Samos Sun Hotel

Just arrived back from 1 week at the Samos Sun. The hotel itself looks very nice with an attractive pool setting and plenty of sun beds. The pool bar served food and drinks but the food is not to be recommended although the drinks are very reasonable and staff friendly. The advertised Jacuzzi was never turned on while we were there as they said it took too much water out of the pool so they didn’t like to use it. We had an apartment with a double bed and a single bed which was very small and meant you could not walk around easily. We had to put a bedside table in the wardrobe just so that we could open the wardrobe door. The cooking facilities were 2 electric rings, no oven, toaster or kettle and also no hairdryer which I had not realised and I had to go out and buy one. There was no TV and the radio did not work but the air con was fab although I understand it is only on in July and August.
One thing we were very disappointed at was the sea view we had paid for. The actual view is of the airport run way with the sea in front of that in the distance. Planes only land in the mornings and are not a problem but it does spoil the view somewhat. I would have preferred to have stayed at a hotel the other side of the airport which all have unrestricted sea views as the run way is behind the hotels. These hotels are the same distance from the harbour but have much better views. There is a huge very well stocked supermarket next the Samos Sun open early to late and stocks everything from food to electrical goods and is used by the locals.
The hotel is 15-20 min flat walk along a nice pavement from the harbour at Pythogorian, which is to die for. There is one small road of shops leading down to the most beautiful harbour I have seen. There are fabulous restaurants and bars overlooking the harbour filled with million pound boats bobbing alongside local fishing boats. The restaurants are of a very good quality and I would recommend the Apollonia and an Italian restaurant which I can’t remember the name of but had a Roman theme. There are also some restaurant serving decent food on the beach area next to the harbour which is quite romantic as your table is on the beach with the waves nearly to your table. There are loads of taxi’s to take you back in the evening if you don’t want to walk for about 3.5 Euro but be careful because they get you to share a taxi then charge you both the same amount so doubling their fare. Best to ask along the queue if anyone going near your hotel and then get a taxi between you and share the cost.
All in all we had a fabulous time at the Samos Sun which is clean but basic and because it’s a very unspoilt island with little going on there were no children to speak of which made for a very peaceful time around the pool. There are also very few English on the island as I understand that only 3 or 4 British flights land on the island each week. There are no English tour operators at the hotel this year but again I understand Thomas Cook are featuring it in there brochure next year so there will obviously be more then. By far, the harbour area of Pythogorian made our holiday, it was lovely to eat around the spectacular harbour and then sit and watch the world go by in one of the many low key bars and I can’t recommend it enough. We also went on a boat trip to a little island just off Samos and had a lovely bbq and swim off the boat, again highly recommended.
To sum up Samos is a laid back island with a beautiful harbour and very friendly people and I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone, although I would have preferred to have had a nicer view than the airport runway!