Perissa, Irini Studios

Irini Studios, Perissa, Santorini. On the plus side, the rooms are clean and the linen changed daily. The location is set back from the main town and fairly peaceful though still convenient for the beach. The studios look nice from the road, pretty attractive. Internally, however, the rooms are cramped and dark and ours, one of the rare rooms with a private terrace area, was directly adjacent to the owner's accom, meaning we had no privacy at all. Be warned, most of the rooms have NO balcony or terrace to speak of, something which is generally a given even in the most basic Greek studio accom, and which you need to be honest when the weather is so hot. The kitchen area was cramped to the point of being hazardous (and I'm used to Greek studios so I'm not being overly picky here!) and in general the complex is poorly laid out. I wouldn't recommend these apartments unless you can get them at a knock down price and don't mind basic. I mean, they supply a TV, which is nice, but a shower head you could actually fix to the wall would have been a better use of a bracket. Oh, and they tried to turf us out of our room before the midday checkout so they could start the cleaning. Bad form!

We'd booked an upper floor room but when we arrived we were shown to our room which was no better than a prison cell - no windows at all! We refused this immediately and were shown another on the ground floor level which again we refused as the window in this was no better than you'd have in your pantry! Both had no balcony, seating area - nothing! Eventually after refusing both rooms, the Greek owner who was I must say extremely pleasant gave us their best room which was top floor with a balcony and sea view which is actually what we'd booked in the first place! As far as the resort is concerned, restaurants are plentiful and the food is great and reasonably priced. Anything with lamb in it is wonderful! Try 'God's Garden' as it's the best. Drink prices now are silly and you'll pay the same if not more than at home. Also if bikers with overtly loud exhausts constantly parading up and down the main street irritates you then you're in for a treat if you go here!

Beach black sand which didn't bother us as we just sat in the sun and read. Take a trip to Fira the capital and have an evening meal watching the sun sink into the sea - this was the highlight of our holiday, especially as I proposed to my now fiance over a bottle of bubbly! Don't go for 2 weeks as you'll be disappointed. If you get a car for 2 days you'll see everything there is to see on the island as it's smaller than you think. Paradise beach really isn't at all!All said we went for a chilling holiday and that's what we did although we wouldn't go again.

We went to the Irini Studios and Perissa struck us as a bit like a wild west town. There are large open patches of scrubby land with quite a bit of rubbish lying around, and a lot of half-finished buildings. The beach is black and gritty and beach furnishings are past their best in many instances.

Reasonable choice of restaurants of varying quality and price, the two not always directly related.

There is one room in the Irini Studios which has no window therefore no natural light nor ventilation. Quite a few have no private seating area (believe only 2 have balconies) which means that if you sit outside your room you are in a fairly narrow passageway or almost on the communal seating area to the front of the studios.

Owner is friendly enough.