The best way to reach Armonia Hotel in Vouliagmeni,
is by taxi. It would take some half an hour and the
fare should be app 20-25 Eur. But be aware that the
most of the cab drivers in a line outside the airport
may 'forget' to switch their meters. That means,
your final fee might be unpredictable. When I was
there for the first time, I accepted an offer from a
company who invited me to go there, to have a
scheduled taxi ride from the airport to the hotel and
vice versa, but later it appeared that the 'scheduled'
taxi fare was as twice higher than it was for ordinary
cabs. The next year, I did not order any scheduled
ride but took a cab from a line outside the airport
building. I haven't realized that the driver did not
switch his meter on and my fare was some 25 Eur
for a half an hour ride to Vouliagmeni. Nevertheless,
the guy was friendly enough and took me to the
Lake of Vouliagmeni (Vouliagmeni Limni) to show me
where the main entrance to the lake's beach is.

Later I saw on the maps that there should be a metro
(subway) line from the airport to Syntagma, the central
city square of Athens. From Syntagma, there is a new
tram line #5 heading to the suburban area called Glyfada.
Finally, from Glyfada there are several bus lines to
Vouliagmeni. What is the catch here? Well, all those 3
rides (metro, tram and bus) you can make for some 10%
of the taxi fare - but in sum, it can take some 1.5 hour
or even more to take you to Vouliagmeni. It may be no
problem for you if you don't have much luggage and if
you really want to spend such time in approaching your
final destination. But, if you have two heavy suitcases or
something like that, you would want to see your
hotel room as soon as possible.

I found Vouliagmeni as a high-class tourist resort. In fact,
there you will see hotels, restaurants, beaches ... hotels,
beaches, restaurants ... etc. - and nothing else. I mean,
there are no (visible) shops or malls or market places.
The only thing I found there was a well equipped food
store some 5 min walk from Armonia hotel. Armonia is
described as a 4-star facility. It is really a big one place,
but almost outdated and need some refurbishing and
detailed cleaning. There were several unknown spots
on the carpet and on the walls.

I remember my room was on the first floor, some 15
meters from the dining room. That was nice because
I spent at least a half of my time in Greece - within
various bus/boat trips around that part of the country.
And because all morning trips were starting at about
7am (and the breakfast begins at the same time) I was
among the first guests for the breakfast. The buffet
breakfast was ok for my personal taste.

My room had an internal air-conditioning system
installed but it was very inefficient and loud. I suppose
that if I had left it working all day the internal temperature
could be fine. The room had a 'view' to an unknown
fence and concrete walls of the other part of the hotel
(I suppose). Anyway, I didn't plan to spend my time
in the room - although it might be nice to seat at the
balcony later in the evenings (the door to the 'balcony'
was locked anyway). The bathroom was another
story: after using the toilet, there was a 'button' on
the wall to trigger the 'waterfall' to the toilet. The
problem was that it also triggered a water to drop from
the wall to the floor and make a small flood in the
bathroom. I alerted the receptionists about that and
they claimed to fix it - though the symptoms have
repeated. IMHO, a 4-star hotel should take much more
care about its installations.

Btw, I completely agree with all those who were angry
responding to a dazzling web pages describing Armonia
hotel. Well, it is just a smart advise: Never trust to the
web advertisements just like that, and take some extra
effort to check the forums like TripAdvisor!

I tried to avoid having coffees in the hotel's bar due
to a high price. I used the Armonia's restaurant mainly
for breakfast (included in the app 120 Eur per person
per night) and rarely I had lunch there (8-17 Eur).

Near the reception, there was an 'Internet' computer.
It was mostly occupied all the time, and when it was free
- that meant the link to the net was broken.

Armonia hotel was only a couple of minutes walk from
the beaches. The main beach in Vouliagmeni has a
guarded fence and you have to pay a ticket at
app 4 Eur per person a day. The beach is well equipped
with everything you might need on a summer vacation
(umbrellas, "liegestuhl"-s, restaurants, showers, WC
as well as rescue teams for non-swimmers). If you don't
want to spend your money on the beach tickets /for 4 Eur
you could order two 'souvlakies' in the nearby restaurant,
which is a Greek national fast food/, you can go to a free
beach. In fact, the free beach is fine - although not being
as clean as the paid beach (if cleaned at all, actually) and
it is ideal for a quick bath when you don't plan to spend
the whole day in swimming and sunbathing.

As I said, the restaurant prices were pretty high for
my personal budget, so I took my chance and did not
spend a day without at least one 'souflaki' which is
a rounded pie with pork chops and mixed vegetables.
I enjoyed that fast food very much. I found a good
place to order such a food to take with me while
walking around. After a couple of souvlakies, the
best choice was to take 1-2 cans of 'Alpha' or
'Mythos' beer (if I remembered that detail properly,
'Alfa' ('Alpha') has been produced somewhere in the
Athens area, while 'Mythos' is from Thessaloniki part
of Greece). Anyway, both kinds of beer were good.

When you are fed up with going to the seaside, you
can go swimming in a Lake of Vouliagmeni which is
some 15 min walk from Armonia Hotel, in direction of
... well, the opposite one to Athens. (When go out from
the hotel, turn left, go to the big street crossing, turn
to the right and continue walking for some 15-20
minutes.)

When I checked-out my room in Armonia, I paid with
a credit card without problems. I had an early flight
so I lost my last breakfast (though the receptionist
had a coffee and cookies for me at 4.30am the last
morning).

And, that second year, I haven't been accommodated
in Armonia because it was over booked, so I stayed
at Plaza hotel which was also the fine option. Both
hotels include the buffet breakfast within the price,
so don't be shy and eat as much as you want,
because the hotel prices are pretty high for what
you get there (app 120 Eur per night per person).

During the peak-season (mid of July), the sunset is
about 8.30 pm so you would have long days for
swimming in the sea, or in the lake. Don't miss an
opportunity for easy walks on the sand beaches
and enjoying the beautiful sunsets. I haven't
noticed mosquitoes in the evenings, although a
single night in Armonia I opened the window and
a mosquito did not allow me to sleep the whole
night.

I tried to ask the people in Vouliagmeni about the
prices of other accommodation options there and
many claimed that Armonia has a poor service for
its high price. It is up to you to check and compare.
And yes, Armonia has its own swimming pool that
is not bad should you want to have a quick bath
but not to leave the hotel or something (if it is
raining or something). The water in the pool was
clean and warm during my stay there, so you
should use it when appropriate (but not soon after
a heavy lunch or dinner). There was a female
attendant by the pool, in case of an emergency.
Also, you can order a drink from the hotel's bar
and take it inside the pool area (there are usual
facilities outside the pool: umbrellas, "liegestuhl"-s,
so you can use them too. The good things is that
passengers on the street can't look into the pool
area (there is a dense fence made of greens).

In most of Saturdays evenings, the Armonia's
bar and swimming pool areas are specially
decorated for wedding receptions and can't be
used by regular guests. It seemed as usual that
couples from Athens like to have their wedding
receptions at Armonia.

Booked as part of a tour package. My first room smelled so bad of mildew I could not breathe. Moved to another room and there was a 3 foot long growth of mold on the wall at the foot of my bed.

Dirty, dark, bad services. I escaped the next morning to another nearby hotel and then realized I was really in the beautiful country of Greece.

I would not let a dog sleep here. Many other lovely hotels in this area well worth looking into.

Staff was friendly with our group. Rooms out dated but so was every other hotel we stayed at in Greece including Islands. Meals were good. Tour company had wrong number of rooms and beds booked but person at desk fixed the problem for us. Bartender was a lot of fun.

Revolting! A fleabag hotel if there ever was one. Last time they cleaned this hotel was probably 1985. If you like your hotels with stains all over the carpets and walls, cigarette burns all over the furniture and electric wires sticking out of the walls, this is the place for you. We would have rather slept in the streets than stayed a second night!