Rodos Village, Rhodes

...Rhodes and stayed in the Rodos Village in Kiotari. The Rodos Village is a 5 star all-inclusive resort which is situated in the east west coast of the island.

We took a taxi from the airport to the hotel (this was a pre-paid transfer from our holiday provider) The taxi took around an hour to get to the hotel. Since our flight was overnight, we arrived at the airport at 4.45am, so it was great to hop into a taxi and get to the hotel ...
.../> We got to the hotel at around 6am. There are not only steps up to the hotel, but also a ramp. It was quite steep but it meant that I could wheel my bag up instead of carrying up the steps (always good if you're tired!)

Check in was quick. No one was around at that time since it was so early, there was just a lone man at the reception desk. Since we had so many documents from the holiday provider the man at reception wasn't quite ... more

Last week I came back from a holiday in Greece. We went to Rhodes and stayed in the Rodos Village in Kiotari. The Rodos Village is a 5 star all-inclusive resort which is situated in the east west coast of the island.

We took a taxi from the airport to the hotel (this was a pre-paid transfer from our holiday provider) The taxi took around an hour to get to the hotel. Since our flight was overnight, we arrived at the airport at 4.45am, so it was great to hop into a taxi and get to the hotel quicker than the coach would have taken.

We got to the hotel at around 6am. There are not only steps up to the hotel, but also a ramp. It was quite steep but it meant that I could wheel my bag up instead of carrying up the steps (always good if you're tired!)

Check in was quick. No one was around at that time since it was so early, there was just a lone man at the reception desk. Since we had so many documents from the holiday provider the man at reception wasn't quite sure which one he needed, but our name was down on the list so that was all fine. We each got given a bright orange wristband, which meant that we could make use of all of the all-inclusive things. He had some sandwiches at reception for us in case we were hungry, and we could take these to our room to settle in.

There are 407 rooms in the complex. We were expecting to stay in the main hotel building, but the man led us outside to a van where he drove us up the steep hill behind the hotel (but still in the resort complex) here were lots of little bungalows. We stayed in a bungalow that had a room to either side of us. When we opened up the door (the lock was a little temperamental but we got our rhythm with it by the end of the holiday!) there was a spacious room in front of us. Thankfully there was air conditioning because it was absolutely stifling!
There was a good amount of wardrobe space and in one of the cupboards there was a mini fridge, even though there wasn't anything in it we could cool down our bottles of water to have a nice refreshing drink.
There was a double bed (which was actually 2 singles pushed together) a desk and mirror and a comfy chair with a glass top table. We each had our own bedside tables and lights. There was also a radio (which didn't work) and a tv with a remote.
There were large French windows leading out on to our own little patio. The patio had two chairs and another glass top table. When we were in our room we had to make sure our curtains were closed though, our room faced out onto the path where everyone walked up to the upper swimming pool so I wasn't keen on flashing anyone!

The bathroom had a toilet (of course!) a nice big sink and a bath/shower combo. We were also given towels, 2 big ones and 2 small ones. I did notice that a couple of these had some orange stains on them. We had brought our own towels though so we didn't mind too much. Another thing I noticed was how many little ants were crawling over the place.. everywhere! There was a big gap in between our front door and the actual ground, so I'm not surprised there was little beasties. I think the ants might have had some kind of nest or little home or something in the cracks of our wall because we counted 10 in the sink area and more around the rest of the bathroom.
When you go into the room you have to place the magnetic keyring of the key into the holder in the wall which turns your electricity on. The annoying thing about that was that when you were out of the room you had to take your key with you, which would turn the air conditioning off. When it is 42'c outside you like to come back to a nice cool room! We came up with a wonderful solution, we bought a little magnet from the shop which we could just pop in there, meaning that when we got back our room was delightfully cool (we took it out when we knew the cleaners were coming though) We did make sure we turned all the rest of the lights and electrical equipment off though because we didn't want to waste unneeded electricity.

The rooms were cleaned daily and the cleaners all seemed really chirpy and friendly.

Since we got there at 6am and hadn't slept all night, we thought that we would stay up the extra hour til 7am so that we could go to breakfast and then go to sleep. It made sense because we thought we would almost definitely sleep through lunch.

Breakfast lunch and dinner are all served in the main restaurant in the main hotel building. Breakfast was a buffet style affair, or 'American Buffet' as it was listed as. The breakfast lasted from 7am - 10am. When you go to the restaurant you are shown to your seats by the man on the door. There was a hot breakfast section serving eggs, bacon, sausages and the norm, then there was a cold food section with meats and cheeses and tomatoes and rolls. There was also breakfast cereal and cakes. There was a good selection of juices and coffee and tea too.

Lunch is pretty much the same too, it is served from 12.30pm - 2.30pm. Again a buffet. There is a hot food selection which has a different theme everyday. While we were there there was Chinese food, seafood and other food which I couldn't pin down to a specific 'theme' but there was food which we were used to such as chips and different meat dishes, omelette and sausages. Then there was a wonderful salad bar with a great selection of salads.

Dinner is served from 7pm - 9.30pm. There is a dress code for dinner time. Gentlemen are requested to wear long trousers (my boyfriend made this mistake on the first night because we didn't know and had to walk up the steep hill to change!) When you get shown to your seat you get asked if you want anything to drink. There is a wide selection to choose from including wine, beer and fizzy drinks. Again there was the buffet, pretty much the same selection as was served at lunch, then there was also 'show cooking'. There was a small kitchen type area in the main part of the restaurant where there would be a chef cooking a particular food for the evening. This was quite nice to see. There was also a bbq section where two chefs would be cooking burgers, sausages and chicken. The waiters were always quick to replace any food that was getting low so there was always plenty of food.

You could choose whether you wanted to sit inside or out on the terrace. We always chose to sit inside since it was cooler (and closer to the food!) and there weren't as many flies as outside.

The selection of food was really good and there was something for everyone. The thing I didn't like was the food wasn't covered. Since there were so many flies everywhere they were landing on all the food. This really put me off. It would have been so simple to place covers on the food yet they didn't. On the last night of the holiday I found a dead fly in my salad which was horrible. I didn't really feel like eating it after that!

There was also another restaurant at the hotel, but you had to make reservations at least a day in advance to eat there. We went there on one night (but I wish we booked more!) This was a pizzeria that was next to the top swimming pool. You could book it for either lunch or dinner. This was an a la carte restaurant with not only pizza but other meat dishes and salads. These were all cooked fresh and the pizzas were done in a stone oven and you could see them cooking it. It was wonderful and you could sit outside on the terrace and eat.

If you get hungry in between meal times there were a selection of snack bars which served chips, some other hot food, sandwiches and ice cream.

There were a total of four swimming pools in the hotel. Three outdoor swimming pools and one indoor swimming pool. There were sun beds and umbrellas at all of the swimming pools so that you could sit in the shade after swimming. We only used the swimming pools a couple of times since we preferred going to the beach. I did notice that the indoor swimming pool, which is inside a glass panelled area, did have some cracked glass panels on the roof. I thought this was really dangerous as they looked as it they could just fall down. If there was anyone in the swimming pool below they could really get hurt.

There were also a few bars at the hotel. We liked the main bar best but this didn't open til 5pm. There was unlimited drinks included in the package and the main bar served cocktails which we were quite fond of! There was a range of about 10 different cocktails and we could sit drinking at the bar til it closed at 12.30am.

There was also a wonderful beach just next to the hotel. However you had to walk down quite a lot of steps to get there and across a road so I'm not sure how accessible it is for wheelchair users. There was also a bar at the beach which served alcoholic and non alcoholic beverages. And also ice cream and sandwiches. The sandwiches always seemed to have one end which didn't have cling film on it so the end went stale. Every single sandwich I had was like this!

There were a lot of sun beds at the beach. The annoying thing was that people got there early in the morning to put there towels on their seat, and then go away for hours so that no one else could use them! This meant that it was sometimes quite hard to find a space.

The beach was a pebble beach and was absolutely beautiful. The sea was so clear and when you got in there, lots of fish would swim right up to you. We had our snorkelling things and an underwater camera and got some great pictures of tropical type fish.

There was also a water sports centre on the beach but we didn't take advantage of it because it was quite expensive. We were quite happy just swimming in the sea and snorkelling.

There was an entertainment team at the hotel called the 'animation team'. They were from all over the world and could speak quite a few different languages each so they could speak to all of the guests. Each of them was stationed at a different area of the hotel to keep the guests entertained. They ran sports on the beach which mainly consisted of volleyball and football, and then there were childrens clubs and other sports at the other swimming pools around the hotel.

There was night time entertainment from 8.30pm. The childrens disco was first and then at 9.30pm there was either bingo or tumbolo. This cost to enter and we must have wasted so much money on it! We did win €10 on the first night though.
After the game there was the main entertainment. The animation team provided this and would be different shows each night such as a cabaret show, a dance show and one night there was a game involving the audience called Men vs. Women (but we were all winners, of course!) The entertainment was wonderful and I think they did a really good job involving the audience and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. The entertainment was in a place which they called the 'amphitheater'. It was an outdoor 'arena' type place with seating all around the outside and the stage in the middle. There was a bar here too which served cocktails and other drinks. Luckily our room was close by because it was quite a walk to the hotel to go to the toilet! I think it would have been good if they had some toilets closer than this because it was about a 10 minute round trip to walk. You miss some of the show and you need some pre-warning since it takes quite a while to get there!

Another thing is, in the hotel there is only one set of toilets, and these only have 2 cubicles in. I think they could have had more toilets around the place considering they had so many guests.

In the hotel there was also a supermarket (not a proper supermarket, but a shop which sold chocolate, crisps and tourist souvenirs) there was a supermarket across the road which was a lot cheaper though. There was also a jewellers, which we didn't go in to. Downstairs there were some electronic games and some computers with internet access. These were all paying machines. Internet cost €0.50 for 8 minutes. We tried some of the game machines but a couple of them just ate our money and didn't work! We told reception and there was no problem getting our money back.

There is also a laundry service at the hotel. You can fill in a form and the cleaners will pick up your washing. This is quite expensive though. Since we were in London beforehand we were running out of clothes and decided to get some essentials cleaned. This did end up costing us about €15 though. This also took three days and we were only there for a week!

There is no cash machine at the hotel. It is a 5 minute walk to the closest one, which is next to some tourist shops.

There is a bus stop right outside the hotel which went all the way into Rhodes city via some other small towns. We did go to some close by towns on a couple of days, but not all the way into Rhodes. The bus is really good value for money and it only cost us €2 to get to a town half an hour away.

On the last day we had to check out at 12pm, since our transfers weren't until 2.30am we decided to pay to keep our room for longer since we didn't think we would get to keep our all inclusive bands. This cost us €40.. and in the end we found out that we could have kept our bands until we left! That was quite annoying since the reason we did it was so that we didn't have to pay for food through out the day. Even though we paid an extra €40 we could only keep the room until 10pm, so we still had 4.5 hours to wait until our taxi came without a room.

All in all we had a great trip (though I think it was more down to the company). I would recommend the hotel though I'm not sure whether I would class the hotel as a 5* resort though, I think our high expectations of a 5* resort were shattered slightly, and I think some improvements should be made. The hotel is quite family friendly with the childrens clubs and the entertainment. Although the food was great, there were so many flies landing on it that it ruined it for me. The room was ok but there were so many ants around the place, and I even found a forkie tail in my towel which I wasn't too impressed with! They could have had more toilets, and a cash machine on site would have been nice. We paid a total of £509 each for the holiday. This included flights and the all inclusive hotel (but not transfers - we had to book those separately) I'm not sure how much the hotel costs per night since we booked it in a package deal.

Also on Dooyoo :) 

...less