This hotel was cleanand daily maid service the food is mainly for the continentals but allways chips!

The hotel is a taxi ride {about 3 euros} from Kalithea the restaurant manager was not very helpfull and at times quite rude.

None of the food is covered in hotel or pool bar there were flies all over it very understaffed on the drinks waiters.

There is no entertainment at this hotel although advertised all at the sister hotel on the beach!If you want to go to the greek night you must pay 12 euros and buy your own drinks not what you would expect on all inclusive!!

We would definitely not be visiting this hotel again they do not seem to have it right as an all inclusive hotel.

The hotel was not really dirty but we did find cockroaches in our bathroom, and flies all over the food & cutlery.

The food was ok but many of the waiters were rude, you waited ages for water in the 40 degree heat & the buffet was completely swamped like a cattle market so dinner time was not relaxing or romantic, but instead caotic!

The beach was not as expected, not soft sand, and near our hotel their was an ugly rusty metal pole sticking out of the beach.

Sun loungers by the pool didnt have cushions on & were quite uncomfortable, not what you expect at 4star hotel!

There was no entertainment at our hotel the staff were quite rude generaly, especially in the restaurant. Would never return as it was not a luxerious hotel at all and the facilities were poor except for the amazing large pool which we loved

This was our second time at the Athos, previously stayed at the small apartments attached - Princess Theophano. I love the Athos and returned with my partner and his parents, who also fell in love with the place!

The Hotel is very well maintained. Rooms are excellent, we had a sea view - would definitely recommend these rooms. The food in the hotel was excellent - plenty of choice both at Breakfast, lunch and tea. With it being our second visit, we were going to go out for a meal in Kalithea but we couldn't be moved from the hotel, as it is so comfortable. The Pool snack bar is excellent for lunch times snacks - they serve a great range including Greek salads/fresh sandwiches/pizza. The staff at this bar are very friendly and serve you at the table, which I think is a lovely touch. It is also a great place to get some shade from the hot Greek mid day sun!

The staff in the main restaurant work very hard and there is a strong management presence around the hotel. The main restaurant is buffet style - with tons and tons and tons of food! We were never fed up with the food! It was just too nice! You are also allowed to use the Italian restaurant once during your stay at the Athos. This restaurant is lovely - food great! It also doesn't cost you anything - as it's included within the all inclusive package.

There are a choice of bars to drink in at night - our favourite was the Athos bar, as it had an outside terrace area which was lovely at night! Again the staff were great here, as they served drinks to you at your table.

The hotel complex is located just on the beach, so it is very easy to be on the beach but with just a small walk you can still access the Athos snack bar. We felt this was good, as you are not spending extra money by having a day on the beach. The sun loungers were also free. A walk on the beach at night is lovely!

This year we went to the Greek night organised by the hotel. This was a great night - there was a BBQ and traditional live Greek music and dancing. This cost about ten euros but was worth it. The entertainment provided by the hotel was OK for us - there was enough to do if you did want to get involved. Throughout the day there was a timetable of sport and aerobic programmes. I used the aerobic classes - there were three per day. A lovely girl called Anna run these classes and they included stretch and tone/water aerobics/aerobics. I felt I needed to do something after eating so much each day! The entertainment at night was OK but didn't really see much of it. Preferred to just go for a walk or have a few drinks in the Hotel bars.

Overall the Athos has a lovely atmosphere which helps you unwind and have a lovely holiday. We want to go for two weeks next time!

I cannot fault this hotel it was great the food was excellent.

The location was 15 minutes away from Kalitheathats walking the staff was brilliant and couldnt do enough for you. You never had to queue for a drink they was there all the time to serve you there were 3 bars to choose from we used the outside one because it was cooler there was entertainment for the kids every night and for the adults in the night club.

I cant wait to to go back to this hotel again September.

Me and my wife have just returned a week ago, after spending a week at the Athos Palace.

The hotel is very nice, especially if you like wood and stone type of lobbies.

You can reach Kalithea after a 20-25 minutes relaxed walk.

We have had a seaview room which has been freshly refurbished, and although a little small we think it was very good (new bathroom, sat TV, fridge, AC).

The restaurant is big enough and the food was plenty and I think it was something for everyone. We were on a HB basis but we could choose between lunch and dinner everyday, which we think is a bright idea (gives more flexibility for you moving around).

Very good pool, big and with plenty of sunbeds. On the beach (sandy)you had to pay for umbrella and sunbeds (7.5 Euro for 1 umbrella and 2 sunbeds). Animation team was good and kept us quite well entertained.

The only bad thing about this resort was that it was full of Russians! Not only tourists (who were bullying you in the restaurant instead of queueing in a decent way), but also working at the front desk and in the restaurant. A Russian girl at the front desk, really abandoned us in the middle of a discussion about making a reservation at the Taverna, just to have a chat with other Russians! During a dinner we have asked a Russian waiter (his name was Serguey I think ) for some hot water as one of our friends was sick and wanted to have a cup of tea. He refused us, saying that we could get hot water only at breakfast!! We repeated our request but he kept saying this nonsense. Of course, we asked another waiter (Greek) and it was no problem. It's a pity that this people spoil the image of a really good hotel.

I originally reviewed this hotel after our first stay back in 2002, however on our return a couple of weeks ago we found several enhancements to what was an already very good hotel, hence I wanted to post a new review.

The hotel is based 15-20 minutes walk away from Kalithea town centre, or for the less energetic a couple of minutes by bus or taxi, taxi I believe was 2-3 euros each way, however on the couple of trips we made into town we walked (helped us walk off the abundant and excellent food :-)).

The hotel is part of a group of 3 on the same campus, the Athos Palace is the hotel groups flagship, and then beside it are the Pallini Beach hotel and the Villa Princess apartments. Guests from all three hotels can use the facilities in any of the hotels. At the rear of the Athos palace is a 50 metre (Olympic size) swimming pool which back in 2002 was filled with sea water which put many guests off using it, however this is one of the improvements, as they have now emptied it and refilled it with fresh water with the usual chlorination techniques used in any swimming pool, and they have renovated the pool structure and side walkways to look more modern and appealling.

As all-inclusive guests meal times were set as 07:00-09:30 for breakfast, 12:30-02:30 for Lunch and 19:00-21:00 for dinner.

The food in the main restaurant was both plentiful and of a very high quality with lots of variety through the week, with a good mixture of local cuisine, with elements of english, italian and german dishes, basically something for everyone.

There was also an abundance of fresh fruit and veg which I'm also pleased to report is grown in the hotels own organic gardens which supplies the hotel groups 6 hotels on Halkidi, and they run weekly walks arounf the gardens so you can see what you are eating and sample fresh produce off the trees and bushes, I was persoanlly very impressed with this. The only bought in fruit is the melon.

The Athos also has a pool side cafe/bar which is open 10:00 - 00:00 daily and serves a range of bar type meals from 10:00 to about 22:00.

The all-inclusive beer they serve is Lowenbrau which we found fine, however if you'd prefer to pay for something more upmarket then you can ask for bottled beers such as heineken and Amstel.

I wanted also to mention the staff, they are some of the best I've met, extremely friendly and helpful and if like us you have a go at trying the language they are very appreciative and will gladly help if you get stuck. I was also impressed that many of the staff there this year I recognised from our last visit in 2002 so their staff turnover seems very low which normally indicates people are happy working there.

Throughout the hotel I found the staff to be very friendly and attentive from the cleaners right up to the general manager.

I was also impressed that the hotel management regularly walk around the entire complex, and are happy to enter into conversation with guests, and do a great job of ensuring all runs well.

The rooms - since 2002 most of the rooms appear to have been brought up to date from a very traditional olde worlde Greek format to a very modern hotel room format with the new addition of TV. All rooms have Air Con and a fridge (not minibar, just a fridge which you can use for bottled water etc).

Each room has a safe in the wardrobe which costs 12 euros per week to hire, a very wise precaution. There's also new advice from our UK passport office to make a separate note of the passport numbers for all in your party as its much easier to get a temporary passport if you have the number in the event of anything happening.

The hotel has an amusement arcade with the usual games machines, plus a pool table, air hockey and two PC's allowing internet/email access if you wish. There is a newsagent/general store, a gift shop and a jewellers.

On the beach beyond the swimming pool there is a watersports provider where you can do jetski, parascending, ringos, waterskiing, banana etc which are all provided at an extra cost, however they do have pedalos and sea kayaks that are free to all-inclusive guests.

At the beach there are also two bars and a taverna.

For kids the hotel provides an Animation team (kids club) that take the kids daily (7 days a week) between 10:00-12:30 and 3:00-5:30 which was great as my two really enjoyed it and it gave them some fun and us some time to chill. In 2002 I reported that the Animation team was very poor, well thats all changed its now run by a new team and its very good.

The hotel has 5 floors of normal standard rooms and below them there are 2-3 floors of superior rooms, there are 4 lifts servicing these floors, however we found them a little overworked due to the size of the hotel and volume of guests at busy times, so we frequently opted for the stairs which were quicker but hard work especially as we were on the 5th floor.

So before anyone thinks I work for them, it wasn't without it's problems as well, so here goes:

Some guests on the lower floors who left the balcony doors open complained of the noise from the adjacent night clubs which on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights go all night (very loudly) and finish at 8:00am yes I did say 8:00am. The hotels advice was close your doors (double glazed) and put the air con on and then you can't hear it - this did do the trick, I had the door shut anyway to keep insects out and had the air con on and we didn't hear anything and slept very well.

If you haven't claimed your sunbeds round the pool by at least 8:00am by putting towels and things on them then you were getting either the worst spots or no place at all. We got into the habit of going down at 7:00 and claiming our spot and then going back to bed for an hour and this seemed to work quite well, but not good if you like to sleep in.

I read a review by someone else for the Pallini Beach, the sister hotel who was complaining about the scramble for food in the main restaurant as a negative point and I'd have to concur to some extent with this, but most of this is not down to the hotel to be fair, more to do with rude guests who have no concept of common courtesy or queuing.

I think for the moment that's about it, if I think of anything else I'll add it in later, but I'm happy to answer any questions anyone might have.

Regards

Chris