Yiannis Hotel Apartments

Would highly recommend this hotel. The staff are all very friendly and accommodating. If you are as lucky as we were, you will get a great balcony view of the sea.

Well run family Hotel very clean friendly staff. Have Greek Night, Kareoke, and quiz nights all fun. Up steep hill 5 min walk from seafront. Yannis Hotel is a well run family hotel, staff are excellent and helpful, pool bar excellent and provides food all day and is open till late (2 in morning).

This was our second visit to the Yiannis Hotel (first one being in 2004) - I think the fact that we went back for more says it all - would definitely recommend this to others.

If you're heading to the green isles of Corfu, and the resort of Ipsos, then you could do a lot worse than the Yiannis Hotel and Apartments. This isn't 5 star accommodation by any stretch, however compared to other basic accommodation I have the pleasure of sampling in Greece, the Yiannis is head and shoulders above the rest.

When you see the Yiannis in the holiday brochures you will undoubtedly be attracted by the beautiful swimming pool area with superb views of the island. Let's start with this, the pool area is not as sedate as it looks in the brochure, the hotel attracts a wide range of clients, from young couples (such as myself and the ball and chain), young groups (we had a bunch of yonners next door to us, more on them later), families and oldies (why can't they stick to blighty?). So with that mixed bag of customers, you do get a bit of noise and high jinks, but by day there is nothing overly intrusive around the pool side area. There is always a bit of music playing courtesy of the snack bar but it is peaceful enough if you want to catch a few rays and read a good book. Now, the pool itself, on the photo's it looks huge - it ain't, if ever there is evidence that the camera there is this pool. It's not as big as the brochure portrayed and I would be lying if I said me and the good lady were not slightly disappointed by this. However, it is a well kept, very refreshing and despite my bleating, it wasn't by any means small and was a good size - but I'm adamant the brochure is deceptive.

So onto the hotel grounds, the rooms are very much Bobby Basics, nothing flash about these, good old fashioned Greek d cor and facilities, when you have shower, then your bathroom will be flooded, in my case this happened every night. Importantly the rooms are clean, well positioned and have a decent balcony, we couldn't fault the rooms basically. The same unfortunately can't be said of our brain dead neighbours. A bunch of Lancastrian, Blackburn supporting albino's were unfortunately next door to us. They made a racket when they got in from their (unsuccessful) pulling ventures into the clubs of Ipsos. They were undoubtedly the low point of our stay at the Yiannis, however the hotel cannot be blamed for the conduct of these ugly little twerps and luckily they had packed their bags after one week and returned to whichever hole they had crawled out of. In fairness to the staff, I think the hotel manager gave them a warning and short of kicking the out, there wasn't much more one could do.

The staff at the Yiannis Hotel were terrific. The girls on reception are a delight and the guys behind the snack bar are a stellar bunch. They work all the hours god sends and are always polite, funny and superb with customers. There is also a Greek Night which we unfortunately missed and for those who don't like heading to the strip then the hotel has Karaoke on. It has to be said the snack bar was surprisingly good, if you needed a decent lunch then the food was of a decent standard and the menu very varied, it's also cheap!

Ipsos itself is really nice, there are an array of restaurants ranging from Italian, Chinese, Greek, English and even an Indian (although he didn't seem to do a roaring trade). For a scenic view while you eat it is best to go straight to the end of the strip (in the direction of Dassia) and grab a meal at the harbour style restaurant over-looking the sea. This is picturesque and the food is lovely. I also enjoyed the Chinese, however it is expensive and it knocked my girlfriend sick, so you may wan to think twice before whipping out your chop sticks. There were also some really nice Greek and Italian restaurants and you could happily eat at different venue every night. Theres plenty of bars to get trolleyed at, however I can't remember any of the names but the lively ones identify themselves as you walk down the strip. If you stay at the Yiannis though, you must check out 'The 3 Brothers' bar, it is ideal for a first or final drink of the evening and the owner is a real gent, if you like a quiet drink and a good chat then give this place a try, if you go in enough he starts giving you free booze (seriously). As it was a couples holiday we didn't sample any clubs, so can't comment on them. However if I had been here on a lads holiday, it may have been too quiet, only a couple of clubs and the resort is a lot smaller than the likes of Falaraki, Las Americas and even Kavos. For a one week trip it would probably be ideal, but for two then you'd get bored.

Excursions: Corfu Town is a must - A real taste of old Greece, scenic, rustic, beautiful, loads of good restaurants and boutiques for the women. If you go here then I urge you to get the boat over from Ipsos, it takes about an hour and is so cheap is ridiculous, the return journey is the real treat, going back across the sea by night is an experience in itself, very atmospheric and absolutely stunning views. Speaking of boat trips, the ones around the island are good, you get to visit different areas, you get good stop offs and they give you some decent Greek nosh as well. Now the boat trip to Kafalonia, for me a waste of good euro's. It cost 60E for this and was highway robbery. You just don't get enough out of the day. The damn boat trip is 3 hours each way and due to the speed you can't sit on the deck, you are indoors. It was like doing an extra flight, and you only get about 3 hours in Kefalonia itself. A pleasant island, but nothing to write home about. Save yourself some cash and do the Corfu boat trips, head north and south, and to Corfu town and you'll have a ball at a bargain price.

All in all, a hotel I would recommend, an island I would certainly recommend (Not Kavos though, I've been there, it's a hole), and a resort that is ideal for couples but maybe a bit too quiet for groups. Oh yeah, and a shingle beach too, which is probably the biggest criticism I have of Ipsos.