Golden Coast Hotel & Bungalows

S pobytem v hotelu jsme byli moc spokojení. Krásné čisté moře s pozvolným vstupem je pár kroků od hotelu, což jsme s malým dítětem potřebovali. Velkou pochvalu si zaslouží animační tým. Animátorky byly úžasné, vždy usměvavé, milé a plné energie. Náš malý si je opravdu oblíbil. Každý zaměstnanec byl vždy milý a snažil se udělat maximum. Celkově jsme si dovolenou moc užili a hotel můžeme s klidným svědomím doporučit rodinám s dětmi.

Animátorka Markéta a Karolina vytvořili úžasný program pro děti a tím i chvíli odpočinku pro maminky. Hotel je krásný, destinace nádherná, klidná část ostrova.

The resort is about 50 minutes from the main Athens airport, easily reachable with an Uber. Upon arrival we were handed lots of information regarding the resort’s entertainment for international guests (I will go into this further into my review), a map of the resort, all amenities (sport hire), timings for food/bars, and excursions offered by the resort (including a trip to Marathon, Athens, a local waterpark, Delphi and Meteora, though we decided to do these ourselves as we only wanted to see the run museum in marathon so took an Uber and wanted to visit Athens in our own time so hired a car on site through a third party) and were then taken to our room via buggy and helped with luggage. The room itself was ok, the children were on sofa beds in the living/dining area whilst we were in a separate bedroom. The kitchen area had no cutlery or dishes, but it’s not really needed at an all inclusive, so that didn’t bother us. The view from the balcony wasn’t great, we were facing the tennis courts, but again, we weren’t there for the view. Bathroom was fine, though we had a bit of an issue with the toilet tank not filling without a bit of help, but easily solved. The pools were great, well maintained and good for all ages. Three pools in total, one main pool near the main restaurant and bar in which families played either balls, floaties, etc., a slightly smaller one near the beach annd second restaurant that had its own bar and a calmer one, not far from the main pool. Plenty of sunbeds available but people started queueing for them at around 9:10, pools opened at 9:30. The beach was lovely, but had to get there early in order to get a sunbed, I went at 7:30 to see sun go up and lots of beds were already taken. Two restaurants, main one (Olympia) offered breakfast, lunch and dinner, second one (thalassos) only lunch and dinner. Olympia had a bigger choice and all foods served were great, with local cuisine, international and ‘children’s’ food for all three meals. Second restaurant was arguably the ‘prettier’ out of the two, with tables outside with a sea view, but had less to offer, though still very good. The bars offered packets of peanuts from the bar staff and fresh snacks that varied (zucchini fritters, cheese pies, sandwiches, croissants, spring rolls, just to name a few) as a self serve option. The all inclusive menu offered a range of about 8 different cocktails (you could request for these to be alcohol free), ouzo, tsipouro, brandy, whiskey, and soft drinks. My favourite cocktails were the ouzo sunrise and golden coast 😅. The resort offered several different activities for which you could hire equipment for, such as tennis and mini golf, and you could pay for the likes of jet skiing, snorkelling trips, banana boats, etc and spa treatments. We did none of these as we had already done these when on one of Greeks islands, but the offers looked good and at a reasonable price. There is a shop on site with essentials, just as female hygiene products, toiletries, and so on, pool accessories, clothes, snacks, vapes/cigarettes and souvenirs. My main reason for this review: One of my main concerns was that previous reviews mentioned that the resort catered mainly to French visitors and the animation was only for French guests.. having two children (aged 12 and 17) I was hoping they would find some of the evening entertainment interesting and fun, so was quite apprehensive. Not sure if this is new, but whilst the French guests had their ‘club Marmara’ and their own entertainment programme as part of Tui France, and admittedly they were NOT open to inviting anyone to join in (one time my youngest and I asked to join in their aqua fitness and they were obviously not pleased with this), there was also Paphos Greece, who were outstanding! Paphos had a totally different programme to the French team during the day, including sports events (basketball, aqua fitness, aqua dancing), pool games, ‘beer pong’ (with water not beer), and in the evening, including Greek night, live music, you are the dj evenings, and a Latin music night. The team, Wiktoria, Javier, Jean Marco and Hanna, were amazingly entertaining and happy to get everyone involved!! Our children had a great time joining in with pool games and all the evening entertainment, as did we!! So yes, while it may seem at first glance that French guests were prioritised, this wasn’t actually the case, the international team were great!

0/5 – Paid ~$2,500 for a moldy, chemical-smelling room we had to abandon at 12:30 a.m. Do not stay at Golden Coast Hotel & Resort (Marathon Beach). We were given a room that reeked of strong chemicals and mold. Within an hour both of us felt unwell. My wife’s asthma (normally passive) was activated and we both had breathing difficulties. This was a clear health and safety issue.At about 12:30 a.m. we went to the front desk and asked to be moved. The employee on duty told us nothing could be done until morning. No urgency, no alternative offered.We left the same night. Around 2:30 a.m. we found another hotel, booked one night as a test, and later extended as much as we could. Because of limited availability we also had to cut our holiday short.The hotel kept the vast majority of the roughly $2,500 charge. They only issued a small partial refund (around 25%) after we disputed the charge, and only then. Our credit card issuer closed the dispute in the hotel’s favor despite clear evidence that we checked out the same night and immediately paid for alternative accommodation.We paid nearly $2,500 for a room we could not safely stay in, were told to wait until morning while having breathing problems, and then had to scramble for safer lodging in the middle of the night. The financial and health cost fell entirely on us.The hotel already has plenty of similar complaints. Add ours to the list. If clean air, basic safety, and competent night-time response matter to you, book somewhere else.

Great location and a fantastic atmosphere throughout the hotel. It is no surprise they just received their 5-star status this week! The food was absolutely delicious with great variety. Our room was beautiful, sparkling clean, and offered stunning views of both the pool and the beach. Housekeeping did a wonderful job every day, keeping everything spotless and providing fresh towels daily. Highly recommended!