Un Fug

Review of Hotel Simantro

Idyllic location: huge potential unfortunately not...

Idyllic location: huge potential unfortunately not used
We chose this hotel because on the one hand we enjoyed relaxing on the beach and relaxing evenings and on the other hand we wanted to explore the Greek cuisine and the landscape. The hotel is located far from the rest of tourist trouble in a nature reserve, has a beautiful beach and the buildings, as well as the grounds look very nice. Unfortunately, the overall impression with the accommodation and the food stands and falls. And in the two points the 4 stars are by no means justified!

room
We have a family room with sea view on the ground floor had. That sounds great but:
- There were no insect screens in the windows
- Windows and doors were not tiltable, so we could not ventilate at night for safety reasons to improve the air quality
- Mold in the bathroom! The tub was completely outlined in black. The wall to the corridor drenched (and painted over) We got used to the musty odor after a few days, but the whole thing was certainly not very healthy.
- With "family room" we had actually imagined a 2-room room with (partially) separated children's bedroom. Instead, an extra bed has just been added to a slightly larger double room. We should have researched that before and could save money.

We have - to reduce the humidity - the daytime running the air conditioning when we were not in the room. Upon request to change the room, we received the information that all other family rooms occupied and a move into a double room or a suite would be excluded. Our room was definitely ready for renovation.

gastronomy
We like tasty, healthy and varied food.

The buffet was so monotonous (especially the breakfast) and unilateral that after a week we did not know what to eat. Fruit juices were made exclusively by concentrate and terribly sugared at the buffet and all the bars offered. Still water came exclusively from the pipe and that is chlorinated. In the mini market you can buy drinking water, which we did then. Tees were given as fruit or herbal teas, which were actually black and green teas - so not suitable for children and were also prepared with boiled chlorine water. The waiters looked one day completely puzzled when I took 10 oranges to squeeze them into a glass by hand. By the way, from some oranges nothing could be found out with great effort - so old / dry were the fruits. The same was true for the other fruit, with the exception of the melons. They were great!
We would have simply liked more local: different pickled olives, different olive oils, avocados, locally grown pomegranates, organic tomatoes, different types of honey, pine nuts !, real local feta. The region of Halkidiki is finally known for its pine honey, olives (oil) and cheese.
Our tip: never book all-inclusive! Car hire and eat out. Each tavern gives you healthier, fresher and tastier food than this refectory. This is probably due to the fact that as much food as possible should be made available for as little money as possible.