Macedonia

Our first stay in the beautiful grounds and hotel. The rooms are of a good size and cleaned every other day and the linens/towels changed frequently. I do think the bins could be emptied daily for better hygiene especially when we have children's nappies and female hygiene products. Pool and bar areas are kept clean however the landing/porch way by the doors to the apartments could do with more frequent sweeps - there was a bug leg on the floor for about 3 days. The pool is a good size there are step ladders to get in and out of the pool - the hand rails do get every hot! The children's pool is a good depth however the glass around it wasn't the best - the youngest of the group did slip in suddenly and if the glass wasn't there one of us would have been with him quicker and easier - he's fine and was back in the water within half hour - ice cream treat needed! There is plenty of breakfast choice for b&b and it does vary each day - although a label as to what is available would make the choices suitable for vegetarians etc. Snacks, drinks and ice cream choice is plentiful. The park area is a great addition and one of the reasons we picked this hotel. The floor in the park and around the pool do get very hot as the day wears on but the park flooring is safety tarmac. The hotel is under the flight path and both the children loved watching them fly in or out! The first flight each day comes in around 6am and due to the kalamaki bay being a turtle nesting bay and beach the planes do stop around 10pm. There is a tourist/supermarket just out onto the main road and 2 more a bit further down. Keep walking and you will find restaurants, bars and shops. Beach is the other way out of the hotel and less than a 10 min walk.

The Hotel Macedonia is conveniently located a few minutes walk from the closest supermarket, 5/10 minutes from the start of the main strip and 5 minutes from the beach. The atmosphere was very laid-back. Arriving quite early into the season, the hotel was initially very quiet, picking up towards the end of our stay. But despite the extra bodies around, it felt safe and welcoming. We were greeted warmly by the staff at reception, paid the tourist tax, which for this hotel is €5 a night, and opted for use of the safe in the room at €3 a night. We didn't opt for the aircon, but I believe that was €9 a night - possibly maybe a little more for the apartments, which is what we opted for. We booked a 1-bedroom apartment as this offered more space and the convenience of having a separate bedroom space for our 4 year old and honestly this was one of the best apartments we've stayed in in Kalamaki (we've stayed in Louros Beach and Garden Village before). It was spotlessly clean, the bedroom and living area spacious and airy, with a double balcony (we were on the 1st floor) that overlooked the pool area. The apartment had a comfy double bed (an actual double and not 2 singles pushed together!), a small kitchenette with hob and fridge, wardrobes with hangers (always a bonus) and a single bed with an optional pull-out in the main living area. Hairdryer was provided and was also fairly decent and had some power to it and managed to dry my thick hair with ease! The bathroom, as other reviews have mentioned, are small - the shower cubicle especially so, but adequate. My only gripe (completely personal preference) was the waterfall shower. Pros; probably the best water pressure of any shower I've used in a hotel during our various stays in Greece and there was always hot water, regardless of what time of the day we showered. Cons; the waterfall-style shower wasn't ideal for our 4-year old, who struggled through many a hair wash with shampoo-tears owing to the shower style. Whilst we worked around this, a handheld shower attachment to give you more control over water flow would have been great! We stayed for 10-nights in total and the room was cleaned 3-times in that period. The housekeeping staff did a fantastic job and our little girl loved seeing the bed sheets folded into cute little bows and her stuffed toys propped up happily in bed. Tip: as you cannot dispose of toilet in the toilet itself, take nappy sacks as a second line of defence to keep away smells for those couple of days between cleans! The grounds of the hotel were also kept immaculate. All housekeeping and grounds staff were friendly and helpful and I don't think I ever saw them sit down! From watering the plants and prepping the pool area in the morning, to ensuring that it was spotless at the end of the day. The pool is small and i can imagine a little cramped in high season, but was ideal for us and whilst it can get busy, we always found a sunbed in the afternoon - always take flip flops with you though as that ground can get very very very hot! The neighbouring Delight Kitchen Bar was also great and convenient. We opted for B&B and so a continental breakfast buffet was supplied in the bar between 8-10am. This contained things that you'd expect, like fresh fruit, greek yoghurt, pastries, cereal, toast, cakes, bacon, eggs, sausages, beans, cheese pies and the customary teas and coffees. As mentioned being there in early season, we didn't have to fight with crowds to get our breakfast, so again very chill! The bar did put on entertainment every couple of days or so, from Ska/Reggae acts, Greek Night, Karaoke, but these events were every couple or days or so and didn't go on until too late thankfully! As the events tended to start quite late (9:30pm-ish) we often caught the first 15 or 20 minutes before heading off to put the little one to bed and even though we were quite close proximity to the bar, this wasn't an issue. There is a little park next to the pool / bar, there's also a pool table, table football and air hockey, which we played a couple of times, but good for older kids / teenagers as something to do. End note: this hotel is on the flight path. Yes it is loud, but flights are restricted before 5am and after 10pm I believe due to the protection of the turtles who come to the island to lay eggs on the beach. But we loved watching the plans come over and take off from the hotel pool, so this wasn't disruptive at all. We would absolutely love to come back to this hotel!

Lovely hotel, rooms clean and we had a couple of issues while we were there but both faults resolved straight away, Delight restaurant next door was lovely too, staff so lovely can’t wait to go back