When I arrived here I called ahead from the ferry on the way to Santirini in order to see what the best way was to get to the hotel from the Port. They confirmed my reservation and suggested I get a taxi when I get to the Thira Port. Upon our ferry's arrival there were no taxis and a surplus of people looking for them. I had wished that the hotel may have alerted me to this fact, as we had to sit at a cafe and try and sort something from there. We then called the hotel again, which denied us having a reservation and hung up, despite me calling a few hours before and them confirming. Finally sorted, they sent a taxi 20 minutes later, it ended up costing us 30 euro, which seemed to be a lot more than the tour book indicated as avg. I'm not sure if this is because the hotel sent us a more expensive taxi, or because it really was in the middle of nowhere. And I must be emphatic on this, it is not close to any of the sights, and it has NOTHING around it. I was hoping to have one local pub or something for a night cap but you are limited to the hotel. Which is okay, but upon asking for vinsanto which is a delicious island wine that is served everywhere, they were completely out, and then asked for a tia maria and they were out of that too.
After checking in the hotel tried to sell us on a sponsored tour they offered, so we signed up for a full day volcano-island-sunset type tour on their suggestion. I noticed the tour description it referenced hot springs and asked if I needed a bathing suit etc. The hotel manager said I only needed good shoes for the volcano hiking. Well, not only was the tour really poorly organized (overcrowded, more time loading on and off the boat than enjoying sights), but there was an opportunity to swim, and thanks to the hotel we were found without bathing suits and towels, my boyfriend and I were the only few not able to partake even though we had specifically asked the hotel about it. In addition, the food was really gross buffet-style for the people who got food plans. Since we didn't get one, we were given the option of eating either "a la carte" or the buffet that all the food plan people were on. We took one look and it was the least appetizing buffet I had seen. The only reason we ate at that restaurant at all is because it was the first night we were there, and the next closest restaurant was a 25 min walk down a major road (not safe for walking). I just think for what I paid that there wasn't the value that I expected at this hotel. The room was okay, but the door to the balcony was at about 5'6", and both of us being over that height, we had to duck down to get out and often hit our heads. Our spare key didn't work either and they had no replacement. Plus they are stingy on pool towels, they only give you one for the whole holiday, and if you exchange it in for a clean one you have to pay to get a fresh one back. Just overall kind of nickel and dime and not the relaxing hotel I intended.
- Mediterranean Royal Monólithos
- Mediterranean Royal Hotel Monólithos
