Athrion Studios Reviews

Ok here goes. This will be a LONG review so make yourself comfortable!

THE JOURNEY
Faultless. The ferry trip breaks things up nicely, and you can get a beer on the boat which is welcome! Alex, our rep who greeted us at Kavala, was excellent, really nice Scottish chap who was knowledgeable and friendly.

THE STUDIOS
We were in room 40 in the Athrion II block. We arrived late so we were delighted to be in a room that was clean, had a huge balcony and a fridge with a small freezer. We couldn't see the view, but the morning greeted us with the most spectacular, breathtaking views of the mountains. We could also see the sea but sat with our back to it unless it was first thing in the morning when we were avoiding the sunshine. Studios were well equipped, electric kettle and a couple of pots although you would struggle to cook anything more than a light meal. Generally the studios were quiet however the staircase does tend to mean doors closing and keys turning can sound very loud. If you like an afternoon nap, we'd recommend taking some earplugs. Nothing to complain about tho. One gripe from the female here, there is no mirror in the room! Make use of the bathroom one before your man gets in there!!

THE BEACH
We tried a couple of places and found the best to be nearer the Golden Beach end. Head down to Hepih Minimarket, past the Baywatch style lookout tower and turn left. After about 4 - 5 minutes walk you'll pass a little river type thing, just ahead of this is the best bit of beach in our opinion. Clean white sand, comfortable loungers, huge umbrellas and only 5 euros a day. The sand into the sea here was less stoney and gently sloping into crystal clear waters. We highly recommend a bat and ball as the perfect way to cool down and have a good giggle! Try to get there by 11 to get your choice of sun lounger. Say hi to the donut man!!

EATING OUT
We ate out every night and boy did we enjoy it. The most we paid for 2 starters, 2 main and a litre of wine was 32 euro. We'd read a lot of reviews on here and people were recommending ";Krambousa"; This was the only place we were dissappointed with. A couple of dishes we ordered were off the menu and one of the dishes we eventually got was missing 2 ingredients (crab and lobster) but missing none of the price! Service also slow on what was not a particularly busy night. Our favourite place was ";Nautilus"; do NOT miss out on the stuffed red peppers or roasted sardines! HEAVEN!!! Great friendly service too. Other lovely meals at the ";Green Sea"; (service slow but worth waiting for - also excellent for lunch) Casa del Oro (we think this was the name) at Golden Beach (opposite camp site entrance) good food (try the gouvietsi for the best lamb and pasta dish) but not much of a view compared to Scala P.

TRIPS OUT
We were there purely to relax but did take a bus to Thassos town one evening. Bus service prompt and air conditioned although make yourself seen to the driver or he will keep going if not run you over! We picked this up outside the Hepih minimarket. Thassos Harbour is stunning as the sun sets but the town itself is relatively busy and touristy. Head away from the harbour to the square for a more relaxed atmosphere (we ate outside while listening to the local gentlemen playing some traditional music)

SHOPPING
We found everything we needed at the Hepih minimarket - get there by 8.15 for warm beautiful fresh bread. Good selection of alcohol! They also take credit cards which is useful if you want to take cigarettes home. Scala P has a variety of shops for pressies and souvenirs, we would recommend a place just up from the front in the Scala P end ";Athena"; for really lovely Lladro style alabaster figurines.

THE DOWN SIDE
You've read it in other reviews, but do NOT underestimate the mossies! Put your insect repellant in your hand luggage as you will need it as soon as you land at Kavala. Plug in and spray repellant does the trick though. Our only other issue in an otherwise perfect holiday was the check out time. We were due to be out of the room at 11, to be picked up at 5.30. However, at 10.30 a maid banged on our door and was not shy at expressing her disgust at the fact that we had the audacity to stay in the room till 11! It was a long a day so we'd recommend a spot of shopping and a long lunch to pass the time! We plan to write to Golden Sun to ask why the check out time could not be extended or additional time offered at an extra charge (which we would have been happy to pay) If this changes we'd be interested to know.

ALL IN ALL
An absolutely perfect holiday. Relaxing, stress free, good food, good beach, friendly people - we cannot recommend both Scala P and the Athrion Studios highly enough. We'll definitely will be back. If you're off there, have a great time, we hope you enjoy it as much as we have.

Whilst the rooms are clean and modern they are very very small. We stayed in a double room for 3 with the third bed being a foldaway bed. The bathroom was small and you have to hold the shower as the fixture didnt work properly. There is only one small mirror in the bathroom, no mirrors or dressing table in the main room.

We moved out of this accomodation in thew second week of our holiday (because our son had an accident) and moved to Erics Bar Studio's which were much bigger and so much nicer. I would not recommend this accomodation if travelling with children.

We were moved to the Athrion Studios halfway through our holiday after being disappointed with the Cristal Studios (I've done a separate entry for these - please read this as well!).

The Athrion Studios were so much better. They were fairly new, situated about halfway between the resorts of Skala Potamias and Golden Beach, with a walk of about 20-25 minutes to each place. They have lovely views of the mountains from the back and of the bay from the front. Some of the rooms have shared balconies, separated by a railing, while some had completely private balconies. Most of the rooms had double beds but some were triple bedded. They were light and airy and fairly spacious.

All the floors were tiled in the Athrion, which although it looked nice and cleaned well, it did make it quite noisy/echoey! We had taken some ear plugs with us, which I was a bit doubtful about at first, but they were brilliant and I slept soundly every night!! The rooms were cleaned every other day. There are gardens surrounding the Studios with sun loungers, although there is no pool. It is about a 5 minute walk to the nearest part of the beach, which looked fine, there are tavernas around this area, the one on the beach (I don't know what it is called) does very nice, freshly made pizzas, reasonably priced and very filling! Green Sea taverna has a pool that you can use and looked really nice, although we didn't get a chance to try it out!

We travelled with Golden Sun and I must say that they looked after us pretty well. Their welcome talk was very informative, although their prices for car hire and trips can be beaten if you book them independantly. Our rep. Sarah was very good in arranging our move from the Cristal to the Athrion - no messing about at all and no admin. fee either.

I'm not going to write about the resort here as I babbled on in my report for the Cristal Studios and I'm now fed up of typing!! If you want to know about the rest of the island check out my other report!! Have a brilliant holiday, I'm sure you'll love the island, it is a very special place! Yassos!

The great secret of this resort, and the island is that the Greeks take their holidays here, and therefore the resort is not over priced and the food is good and it is is relatively sedate, suiting couples and families.
We hired a car, so saw all the Island and Kavala on the mainland, and I required medical action, which was well handled by the Reps Sarah and Dianne, and the superb Chemist in Prinos.
Skala Potamia and Golden beach form along the bay and Athrion Studios is in the middle a good walk to the centres at Skala Potamia and Golden Beach, but at least quiet.

Good drinking places were the AITAIO (Aegian) Restaurant directly below the Studios on the beach, friendly helpful staff. Erics Bar in Skala with Stratos (Eric) a good and cheerful host. Who mentioned Cantana? Kortina Hotel Pool Bar (where we had our Reps meeting)full use of the facilities.Watch out for the cocktail bars, expensive, but normally the price was fair.
The 2 good restaurants we used were the Krambouca in Skala and the Sotiris at Golden Beach, both good food at great value.

This place is not for the 18-30s and is relatively unspoilt. A Great Find

The Athrion Apartments and studios are modern and clean with great views of the sea or mountains(or both),there are some sunbeds in the garden if you dont fancy the short walk to the beautiful beach.
Try the nearby Taverna 'Green Sea', it has a small swimming pool with free sunbeds,and the food is great but you get too much!!(friendly owner - Panos)
Other good Restaurants are GOLDEN BEACH:-
Fedra,Vigli,Sotiris and SKALA POTAMIA:-
Krambousa,Tassos,Nautilus.
Good Bus service, and it's punctual.Buy your tickets at the supermaket first(euro 1.10 to Thassos town)
PS. No Wasps this year.
Problem free Holiday.

Skala Potamias was everything we'd hoped for - quiet, unspoiled, picturesque with great beaches and friendly people. The resort has a busy end with a funfair and a quiet end with fairly quiet beaches. Our apartment was well appointed with a good balcony. It would have warranted an excellent rating except the bins were always full and we didn't have access to a broom.

The resort itself did deserve 5 stars. The beach was generally clean and well maintained and the restaurants were excellent. Our favourites were Krambousa on the beach near the town and Alkides (hope I spelled that right) slightly inland and towards Golden Beach. We were slightly disappointed with Kavilla next door to Krambousa - the waitresses seemed to resent serving. Panagia is a must-visit place to see how the Greeks really live and it's only a short bus ride. Be aware, however, that the last bus is at 8.00 pm. We had no trouble with wasps or mosquitos-maybe they are a problem at other times of the year. Eric's bar is worth visiting if only to get a photo of Ooh Aah Cantona. Also, the Sun and Moon is a quiet bar run by 2 friendly Brits.

All in all, thoroughly recommended.

The Athrion Studios were very clean (maid service three times a week), the bed was a double bed (not two singles pushed together), the room had a ceiling fan (very useful in the hot sticky nights) and a massive balcony which included some pation furniture and very useful parasol (also the view from our balcony was magnificent which faced the mountains which hug the bay). The only downside was there were no safety deposit boxes - however the island is very safe with very little crime.

The Athrion Studios are situated half way between the resorts of Scala Potamia and Golden (20 min either way). This was extremely good as it gave us a choice of two resorts depending on what you wanted(Scala Potamia being the busier resort and Golden Beach the quieter). Also it kept our apartments in a nice quiet area, away from the main road.

Scala Potamia was busy on a small scale and had some excellent tavernas - the best being Krambouas. Golden beach was quieter but also had an excellent taverna under some huge pine trees. All meals (2 starters, 2 mains, bottle of water and 0.5 litre of wine plus free bread, aperitifs and deserts) were approx. 25 Euros (17-18 quid) - bargian! Cocktails were hit and miss but still cheap and all contained a lot of alcohol!

The beach was gorgeous and and the sea lovely and remained shallow for a long time - very safe for kids with no strong currents.

If you fancy a relaxing (romantic) holiday as a couple or family hol, both Golden Beach and Scala Potamia are ideal. Any place where there is a fantastic view in every direction and everywhere is a stroll down the beach is alright by me.