Zouboulia Studios

This was our first year in kardamena, from some of the stories we heard this was a great apartment compared to some of the others..............

Hi, my friend and I worked out in Kardamena from July to September. We stayed there for the first 2 weeks of our holiday and went every day to the pool the rest of our stay. The pool and appartments were kept clean. The appartments are typical Greek...very basic, but they have everything you need. They are in a really good position close to main bar/club area but far enough to get away from the noise. Basically it's a good choice to stay here

This holiday was the best holiday we have both had ever. The comments below are no longer true. Although you do get what you are paying for, the location is amazing, just off the main strip of bars and clubs, its quiet enough to relax in your room at night, or its just a short walk to the beach, clubs, bars and shops. we recommend getting a fan from one of the shops for the week, no air con. Although the rooms dont get cleaned every day, they are still clean enough. The only compaint we had was the lack of TV, but the bar downstairs has one that shows tv, football, friends etc etc. The pool is lush. We avoided it for days, just going to the beach cos of the reviews on here, but its actually really nice, yeah you have to pay for the sun loungers, but you do on all of the loungers around, at least you do get a free drink. the people are lovely, the reps we had were good, the food was amazing everywhere we went (apart from camelot resteraunt) souvlaki is good, fresh kebabs, not like british ones. the room we had was a 4 person room, all single beds, but its so hot over there you cant cuddle in bed anyway. Like we say, we would def be going back. Zouboulia apartments were amazing compared to some of the other apartments, which were above nightclubs, shops, etc etc. We were in number 29. Hope this puts peoples minds at rest, Zouboulia was perfect for us, a couple, and for families, and even for party people. have fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

psssssssssssssss! how cold are the beers? do you sell french fancies? ps fizz from coronation st is coming to stay in your apartments? wa wa we wa!!!!

is it near the nightclubs? is it clean? how often do the maids come? how big is the pool? how big are the rooms?

Hi, can you tell me where these apartments are located, in relation to Status nightclub? Me and my mate are staying there next May - we stayed at Angeliki studios in September and that was right opposite Status! I gather Zouboulia apartments are by the Church - where are they in relation to the main supermarket? What side of the road are they on?

These apartments are not that bad at all - in fact they are probably the best we have stayed in in Kardamena. The rooms are clean and a decent size, your left to your own devices and nobody moans at you. The bathroom was a bit grotty but no big deal. I would recommend you take your own towels tho - we got three hand towels between two of us for a week!!

The location is fab and I would def stay here again - in fact I'm gonna price it up for next year now before it gets booked up.

This place has had some bad reviews- it really wasn't that bad at all. The location is excellent for the main town centre and Bar Street! As for the church bells- only heard them a few times in two weeks! The pool was nice and clean and the staff friendly!
I only had my sheets changed once in that 2 weeks though and be warned that you need to buy your own bog-roll (don't be caught short like i was!!!)

I was bricking it after reading the comments on this apartment but my girlfriend said we would be o.k. so I gave it a chance and I wasn't let down.
The rooms were clean and basic just like anywhere else in Greece but I mean your on your holiday and you only need your room for a shower,sleep and to keep the drinks cold.
The pool area was nice and simple the picture doesn't do it any justice. o.k. you may have to pay 2.5 euros for a sunbed but you do get a free drink and you would just go somwhere else and pay for a drink. The staff were really friendly.
I only heard the church bells on 2 occasions and I was already at the pool for one of them. There were cats but they didn't make any noise.
For what you pay this was a bargain holiday and my girlfriend and I would stay at the apartments again if going to Kos.

6 of us went on holiday for two weeks to Zouboulia and had a fantastic time there, I really can't believe that people have slated the place.

Yes, you get what you pay for and, we didn't have a shower curtain - so what! For the money we paid for two weeks staying at the Zouboulia is a bargain.

The pools not over crowded, the locations superb, the staff are extremely friendly, and you only get a small bollocking if you lose your key!

The church bells and cats screaming really aren't a problem at all, just watch out for idiots racing down side streets on mopeds - and don't go in any of the bars without at least 2 free shots per person.

If your going on a lads holiday, a girls holiday, as a couple or as a family - I think this place would appeal to everyone.

Overall I thought Zouboulia was fine. It was basic but functional and from what I heard that's the description of most places. It was clean enough but our shower head looked like it had put out a fire or something and the towels and sheets had seen better days but they were certainly clean which is the main thing! The church bells didn't really bother me although we were on the far side of the block but we did have very noisy neighbours on both sides who were fond of singing 'Eff the French g'wan the Greeks' (Euro 2004)in the small hours. Pool was fine and the bar attached is good and the staff were friendly. I would recommend the apartments if you get it cheap in a late deal like us but I think if I'd paid the brochure price I wouldn't be that impressed. Location is excellent. Greek food is lovely don't be put off by the weird names. The restaurant I would recommend is Posidonia, it's over the bridge and down a side street off the main road on the left hand side.

Read all the comments and was expecting something a bit nasty, was OK though. Rooms were basic but had everything you needed, was clean and not too hot. Pool was OK, same as many of the other hotels really. Bells were not as bad as everyone had said, but we were on the opposite side to the church so maybe it was quieter for us. The worst thing were the cats, wailing all night long, apparantly the hotel owner had murdered its litter of kittens, hence the constant wailing.....Nice story!! Location was excellent, 1 minute walk to the delights of bar st and really close to Status, the busiest and best night club when we were there. All in all its the sort of thing you would expect when you pay little for a holiday so don;t believe the nasty rumours. Oh and there were no roaches, a bonus for a cheapy hotel!!!

i read on this site, the 2 page rant by the people who thought the appartment was awful. it worried me that i was going to a s**thole in the back of beyond. i am sorry that they had a rough time but i was relieved when i got there. there is some truth about the cleaning, my toilet i don't think was cleaned in the 2 weeks i stayed. the shower is basic without a curtain, the greeks must have a way of showering which does not flood the bathroom but i never worked it out. i took to using a towel to mop the floor as nothing else was on offer and otherwise you just walked water and dirt everywhere. the kitchen was basic but fine to cook in.
as to street lighting, fine, i could not see the couple's problem. i had a lovely view of the church and the street off my balconey. it did not seem too noisy to me. location was great 2 minutes from the bars and shops.
i went at the end of the season and the resort was dying on its feet-don't go right at the end unless you like zen buddhism and stillness. the appartments have no communal areas apart fromt the pool. i briefly used the pool, which i don't think are owned by the same people who own the appartments. it was okay but i prefered to pool hop(like burt lancaster) to better pools-hotels pools are generally nicer, which no one objected to. they closed the pool anyway before i left as no one was using it.
these appartments are limited but fine, what else do you want for a cheap holiday abroad?

We stayed here with two other couples.......yea ok the rooms were basic but they were clean and the people who ran it were very friendly......the pool is fine if you consider that you would buy a drink anyway so the 2.5 euros is not so bad really. Plus like what has already been put you can go away and know your bed will still be there when you get back.
Location is good in relation to everything........except the church and the main road.....which can be really irratating when you need to have a lay in after night on the lash the sounds of bells ringing(granted only weekends) and the noise of mopeds,coaches etc going past.
Oh yea nearly forgot.......the day they decided to come round and put up new cupboards above the sink....may have been nice to warn people....the sound of a hammer drill can be quite noisy and the fact the LOCAL builders(about best description of them) didnt seemed bothered by the fact they had just woke me up. Doubt we will stay here again.

read up on message boards about appartment b4 i went.the appartment was not that bad.was kept clean everyday.the biggest problem was the church bells.they rang every friday, saturday and sunday morning three times.like 0700 the 0730.was a problem.you have to pay for sun beds but you get a free drink with that.not bad!!!!.thought the food in greece was crap.stay away from pizzas and lasagnes.but the greek food was ok i suppose. weather was amazing for the time of year.early september and was over 30 degrees every day. ciggs were quite expensive compared to turkey.about £16.50 in kardamena and about £9.00 in bodmin, turkey.get them from the duty free near the port.all the rest looked fake. would i go back to kardamana. NO. some bars were ok but you were paying over £2.00 for a pint in most places. but the hotel was ok. i recommend memories bar where you will have the welcome meeting with manos. good atmosphere. have fun

I AM WRITING IN REFERRAL TO THE 2 PAGE DOSSIER ON THE ZOUBOULIA APARTMENTS AND ITS POOL,MADE ON THE 18TH OF MAY 2003 ON THE WEB.THE COMMENTS MADE IN THIS COMPLAINT COULD'NT BE ANY FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH,WHO DOES THIS COUPLE THINK THEY ARE,YES THEY ARE BASIC,BUT VERY VERY CLEAN!! I'VE BEEN IN THESE APARTMENTS AND THEY ARE LOVELY,IF YOU ARE A FAMILY OF 4 THE APARTMENTS ARE BIG.THE COMPLEX IS LIT UP THE STREETS ARE LIT UP.MY FAMILY AND I WALK UP THE STREET PAST THE APARTMENTS EVERY NIGHT TO GO TO OUR OWN PLACE AND THE STREET LIGHTS ARE LIT UP,EVERYWHERE IS LIT UP!SO WHERE DO YOU GET OFF SLAGGING THIS COMPLEX OFF.AS FOR THE POOL AND ITS STAFF,I.E.EXCELLENT DINO AND HIS FAMILY AND FRIENDS(COULD'NT MEET A NICER GROUP OF PEOPLE).GOING BACK TO THE POOL AND THE 2.5 EUROS YOU PAY FOR A SUNBED YOU ALSO GET A FREE DRINK I:E TEA ,COFFEE,ETC,SOFT DRINKS(FANTA ORANGE,LEMON,SPRITE,COCA COLA,FRESH ORANGE JUICE,GRAPEFRUIT,PINEAPPLE,APPLE.VARIOUS FLAVOURED SLUSH PUPPIES.BEERS I:E HEINEKEN,BUD,MYTHOS,BECKS,STELLA,AMSTEL.YOU PAY FOR THESE BEDS,BUT YOU HAVE THEM ALLDAY,IF YOU WANT TO GO FOR A WALK,NO PROBLEM THE BED IS THERE WHEN U GET BACK,JUST LEAVE YOUR TOWEL ON YOUR BED AND AWAY YOU GO.TO ME 2.5 EUROS FOR A BED IS PEANUTS,YOU PAY 2EUROS 4 A SOFT DRINK,ANYTHING FROM 2.10 EUROS TO 2.30 EUROS FOR A BEER.SAME PRICES AS 2001!! P.S. IF U HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THE APARTMENTS SEE THE- REP OR SEE THE OWNERS AT DINO'S POOL,DO NOT WASH YOUR DIRTY CLOTHES IN PUBLIC.EVERYBODY HAS SLIGHT PROBLEMS WITH APARTMENTS BUT THESE ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THESE APARTMENTS ARE FALSE.SIGNED: JASON SMART.

Please, please, please DO NOT stay at these apartments, they are SHOCKINGLY AWFUL!!! We (my fiancée and I) have just returned from 2 weeks in Kardamena stopping at the Zouboulia apartments on a holiday that we booked through Manos. The apartments are fairly well located with most things within a short walk, however they are in an area with little or no street lighting. As most flights are night flights we arrived at the apartments after midnight to find them in total darkness. The Manos rep did not have a clue where our particular apartment was and as there was nobody from the property present to meet us, we dragged our entire luggage round one side of the block only to find doors to stairs locked. After about 10 minutes of investigation the rep finally found our apartment. So up the stairs we went with our bags, still in pitch black as the rep didn't know how to switch the lights on and finally to our "room". I am afraid "cupboard" would have been a better description. This room that was described in the Manos brochure as "spacious studio apartments" was tiny. I would estimate it was 10 feet by 12 feet and that space contained 2 beds, a bathroom, wardrobe, fridge and sink unit. Literally you had to be careful not to bang your head on the fridge door as you got out of bed. The size of the room was the least of our problems. We had been told by the rep on the coach from the airport that we were the first guests of the season and that the Greeks had been busy "preparing" for our visit. Well, in our "bathroom" we found the toilet seat broken and hanging off the toilet, the "shower" (which is just a tube from the taps that you have to hold in one hand whilst showering) was broken, rusty and the hose itself was absolutely filthy. The taps on the bathroom sink were thick with lime scale and did not look like anyone had cleaned them in years. We then decided to check out the fridge, which we were dismayed to find was ancient with wire shelves that had rusted beyond all belief. You would not have felt comfortable storing pet food in this fridge, so rusty and filthy was it. Added to this was the "sink unit" which contains drawers that were all broken and would not slide in to the unit properly. All of this was appalling to find as we had been told how much the Greeks had been preparing for our visits but the final straw came when we pulled back the sheets on the beds. We found "white" sheets which were covered in dirty marks, dead insects and for some reason blue dye. As you can imagine this was not the best start to our holiday and as it was the middle of the night there was little we could do until the next morning. At 9am we walked to the Manos office in the town only to find there were no Manos reps there, only a girl who shared the office with them who worked for a different holiday company. She was kind enough to phone the Manos office in Kos town for us and told them our problems. At approx 1030 we were visited by the Manos rep, she looked around the apartment and agreed that it was unfit for the purpose. She said she would talk to the manager but not until after the "welcome" meeting at 1pm. By this time we had still not had a shower or even been able to go to the toilet so we were less than pleased with this outcome. We requested that we be moved either to a different apartment at Zouboulia where hopefully these problems weren't present or to an alternative accommodation. The rep told us if we wanted to move to a different property WE would have to PAY AN ADMIN CHARGE. This was incredulous; they dump us, in the middle of the night to a pitch black, filthy apartment block and give us a room with so many things wrong it is unbelievable then if we are not happy we have to pay to move. We felt really let down by Manos; we had booked the holiday 9 months previously and had paid the full brochure price. This wasn't some late getaway, "allocated on arrival" for £100 (although if it had have been we would still have expected somewhere clean!). Anyway, by 2.45pm the rep showed us a different room which was strangely nearly twice the size of the original and at least it was cleaner and thankfully the toilet seat was attached to the toilet!! However, the shower was just as bad as the previous apt. We agreed to stay in this room on the basis that they changed the shower hose and head (It took them a week but we got in in the end!). The Manos rep agreed and finally we could unpack.
On the wall of the apartment was a sign saying that to use the sun beds around the pool would cost us 2.5 euros each. I couldn't remember any mention of this in the brochure and we had only booked it as it had its own pool. Are we expecting too much for the sun beds to be included in the price of the holiday???? Well, we paid this amount for the first few days till other people told us that the pool just round the corner which had a bigger pool and more sun beds was actually free to all comers!! This just sums up the Management at the Zouboulia, they want to charge you for everything and yet you get little in return. The "Maid" service is a total joke; the Maid literally empties the bin and makes the bed. he toilet and sink was never cleaned, the floors never mopped. We only had the sheets changed once in 2 weeks, towels (which were like face flannels) were changed twice. We had to beg them to give us a new toilet roll as they refused when we first asked. We heard from other holiday makers that they were being charged for damage to the property that they hadn't done, that people arrived in the middle of the night to rooms that had not been cleaned, and remember this in a country where you cannot flush toilet paper down the loo, imagine what stench greeted people on entering these rooms!! All of this left a very bitter taste in our mouths about the Zouboulia apartments.
Please, please, please DO NOT STAY AT THESE APARTMENTS, otherwise you will bitterly regret it.

This was my second visit to Greece last year and we stayed at the Zouboulia. The Apartments are basic but very clean they are cleaned out everyday (well depending if you could get out of bed at the hour the maid called!). The pool was great, food and service round the bar had the added personal touch from Dinos!! One draw back it was situated opposite a church and believe you me they do like to ring the church bells out there! The Location was excellent in the middle of everything but just far enough away not to hear all the noise, just a short stroll to most places and safe enough to walk back on your own at night. What can I say, shall definitely be going back this year.