Raches Villa

6 readers found this review helpful

My partner and I rented Villa Raches for the first week of July 2010, for one week via Ionian Holidays. I work in the City, and my Partner is a Doctor & also Greek.
Villa & Accessibility
On arrival we collected our car from the harbour in Skopelos Town, and made our way to the Villa from there. Following the ring road clockwise around the town, it was a great way to find restaurants and get your bearings..until the road ends and the only route to follow is one which veers off to the left. This becomes increasingly steep the higher you climb and because the roads are no longer tarmac, being in the right gear is crucial. There are no safety barriers running along the sides, which can be a little disconcerting when driving in the dark.
However- driving is the best way to explore the island! From the Villa it took us just over 8 minutes to get to Panormos Beach, which is on the West coast. It is great to have the freedom to set off as and when you fancy, park up, take pictures and try out different beaches (some of which aren't accessible via Bus/Coach).
Villa Raches is very high up, so driving into town is essential. Local Taxi's will drive you up the majority of the way, but will not drive you up the final one, to the Villa because it is just too bumpy. One night we decided not to drive so called our travel rep from Ionian, who was extremely helpful, and provided us with a taxi number. The Taxi driver picked us up at the end of our road (2-4 minute walk), and took us into town, for roughly £7. On the way back, we had to wait roughly 30 minutes at the harbour, since there are not that many taxis on the island- some of them do drop offs to the other side...they dropped us to the end of our road for around £10- but walking up the pitch black dirt track with no light was not fun, and was not comforting in the slightest. I wouldn't recommend this.
However, we did roughly an hours drive every day, and only used one tank of petrol throughout our stay.
Villa & Ambience
The Villa has its own style. Despite looking relatively new from the outside, the decor lies in stark contrast. As you walk in through the small double doors, to your immediate right is the kitchen diner. An area with all the essentials and a welcome pack (fresh bread, orange juice, unsalted butter, milk, a couple of tea bags/coffee, big bag of crisps, toilet essentials).
To your left is the open planned dining area, and small lounge area with chairs at the far end. There was a television, but we only managed to pick up Spanish channels. We used the Hi Fi system a couple of times, which was nice while having breakfast.
If you were to walk straight ahead from the front entrance, you would come to a small toilet on your right, and some stairs veering around to the left to the 1st floor. At the top of the stairs, looking left to right is a long landing- bathroom at each end and two bedrooms ahead of you. Each have their own balcony, and an adjoining one.
The views from the master bedroom are phenomenal. It is at this point that you may realise sacrificing being near to the town centre was worth it- for the view.
Beds are comfy, and the rooms are pleasant.
The bathrooms are identical but at either ends, as I previously mentioned. They are not particularly great!! Stone ground, basic, old, with a draw curtain- which doesn't do the job of keeping the water in since it doesn't meet the ground...however, they have a small drain in the floor just outside the shower which tends to collect most water. As there was only the two of us, we used the spare bedroom shower- to keep ours dry.
With regards to previous reviews mentioning 'spooky' goings-on- my partner and I are not superstitious in the slightest, but there was a definite cold feel to the place. Because it is so high up, you are on your own up there- so at times you have to expect to feel a little away from everything- particularly at night. We didn't spend much time in the villa due to it having a very cold feel about it- and sometimes uncomfortable. I in particular didn't like being alone upstairs, and after speaking to our holiday rep at the end of the holiday, found out that he had stayed in the villa while his house was being renovated- and had experienced the door bell ringing in the middle of the night- despite it not having one. We also became friends with a family of 4 who had stayed in the villa the year before us- who, again mentioned it's cold feel and odd goings-on. They replayed how the attic cupboards above the bathrooms had been locked (with no key)- yet after banging noises, had opened.
To be honest- nothing like this at all, happened to us, but I wouldn't go back there again because of this.
The Pool was completely unusable!! There is no cover, and due to the wind, it is full of leaves/bugs/wasps and at one point all 4 of the sun beds!! They have an outbreak of wasps and woodlice out there at the moment, which ruined our stay in the villa ENTIRELY. You cannot even stand outside with a glass of water, because the wasps swarm you to get to it. If any water spilled over from the pool, they would swarm on that too. It was just unbearable. The woodlice can live under water, so they sit at the bottom of the pool..hundreds of them. The only thing we could do was to burn Greek coffee, which keeps them at bay. Impossible to have breakfast outside at the table, which meant we would often have it at the bakers- down in the harbour.
Overall, the Villa was just too far from the town for us, which meant driving at night- without the chance to ever relax a little and have a couple of beers- you just couldn’t risk it whilst driving on those cliff top roads. We went sailing for the day, and despite everybody having a drink on the way back, we couldn’t, because of the drive back to the villa!!
We couldn’t even use the pool, so even opting for the villa option instead of a hotel, was pointless. They did nothing to put this right- just a pool man who brought us a new net!!
The harbour is absolutely buzzing- with beautiful local pottery shops, a huge array of fantastic fish restaurants and some great jazz bars. It was hard to tear ourselves away at the end of the night- and we constantly burdened by the steep drive back up in the pitch black!
The beaches are fantastic- rent a small boat and hit the secluded ones for a bit of snorkelling- great fun. Our fave was Limnonari- which had a really fantastic restaurant on the beach- complete with hammocks, home grown honey and relaxing music. The beach is predominantly pebbles- so beware of young children.
We becamse friends with the owners of the restaurant, they are a great family- and we even met Nick Mallett dining here with his family!
If you are not superstitious in the slightest, aren’t bothered by the insects, and love long and windy drives up the mountain…then this villa is for you.
However, there are lots of other fantastic villas, just slightly nearer to the town.
I suppose it comes down to whether you are prepared to sacrifice that for the phenomenal views at the top!!
Thanks

1 reader found this review helpful

We had a great time here. No unexplained noises. But it does get windy up there so may be odd draughts about. Peaceful, quiet, amazing views. Pool changes it's water quite frequently so water can be quite cold!

1 reader found this review helpful

We had a superb holiday at Villa Raches and Scopelos last summer. Perfect location and facilities. Need to be able to drive up steep track - in dark and occcasional torrential rain but views and privacy make it worth it. No spooky noises whatsoever.