Castle Hotel

The best sunsets are from this end of the beach, where the hotel is also quieter and has private parking. The beach area here isn’t arranged with sunbeds as nicely as some of the other places, though. Our room didn’t include a hair dryer, and despite the castle-style hotel, the actual rooms are in a regular building beside it. Breakfast was very basic.

Kyriakos was a fantastic host, always pleasant and speaking perfect English. The peaceful atmosphere suited our children especially well, and the quiet end of Himare was a great location. Our room was immaculate and cleaned daily, with fresh towels provided by a lovely lady. Breakfast included a very good omelette and fresh fruit. It’s a beautiful setting, and our family really enjoyed the hotel. We’re looking forward to coming back.

The room was great, but this second visit left us disappointed because breakfast was no longer included in the price. The sea was rough during our stay, and the beach was rocky with huge stones to climb over in the water. Because of that, it’s probably not the easiest beach for small children or older people.

We were fortunate to stay only one night. Although the room had been cleaned, there were bugs inside, the bathroom was very old, and the shower was terrible. The areas around the hotel looked old and smelled as well. My wife is pregnant, so we needed to be careful about food. Since nobody spoke English, ordering properly was difficult, and we felt misled about several products. We’re enjoying Albania and had hoped to keep this trip budget-friendly, but this felt like a two-star hotel at best, despite being sold as a premium service at prices found across 90% of Europe.