Hotel Kanapitsa Mare

Having read previous reviews my expectations were not high for Kanapitsa Mare and sadly this was confirmed during our stay. This was our 5th trip to beautiful Skiathos and we have stayed in a variety of self catering and hotel accommodation in different parts of the Island so these are what I am comparing Mare with. My purpose with my reviews is always to be fair and as informative as possible for future guests. Of course all opinions are subjective. The Hotel has so much potential because of it’s enviable position which affords beautiful views. The very large terrace and pool area make the most of these. Most of the other public areas are attractive but some of the faded dirty pictures add to the feeling of a lack of care. This is most obvious in the garden troughs that surround the terrace and edge of the balconies - they are sparsely filled with very dry earth and dead looking plants which on the room balcony just obscure the view! Other parts of the gardens were well managed and cared for. I had booked a sea view double and had asked for a high floor. We were given a room on the 2nd floor (lowest accommodation level) above the breakfast room. Extremely dated and tatty fitted units for clothes and fridge. Ancient safe which we found impossible to programme - it didn’t seem to bear any similarity to the instructions! Very small bathroom with bath and shower but no bath plug. Toiletries supplied on arrival but not replenished during stay. Bedroom area adequate size with extremely firm/hard mattresses. We asked for extra pillows and they arrived very promptly. Balcony good size with a nice view slightly obliterated by some trees and the aforementioned foliage in the trough. Free A/C worked well with none of the issues that others have mentioned. Cleaned well and towels changed when required. Breakfast was good, completely self service. On our 2nd evening we returned to the hotel about 2230 for a coffee and a night cap only to be told very rudely that the coffee machine is turned off at 2130 for cleaning so no coffee - the barman seemed to think it was strange that I didn’t know this. Needless to say we didn’t use the bar again after this. Personally I found the staff I met as being pleasant but perfunctory. Usually my pathetic attempts to practice my limited Greek illicit a friendly response but not here. This is best demonstrated by the day we left - usually when you hand your key in you expect an expression of thanks for choosing the hotel and something along the lines of ‘we hope you enjoyed your stay’, the Receptionist merely said ‘thank you, goodbye’ just like we’d bought a pint of milk in the supermarket! We travelled with TUI and whilst it was not an issue for us it is worth noting, especially for first time visitors, that there are no Rep visits at this accommodation and the Welcome meeting is held elsewhere. Locally there is a handy Supermarket, Johnny’s Taverna and bar (pre-booking recommended) with lovely staff and food. The local beach, Nostos, is nice and where the water taxi to Skiathos Town leaves from - a lovely way to arrive in Town! One end of the beach is served by a rather posy beach bar where the sun beds looked rammed in and in order to enjoy the front row you had to fork out 20€!! Not sure if this bar was open for food in the evening. The other sun beds there and the few at the other (quieter) side of the beach were 10€. Elsewhere we still paid 8€. It is a short walk to the bus stops. One other thing that hadn’t occurred to me before booking on this side of the Kanapitsa peninsular was the direction of the sun. The aspect is NE. If like me you are a sun lover be aware that at the hotel in September the sun would probably be gone by 1630 by pool and on the local beach by 1830 and also requires turning your back to the sea if you want to face the sun!

Hotel a little tired but in a lovely location and staff all very friendly. We had a lovely room with sofa and bath with jets, nice balcony with sea view. Cleaning, although daily, was minimal. Breakfast gave lots of choices, bar meals not very inspiring. Pool was good, although people saved sunbeds by putting towels out before the pool was open, which most good hotels have now put a stop to. Bar open until late, but no coffee available after 9pm.

This hotel is basic and is a three star, but I couldn’t fault it! Beautiful views. Lovely spacious pool area. Everything in the room worked. Really liked the boat taxi into town on an evening. We hired a quad and fell in love with Skiathos.