Porto Carras Meliton

If you are a couple looking for peace and quiet DO NOT GO TO THIS HOTEL. The pictures on the hotel website, and many of the guest photos, make the Porto Carras Resort look like a quiet resort, with mostly couples. The reality of our experience was entirely different – the hotel atmosphere was cold and unfriendly, the sunbeds on the beach were not spaced out as per the hotel photo, but jammed close together, and the majority of the clientele were young Eastern European families with 2 and 3 children, mostly under 5. As an older couple, looking for a relaxed 5-star experience, as advertised, we were sorely disappointed! The standards at this hotel were not 5 star, the cleaning was basic, there was no turn down service in the evening, a lot of the staff were surly and service was hit and miss. The hotel was packed full, manic, and noisy with screaming children everywhere we went. At the restaurant in the evening we couldn’t hold a conversation for the on-going noise. In the end we had to adapt by having a very early breakfast, and very early dinner, before hordes of young families with buggies and multiple children in tow arrived – on one observed occasion there was a 20-metre queue to access the dining room, because there were no available places for people to sit. Similar experiences were had on the beach and in the hotel grounds during the day. We resorted to taking the ferry, almost every day, from the marina to the nearby village of Nea Marmaras, just for some relative peace and quiet. We were given a room on a high floor facing the sea and pool areas. There was nothing apart from water in the room fridge, and no promised welcome drink on arrival, despite us booking our accommodation directly with the hotel. The hotel is built with an atrium style reception area, with open corridors above it, which means the noise from this area floats right up to the top floors, even at 11 pm at night. Also, despite being on the 5th floor it was virtually impossible to get a lift; they took ages to arrive, were small, only able to take 2 prams/buggies at a time, so when they did arrive they were full. People smoking on their balconies made sitting on our own balcony frequently unpleasant, and smoking seemed acceptable on the open-air verandas of the restaurants. The TV in our room did not work, although a fine engineer, after three visits, eventually solved the problem. The room itself was spacious and the bed supportive, but the pillows were awful. We had to ask at Reception several times before they were finally replaced on the third day. Cleaning in the room was only ‘average’ and room service was very poor. We had to ask for our allocated daily bottle of water on at least 3 occasions, and the cups in our room were often not cleaned/replaced. Staff frequently tried to enter the room when we were trying to relax in the afternoon and early evening, often entering with their key card before being given permission. On several occasions they confused our room with others apparently needing assistance, once with a phone call at 11 pm when we were sleeping asking about ‘an ant problem’! Maids often left a key card in the room after servicing, so we ended up with five cards at the end of our stay (a definite security issue in our opinion). On the third day we were electronically locked out of our room by reception; when we went to reception to complain, we were issued with new room keys, no-one bothered to ask our names to confirm who we were (another security concern) or whether we were actually the rightful occupants of that room. The room itself had no pictures or character of any kind. Food in the restaurant was reasonable, but with little variety on different days. Service in the restaurant, was (with one exception on our first night) very poor. To the extent that we discovered on paying our final bill, that a waitress had herself added a tip to our signed table receipt! Not good - and probably reflects how the staff are treated or remunerated. The ‘guest relations’ lady, one gentleman on reception, and the waiting staff at the beach restaurant can all be singled out as better than average in the resort, but the rest of the service was barely 3 stars let alone 5. The marina was very pleasant to walk around in the evening, and the café / beach on the other side of the marina, away from the hotel, can also be recommended. Cycle hire was advertised, but when we tried to access it, we were told it was no longer available. The cycle store on the marina, gave us a similar response, unconnected with the hotel offering. Another building in the resort grounds which is shown on the hotel website pictures, looks like a second hotel, the Sithonia Hotel, but it is an abandoned eyesore, fenced off from the rest of the main resort and rapidly becoming derelict. Much of the above was reported to ‘guest relations’ during our stay, but it appeared there was nothing the young lady was able to do about most of it. In short, this hotel is not a five-star experience, as the advertising suggests; in our opinion it has a bad vibe, poor service, smoking seems acceptable in most areas and is certainly not a place for couples without children. We left the hotel one night early and had a very pleasant, proper five-star experience, in Thessaloniki.

We had a great experience at Porto Carras while organizing an international corporate event for our client from China. The hotel itself is not the newest property and some areas could certainly benefit from renovation or refreshing. However, this was more than compensated for by the beautiful surroundings, the range of facilities, the atmosphere and, above all, the quality of service we received throughout our stay and event. A very special thank you to Rafaela, who was our main point of contact. She was always responsive, helpful and solution-oriented, both during the preparation process and on site. Having Rafaela on the other side made the entire organization much smoother and gave us confidence that everything would be taken care of. Overall, we had a very positive experience and would be happy to work with Porto Carras again.

We had a wonderful stay 17-24 September as a 20-something couple. We booked via Jet2 for an all inclusive 7 night break. On arriving in Thessaloniki, we got on a coach for about 45 minutes into the first peninsula where we swapped into a smaller minibus to take us to our hotel which was about an hour further. Our driver on the second bus was really nice, he stopped at a beautiful view point for us to have a stretch and pointed out a few key places. When we arrived at the hotel, it was about 2:30pm but the receptionist was happy to let us check in early. We booked double room with a golf view which is exactly what it was. There was a huge, comfy queensize bed, shower over a bath, decent hairdryer and plenty of wardrobe and drawer space with a balcony facing out onto the car park then golf course. The room was clean, perhaps a little dated but well maintained. Housekeeping comes every day unless you put the door hanger out. We did get a knock pretty early one day and had to scramble to the door to say no thank you as we were still sleeping! We spent a lot of time between the pool and beach. Both are lovely however the pool is really quite cold (colder than the sea) and with fewer loungers. The beach is shingle but not sharp. The sea is beautifully clear and you can see fish swimming at your feet! Umbrella service is available for drinks at both locations by scanning the QR code and it brings up the option for the all inclusive menu which included cans or coca-cola, Fanta, sprite, bottled water, iced tea, usual selection of hot drinks, beers, wines, spirits and cocktails including mojito, daiquiri, Bellini, Tom Collins, negroni, margarita, paloma, Cuba libre and a couple of other options. These drinks are available as part of the package at Reflections bar, pool bar, beach bar and inside Cikado and Aneo when dining there as part of the 3 meals you are offered as part of your stay. The main Athos buffet restaurant offers all of the above without the cocktails I think. We ate breakfast and lunch at Athos every day during our stay and had dinner there our first four nights before using the 3 meals at the À la carte restaurants for our final three nights. We found the buffet to have a really decent variation of food, I will agree with some comments that the food in there is a little on the cold side but not always. Breakfast is repetitive but it would be anywhere in my opinion. We did have a couple of instances were meat looked a little pinker than we thought it ought to be so we left that and just got something else instead. There is always a good selection of salads and fruit too. We were offered three à la carte meals as part of our 7 night stay, we visited Aneo once which as an all inclusive guest, you were offered a choice of 3 starters, 3 mains and 2 desserts as well as a bread basket. We both had the Greek salad to start which was huge, I had a mushroom risotto which was lovely and my boyfriend had the lamb shoulder that was cooked wonderfully and very tender. It doesn’t come with anything but they offered him a side of fries at no extra charge. We finished with a “pistachio explosion” and a chocolate and hazelnut dessert. We used our other two meals at Cikado which had a larger “all inclusive” menu and we could order 2 cold appetisers and 2 hot appetisers. The portions were huge! Over the two nights we tried the tzatziki, spicy feta dip, green salad with chicken, moussaka, fried calamari, salt cod and another beef dish that I can’t remember the name of now. All was fantastic, cooked fresh and couldn’t be faulted. We were also offered fries both nights here with no extra charge. Bread, oil and olives were also provided for the table. The same all inclusive drinks list was offered in these restaurants. I know that some reviews make the all inclusive sound a little confusing and “not inclusive” but we didn’t find this to be the case at all, you just need to understand what you are booking. I’d definitely recommend getting the ferry to Neos Marmaras, it’s 4€ per person, per trip but it’s nice to get a change of scenery and there’s plenty of restaurants, bars and little shops for souvenir shopping. The skipper was a man of very few words and smiles but it’s only a 10/15 minute journey each way. If you walk along the marina/port just beyond the shopping mall at the resort, you’ll find a few more restaurants and a couple of mini markets. At the end of this is where they host the outdoor cinema each night. It seems the films are shown at 9pm each night and they are kid-friendly (we saw posters for Mufasa and Snow White) but don’t be fooled by English written posters as the films are in Greek with English subtitles. We did try the casino one evening but in our opinion it’s not really worth it, it’s a room filled with the same slot machines and a small room in the back with a blackjack and roulette tables however when we were there, it was a bit frosty, no seats were available at the tables, no effort was made to open another table and none of the staff looked at us, let alone spoke to us so we swiftly left. Aside from that, the staff throughout the resort were always very friendly and attentive and smiling. We couldn’t really fault the staff barring the casino. The resort is very true to its photos, particularly outside! The rooms look like the photos but are a touch tired in places but nothing dramatic. The transfer back got us at 8am on the day of departure which was right on time according to the Jet2 app, it was nearly a three house journey as we did it in one coach this time but meant there wasn’t too much hanging around at the airport. Through the whole holiday. Jet2 made it super easy and seamless so if you’re thinking of visiting here, I’d definitely suggest doing it through Jet2! Overall, I think the resort lives up to its 5 star rating, it’s a beautiful place to escape reality and relax for a while! I’d definitely recommend and wouldn’t hesitate to go back.