Olympia

The one good thing was Peter, who was a great and pleasant worker. Everything else was awful. We came to Zante for a seven-night lads holiday, and the owners searched our bags and held our passports until checkout. We also had to pay a €50 deposit, but got only €10 back when we left because three dirty towels supposedly couldn’t be washed. They wouldn’t let us bring in food or drink from outside. The manager would come over and take it away, leaving us to buy from the overpriced hotel bar. Don’t stay here.

The back garden has lemon trees, and the large pool is a lovely place to have the included breakfast. The main road is screened off nicely, and the Lagana strip is just a few minutes’ walk away, with pavement the whole way. It’s a clean and safe family-run place, run by a hardworking local family with helpful staff. A great base for enjoying Zakynthos. We’d definitely come again. This is a lovely establishment, and its three-star rating doesn’t do it justice.

This is probably a good fit if you want to get drunk and party all night, but I was disappointed. It’s on the town’s busiest road and around 30 minutes from the beach, and it was the loudest hotel ever. At check-in, we paid a €50 deposit, though nobody had mentioned it beforehand. We will get it back, apparently. Our wardrobe was completely broken and unusable. The staff knew about it but did nothing. A bottle of water costs €2, and Wi-Fi, which only works in the restaurant, costs €1 for two hours. I didn’t dare ask about air conditioning. Breakfast is included in the room price and is called continental: filter coffee, tea, orange juice, butter, bread, cheese, some kind of salami, and scrambled eggs.

I had a good experience here overall. The hotel is basic but decent enough for 18-30-year-olds. They’re strict about bringing in outside food and drinks, except water, and check your bags to make sure. Breakfast is very basic for a bed and breakfast: bread, ham, cheese, boiled eggs, juice and cereal. You have to pay extra for a full English.