Lindian Village Apartments, Lardos, Rhodes
Hotel Information
Recent Price: £274
Hotel Class:
Hotel Description:
The Lindian Village Hotel is situated 54 km from Rhodes town and the International airport, 8km from Lindos village including shopping and tourist attractions. Surrounded by a lush garden of tropical and indigenous flowers and trees, the resort is designed in Greek island style architecture and features well appointed standard accommodations, junior suites and suites all decorated with taste and equipped with a wide range of amenities. loading...
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Lindian Village Apartments Reviews
" This really is a 5 star resort and... "
Submitted By: Mrs M Lemon
This really is a 5 star resort and with definite 5 star prices! Even the Americans raised their eyebrows and almost everyone at dinner only drank water with their meal - 15 euros for a water and very small beer!
The food is pretty good on half board too, all buffet style but usually a very good choice for breakfast and evening with hot and cold menu options and cook to order. If you want to eat in any of the other restaurants whilst on half board you receive a 25 euro credit but you will need to book via reception first.
The resort itself has beautiful well kept gardens and beach, although there is a definite pong near the swimming pool area but we noticed that a lot in Rhodes generally. The rooms (we had a suite with own swimming pool) are lovely although the sofas despite being relatively new needed a good clean. The staff are very helpful and standard of service is excellent. You'll also enjoy the buggy ride when you arrive to show you around the resort!
Be warned you will need to hire a car if you want to explore. The resort hotel is literally in the middle of nowhere - a good 40 minute walk to the nearest taverna one way (I know I walked!) and probably an hour or possibly more walking to Lardos Village.
Places to visit include Lardos Village for a meal at one of the tavernas, Lindos (especially at night) and the acropolis, Rhodes town itself, butterfly farm, Prasonissi, plus lots of castles, and archaeological sites. None of these are too far with a car as Rhodes is quite a small island. Do venture out of the resort.
The food is pretty good on half board too, all buffet style but usually a very good choice for breakfast and evening with hot and cold menu options and cook to order. If you want to eat in any of the other restaurants whilst on half board you receive a 25 euro credit but you will need to book via reception first.
The resort itself has beautiful well kept gardens and beach, although there is a definite pong near the swimming pool area but we noticed that a lot in Rhodes generally. The rooms (we had a suite with own swimming pool) are lovely although the sofas despite being relatively new needed a good clean. The staff are very helpful and standard of service is excellent. You'll also enjoy the buggy ride when you arrive to show you around the resort!
Be warned you will need to hire a car if you want to explore. The resort hotel is literally in the middle of nowhere - a good 40 minute walk to the nearest taverna one way (I know I walked!) and probably an hour or possibly more walking to Lardos Village.
Places to visit include Lardos Village for a meal at one of the tavernas, Lindos (especially at night) and the acropolis, Rhodes town itself, butterfly farm, Prasonissi, plus lots of castles, and archaeological sites. None of these are too far with a car as Rhodes is quite a small island. Do venture out of the resort.
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- Date of Holiday:Sep 2005
- Board Basis:Half Board
- Tour Operator:Thomas Cook
After six years of other travels, we once again planned for a holiday in Greece which we wanted to take in June 2006. First considering to go to Crete – an island we have already visited twice – we finally decided to go to Rhodes because we have not yet visited the island and from all information we gathered we could expect Rhodes to offer not only beautiful beaches but also many possibilities for hiking in an extraordinary landscape.
We enjoy hiking trips of several hours and thus do not stay within a hotel area for the whole day, but nonetheless we prefer to stay at first class hotels since this usually guarantees a most enjoyable holiday without the usual problems of defunct equipment, noisy neighbours or un-tasty food. Having read varying reviews with praise and criticism about the new Lindian Village Hotel in the Vogue Magazine and at several websites, we finally decided to stay at the Lindian Village for our trip, since it looked marvelous in the travel agent’s brochures and seemed to be exactly the quiet refuge we prefer. Thus, we arrived at the hotel for our ten days of holidays in the second half of June, and we now want to share the experiences we made with this hotel:
Hotel Design:
Although travel brochures and photographs tend to be sugar-coated and show hotels in undeserving bliss, the Lindian Village really looks as the pictures of the hotel suggest: a nice, spacious area with an artificial river and lake, a great pool area and a clean gravel beach with design sun beds.
When you enter the hotel area, you first come to the river and the bungalows housing the suites, followed by the lake which is framed by the Kafenion and the International, Greek and Thai Restaurants. Then follow the double rooms, which are located within a small “village” of Greek-style two-storey houses, followed by the pool (with Fish and Oyster Restaurant and Bar) and Spa and finally the beach. The whole layout is quite beautiful, with both the suites and the double rooms having their special charms. As indicated, the houses with the double bedrooms have been built like a village, and you find lots of green, wells and even a chapel within this village. The suites on the other hand stand apart and are clustered along the river, with usually six suites sharing a bungalow. Four suites of a bungalow are Senior Suites with their own gardens and pools, whereas two Junior Suites are on first floor with their own large terraces and Jacuzzi.
Accommodation:
We stayed in a Junior Suite, giving us the possibility to enjoy our hiking till early afternoon and then staying on our own terrace with sun beds and umbrella for the rest of the afternoon. The Suite was well–spaced and furnished with stylish, well-chosen furniture. The beds were quite comfortable, and special praise needs to be given to the air-conditioning which was no rattling simple on-and-off machine but instead quiet and equipped with a well-working thermostat which allowed a quite good regulation of the airflow.
We could let it turned on even over night, enjoying a good sleep without catching a cold or headache, and that should say something about its quality! The bathroom also was very stylish with two basins and both a shower and a bathing tub. The balcony/terrace of our suite was really large, equipped with two sun beds, an umbrella and some comfortable wooden furniture. The final touch was added by the Jacuzzi, although we were a bit doubtful about its hygienic standard. However, the cleaning was done well and the filters were running all day through, but since the whirlpool was exposed to the sun all day the water got rather warm (not to say hot) and thus was a possible hygienic danger.
Beach:
The beach looks rather spectacular with its design sun beds. The water was clear because of the missing sand, and since the hotel is located at the eastern coast of Rhodes the beach is not exposed to any surf worth mentioning since the island offers protection against the Meltemi-winds. Service at the beach is good with waiters from the pool bar standing by, and also beach towels were available in abundance. When going to the beach, you exchanged a pool card for a towel, and upon leaving you returned the towel to get back a new pool card.
Food:
We were on half-board and thus enjoyed both breakfast and dinner at the hotel. Both were served at the International Restaurant, offering about 20 tables on an outside terrace and enough spaces for all other guests in the air-conditioned dining hall. The eating times were tolerant, with breakfast being available from 7:00 AM to 11:00 AM and dinner from 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM.
The breakfast-buffet was well stocked, with many kinds of bread and coverings available. Eggs, cereals, milk, yogurt, fruits and warm breakfast components also existed in abundance, and thus we enjoyed a rich and varied breakfast each day. Really worthwhile also was the freshly squeezed orange juice!
Dinner consisted of an international buffet. It offered a good variety of salads, main dishes and desserts, and the available main dishes were changed on a daily basis. The food was good, although we were a bit disappointed by the fact that “international buffet” really meant an absence of Greek-style dishes. Especially Greek desserts are a delicacy, and here it was a bit disappointing to find lots of cakes but no “typical” Greek creations on the dessert-buffet. This only changed on the “Greek Evening”, happening once per week, on which different Greek dishes were available in a broader choice. There also was one more evening with a special gala-dinner, offering a 5-course-menu instead of the usual buffet. All in all, the food was very tasty and obviously a good deal of time and effort were spent for the half-board guests.
Not to forget: There also exist three special a-la-carte Restaurants in the hotel. We did not try the Fish and Oyster Restaurant because we are not that enthusiastic for seafood, but we went to both the Greek and Thai Restaurants several times. The food in both restaurants is especially good and offers a great variation to the International Restaurant, and what is more the menu refreshingly varies from “main stream” restaurants usually found around the globe. Especially the Greek Restaurant offers gourmet-style dishes which are totally different from the food you can find in Tavernas all around the island, and thus you get a good insight on what Greek people consider to be extraordinary food.
Mixed observations:
The hotel is situated some kilometers from the next town (the beautiful city of Lindos is about 10 kilometers away). We would strongly recommend hiring a car for the whole stay. It offers you a good possibility to explore the island, to go for shopping and to trim down the about 100 minutes of transfer from the airport to a 60-minute-trip.
The beach is not sand but pebbles, but this ensures clear water for good swimming. However, do not forget your beach sandals since the stones get HOT!
Housekeeping services were clean and well-timed. The suite always was cleaned during our absence, and the cleaning was done very well. The only thing we had to ask for were new glasses for the minibar, but after asking once the glasses were returned each day.
It is possible to have a wedding at the hotel. The ceremony is held on a small island in the river, and the dinner then takes place at a grove of trees at the beach. We have witnessed a wedding, and everything seemed to be done very professionally and well organized.
The pricing for additional food and drinks within the Hotel seems to be a bit high. Okay, it is a five-star hotel, but it still can be booked as a package holiday so that it seems a bit steep to charge 30 Euro for the cheapest bottle of wine on the menu, and having Dinner at one of the special Restaurants (Greek or Thai) usually resulted in a bill of about 90 Euros for two people (excluding drinks). Guests on half board get 15 Euro credit in the special restaurants.
The standard of service at the Restaurants varied. The waiters at the special Restaurants were good to very good, whereas the younger waiters at the International Restaurant still need to learn a bit about proper service. Especially some male waiters often were seen frowning and did not seem to be too enthusiastic about their jobs. However, particularly the service at the Thai-Restaurant was really outstanding. On our first day we arrived late (11:30 PM), but the Thai-Restaurant still was open and the young waiter there was very kind and professionally assisted us with counsel what to choose for such a late dinner. Also, he did not seem bothered at all to have guests at such a late time.
It considerably adds to table culture if restaurants such as those at the Lindian Village choose to use sterling cutlery. However, in such cases the Restaurant should make sure that this kind of cutlery is well maintained. Unfortunately, the International Restaurant (again) has deficiencies in this regard. Time and again, the cutlery displayed stains from the dish washer, was not well polished, blunt and tarnished. Unfortunately, this deficiency did impair the dining atmosphere at the International Restaurant.
On the whole, the International Restaurant seems to be the “weakest” of the five restaurants – unfortunately, this is not due to the quality of food in the first place but mainly to a lack of friendliness and readiness on part of the service personnel and of the maintenance and decoration of tables and dining equipment
We did not visit the Spa, but what we could gather from a brochure in our room it offered a broad choice of services. The Spa is situated close to the beach, including an open-air gym and an outside treatment area which could be separated from other guests’ looks by silk curtains. Other guests seemed to be quite pleased with the professionalism of the offered services.
We rather liked the total absence of an animation programme. The hotel was just as quiet as the advertisement promised, with only some decent live music in the evenings at the pool. As far as children are concerned, they have a small playground but it did not seem attractive at all due to the fact that it was well away from the beach and exposed to full sun all over the day.
A question of style: our travel arrangements included a free bottle of wine in our suite on arrival day. Is it necessary for a five-star hotel to welcome its new guests with the cheapest bottle of wine which can be found for 2 Euro at a local Supermarket? There exist good Rhodian wines for decent prices, so the hotel would not need to go for the cheapest alternative available. Likewise, we had a “Candlelight Dinner” included which we could enjoy in one of the special restaurants. For this dinner the hotel had composed a reduced menu, skipping all of the more extraordinary dishes. It is understandable that they do not want to include a free lobster-dinner or anything comparable, but removing about half of the dishes from the menu seemed a bit avaricious. Being a five-star hotel is not just a decoration for nice rooms, but it is also a responsibility as far as taste and style are concerned!
Although the hotel is situated by the Sea, almost none of the guestrooms offers a direct view of the Sea. If you are lucky, you get a glimpse of the blue Aegean, but in most cases a sea view is not available. This is due to the fact that the whole hotel is situated on a flat area and because of the low buildings. However, you do not really miss the sea view, because the surrounding landscape offers a fascination on its own.
Some double bedrooms are situated close to generator houses. It’s a bit strange to meet this kind of machinery close to the bedrooms. The humming might be a bit unnerving, especially if you want to enjoy sitting on the balcony.
High class restaurants are great – but some dishes should be banned from a menu even in these kinds of restaurants. Thus, Shark-Fin soup is not a delicacy but an unnecessary display of pure luxury and disregard for an endangered species.
Even five-star hotels should have learned a bit about environment protection. The full set of towels within the suite was exchanged two times a day. A policy of exchanging towels dropped to the floor should decrease the towel consumption considerably.
A conclusion:
Despite of the critical thoughts we issued in the last paragraph, the Lindian Village deservingly is a five-star hotel which greatly contributed to the fact that we enjoyed stunning holidays on Rhodes. The island is rather beautiful and much greener than any other Greek island, and equipped with a proper hiking guide which we bought in advance of our trip we were able to make great tours all over the island. True, temperatures were up and you might consider it a bit hot to go hiking, but the constant sea-wind kept the heat bearable and we were compensated with spectacular views.
Returning to the hotel in the afternoons, we greatly enjoyed a good swim in the Sea followed by a quiet afternoon of sunbathing on our terrace and dinner later in the evening. For us, the Lindian Village was the perfect resort, making each day of our holidays a perfect day.