Haraki Beach Studios & Apartment

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There are 4 rooms on the ground floor of this accommodation. My husband & I were in room 3, my sister-in-law & her partner were in room 4. It was like being in large prison cells! Impossible to open the curtains at the high windows in the rooms because people could see straight into the rooms as they came from the bar or down the stairs from the upper rooms. They were EXTREMELY noisy, with 'through-traffic' from the bar & staff clearing bottles etc outside the bar area which was at the end of the enclosed passage between the rooms. If you could guarantee an upstairs room, you would get a better chance of it being a little quieter & you would be able to open the curtains in your room, rather than spend any time you are in the room without any chance of natural daylight being allowed in, but as you can't choose your room, I would ABSOLUTELY NOT recommend this accommodation to anyone.

Haraki is a fantastic place for a holiday but I would NOT recommend these apartments to anybody.
They were built 8 years ago incorporating a bar, which is the busiest and loudest in Haraki. The back door of the bar leads into the hall by the front door of the apartments and the young locals leave the bar between mid-night and 4 am shouting/singing and making a noisey disturbance which meant we never got to sleep until the early hours. When the locals got on their motorbikes they sat just revving them up before going home. We were then woken between 6.30 and 7 by the bar cleaner scrapping chairs and banging a mop-bucket about.
We complained to the apartment owner and Kosmar rep, but they were unable to stop the noise.
Kosmar/XL are not marketing these apartments after the 2008 season and one can only assume it is because of the numerous complaints they have had.
BEWARE. Heed this warning and NEVER NEVER stay in these apartemnts.

I can't fault the Haraki Beach studios at all. Ideally situated for all local amenities and just a few yards stroll to the beach, bars and restaurants. If you go there, try and get your tour operator to get you into room 8. It's the only room which opens out onto the med. The rest of the rooms open out to the rear or inside the building but it's still a very nice place. Some rooms are at the back where the entrance is also used as an exit from the bar. Some folks say it's noisy when the locals leave in the early hours but I've never noticed a problem.
All in all a nice place. Best bar is Jacks, and the best restaurant, well you take your pick on that one. They're all good and serve brilliant food. Rumour has it there will be a cash machine there next year (2008) but knowing the way the Greeks operate I wouldn't bank on it.
Aristo the money man will always change travellers cheques, sterling etc. You can't fail to have a good holiday here. Once you've been here you'll soon find out that it's easier to book your apartments direct with the many apartment owners, and book flights direct over the internet. Thereby cutting out the tour operators and saving yourself some money.

Our 2nd time at these studios, and yet again they are great. Right in the square so you can sit on your balcony and watch the world go by.
Best bar still Haraki Dreams (just down stairs) and best taverna is Dina and Manolis just on the road out of Haraki. Also Kostas and Eleana have moved into Kiss Burger this year, and their food is fantastic as well.
Made more new friends but return every year to see our friends Greek and English who live there. Fantastic place, fantastic people.

The upper floor studio apartments are very small and uncomfortable - two is a crowd in these. You need air conditioning in the hotter months and even in mid September the studio was unbearably hot at night without some use of the AC unit. The hotter the room gets the more the fridge has to work and the more noise there is! And the fridge is less than 2 feet from your head!
The emergency lighting warning lamp was on permanently (these means the backup battery is dead) which illuminated the whole room at night. If there is a power cut then this should fully light - but one night we did have a power cut and it didn't light we were just plunged into darkness. So when you don't need it, its on and when you do need it, it doesn't work! Two of the lights in the room were burnt out as was the lamp above the door - none of this was fixed while we were there.
The term basic is absolutely true here and its about time that the Greeks realized that this level of "basicness" is no longer acceptable. It would be impossible to cook any food in the kitchen - only one pan, (which we used to collect water from the AC unit when it failed and we had water pouring down the wall over the floor and bedding!), and an odd collection of utensils and plates. We had to buy a couple of glasses. There is one small wardrobe and no much space to put anything else.
It did have a safety deposit box provided at no extra charge and a "plumbed in" hairdryer which is on the plus side. The TV only showed Greek channels.
The balcony is a reasonable size but the canopy is a slatted pergola type of thing and if it rains (and it did on and off for 4 days) then you can't use the balcony at all.
The bathroom is also basic with a shower basin but no curtain or attachment for hanging the shower hand set to the wall. You need to mop out the whole bathroom when you have finished. The availability of hot water varies as the weather changes - there was none on several occasions - we had overcast and rain on 4 days.
The owner and his wife are a very nice couple called Michaelis and Emmanuella and they live in Afandou and run the Flora restaurant there. Michaelis did his utmost to fix problems we encountered with the studio and in the end only charged us a nominal fee for the AC.
There is nobody on site who can deal with problems immediately and no reception as such so all problems either get relayed through the Kosmar rep or via Michaelis' cousin who lives in number 1. The Kosmar rep Helen was first rate.
The downstairs one bedroom apartments look a much better bet with a bit more room, go for one of these and avoid the studios.
If all this sounds a bit moany and groany - its only about the studio, we like Haraki very much. The best restaurants in our opinion - Manolis & Dina's : Zographos : Da Vinci's (huge pizzas) : Haraki Bay Hotel is nearest to the studio and is a bit more expensive but the food is good and it also and a helpful and friendly supermarket!
And don't let me put you off Haraki - it was ages before I found someone who was only on their first visit. Just avoid these studios if you like comfort!

Haraki Village Studios are in an ideal location just over the way from the beach. The rooms are however very small indeed with very limited storage space.
Cleaning done mid week on Wednesday and on Saturday. From reading the guest book in our room previous guests had had problems with the cleaner not arriving until 6:00 in the evening. During our visit the cleaner arrived for the mid week clean at 7:15 in the evening. I had to hurriedly get out of the shower and throw some clothes on so we could have the room cleaned.
We would definitely go back to Haraki (this was our second visit) but Haraki Village Studios would not be our first choice of accommodation.