My friend and I arrived 24 Sept and stayed to 4 Oct (even though Nikos closed officially on Friday 1 Oct he stayed 'open' for us).
On arrival greeted very warmly and after a lunchtime drink were shown to our room. We'd asked for pool/sea view. We got a view from a lovely little balcony with table and chairs, to the pool and from our door entrance we could look over that balcony to the sea and Kefalonia. We even sat out on the back terrace when all the residents had gone and got the early morning sun rather than go to the pool.
The room had a double bed (mine) and my friend had the sofa bed which was converted to a double bed but you wouldn't have known. The room was light and spacious with hight ceilings. The kitchen area was quite sparse for cooking (that was the only downside). it had one big cooking pot, one small coffee saucepan (baked beans were fine in it!!). Also one frying pan. 2 mugs, 2 glasses, 2 dinner plates, 2 pasta/cereal bowls, one small plate and a drawer with some cutlery. The bathroom was very clean, tiles, sink, shower etc. The shower was the sort you hook up and a simple shower curtain. It was better than my shower at home so I spent longer in it than perhaps I should! Towels, one each of a large and a small one. These were changed every other day (from memory) and the sheets changed a couple of times at least whilst we were there for 10 days. The room was serviced every day, ie bins changed, a sweep.
The pool was great, plenty of loungers and parasols. We didn't really use the bar facilities as we ate on our balcony and had about 3 meals out.
The Dream/Oniro Studios are in Tragaki, this is about a 20-30 min walk to Tsilivi and it is hilly (the whole island is really). We hired bikes for a week from Jonny's - hmmmmm - well my chain came off the first day, not the best of bikes and expensive. We got them for 60 euros for a week for the two. We paid about 2 euros a day on Kos last year! Zante is expensive be warned. On our first day we cycled north to Alkynas beach and that was one ride - hilly and hot - but the beach was worth it for a few hours and then we faced the ride back to our studio. After that we did a day on the bikes to Zante town, again incredible hills there and back but it was cooler (it rained in Zante) and made it easier. After that we used the bikes to get to Tsilivi as and when. The bus is only 1.40 euros but not that frequent.
Tsilivi - it's stretched out and if you like fish and chips, burger and chips there is plenty of choice. If you want wall to wall premier club football then you won't be disappointed but we were. We found Greek food of course but were surprised to be served chips AND rice! There are 3 restaurants near the Dream, take the walk to the signposts Ambouli beach and use the 2 on the right hand side. We only used the first one you come to. The food was ok (but we had been spoilt on Kos as we found an amazing place that was totally Greek and lush) so we enjoyed it but weren't blown away! There is another restaurant between Tragaki and Tsilivi and we were taken up there by Nikos (from the Dream) and returned by one of the chaps at the restaurant. The food was good, the starters are enormous so would recommend mains only or ask for a meze (wish we had!).
Zante: disappointed by the harbour area, imagined it would be more scenic, small fishing boats but it was the big ferries etc. There is a bigger supermarket along the harbour road if you are self catering and need better supplies than the ones in Tsilivi. Also be warned they don't like to give change - they round up to the nearest euro (particularly one woman in the s/market in Tsilivi near the Majestic pub - she's a right misery!)
When we weren't cycling/touring we were reading by the pool or went to the Ambouli beach. We went to the far end of that beach, it's not long but end of season is great and the water is just gorgeous.
Our last day in Zakynthos we decided to hire a little 100cc buggy thing from Theo's Rentals. What fun.................. 30Euros for the day but you have to pootle to the nearest petrol station and can fill up for 12 euros. Watch it though...... Steve at Theo's is very helpful. Warning!!!!!! The jeep has a stop pedal and a go pedal. The handbrake has been disabled (apparently due to kids doing wheelies and ruining the brake). What do you get - a block of wood to put behind the tyre. Off we go at 25 miles an hour heading north to Ag Nikolaos - my God the road is hilly, hairpin bends (this jeep does NOT like them at all). At Ag Nik we took a boat trip out to the Blue Caves (only) - we didn't do the shipwrek as just didn't appeal. This shipwreck happened in the 1980s and was scuppered with booze and drugs. We were told we would have an excellent description of the caves, etc but ended up with a guy who didn't speak a word of English and just pointed and kept putting a white stick in the water to prove it was blue (of course it's the sun's reflection etc we all know that). Nevertheless it was a lovely boat trip in the sun, lovely views and intriguing caves (you don't go in them really). My highlight was seeing a jellyfish which was like a poached egg. You also get a chance to swim for 20 mins. Guess what, we were NOT swimming after seeing that and several others in the water, nor our German friends on board!
Back to the jeep and on our way - time was getting on. To cut to the chase we had just gone through Agios Leon and up a hill and the blasted jeep started playing up. 5pm. Siesta is 1-6pm and NO-ONE was answering the phone. We tried to see what the prob was and I think it might have been the fan belt. Not one car stopped - not one flipping Greek. THANK HEAVENS for Adrian and family our British compats who stopped and asked if they could help. We explained the situation and they realised they were helpless too. Not quite so, as about 10 minutes later they returned and told us that if we could somehow get the jeep turned around on the hill and get it back down into the village the local garage would let us stay there til Theo's came out. Adrian and son and friend duly moved it (Greeks not stopping but driving round or through us) and coasted down with the brake pedal on! I was driven by the rest of the family back down to Agios Leon where we stayed til gone 7pm. We were picked up by Theo (the main miserable man) and got back to base at 8ish. Steve kindly gave us a lift home - thank God we had a bottle of Ouzo in the fridge to polish off! I'm not sure I can really recommend Theo's after that experience. There are other rental places and am told cheaper but it's worth shopping/haggling around. It is worth taking a car to see the island as there are some stunning views over to Kefalonia and inland there are places to explore (it is green and smells of pine etc inland and lovely) but we didn't get the time and we never got to see the southern part because of the jeep breaking down.
The Dream ticked the boxes completely, of that there is no doubt!
The island - sadly did not but the holiday was to chill, sunbathe, read, and do some cycling and we did all of that so that was not disappointing.
If I were to return, I would use the Dream again.