Aelia Boutique Apartments

The rooms are new and nicely furnished, with lots of complimentary bits and pieces, from snacks and drinks to cotton swabs and toothbrushes. Housekeeping is impeccable each day, and towels are changed every two days. Check-in can be at any time. With a car, this is a great base for seeing the whole island, and Myrtos Beach is just a 15-minute drive away.

Parking is available right outside, and the house is close to some of the island’s loveliest beaches. Inside, the recently renovated apartment feels brand new and has everything you need. The owner was very helpful and courteous, and the cleaning was excellent, down to the details.

The bathroom was a problem from the start: it was tiny, the toilet sat right in the shower, and water barely drained from the shower head. We mentioned the poor flow and got a replacement head the next day, but the pressure was still minimal. The mattress was big enough, though we could feel the springs inside it. On day two, after a day at the beaches, we came back to an unmade bed and no clean towels. We asked the owner at 8:00 PM and she had no problem giving us fresh towels. But on the penultimate day, after she asked how things were going and we said fine, we returned to find the bed still unmade and no fresh towels again. In temperatures of 33 degrees Celsius and higher, with sand and dust coming back from the beach, that felt really disrespectful. Cleaning and towels are part of what you pay for, but you don't get them every day. By the second-to-last day, getting a clean room or towels hardly matters anymore. There were also more and more bugs in the room. I couldn't tell if they were beetles or something else, maybe cockroaches. This was the most expensive place we stayed during our tour of Greece, and we'd never had an experience like it. We assume people leave honest reviews, and we check whether other guests mention issues but still give high ratings. More people end up making the mistake of booking this place at this price.

The bathroom setup is awkward, with walls that stop short of the ceiling so the bedroom and bathroom are basically one space. The shower is over the toilet, so you can apparently do two things at once. The two stars are for the service: our blinds wouldn't close, letting sun into the room at 5:45 in the morning. When we reported it, we were told, “The guy before you broke it, sorry.” The “boutique” theme doesn't really fit, and I wouldn't recommend staying here.