Anamar Santorini

This hotel was a delightful surprise. I selected it because we needed an overnight stay before flying home from Santorini. I selected it because of it’s proximity to the airport and because it was relatively inexpensive. Having said that, I wish we had booked it for longer as in many ways except one it was far superior to the other far more expensive hotels in which we had stayed. Our arrival at the hotel could have been under better circumstances. We had asked the hotel to organise a transfer from the ferry port to the hotel. In the chaos that is Santorini ferry port the driver had failed to meet us. As it turned out, this was not his fault. The ferry company changes ships that morning and was late arriving in Santorini, hence the mix-up. We ended up in a packed mini-bus doing a tour of the island eventually arriving at our hotel. The welcome we received at the hotel was wonderful. They were most apologetic for the mix-up even though it was in no way their fault. To compensate us for our inconvenience they provided a beautiful platter of fruit, which we thoroughly enjoyed eating on our patio outside our room. Next morning they even insisted on covering the cost of our taxi to the airport. The hotel was a short walk down a quiet road to the small village and beach of Monolithos, which was another delight. Our room was adequate with a comfortable bed. The only drawback was that the sink was in the room and the shower in the shower room had no door so than everything got wet, but this was a budget price hotel where the benefits greatly outweighed the drawbacks. Breakfast was an ample buffet that could either be eaten in the breakfast room or by the pool. The pool even had a bar service that was open all day. This hotel was a wonderful find.

I paid for a superior room with pool, and when we were taken to the room there was no water in the pool. We asked for an alternative room and initially were told there was none, but we’re then taken to another room with a pool. The room itself is fine, clean albeit soulless (like the rest of the hotel) but the outside space badly lets this room down. The patio and pool are filthy they obviously haven’t been cleaned for a while. Being so close to the airport doesn’t bother us, but beware this hotel really is out on a limb, surrounded by building work with only a couple of restaurants on the seafront. All in all for the one night we’re staying it’ll do, but it’s definitely not worth the money and I would hate to be here for any longer then 24 hours.

Our tour company Exoticca booked this hotel. Upon arrival we discovered that it is located about 400 meters south of the island’s diesel electric power generation plant. At times we could smell its diesel fumes and hear its generators. Look up street view on a web browser map for the road about 400 meters north to see the power plant for yourself. The hotel is also a block away from a noisy airport runway. The location is far away (by island standards) from most attractions and busses can run as infrequently as one every 2 hours. Many locations also require changing busses each way. We rented a car to avoid spending most of our day riding public transport. The closest beach is dirty as can be seen in traveler photos on web browser maps. ALL 10 travelers in our tour were very disappointed with this hotel. Reviewers we never met rated this hotel highly. However, we strongly disagree with the overall 4-Star rating given that positive reviews can be purchased for as little as $20 each. Check facts in addition to opinions before you decide.