Portobello Beach Hotel Review

Overall Rating

Lovely beach, nice pool but it is saltwater and tastes disgusting. Nice hotel rooms. We had a family room which was spacious with two balconies. We also had a pool and sea view as a bonus. The Greeks at this hotel are very nice people, unfortunately not all the staff are Greek.

The water park is not saltwater, so thats good.

Rides on beach are pedaloes which are free, but finish at 6pm. There are various other rides which range from 15 to 20 euros a go. Did not try the jet skis, don't know how much they are.

The beach is far better than the pool in my opinion.

First choice rep is a waste of space in my opinion. If you have odd flight times like us be warned. Our flight home was to leave Kos at 7.20 am. We had to get out of the hotel by 12 noon the day before that means that we had 17 hours to wait around. Whilst we could use all the facilities etc at the hotel, it is a long time to wait. We queried various things with the hotel and the hotel manager, who was very nice, said that it is only First Choice customers that complain, which I believe, and that the rep has told them that they all have to wait around 17 hours to depart and that is why they get their holidays cheaper than anyone else! Absolutely unbelievable.

If you don't go to the welcome meeting, you might never see the rep again.

Have to be up about 6 am if you want a sunbed anywhere.

Favour appears to be given to other nationalities when you get your drinks. Service slow.

Main restaurant was exactly the same food day in and day out, flies all over food, insects crawled up inside spouts of soft drinks dispensers. If you got to breakfast after about 10.00 there were no clean tables, you had to hunt for a waitress to get you some coffee and coffee cups, no knives and forks etc etc. Don't recommend the all inclusive.

All entertainment at amphitheatre, you can not get a drink there. Anything good on, rush to get a seat. The entertainment is poor in my opinion. Also, the amphitheatre is shared with the hotel next door to make even less seating available.

We never got to have the Greek night because the hotel cancelled it.

No music after 11pm as people would phone and complain to turn the music down.

Stools at pool bar tore my clothes because of the rivets in the seats.

Be warned the umbrellas on the beach and the pool are made of mesh, the sun gets through so there is actually hardly any shade at all. If you have little kids, make sure you have shirts for them to wear if they get a little too much sun. Around the pool area and the beach gets a strong wind later in the afternoon and the umbrellas around the pool have a concrete base, but they get blown over... tiles on pool in the shallow areas are sharp and my kids cut their feet several times.

My daughter got milkshakes from the pool swim up bar but was told that she was limited to four, I thought this was all inclusive, however, we sorted that one out ourselves.

The bar staff at the end of the night just emptied the drinks cups straight into the pool. There is a row of stools in the swim up bit of the bar but two of the tops are missing and so there are just tiles going up the outside and rough concrete on top, you could cut your legs on these if your not careful.

Take some stuff for upset stomach etc. there were 7 of us and 4 of us were ill. We have all been to various places in Greece before several times and have never been ill.

The shop on site is expensive. If you want stuff for pool etc, get bus into Kardamena it will save you money. I wouldn't buy suntan lotion here as it is expensive. About 18 euros for a factor 20.

Portobello Beach Hotel is a lovely hotel with a lovely beach. The beach bar is the best but there is no music or entertainment. Food I don't recommend at all. If you go book the Italian most nights it is the best but it gets full quick. You have to book at the reception at 9 o'clock every morning for the following day.
The beach is lovely. Bus service into Kardamena run by the hotel finishes at 9.15 pm. thats the last bus into town. If you get the public bus it is 1.60 euros each, so it's actually cheaper to get a taxi for 8 euros if there are four of you.

If this hotel was run better - by having a varied food menu, good quality umbrellas etc and some decent entertainment, it could be a great place.

Having said all this, I still enjoyed my holiday but would definitely not go back to this hotel, but I would go back to kos. It is a lovely island.

Members' Comments ongeorgestix's Review

• ShotTheDot on 18th Aug 2008

  This is a very thorough review ,im off to kos in 3 days. I am not at this hotel but can take a few things away as it seems to be the practice on island.

• georgestix on 20th Aug 2008

  hi, if your off to kos in 3 days, take plenty of money if your not in an all inclusive. the euro is appalling at the moment 2 rounds of drinks for 4 adults and 3 kids was 35 euros. Suntan lotion 18 euros for a factor 20 etc etc a uk magazine was 7euros 50 in our hotel shop!