potos Rentals for a very good price , they are along the road on the right hand side.

This was our 2nd visit to Thassos, we wre unable to book the Soti Apartments this year so decided on the Ioaniss Hotel.
we do not normally stay in hotels so were not too sure what to expect.
Rooms were good, we had a balcony over looking the pool, which was never busy, always clean. the tables and chairs were wiped down every evening.
Breakfast......well nothing to write home about but filled you up.
The bar prices in the Hotel are always going to be more expensive than local bars, but that did not stop people using them.
The staff were very friendly, and love kids.
This year Golden Beach was busier, there were at least 20 other people on the beach with us.
Its nice to come back to the same place and see the same people and whats more they remembered us as well.
This year we went to the mainland for the Kavala market. Not everyones cup of tea.
Extreemly busy.
we hired a car and travelled around the whole island. well worth finding some of the other towns especially in the south.

Thassos is a must but dont tell everyone because once you have been you will not want too many others knowing your secret.