A lot to say about this place....

My wife and I made this the first stop on our honeymoon because we wanted a lux hotel to relax in for a few days before heading out to other islands. The hotel's setting is beautiful. Vathi Bay is a sleepy little bayside village, and resort fits in nicely. The pool is absolutely amazing - probably the best part of the place. Our room was very nice - not super lux, but we just had the basic ocean view suite. It was very clean and new although furniture looked like it might be from IKEA.

The view from our room was a little bit obscured by the restaurant. When we asked to move to a different room, the front desk told us they couldn't even though the resort was basically empty. We were there in the middle of the week (Mon. thru Fri.). The hotel started to fill up towards the weekend, but during the week there weren't many people around. It was nice because we felt like we had the whole place to ourselves, but also a little weird. Like being the only people eating in a restaurant. I don't think many international travelers have found this place yet, and it seemed its clientele was other Greeks who came in for long weekends.

The beach is nice, not super amazing. It's small but nice and the water is calm and great for swimming. The bay is very nice. Sailboats and yachts come in during the days to anchor and swim. There isn't much to do in Vathi so don't expect a wild time. There a few beach-side tavernas that were good, and a couple mini-marts and that's about it. We would walk to the tavernas to eat lunch rather than the resort which was pretty pricey. You can walk the whole bay in probably ten minutes. We ate dinner at the resort restaurant one night which was very good, but it wasn't very Grecian. The breakfast buffet was huge and very good at the resort. It felt like the menu was purposely more international. We ate the rest of the nights at the local tavernas in Vathi. The tavernas feel very authentic (because they are) and are literally right on the bay - it’s a pretty awesome setting. One night we caught a cab to Appollonia and had dinner there and went out for drinks afterwards. The cab ride cost about 14 euros. If you plan on exploring the rest of the island, I would recommend renting a car because the resort is pretty isolated.

The service at the hotel was spotty. The front desk was kind of snotty and didn't make any effort to make us feel special about the honeymoon. The restaurant staff was very nice. The people at the pool bar were also a little snotty - although one of the bartenders was really nice and gave us great advice on places to go on the island.

The hotel had sea kayaks which we used in the bay. We were the first people in two years to use them and they didn't seem like they knew what do when we asked to use them. The bay is small and you can paddle around the whole thing in a half hour.

Overall summary: We had a great time. If you are looking for somewhere quiet, luxurious, in a beautiful surrounding to just relax and enjoy your time - this is your place. Just don't expect super warm service and be aware that the hotel still feels like its working out its growing pains. If you dropped the staff from a Four Seasons at this place, it would be the total package.