Apollo Palace Apollo Palace

Have a good holiday everyone! We recently returned from the Apollo palace hotel. In general, the previous reviews correspond to my impressions. Territory, greenery, flowers. . . I try to be objective: as soon as I start comparing everything with last year's luxurious vacation at the Creta Maris 5 * hotel in Crete, I immediately remember the difference in price. Apollo will obviously be cheaper. And yet, I note, in fairness, that the SENTIDO chain ( http://www.sentidohotels.com/hotels/overview/greece/corfu/apollo-palace/ ) designates the Apollo Palace hotel category on its website as 4 plus. The hotel itself positions itself as 5 stars, this is written on the key card and even in the room there is a sign in the closet. I don't know why. In fact, this is a very good "three", well, or an average "four". Just for example, I’ll say that there are no “branded” shampoos, soaps, etc. , in principle, liquid soap is added to the dispenser after a verbal request, linen is changed less often, the refrigerator in the room is paid. These are all signs of not 5 or even 4 plus stars. Not to mention the lack of a coastline. From the extreme point of the hotel to the border of the beach is really not far at all. But in order to reach a place where it is convenient to enter the water, sand, etc. . , you still have to stomp along the beach for two or three minutes. But the highway passes very far from the hotel and from the beach. In Corfu, it is often different - either lie by the road, or go down a steep mountain, or both options at once. The beach itself is normal for the southern part of the Ionian coast (from the Adriatic side in the southern part of the island, the beaches are much better, long and wide with fine sand, but the water there is 3 degrees colder). Its relative grooming is achieved by the fact that each segment is monitored by the owner of the tavern, which is located opposite. The tavern also rents sunbeds and umbrellas, allows you to use free wi-fi and access to the toilet. If there is no tavern on the shore, then the picture immediately changes. On the "public" part of the beach there is a slightly rickety lifeguard tower and an old information stand, you can't see it yourself, you can't see the storm flag either. Any service is missing. In short, it makes sense to pay 6 euros per day (2 for each sunbed and umbrella), but to relax in decent conditions. Active recreation on the beach (parachute, banana, pedalo, boats) is possible only on the coastline of the neighboring hotel, which has its own access to the sea (Messonghi beach is a large hotel designed for youth recreation, separated from Apollo by a river flowing into the sea). But nearby, right on the beach, you can rent a good boat, which will allow you to view part of the island or its capital from the sea (no driving license is needed). By the way, in the capital city of Kerkyra, in addition to visiting various sights, it’s cool to look from the sea (or from the bridge) as the planes fly over the water itself, landing. The children were delighted. The cost of renting a boat is 100-120 euros per day plus gasoline (tank - 50 euros). From 35 euros per day plus gasoline, you can rent a car and drive around the entire island, there are many offices within walking distance from the hotel (but prices must be compared, as well as insurance conditions, no franchise). We rented a boat for one day and a car for three. Everyone liked it very much. Hotel rooms may vary slightly from each other. The neighbors had a room with a shower, ours had a bath, in a building nearby - with a shower and a Jacuzzi. But in our room with a bathroom there was no bracket for the shower, we had to keep the "watering can" in our hand all the time and periodically pour it on the floor because there is no full-fledged curtain either. A feature common to most rooms is the absence of a separate room for a bathroom, it (i. e. , a sink and a bath) is located immediately at the entrance to the room and is not fully separated from the room. WC is separated from the rest of the space only by a partition (not up to the ceiling) and a glass door (well, at least opaque). As for food, you definitely won’t stay hungry, but fish in a variety of forms was presented only once a week (fish day) - this is a minus. Lots of pork and chicken. As for the animation in Apollo, there was none there all June (mini disco, bingo game). Some variety was introduced by the "fakir show" performed by animators, which was held once a week. Animators in Russian knew three words for three. Maybe this is due to the fact that the main contingent in the hotel is the French-speaking audience, and there were quite a few Russians. And it looks like it's a trend. By the way, all the inscriptions and information plates are made in several European languages, but not in Russian. The kids club didn't work. Perhaps because most of the vacationers were either pensioners or families with very young children. Before our departure, they wrote out another animator (although he doesn’t know Russian either), something may change, but so far the hotel is clearly saving on animation. And according to the information indicated here on the site: in our room there was no radio, CD player, kettle, coffee maker. The safe in the room is paid (but this is not uncommon). Refrigerator in the presence of small children and in the absence of desire to use the minibar can be unlocked and free of charge, you have to ask at the reception. There are seven satellite channels, Russian-speaking - Channel One. But in our room there was still a large fan under the ceiling, although it did not function. None of the staff made any attempts to repair it, although we talked about it. Wi-fi is public only near the reception (there is also a public desktop computer). In the rooms, the wi-fi network is different and already paid. There is an amphitheater on the territory, but no events were held on it. I will also clarify that loud animation is heard from another hotel and this can be easily avoided if you stay away from the river bank that separates these hotels. In our room, we did not hear anything at all that would interfere with sleep. And they woke up from the singing of birds and the distant cry of roosters, as they always slept with an open balcony. As a result: if you have a positive attitude, and do not specifically focus on shortcomings (although they are objectively present, see above), then you can relax normally. The price-quality ratio is at a normal level. And there are many things to do in Corfu besides staying in a hotel.