A nice place but a little dull (Other locations...)

Member Name: stevedpark

Product:	Other locations...
Date:	14/06/02 (94 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Scenery, Food, People

Disadvantages: Rooms, Location, Dull

Kassandra Bay Hotel

We booked this as a late availability holiday from a number we got off teletext. The holiday was actually a Thompson holiday and we booked this through Lincoln Travel.
Lincoln Travel provided us with a high standard of service, providing us with lots of information about different holidays on offer. Eventually we booked a week Half Board in Halkidiki in Greece.

I arranged with Manchester airport, parking for a week in their long stay car park. This I have found to be far the best option although it is not the cheapest as you just drive to the airport and park in the long stay car park very close to the terminal. A free mini bus then picks you up - this runs like every 5 minutes and it then drops you off right outside the terminal. Other car parks we have tried have actually spoilt our holiday from the carryings on. Miles away from the airport and an infrequent bus service that seems to only run when the buss is full. The car park staff then move your car to another car park where they cram all the cars into.

We flew with Britannia Airways, only two quarms are the amount of space you get on the plan and the quality of the food. I generally don't mind plane food but since they have started charging extra for it, its quality and the amount you get has dramatically gone downhill, so I ended up eating Tolberone instead.

The hotel we got assigned to once arriving in Halkidiki was the Kassandra Bay, this is a fairly small family run hotel situated on a steep pine hillside about 1Km downhill to the beach and 0.5Km uphill to the small town with a few bars and shops in it.

The hotel is family run and all the family help out. The pool is small although very deep at one end and there is a children?s pool separate from it. The Bar area is quite small as well some of it under cover. Local drinks are quite good value but imported drinks are expensive.

The restaurant was a nice size (not to close to o
ther people) and the food was very good. Breakfasts were limited on choice consisting of a choice of cereal, toast, ham and cheese or boiled eggs. However dinner changed every day and this started with soap and loads of it! Followed by Greek salad then the hot main course. However the deserts were nothing special these were generally just ice cream, jelly or fruit pieces.

One of the main disappointments about the holiday that really spoilt the holiday was the room, this was very clean however, but the size of the room was ludicrous, the main room had a small double bed in it and a wardrobe leaving only enough space to stand. Bathroom was also very small but functional, however the balcony was huge.

The beach at the bottom of the hill about a 10 minute walk away was good sunloungers were available for a couple of euros and the sea there is very calm so there is good swimming and snorkelling to be done.

There is a beach bar there which supplied beer and soft drink and made really tasty ham and cheese sandwiches.

Halfway through the holiday we hired a car though Euro car and got a free upgrade from a small Fiat to a Megane with AC.
Having driven for 600Km all around Kassadra and Sithonia peninsulas we decided that there is nothing of any real interest in Halkidiki. There are signs for places of interest - which we followed but never actually found anything so quickly gave up following them.

All in all it?s a nice place very picturesque but I think a week there is plenty long enough, we wouldn't go back to Halkidiki but are still willing to try another part of Greece.

Summary: