Marelen Hotel - (Accommodation in Kalamaki)

Jo            

We have not long got back from a weeks holiday in Kalamaki and when we arrived at the hotel we were greeted by staff and shown to our rooms, we already knew that we were having a 2 bed apartment which sleeps 6 as that was all airtours had left and there is only 2 of us so we ad lots of room and two bathrooms! we also paid for air con which is really necessary as it is so hot which cost 40 euros for week we had a box in each bedroom. It was very effective too!  The hotel has lovely gardens with a nice pool and excellent snack bar the guy that makes all the food is a legend he works so hard and calls your food out on a mega phone! the hotel had alot of young families with children and this did make the pool area quite busy and loud sometimes so we often went accross the road to the louros beach and used their pool which was nice and they had a jacuzzi too, the hotel bar was very nice in evening and they now have air conditioning which was so cool as before we arrived it wasnt working apparantly, Nick the barman seems very popular with guests!  the self catering facilities however were rubbish! you could not possibly eat in as we had two small rings which were horrible and no where to sit and eat!  also the supermarkets did not sell food to cook they only sold like crisps and ice creams so we eat out every night. The restaurants and bars are about a 10 min walk away and it seems abit of a treck sometimes we particually reccommend Paolos and Olive tree for food and service beware of some of the indian restaurants as they are a rip off and the curry was not nice!! Our hotel entertainment was average alot got cancelled for some reason, the karoke is fun to watch and we went to a turtle slide show one evening but were the only ones there!!! we used the louros beach hotel opposite as their entertainment was abit more fun! In the day we used the beach alot its 5 mins away and we hired a pedalo! strongly reccommended as we saw lots of turtles but you have to trvel out half way between Kalamaki and Laganas to see them in the quieter bit of water, they are wonderful creatures! we also reccommend the snack bar/ restaurant on Kalamaki beach as the food is lovely and reasonable for a lunch. The excursion to cruise to smugglers cove was ok beware though as the cruise gets crowded and we had to sit inside boat whole day as there was no space outside and the sea gets very choppy and everyone was feeling ill including myself and you cannot usually go on to shipwreck as its too dangerous! apart from that the holiday was good and we would reccommend it, but be warned the Zakynthos airport is a living Nightmare!!!

Kalamaki Beach - (Beaches in Zante)

Jo            

Kalamaki beach is very nice and we used it most days on our holiday, it costs around 7 euros to hire two sun loungers and an umbrella which you can have all day, the beach can get quiet busy so if you wlk down abit further you can have a more quieter spot if you dont mind lying on the sand with a towel, the sea was very clear and shallow good for kids and the water was warm, you must take a snorkel as there are lots of little stripey fish and they are very sweet. We reccommend that you hire a pedalo it costs 10 euro for one hour and we went quite far out and if you travel out on it further to Laganas you get more chance of seeing turtles we saw loads and they are wonderful! but you must respect them and be quiet as they seem quite timid, its much better to see them this way than on a boat trip as they seem to harrass them more. The beach does have alot of fag ends in the sand unfortunatley which is not fair on the turtles that nest early mornings.The restaurant/snack bar in Kalamaki beach was good with a nice Greek salad we reccommend!! Im sure you'll like it!!

Doctors Surgery - (Doctors/Chemists in Zante)

Jo            

Went to the chemist in Kalamaki resort centre as I was getting attacked by the mosquitoes evry day and some bites were very red and lumpy! I asked for some thing to take away redness and swelling and she seemed like she didnt care. I showed her some of my bits on my back but she didnt even really look at them she went and go some bite and sting gel which was homeapathic by Nelsons which was 12 euros, which we thought was expensive and when my partner asked if it would help reduce swelling she just looked at us blankly and wasnt very helpful, we bought the gel and to be honest it was not very good, the bite cream at our hotel was much better and they told us you can buy it cheaper at a supermarket. She just seemed bored and they sell you the most expensive stuff to make money when sometimes you dont neccessarily need it.

Blue Caves and Shipwreck Cruise - (Zante Excursions)

Jo            

We booked this trip through our tour operators airtours as apparantly its a must see! the cruise boat was very nice and clean however it was overcrowded and we had to sit inside the boat the whole trip as all the open air seats were taken but inside boat was spacious and cool! the trip is great if you are a confident swimmer as they stop at blue caves for you to jump in and swim but it is very deep so we just watched from boat and also the trip consisted mainly of young groups of people we only saw about two families. We went as a couple and we got some good snaps of the blue caves, now be warned as you depart from the blue caves on to the shipwreck island the sea can become very choppy like it did for us and everyone was feeling ill and the captain was handing out sick bags! I felt funny too and by the time we arrived at smugglers cove I felt to sick to move and just saw it from the window and also it was too dangerous to go any closer to it as the captain said it was too rough! apparantly this is the case on most of the trips there! you will be lucky if you get to go on it! the day is long and its best to take drinks and water with you as the prices on board are very pricey. We did like some aspects of the trip but it was along time on board.

Kalamaki Resort - (Resorts in Zante)

Jo            

Kalamaki was a very nice resort with a lovely beach and some nice restaurants and bars, the resort would be great for families and young couples like ourselves, the people are friendly and it has low key night life, good if you want a quieter holiday with nightlife not far away in Lagana, but be warned that Lagana is apparantley very wild!

Zakynthos Airport - (Places to Visit in Zante)

Jo            

What can I say, I read the reviews before our holiday and was dreading the airport but I took the good advice from a review I read which was wrote by a rep, once we arrived we had to queue to get through passport control where there are men with scary guns! which wasnt very nice to see, we flew in on a thursday afternoon which is the busiest day and the best thing to do is walk straight past the ONE luggage carosell and head straight outside to get some fresh air and sit in the shade, we did this and felt far more relaxed than waiting for no reason in the crowds when the luggage is going to take ages anyway. We waited an hour and finally saw some of our flight passengers with their bags and so we then went back in when there was less crowds and our cases were going round. We then got on our coach which all went fine. However departures was a night mare!!! we thought we would be cheeky and get a taxi so we would arrive when the queue had gone down but we ended up the last ones in the queue for our flight, you have to stand under these canopies outside and it was so HOT! I couldnt get cool and thank goodness we had water on us, you need a huge bottle as its so hot for that length of time when we got to check in we had to queue again for passport control but inside departure lounge in had air con on but evryone was stood around it so you couldnt feel it! it was over crowded and by the time we actually got through all the queues we only had to wait inside departure lounge about 20 mins!!! so I suppose thats a blessing, toilets were fine and quiet but take food with you as it looks minging at airport and they charge like £10 for a can of coke! it was awful but the holiday made up for a few horrible hours at airport.