Skiathos Blu

Lovely hotel, the pool area is very nice with plenty of sun loungers, daybeds in the shade, beanbags etc. There's enough umbrellas and shady areas if you need them. The service at the pool bar is great, Illias is lovely, so friendly and helpful, his virgin strawberry mojitos are amazing!! Great views by the pool as well, can see mountainsides covered with trees and the sea. The hotel feels nice and secluded and doesn't have loads of foot traffic with it being away from the main town. The hotel has a minivan that takes you down to the beach so you don't have to walk up and down the stairs, and there's a timetable so you always know when you can get it. There's a lovely restaurant on the beach too, which it great for lunch. The beach is okay, but I wouldn't bother paying for a sun lounger down there, it's nicer by the pool! It's very easy to get into Skiathos Town from the hotel, you can either get the water taxi which is roughly once or twice an hour and 4EUR each way, or get the bus which comes every 15 mins outside the hotel for 1.8EUR each way. The bus is cheaper but can get very crowded, at around 5pm be prepared to wait a long time as buses get full and just drive past the stop. The boat is also nice at night if you sit outside at the front because you can see all the stars out, and it's less crowded. The rooms at the hotel are nice, simple with grey white and beige colour scheme. The beds are typical Greek beds, pretty hard but not too bad. Bathrooms are small as well. The rooms are nicely decorated, fairly basic but I'd say nicer than most Greek hotels I've stayed in. We booked a room in the main hotel building to avoid all the stairs you have to take with the bungalows however the hotel had oversold rooms in the main hotel building and we had to stay in a bungalow for 2 nights and then move to the main hotel building. The hotel sorted out moving our luggage which was helpful, but not ideal that we had to move in the first place so just be aware of that because they had done it to a few other people as well during our stay. The staff are really lovely and friendly and so helpful. Breakfast was nice, a nice selection of different cooked items every day like eggs, bacon etc, but the greek yogurt with honey is the best, so delicious. Dinner servie was okay. The food wasn't really to our taste and there wasn't a great deal of choice. We felt that some of the food tasted a little old as well, the potatoes at breakfast often tasted like they had been used at dinner the nice before and reheated and served, as did the bread from the croque monsieur. I'd recommend booking a bed and breakfast stay, unfortunately we had paid for half board and quickly decided we'd rather go out every night into Skiathos Town because the restaurants there are far better. The main areas of the hotel were beautifully decorated, lots of driftwood with plenty of seating areas to sit and read or just laze around. Everywhere is white with grey and driftwood accents which looks really beautiful. I would recommend this hotel in Skiathos as it has a really nice atmosphere and is in a good location, make sure you book to stay in the main hotel building if you want to avoid thousands of stairs, and I'd say only book bed and breakfast, half board isn't worth it and you're better eating dinner out.

We were given a bungalow near the bottom/middle which would mean lots of steps to climb every time you went for food or to the pool, We asked to move and was given a choice of two other bungalows, needless to say we choose No.1. It was not a problem for the reception staff at all. Rooms are nice but need more storage like draws or a cupboard as there only one open wardrobe with a couple of shelves and two small draws. The bathroom has a funny shower that splashes out everywhere and the shower curtain is held up by a piece of wire, the same in every room, not just ours. the hand basin is not in the bathroom but in an alcove next to your wardrobe, that i didn't like and there wasn't a lot of space for toiletries. Bed very comfortable and bedding changed every other day. Towels on the other hand we had to chase to be changed and they do not replace shower gel or shampoo bottles. The restaurant food was very good although if your there for two weeks as we were, it can get a bit monotonous but we did go into town several times to eat as the restaurants there are superb. Poolside is lovely and quite, Illyas the waiter is wonderful he cant do enough for you, the lady behind the pool bar needs to learn from Illyas. The real Legend of this hotel is Illias the shuttle bus driver what a gentleman he is, he will always go out of his way to help you, We met his wife and they are a wonderful couple. There are lots of walks to do in the area and the bus stop No.12 & 13 are at the bottom of the hill take you to town or the other end of the island, we walked back from bus stop No 26 Koukanaries, a long hot walk but it can be done. We hired a jeep for two days, worth doing and going to the North side of Skiathos, nice beaches and the Old Capital is definitely worth visiting as well as the Monastery. Theres a beautiful restaurant we had lunch at called Panorama, great food stunning location. Overall Skiathos is a beautiful island I can see why people go back time and time again, just for the peace and tranquility. There is nothing calling me back to that hotel especially as there are only two nights a week with very poor entertainment, I would want to go B&B next time nearer the Town as there is lots to do there in the evening. Special mention should be made about the following staff members: Georgia (receptionist), Ilias (the hotel driver), Ilias (pool bar waiter) and the buffet fillers ( Christos and a lady not sure on her name but had long dark hair ) and the cooks behind the buffet. These individuals were truly amazing, and any hotel is lucky to have them.

We stayed in the middle of the property and by middle I mean about halfway down the stairs, so a lot of steps up to the main area and pool and a lot of steps down to the beach and bus stop. But that turned out to be a blessing because we enjoyed the breakfasts and dinners so much that walking stairs several times a day was great exercise. The room was comfortable and we were not put off by the frosted glass in the bathroom at all. Loved the deck we had and so appreciated being given a drying rack so that we could wash and dry clothes and dry our towels and suits daily. Skiathos Blu was close to the water taxi that takes you into Skiathos town and close to a small boat that took you to Tsourgias Island -- that was a total highlight of our stay. Loved it, Loved the things at Skiathos Blu like Greek dancing night and the live music, etc. but the main attraction and the reason why we are already talking about returning for a visit is the staff. We enjoyed everyone that we met, especially Georgina, who worked at the main desk, Rafella, who worked at the cafe at the beach and then worked the dining room in the evenings, and Ilias, who worked at the pool bar and made us our first frappes ever. But every single staff person that we met was friendly and always willing to chat. We learned so much about Greece and looked forward to chatting with people every day. We also had a great time meeting other people who were staying at the resort. The breakfast and dinner buffets were excellent, even for a vegetarian! We wouldn't have missed a meal just because we thought meal time was fun. We can't say enough good things about this place and hope to be returning in the future. Interestingly, the the whole experience was very different than what we were expecting. We were so surprised and happy. By the way, the pool was also wonderful! We;ll be back!!!