Dia Apartments

I’ve just returned from a 7 night stay with my friend to Dia apartments. We arrived on 18th July, 3 days after the UK were allowed back to Greece. We had a few problems with our travel agent confirming our room last minute (not the hotels fault at all!) They were so helpful communicating with us back and forth until the agent sorted it. We arrived in the afternoon and greeted by Gabi, it was the nicest welcome I’ve ever had to a hotel! She showed us around and told us all of the important info about the hotel and how to get to town. The apartment was so clean and had everything we needed, we chose to pay extra for the air con for the week. The pool area is small but we had no problems due to it being quieter. We were given clean towels and the beds were changed during our stay Gabi left us her WhatsApp details in case of any problems. The rest of the team were also friendly and helpful. The beach is a 10 minute walk but it is uphill on the way back, a taxi is between €5-7. I would absolutely recommend going to the old villages of Piskopiano and Koutouloufari for a dinner one evening. Nikos and Gabi I will miss my morning frappés! Thank you so much for a wonderful stay I will definitely recommend to people I know and hope to come back sometime soon

Dia Apartments is a small development in an ideal location. Piskopiano village is a stiff 1km walk uphill (about 15 minutes, if that) but once you get there, turn left and Koutouloufari is an easy 5 minute walk, turn right and Hersonissos village is an easy 1.3km on the flat. Check this on Googlemaps if you like, but honestly, it’s true. Don’t know why a previous reviewer said it was two miles! It’s worth the walk as they are three quaint villages stuffed with good eateries - and a downhill return at the end of the day. As for our apartment, we have various complaints that, considering the cost of the holiday, we would not have expected to be making. It was extremely basic, especially the kitchen. No welcome pack – not even a bottle of water in the fridge. There was one toilet roll in the bathroom on arrival and, as we didn’t know if it would be replaced, we bought our own. Four days later another toilet roll appeared! Towels and sheets were fine and, to be fair, the whole place is beautifully clean and well maintained. The staff could not have been friendlier but there was a general lack of information. Supposedly a ‘superior’ duplex apartment, it was actually a badly designed studio with an add-on bedroom. Downstairs were two single beds (not sofa beds) next to a minuscule kitchen area and separate bathroom. No window in the kitchen so it was quite dark. There was a token dining table that couldn’t be used for eating as it was under the stairs. One wardrobe under the stairs was inadequate clothes storage for, potentially, four people. There was no television, no air conditioning, and the one single wall light meant it was very gloomy. The highlight was the balcony, which had a lovely sea view. The upstairs bedroom contained a double bed, a dressing table and the television. Too bad if the guests downstairs wanted to watch tv. The one air conditioning unit was also upstairs but we didn’t feel we should have to pay for it so did without. Our main concern was the steep wooden staircase up to the bedroom, which was not illuminated at all. The wall light downstairs could not be switched on from upstairs. Anyone in the top bedroom was taking their life in their hands if they got up in the night to go to the toilet – down steep stairs, in the dark. This is such an obvious safety hazard we would not be surprised to hear that people have fallen and injured themselves. Although not an immediately solvable problem, we wanted to draw this to the attention of a holiday rep (TUI) but were unable to find one and didn’t get any reply to our text message. We have since reported this to TUI and received a bland acknowledgement. To sum up, we feel the cost of the holiday was excessive for the minimal services and facilities provided and that the apartment itself was a potential safety hazard. All in all, disappointing.

We booked the Dia appts after reading excellent revues. I have to say that it didnt really live up to them. Ok its 3* and Greece is quite basic but the studio appt was small and very basic though very clean. The beds were 2 singles arranged in an L shape, very hard mattresses and no headboards so there was nowhere comfortable to sit. They wanted 50 € for air conditioning so we bought a small fan from the supermarket at the bottom of the hill.Thekitchen area was tiny and not very well equipped with the plug well out of reach so the kettle had to be put on the dressing table! The pool is small but nice and the grounds well kept. The bar area is where you can also eat but the daytime menu is very limited. The appts are on a hill. Down to Hersonissos centre which is huge and very touristy ( turn rt instead of left to the bay and youll find a lovely rocky seafront which is more authentic ) lined with restaurants, Nautica was very nice ,in 5-10 mins but longer in the heat coming back!(7euro in a taxi thats the minimum fare) . If you want to go further up the hill to the villages of Koutouloufari ( beautiful and more authentic than the new town) and Piskopiano its a long walk. Some reviews said 15min walk but its actually about 2miles all uphill so we went by taxi. Lovely restaurants, try Alchemist and Pithari both fab. We enjoyed our holiday but would stay up in the villages next time and look for a bit more comfort!