 Disappointing...Zante is a beautiful island great for families, couples or groups of young people. It has something for everyone but just don't stay at the Derekas Studios. A youth hostel would have been better! Me, my parnter and a friend stayed at the Derekas Studios in September 2009. It was a last minute deal booked through the travel agent First Choice but run by Olympic holidays. We had read mixed reviews on-line prior to going on holiday. We kept an open mind and hoped for the best. According to some reviews the studios had recently been refurbished! I dred to think what they were like before! I was aware the it had a 2 star rating but you still expect a good service. Location: Its a fair walk from the beach and Laganas town, if you enjoy walking and are fit and healthy it should only take about 30 to 40 mins. There is a supermarket and a few bars only ten minutes away. Taxis in Laganas are only 6 Euros but if you want to venture further afield I would recommend hiring a vehicle of some sort. We were told about the location of the studios at the time of booking the holiday so we don't have a problem with. It is set in a peaceful countryside location over looking the mountains and olive groves. If you don't hire a vehicle and don't want to spend a fortune on taxis maybe chose a hotel closer to town. It could get a bit boring. The apartment: We had a two bedroom apartment, each with twin beds, also we had a small kitchenette, bathroom and balcony over looking the pool and bar area. The bedrooms a good size and plenty of storage for clothes and luggage. The beds themselves were very uncomfortable and woke up every morning with a bad back. If you plan to cook think again, the kitchenette was very basic and made cooking very difficult. In the end we eat out most days (Greece isn't as cheap as every thinks). There was an electric hob, a sink and a fridge...that was it! The fridge wasn't cold and not the best for storing food. No kettle so you'll have to wait about 20 minutes for the water to boil for your tea/coffee in the morning. The electric hob was very slow at heating up. You will need to buy your own washing up liquid and a tea towel. Washing up liquid will cost you. At the supermarket it will cost £1.80 for a small bottle, that only lasted us for about half a week. Also the cutlery was dirty when we arrived and needed to do the washing up. We also had to buy our own cups. Two cups for a four person apartment, very strange! The bathroom was awful. You will need to buy your own toilet paper as the hotel will only give you one roll on arrival! You will need to buy soap and a hand towel. You only get one towel per person. There is no shower curtain. The bathroom will get soaking wet and making the floor very slippery and the toilet will also get drenched (move the toilet roll first). The shower head is not attached to the wall so you need to hold it, very difficult when you have long hair. The toilet had a leak and this formed a huge puddle on the bathroom floor. We reported the fault to the manager (Edi) who looked at it and said there wasn't a problem. The leak continued and despite reporting the problem the manager did nothing to help us! At this point we called our Rep from Olympic holidays, they called Edi. He told us not to call the office again and was very rude. We called Olympic again and we had to wait for the Rep to come to the apartments and speak to Edi face to face. The Rep was very good and really stuck up for us. He had a go at Edi and eventually the toilet was fixed but this whole ordeal took four days to fix! When we had our welcome meeting from the Rep on our first day. We were told that our apartment would be cleaned every day. The bins would be emptied and the floors mopped. We stayed for a week, Monday to Monday. The apartment was only cleaned twice! We also told the Rep about this at the same time of the toilet incident. Edi promised to us and the Rep that the cleaning would take place. This did not happened. In Greece you can't flush your toilet paper down the toilet, the sewage systems aren't that great. So you have to put your used paper in a bin at the side. As you can imagine, in the heat after a few days it began to smell! So the bathroom was awful, it leaked for days and the cleaning wasn't done! If you complain to the manager you expect them to do something but he did nothing. The Rep was really good and made an effort to sort out our problems but the manager wouldn't even listen to him. Bar: There is a bar that sells drinks and food. Average price for food is about 5 to 7 Euros a meal. We did not eat at the bar as the hygiene standards in our apartment were so poor we didn't want to risk it. There is no entertainment at all (there is a pool table which you have to pay for). There is a TV by the bar but you watch whatever Edi wants to watch...Greek football... that's it! The best bit was the swimming pool, very clean with plenty of sunbeds to sit back and relax on. There is a small grassy area by the pool as well for kids to play on. Excursions: We went on a few excursions operator by Olympic holidays. We went on a cultural tour which included a trip to a local museum (an extra 3 euros entry fee), went to a vineyard and wine tasting and 3 hours of shopping time in Zante town. I would recommend this as its a great way of seeing the island and you get plenty of time to explore the lovely town of Zante. One of my friends did the Suba diving, this was 60 euros. He really enjoyed it and also got to feed fish. The instructors were also British and qualified. We all went on the Zorba in Zante Greek night, 37 euros each. Its on the North-East side of the island at St. Nicholas port, its a very long coach drive with lots of pick-ups from other hotels. The journey takes you through the small towns and villages of Zante. Lots of small winding roads on cliff tops so take a travel sickness tablet first. It takes about an hour to reach the restaurant. You'll have a 3 course meal and unlimited wine (which didn't taste that great but it was free) and traditional Greek dancing and a live band. The entertainment was worth every Euro, including the dancers dancing in a ring of fire! Very impressive. Laganas is a lovely place to visit, there are lots of bars, pubs, clubs, restaurants even a McDonald's, Sub way, KFC and a Pizza hut. You can take a trip to St, Nick's beach if you fancy water-sports, lots of boat trips to see the turtles! Over Zante is a lovely place to visit for families, couples or groups of young people. There is something for everyone just don't stay at the Derekas studios. Also I would recommend people go half board or full board as self catering proved expensive. A pound is worth the same as a Euro these days. Eating out all the time will be costly. |
Disappointing...Zante is a beautiful island great for families, couples or groups of young people. It has something for everyone but just don't stay at the Derekas Studios. A youth hostel would have been better! Me, my parnter and a friend stayed at the Derekas Studios in September 2009. It was a last minute deal booked through the travel agent First Choice but run by Olympic holidays. We had read mixed reviews on-line prior to going on holiday. We kept an open mind and hoped for the best. According to some reviews the studios had recently been refurbished! I dred to think what they were like before! I was aware the it had a 2 star rating but you still expect a good service. Location: Its a fair walk from the beach and Laganas town, if you enjoy walking and are fit and healthy it should only take about 30 to 40 mins. There is a supermarket and a few bars only ten minutes away. Taxis in Laganas are only 6 Euros but if you want to venture further afield I would recommend hiring a vehicle of some sort. We were told about the location of the studios at the time of booking the holiday so we don't have a problem with. It is set in a peaceful countryside location over looking the mountains and olive groves. If you don't hire a vehicle and don't want to spend a fortune on taxis maybe chose a hotel closer to town. It could get a bit boring. The apartment: We had a two bedroom apartment, each with twin beds, also we had a small kitchenette, bathroom and balcony over looking the pool and bar area. The bedrooms a good size and plenty of storage for clothes and luggage. The beds themselves were very uncomfortable and woke up every morning with a bad back. If you plan to cook think again, the kitchenette was very basic and made cooking very difficult. In the end we eat out most days (Greece isn't as cheap as every thinks). There was an electric hob, a sink and a fridge...that was it! The fridge wasn't cold and not the best for storing food. No kettle so you'll have to wait about 20 minutes for the water to boil for your tea/coffee in the morning. The electric hob was very slow at heating up. You will need to buy your own washing up liquid and a tea towel. Washing up liquid will cost you. At the supermarket it will cost £1.80 for a small bottle, that only lasted us for about half a week. Also the cutlery was dirty when we arrived and needed to do the washing up. We also had to buy our own cups. Two cups for a four person apartment, very strange! The bathroom was awful. You will need to buy your own toilet paper as the hotel will only give you one roll on arrival! You will need to buy soap and a hand towel. You only get one towel per person. There is no shower curtain. The bathroom will get soaking wet and making the floor very slippery and the toilet will also get drenched (move the toilet roll first). The shower head is not attached to the wall so you need to hold it, very difficult when you have long hair. The toilet had a leak and this formed a huge puddle on the bathroom floor. We reported the fault to the manager (Edi) who looked at it and said there wasn't a problem. The leak continued and despite reporting the problem the manager did nothing to help us! At this point we called our Rep from Olympic holidays, they called Edi. He told us not to call the office again and was very rude. We called Olympic again and we had to wait for the Rep to come to the apartments and speak to Edi face to face. The Rep was very good and really stuck up for us. He had a go at Edi and eventually the toilet was fixed but this whole ordeal took four days to fix! When we had our welcome meeting from the Rep on our first day. We were told that our apartment would be cleaned every day. The bins would be emptied and the floors mopped. We stayed for a week, Monday to Monday. The apartment was only cleaned twice! We also told the Rep about this at the same time of the toilet incident. Edi promised to us and the Rep that the cleaning would take place. This did not happened. In Greece you can't flush your toilet paper down the toilet, the sewage systems aren't that great. So you have to put your used paper in a bin at the side. As you can imagine, in the heat after a few days it began to smell! So the bathroom was awful, it leaked for days and the cleaning wasn't done! If you complain to the manager you expect them to do something but he did nothing. The Rep was really good and made an effort to sort out our problems but the manager wouldn't even listen to him. Bar: There is a bar that sells drinks and food. Average price for food is about 5 to 7 Euros a meal. We did not eat at the bar as the hygiene standards in our apartment were so poor we didn't want to risk it. There is no entertainment at all (there is a pool table which you have to pay for). There is a TV by the bar but you watch whatever Edi wants to watch...Greek football... that's it! The best bit was the swimming pool, very clean with plenty of sunbeds to sit back and relax on. There is a small grassy area by the pool as well for kids to play on. Excursions: We went on a few excursions operator by Olympic holidays. We went on a cultural tour which included a trip to a local museum (an extra 3 euros entry fee), went to a vineyard and wine tasting and 3 hours of shopping time in Zante town. I would recommend this as its a great way of seeing the island and you get plenty of time to explore the lovely town of Zante. One of my friends did the Suba diving, this was 60 euros. He really enjoyed it and also got to feed fish. The instructors were also British and qualified. We all went on the Zorba in Zante Greek night, 37 euros each. Its on the North-East side of the island at St. Nicholas port, its a very long coach drive with lots of pick-ups from other hotels. The journey takes you through the small towns and villages of Zante. Lots of small winding roads on cliff tops so take a travel sickness tablet first. It takes about an hour to reach the restaurant. You'll have a 3 course meal and unlimited wine (which didn't taste that great but it was free) and traditional Greek dancing and a live band. The entertainment was worth every Euro, including the dancers dancing in a ring of fire! Very impressive. Laganas is a lovely place to visit, there are lots of bars, pubs, clubs, restaurants even a McDonald's, Sub way, KFC and a Pizza hut. You can take a trip to St, Nick's beach if you fancy water-sports, lots of boat trips to see the turtles! Over Zante is a lovely place to visit for families, couples or groups of young people. There is something for everyone just don't stay at the Derekas studios. Also I would recommend people go half board or full board as self catering proved expensive. A pound is worth the same as a Euro these days. Eating out all the time will be costly.
- UK
it woi r8 good sept the shower the barman was r8 good he was funny the lager was good 
the fish bowl cost 15 euro but it is r8 gd wish i wo still there lol
as for on the strip deffintly go to pink panthers to start your night off .. its a kareoke bar about 12 get there for we made some good memories there.. then the best club out there rescue's its boss!they were our favourite!can;t wait to get back have a boss time like we did you won't want to come home! yamas xxxx