Antigone Studios Reviews

we stayed here at antigone in august of this year had a great time very friendly the studios are spacious and very clean not to far from the town a short stroll antigoni and her family cannot do enough to make your stay enjoyable we will go again if we can find out who will take over from kosmar now they have gone bust

Antigone is the name of the woman who owns and runs the Studios and this is the second time that we have stayed at these Studios (previously in 2005) yet this time we saw a few crack that seem to have appeared and would now not recommend these studios.

They have gone to some expense replacing the bar furniture, and in the studios themselves have had TV aeriel sockets (no TV's yet), phone sockets, (why, nearly everyone has a mobile), and air conditioning installed.

There are 10 studios, (which are one room with a bathroom), they form two rows of five running parallel with each other, having a central pathway between them. The balconies of the left hand row overlook waste ground with an assortment of work vehicles being parked there overnight, the right hand row overlook an industrial unit. These five also provide no shelter what so ever from the sun during the day or evening.

The rooms are large and are twin bedded with a third single bed available. There is a small double wardrobe, which contains two drawers, a dresser with one drawer and two bedside cabinets. This is just sufficient for two people but wholly inadequate for three. Cutlery and crockery is provided but again caters for only two people. On the balcony there are just two chairs and a little table.

The cooking facilities are one double ring electric cooker. The large ring never got hot and took 20 minuets to fry four rashers of bacon. The small ring did get hot but was dangerous trying to balance a frying pan on it. Catering facilities are grossly inadequate seeing as it is advertised as a self-catering apartment for up to three people. A fridge is provided but they would not allow you to alter the thermostat inside the fridge, as on a daily basis they would enter the room and alter the fridge settings back down to minimum. This was highly annoying, Thasos is hot in Summer. We had paid for the accommodation and facilities and wanted the fridge cooler as we had food in it.

The balcony chairs where at best functional, anything but comfortable. It was as though they were trying to discourage you from relaxing and enjoying a few drinks, on your own balcony. Perhaps trying to sway you to drink in the bar.

The towels where like cardboard, clean but fabric conditioner it would appear, is never used.

Bedding was changed but not both sheets at the same time. The practise seemed to be to put the old top sheet on the bottom and give you a clean top sheet, which would then later become your bottom sheet. This was born out by the fact that one of our top sheets, complete with 5 small holes in it later became the bottom sheet at bedding change.

The air conditioning cost 6euro per day, around £4.20. The air conditioning could be thermostaticly set and/or by using the timer. On our first night, we left it on while we went out for a short while, setting the temperature so it would be cool on our return. On our return it was found that they had been into our room, and had switched the air conditioning off and removed the magnetic tag that controlled the rooms electric. (Bar the fridge). The following morning we were lectured about not leaving the air conditioning on and were not to remove the magnetic tag from the doors key ring. So now we are paying over £4 a day for a facility and then being told when and when we could not use it.

Bar prices where high. A Brandy and coke cost 4 euro (£2.80). A bottle in the shops cost 8 euro.
That means they were changing half the price of a BOTTLE for one drink, and the brandy was measured in a jigger giving you the equivalent of a UK measure. Some profit margin there then. In all the other bars the Brandy was just tipped in giving very good Greek measures, and was cheaper. The outside seating area for the bar was two years ago, grass, but now it is just dirt.

They offered an extremely limited menu and were expensive. Chips cost 3 euro (£2.10) Egg and chips 4.50 euro (£3.15)

The pool is small with 14 sunbeds. Catering for 20 people minimum and 30 maximum. However, sun umbrellas, just five. Not enough. They were also bolted down so it was impossible to move them to take advantage of any shade that might be required or indeed wanted. It was impractical to rearrange the sun beds, as there was not enough room. The other problem was ANTS, all around the pool, on the grassy area adjacent to the and even on the sunbeds themselves. Several people being bitten. No attempt was ever made to eradicate the Ant problem.

They were described by other people as penny pinching lazy hosts. Trying to maximise their profits with the minimum amount of effort and service.

This year (2007) we paid with Co-op after discounts £399 per person. Plus airport taxes etc, etc. Next year, same two weeks, same time, after Co-op discounts, Kosmar are asking £544 to stay at the Antigone Studios. Plus airport taxes etc.

That's an extra £145 per person. Just not worth it. By all means go to Thassos, lovely Island, go to Thassos town, lovely town but do not go to the Antigone Studios. Try one of the others. They are definitely not worth that sort of money, particularly if there will be three of you. £544 each, they are joking.

A great welcome awaits you at the Antigone. From the moment we got of the transfer bus the friendliness of both Antigone herself, Hercules her husband and their sons Pano and Adonis was all to evident. Whilst we were there Antigone and her staff were always on hand to meet the new arrivals and say a sometimes tearful goodbye to departing guests. Many of whom regarded themselves as Antigones friends after their stay.

The apartments are large and kept spotlessly clean by Sylvia the cleaner. They don,t have the best views from the balcony`s but we only used the balcony for our morning and evening drinks of tea.
Thassos town centre (about 8 mins walk and the beach a further 3 mins) has plenty going for it. With enough shops bars and resturants to satisfy most.

We particularly enjoyed the food at The Toxotis and for a taste of home try The Chefs Table.
Enjoy the view of the old harbour and a drink at the Remezo, Cheers bar for Sky, a beer or Full Englih breakfast. or the Brazil bar to people watch.

This being our third visit to the island we didn`t stray far from Thassos Town but from our memories of previous visits Thassos is a beautiful island and very easy to get around.
The only downside of the holiday was the return flight picking up at Skiathos adding a further 90 mins to the travelling time.

Thanks to the people of Thassos town and particularly Antigone and all at the apartments for a smashing holiday.

Having stay at antigones for many years i felt i had to write this review to say that the apartments are clean and spacious and you are treated as a member of antigones family, having read some of the reviews i feel that people love to exaggerate, the rooms are cleaned everyday and beds changed 3 times a week, the rooms are not shabby but well looked after by hercules who is antigones husband. the pool is always of a high standed and very clean, the sun bed are clean too,nothing is to much trouble, i would definitly reccomend these apartments and i will be returning again next year and many more to come.

Just got back from Antigone Studios, Superb. Thassos Town and Island, superb. thanks to the people who put information on the web it's a great help. My recommendations are use the local Buses,(bus Station and timetables in the town). Take a taxi from the front to Makryammos Beach for the day 5 Euros each way, ask the reception to phone your return taxi. Visit Cheers Bar on the front for drinks, snacks or Breakfast also Sky TV, Peter and Jane are great hosts, best Bar we came across many others thought the same.

We have never been to this Island before because we like to move on but this is a top Island just go you won't be disappointed.

Having been a regular visitor to Thassos since 1997, I decided I wanted to share it with my husband as part of our honeymoon. this turned out to be a huge mistake, and sadly I will not be returning to Thassos. thanks to Kosmar.

I have stayed at various places with both Kosmar and Thomson - Hotel Makryammos, Hotel Vicky, Evridiki Studios etc and have always enjoyed my time there, while also making some good friends in the process.

A few of the previous hotels are no longer run by Thomson and Kosmar and so having seen the welcome that guests have got from Antigone on previous visits, I decided to do a bit more research.. The choice was between Antigone and Aberdeen Studios. We decided on Antigone Studios because of comments left by other guests on this site.

The flight over was a complete joke. we had to make a stop at Skiathos airport beforehand so Kosmar could make up the numbers on the flight. we weren't aware of this until we got our tickets through. Once we had landed at Skiathos, we had to move to the rear seats to allow homebound passengers to get on.

The cabin crew had put a lot of their own baggage in the overhead lockers and had left drinks etc on the seating. When they were moving them they weren't too bothered if they bashed you, and offered no apology. Appearance and professionalism, the crew were more interested in crude banter with each other and I'd say Scooch would have made a better example of flight crew.

The plane must have been bought from a £1 shop. There was steam rising up into the cabin whilst we were stationery at the airport. This caused some alarm amongst passengers. The cabin crew seemed to think this was normal?!

On arrival to Antigone Studios. we were a little disappointed. no great welcome, and other guests were sat round what looked like a very cloudy pool. We were shown to our rooms and pre-warned that the steps could be slippery when wet. In the room was the mop and bucket, usual for Thassos because of the lack of shower curtains. our room overlooked a bit of a waste ground, where they seemed to repair construction equipment.

The apartments were old, tired with burnt and cracked power sockets.

For those who have not been to Thassos before, hot water is a luxury. at Antigone, if you are on the sunny side, you have hot water earlier (there were people asking to move rooms while we were there because of this)

Unfortunately on our first night we didn't get much sleep. Having been a regular visitor to Thassos, I know beds are firm but these beds were like sleeping on a slab of marble. Outside the doors (which had windows) were security lights that lit up the whole room like broad day light. The only way to block it out was to drape towels over them.

There was also a lot of noise coming from the bar. a mixture of music, singing and shouting. This went on until 1am, but even then we had to endure doors banging while everyone went back to their rooms.

The next day was the welcome meeting so we went along in the hope to rectify our concerns. As per Kosmar brochure and information poster in the accommodation they encourage people to inform their Kosmar representative immediately so that they have the opportunity to resolve.

After the welcome talk had been given and guests had booked their excursions, we approached the rep.

We started to calmly explain our problems, starting with the bed but were immediately interrupted and told all beds in Greece were hard. We were a little shocked and explained that we had been to Greece before and were aware they were firm, but this was really hard. The rep admitted that she had never slept at the Antigone but said there was nothing she could do.

When we told her about the light, again she interrupted and told us we could switch it off from inside. After explaining that we had already tried this, and had then put a towel over the door, the rep shrugged her shoulders and said she'd need to check that out.

In regards to the noisy guests, all the rep could say was that they were repeat business. Nothing else was said or suggested. The response was arrogant and I took it to mean that we were not regarded as repeat Kosmar customers and therefore our situation was not important.

To cut a long story short, after being kept awake 3 nights running, and the continued attitude from the rep (who incidentally is head rep) we eventually booked flights home. We sat down with Antigone as we did not want her to think it was anything she had done. Antigone had done everything in her power to try and alleviate the problem, but her efforts were not enough. She even admitted that in the height of summer, the doors of the bar cannot be closed due to not having air conditioning, so noise levels are higher.

Needless to say I will not be touching Kosmar with a barge pole!

visited the antigone studios in august the owner who is called antigone and her family make you feel very welcome apartments are basic but are very clean the gardens surrounding the apts are lovely a number of people return year after year so booking these apartments can be difficult at peak times as we discovered in august all were booked for the following august

the distance to the town is only a ten minute walk we often stopped of at a little cafe/bar called rumours which is owned by a british couple called wanda and paul were we enjoyed a glass of wine or two before heading for our evening meal there is numerous places to eat in the town although be prepared to wait we had a lovley holiday and will be returning in 2008 if we can get booked just one complaint against thassos the number of wasps although in the two weeks we stayed managed not to get stung but would be a problem i think if you had small children

Antigone Studios are small (10 apartments), basic and clean. No air con so hiring a fan is essential (2 euros per day). Safety deposit boxes are also available for 10 euros per week.

It seems that virtually everybody who stays here is a return visitor. According to people we spoke to who were there for the umpteenth time they reserve rooms TWO YEARS in advance! If you want to go at the end of next June you have no chance - its already booked up. It seems to appeal more to the older end who have been going to Thassos (and Antigone) for years.

Not everything is perfect though. Whilst Antigone is very friendly she becomes less so when she discovers that you are not going to spend every waking moment around the pool and in the bar! The studios could go with toasters and a small kettle. All there is are two electric plates so you can't even make a slice of toast. Cutlery is minimal, i.e. 2 forks, 2 spoons, 2 plates, 2 glasses etc. We had to buy a sharp knife. Also the balcony furniture is the most uncomfortable I have ever sat on!

Its an easy walk into town. There's a bakery two minutes away and a decent supermarket and fruit shop a bit further on.

Best beaches are Makryammos (only 5 minutes away by car/scooter - no bus service there). Private stunning white sand beach with the most up market umbrellas (massive) and sunbeds we have ever seen on a beach anywhere. 2 euros each to go onto the beach and 7 for the hire of the beds and brollies (well worth it). Nice security guy who let us in free on our last day.

Golden beach is also lovely but takes 45 minutes on the bus. We hired a scooter for 110 euros for 11 days and it was brilliant. Not much traffic on the roads. Other beaches aren't worth bothering with. Paradise beach is far from paradise and those to the west of Thassos Town are nothing special. Both the beaches mentioned above are Blue Flag which says it all!

Go up to Panagia inland - 6/7 kms away from Thassoss Town - nice for a couple of hours away from the beach.

Restarants: Pigis is good. Takis is where we went back time and time again. Twins was rubbish (cold food). Alyon next door to Takis we never went to due to the manic man pacing up and down outside desperate to get you to go in. Panos is good for burgers and gyros. Symi very nice. Da Remo pizzas is the only Italian and does very nice pizzas and is never very busy. El Greco was OK but was missing the ";greek touch";. Cheers on the harbour is good for breakfasts. Harbour Lites next door closed down. Also Zorbas with the live music closed down.

Nice bar next to Takis where you can have a drink and watch the world go by. Also the Central bar upstairs on the main street where you can get lovely cockails for 4 euros. Remezo is lovely to watch the sunsets.

Overall, a good holiday, but we have been to nicer places e.g. Parga, Skiathos and Skopelos are much prettier and have much more character. Thassos gets a big plus for the beaches though. It also gets a minus for the dodgems/fair on the harbour - whoever allowed that to be built there wants shooting!

Antigone - large basic rooms, immacutely clean. No need to use the safety box. The owners are wonderfull, we will be exchanging xmas cards! The pool could be improved by a set of steps in the shallow end. In a quiet location, a 15 min saunter to the harbour.

Thassos Town - Hasn't got the nice harbour like Skiathos, its long and open because of the large ferries that go in regularly. Good shopping though and plenty of taverna's. We liked Moyses and Nikos the best. They are at farthest ends of the harbour. Not a place for the young as there are no disco's etc. Although I think a safe island for smaller children.

Overall - You can leave your purse on a table and it will still be there when you go back. A women lost 50 euros, went back the next day and they had saved it for her!! What a wonderfull people the greeks are, so friendly, you can't go wrong here. Shame about the weather, but they can't control that.

It was our first time on Thassos and we found it superb.

On first arriving at Antigone Studios our first comment was on how small the pool was. However, considering that there are only 10 studios it was more than adequate, never being crowded except when everybody was in having a brilliant time playing a mad version of volley ball.

The family was very friendly, the rooms very clean and spacious, with plenty of cupboard and drawer space. The rooms where cleaned regularly with clean towels every other day. Toilet rolls were also replaced.

Hard to find any fault with the Antigone Studios except that perhaps the bar prices could have been a little cheaper. Cheaper prices could be found in town.

Can not recommend any particular place to eat as everyones opinions differ. There are an abundence of Tavernas to try. Zorbas had live Greek music playing which by the end of the meal we found that we had been Greek musiced out.

Piggis and Il Posto were the only Tavernas that we returned to.

There are plenty of Car Hire firms but we rented through Kosmar just to save the hassle. 130 Euro for 5 days.

Recommend not to bother going on any of the Kosmar trips as those that went said that they would not recommend them.

The Caves are apparently a good trip except Kosmar no longer run it, need to go under own steam.

For local knowledge see Terry at the Harbour Lights, opposite the Dodgems.

The dodgems are brilliant, 1.50 per car for two people and you can actually go round bumping into other cars. Nothing like in the UK. (This way round and no bumping)

Thought Thassos was an absolute gem and will certainly be returning and in particular to the Antigone Studios.

Met some wonderful people there which made the holiday even more enjoyable.

just got back from a lovely 2 wks in the best accomadtion in thassos.

very friendly and helpful owners who will do anything and everything for you.rooms very clean and comfortable bar open 24/7 serving snacks.5 min walk into town loads of good bars and eating places.best breakfast harbour lights opposite dodgems 11/10.english owner terry full english 5euro hot baughets 3euro.if your going out for the day he'll make you filled baughets while you wait 2euor and tell you best places and beaches to go .panos for burgers 9/10,el grecos english owner jill for great selection of greek and continental food 11/10 also great late bar inside .for people watching go to anonyomous and fullmoon bars next to each other say hello to terry 10/10.cheapest and best car hire potos car hire next to vets.very enjoyable ferry ride over will return one day.

Antigone Studios are simply one of the best in Thassos town, your probably too late to book for 2005 which says it all, see previous reports for details.

Car hire (Potos or Auto Union) is worth a day or two, £18 for the day with a small corsa, the Susuki jiminy was ?40 and not so comfortable but great fun (there are no roundabouts on Thassos).

A great deal of emphasis on places to eat, my advice is try as many as you can as everyones tastes vary. Our best night was Zorbas (live greek music and a bit of audience participation and good food) a bit disappointed with The Twins (Chips covered in oil and uncooked rice) and Pigis (Very slow uninterested service but the food was good)

Good market in Prinos on Mondays finishes about 14:00 hrs, really nice buses (Volvo,etc coaches with music, ac. and exceedingly cheap and regular)

Archangel Monastery was fun regarding the extra clothes your given to ";cover up";

The ban on loo paper (whatever the use) in the toilet but in the bin instead took
a bit of getting used to for the first time visitor) Their pipes are small bore and clog up if paper is flushed.

Mythos beer was good and the frosted beer glasses were quaint and nice in the hot weather.

We found the bands of roaming cats and dogs amusing as we're animal lovers but it wasn't to everyones taste.

Chill out at any (we used The Drift)beach bars/tavernas on the free sunbeds for as long as you like. good swimming, hardly any difference regarding tides.

Yammas - ";Cheers";

Yassas - Single
Yassou - Group....";Hello and goodbye";
Parakalo - "; thankyou";
Kalamaira - ";goodmorning";
Kalanicta - ";goodnight";

Went down well but all the locals are very friendly and speak english.

sad to leave thassos, and antigone, will definately return one day.

studios spacious and spotlessly clean, cleaned every day except sunday. The owners are lovely people and make you very welcome, while there my husband had a birthday, antigone arranged a cake with candles and a bottle of champagne,a lovely surprise. thassos town is lovely not to busy, very greek. great restaurants, especially the twins and zorbis, live greek dancing. hire a car a lovely island to see and not very big, you can drive the whole island in one and a half hours, although it does take longer than this as there are beautiful beaches to find off the beaten track. one in particular is glifoneri,gorgeous.

we hired a yacht for the day, just us and the skipper 'stamatis' a lovely greek man speaks good english, we sailed around the island for 7 hours and stopped at many bays and swam to beaches.the name of the yacht is 'mare nostram'.

we will definately visit thassos again.

Just returned from a absoulutely wonderful holiday at Antigones studio,There are only 10 apartments spotlessly clean,maid came every day bar sundays.Sheets and towels changed every 3 days.Safety deposits boxes in room,also you can hire fans.Antigone is a very special lady we have never known hospitality like it.She loves to sit and have a chat and she welcomes you like a long lost friend.Only down side is their are not enough sunbeds if everyone wanted a day by the pool.It takes about 5 mins to walk down to the main square,a couple more mins to the old harbour and beach where there is a good selection of taverna,s and bars with wonderful views and sunsets.

Eating out is very cheap lovely food in all the resturants we tried Syritaki,Veneries, Symi on the harbour Moyses near the ferry,The Twins and Ageion up the alley.Weather was great in the 80,s not too hot could sunbathe without frying.

In all it was fantastic we will be back again .Chris,Johnny Stifado,Barrieee and Sue d

The accomodation was very small (10 studios)and very friendly. The rooms were quite big and were very clean. The owner 'Antigone' and her husband spoke good English and made everyone welcome (shaking hands with everyone when they arrived).

We thought that the best restaurants were Zythion, Syrtaki, Pigi for Greek meals. If you want an English version of Greek go to Zodiac.

For a nice quiet drink and an English Breakfast go and see Terry and Keith at the Harbour Lights (opposite the Dodgems) on the Harbour. Terry can recommend all the best places to eat and visit on the Island.

For a good place to drink,watch the world go by and see the sunset go to Remezos between the dodgems and Simi Restaurant.

We enjoyed Thassos but felt that it was not as unspoilt and ";Greek"; as we expected.