Iris Aparthotel, Psalidi Beach, Kos Town

Myself and my better half stayed in this hotel a couple of years ago and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We were booked in on a self catering basis to the apartment area of the aparthotel. The apartments side of the aparthotel were only built a year or so before we stayed and as such I shall assume that all remains the same.

The hotel is approximately 10-15 minutes beautiful stroll alongside the sea into the heart of Kos town.
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...a 3.5 hour plane journey from Glasgow. Not being the best traveller at the time (I'm a thousand times worse now - simply wont get on a plane) all I wanted to do was get to bed (after unpacking of course, I'm still a female and like to organise my room). Our transfer to the hotel was plane odd! We spent the entire journey worrying because we couldn't see anything outside and it seemed as though we were getting further and further away from civilisation. ... more

Myself and my better half stayed in this hotel a couple of years ago and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We were booked in on a self catering basis to the apartment area of the aparthotel. The apartments side of the aparthotel were only built a year or so before we stayed and as such I shall assume that all remains the same.

The hotel is approximately 10-15 minutes beautiful stroll alongside the sea into the heart of Kos town.

We arrived at approximately 4am after a 3.5 hour plane journey from Glasgow. Not being the best traveller at the time (I'm a thousand times worse now - simply wont get on a plane) all I wanted to do was get to bed (after unpacking of course, I'm still a female and like to organise my room). Our transfer to the hotel was plane odd! We spent the entire journey worrying because we couldn't see anything outside and it seemed as though we were getting further and further away from civilisation. Thinking back it was just a case that we went to all other resorts first before Kos Town. There was only us and two other couples left on the bus and we were absolutely bricking it! We had visions of ending up at a building site of a hotel about 15 miles outside the main areas. We needn't have worried.

We were checked into the hotel by a chap we assumed, rightly, to be the owner. He was slightly grumpy but we didn't let this put us off. it was 4am. He then showed us to our rooms. We were led past the swimming pool which had lights round it to mark it out in the dark and took us to a ground floor apartment. The apartment itself was fine, as ours was on the ground floor we had a lovely terrace/balcony looking out onto the pool. I done the mandatory clean and it was fine. Underbed-clean, sheets-clean, bathroom-clean and so on and so forth! After unpacking and a ten minute sit on the balcony chatting and being excited, it was time for bed.

We were kindly woken by the local cockerel letting us know that it was now light and definitely time to get up - upon checking the time we realised it was only 6am and we had only been sleeping for a an hour or so. It was straight back to bed trying to ignore the cock-a-doodle-doo! We got up at a more decent hour, refreshed and were pleased to notice that the cockerel seemed to have shut up.

We were even happier with our room now that we could see it in all its sunshine splendour, there was two single beds pushed together, dressing table, wardrobe, clean bathroom, fridge, telephone and seat. It was great- perfect for our Kos base. We quickly showered and dressed and off we went.

There were quite a few people at the pool already soaking of the amazing sunshine - we just wanted to get exploring and get our bearings. We enquired at reception about the best way to get into town and were advised that a cab would cost 5 euros but it was only a ten minute walk. As we were just there we decided to walk, as we did for most of the holiday. The walk from the hotel is enjoyable; you walk alongside the sea the whole way into the town. You pass the marina, other restaurants and bars and shops. I think that we walked most of the time and got a cab maybe after shopping or when we were really tired after a days sightseeing.

We returned to the hotel stocked up with essentials - vodka, apple schnapps and sprite - which is my holiday drink. Oh..and some beer for him too. We quickly got into our swimming gear and straight over to the pool we went. We didn't have an issue getting a lounger the full fortnight that we were there. We tend to sightsee during the day and then swim and sunbathe from about three or four in the afternoon, so pools tend to be a little quieter at that time. On the days we were at the pool the full day, it still didn't fill up and we were never faced with any annoyances. It was quite simply one of the most relaxing environments I've ever been in (when the owners son wasn't playing his music). There was no charge for the loungers and you can come and go as you please.

I was a bit concerned at the depth of the deep end of the pool - I would definitely say that if you are there with your children, then make sure that they stay at the end with the stairs. One full side of the pool had stairs and you could walk down into the pool. I just tended to swim about this end and when swimming lengths I swam the width of the pool where it remained shallow and avoided the other end - this is only because I wasn't a confident swimmer at the time and just felt better at the shallow bit. The owners sons keep an eye on the pool throughout the day.

There was a little snack bar and drinks bar next to the pool and this was useful for days when you spent the full day relaxing, you could get out of the pool/up from the lounger and go and have lunch and a drink in the shade. The snack bar cooked things like fries, salads and toasties - perfect for a quick snack and very reasonably priced. As we were self catering we never ate in the hotel part of the complex.

As it was the owners sons that ran the snack bar and bar, they always had their music on and this became a little bit tiresome in the afternoon - I think they only had one tape and they played it over and over again! This was always late afternoon and always off again by about five. I really hope that they have more music now. I'm fairly sure that if anyone had given them a cd or tape they would have been happy to put it on.

The guests at the hotel tended to be more couples - both young and old. I think that this is why it appealed to me so much. All the young crowds were staying in the centre of town and families would probably tend to go to a bigger hotel with more childrens facilities. It was perfect for us and for what we wanted from our holiday and apartment. I would definitely recommend this to couples of all ages.

The only downside of the full fortnight was one night out toilet was clogged up. If you have been to Greece you will know that you can't put toilet paper down the loo or it will block. We hadn't - the toilet just simply blocked. We went and got the owner and asked him to fix it - he was quite cross with us and accused us of trying to flush loo roll down it. But he fixed it and that was the end of it, we didn't have any more issues with it. Every time we seen the owner, he appeared to be really grumpy and a bit moany - but as we were staying in the apartments we didn't have much dealings with him - it certainly wouldn't put me off going back again.

The apartment water supply was solar heated and because we tended to have a siesta about 5pm and then get ready and go out at about nine or ten, we often found that there was no hot water left in the tank on the roof. Everyone seemed to have their showers at about six or seven. This wasn't really a problem for us - we just had our showers earlier in the evening or put up with a lukewarm shower. With it being so hot in Kos, a lukewarm shower was often very welcome!

One thing that struck me about the hotel was the air of utter peace around the place. Everyone seemed to just slow down when they were at the pool; it was so relaxing it was unbelievable. The hotel is located up a side street and had no traffic noise - idyllic.

You could hire bicycles from the hotel for a few euros if you wanted to explore the local area. There was a shop approximately one minute from the hotel and there were also local restaurants and bars, you didn't need to go to Kos town if you didn't want to.

We paid roughly £900 for a fortnight at the hotel. You can check up to date prices on the Kosmar website. I have priced a fortnight at the end of July 07 and all in it comes to just over £1000, which is fair for a fortnight in Kos. If you do go, try and get one of the apartments and not the hotel - also ask for one that's overlooking the pool. The hotel also has suites with two bedrooms for families.

We managed to get used to the cockerels and didn't notice them after about the second or third night.

I have also done a review of my time in Kos for anyone wanting to know a little more about the area. It was honestly my favourite holiday so far. I want to book for my honeymoon next year….im working on it!

Thanks for reading x x

 

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