Despotiko Hotel

We stayed in building 2, and it was gorgeous. Each building has its own style, the rooms are very spacious and have AC, and the place sits almost at the top of the mountain city. The food was really good, and the staff were always smiling and helpful.

It’s a nice hotel, but the housekeeping was ridiculous. After our first night, they only made the bed quickly. The towels were left on the floor without being replaced, and the rubbish stayed in the room. They have signs everywhere about COVID compliance, yet at breakfast everyone handles the same buffet tools and there isn’t a single sanitizer on the tables. Too bad. It doesn’t seem professional enough to host guests in summer.

At the end of July I paid 50€ including breakfast, which was very good value. The road is bumpy for about 200 metres or less, but a car can handle it, and there’s parking at the hotel. Breakfast has a decent range of options, and the pool is really nice. It’s a relaxed place run by decent people, and the location works well. Leave the car at the hotel and you can walk from portaria to makrinitsa in half an hour, which is better than driving. Archontiko was especially relaxed. There’s also a 3.5 euro tax that isn’t included in the listed total, so you still have to pay it. It would be good to know about that from the start. In short, it’s a decent place to unwind, especially if you get a similar or better price. If you’re there, don’t miss Volos for tsipoura and mezedes!

The rooms are clean, well built, and have a nice view of volos. They’re excellent for families of four, though perhaps less suited to school trips. In our room the bathroom door didn’t shut all the way, but that wasn’t a big deal. The hotel is high up in portaria, so the view is amazing, and the service was flawless apart from some telephone pranking we encountered once. Dinner was poor on Tuesday, then almost perfect the next day. Breakfast is absolutely worth having. For what you get, the price is amazing, and I’d give the hotel four stars. If you’re visiting portaria, give it a try.