Esperides Studios & Apartments

Just come back from another amazing holiday in Corfu. The Esperides apartments again did not disappoint. Third time visitors. Harris and his mum and dad always really friendly and nothing is too much trouble. Vivi does a great breakfast. Will defiantly book again for next year. Great restaurants about 10 mins walk away. Loads more about 20-25 mins walk away. Never had a bad meal. Really enjoyable holiday. Xx

This is the 2nd year we've stayed at Esperides and will be returning again. They are family run apartments and Haris and his family cannot do enough for you! The apartments are clean, light and spacious and the surroundings are just beautiful and peaceful. They are situated 20-30 mins walk from Sidari centre, but a 5 min taxi ride for 5 Euros. However, the walk is lovely and there are restaurants along the walk. Close by to Esperides is Bavias (absolutely fantastic) and Salt & Pepper (also really good).

I booked a week long holiday with my two daughters at the Esperides Apartments for the end of August 2019. We flew with Jet 2, a package holiday company with outstanding customer care and so we arrived at the Esperides having faced no challenges - not even at Leeds / Bradford airport ! We arrived at the apartments late at around 11pm. The building was in complete darkness but there was a well lit building next door so I set off towards that. The driver gestured that it was the dark building we needed so we walked along the side of this and turned a corner and came to the bar - which was a relief ! A very pleasant bloke working behind the bar checked us in and directed us to our two bed apartment. This was ideal and pretty much as expected - basic but perfectly adequate. The next morning we got a better feel for the accommodation and the surroundings. The apartments are set in pleasant grounds with views of low hills all around - a nice spot. The sun shone warmly everyday and the clean pool and reasonably well stocked bar made the location feel ideal at times ! And as others have commented, there were always sun beds available around the pool which is a plus. Those staying there were all Brits. The apartments are a family run affair - the owner appearing to be the bloke behind the bare who was supported by his parents and all were extremely helpful at all times. The reviews state that this is a good place to stay and it is. There are some downsides so let's get those out of the way first. The apartments are a mile from Sidari, a fair walk along roads populated by quite dodgy drivers. They don't appear to feel the need to give pedestrians much room and nor do the Brits on their quads who are perhaps more dodgy than the Greek drivers - so take care on the roads. The apartments are not particularly well cleaned during the week. The bins in the apartment were emptied but it did not appear that the towels and bottom sheets on the beds were changed unless you asked for them to be. There was a shower and bath in the room but no plug in the bath and no way of attaching the shower to the wall. I asked about this and was told it was to save water so we went with that and showered in the bath by holding the shower head. I thought this was the norm but we hired another room for a late check out and the shower could be fixed to the wall in this one. The lady cleaning the rooms was very pleasant and helpful. The wifi was poor - this is important if you have older children like me ! It only works at the bar and not very well there. We had room 4 and there was no mobile signal in the room either although you could get one outside of the room - eventually ! But the experience of staying at the Espirides is generally good. The place has a friendly feel, is relaxed and most of those staying there appeared to enjoy this. It is a family / couples place to stay and many of the Brits enjoyed talking chatting in the bar area. A large bottle of local beer (which was good - Mythos) was €3 and the bar served food during the day - the usual stuff (burgers, toasties etc) costing from €3 to €5. There are restaurants and a number of supermarkets within half a mile of the apartments. The supermarkets all closed on the Sunday which was a surprise. We chose to walk into Sidari to dine out in the evening. We had been told that Sidari was a lively resort which I opted for so that my daughters could 'party' a bit. The town had an 'end of season' feel to it and wasn't as busy as I expected and whilst the 'Strip' had several bars which stayed open late, it wasn't as active as we thought it would be. There are lots of places to eat and drink in Sidari. There are lots of average restaurants (we visited one called 'The Athena' on the walk into the town - a nice looking restaurant with great prices - €33 for a couple of starters, three mains and drinks so recommended) and the odd more classy one. We visited 'The Hive' which had great service and lovely food in a nice setting but was much more expensive - a good place to go if you can afford it. I found the portions served everywhere were quite large so bear that in mind. Beer costs around €3 a pint. The bars backing on to the beach all served food and drink and offered free sun beds on the beach if you used the bar. We enjoyed the beach more than sitting by the pool. There are lots of water based activities that you can enjoy at a mostly reasonable cost. Now and then we got a taxi back to the apartments which always cost €5. The last downside was the mosquito bites - we found that we picked up quite a few of these which were incredibly uncomfortable so do go prepared for these if you have skin that they seem to like. I guess that you get what you pay for. The Esperides is a good place for those on a budget where you will enjoy a pleasant holiday. Some folk seem to like to complain when on holiday so they should avoid it as they would have a field day ! If you are looking for good value, friendly accommodation in pleasant surroundings you won't go far wrong with the Esperides apartments.