Zakynthos accommodation is quite expensive, so I was pleased to find a studio apartment at the well-reviewed Lazaros in Tsilivi on Expedia at EUR532 for seven nights.
We flew from Prague to Zakynthos so were outside and in the taxi quite quickly – no passport control between Schengen countries. The taxi to the Lazaros took 20 minutes and cost EUR 20.
The staff were really welcoming and showed us to our room on the first floor – although that’s actually the second floor when viewed from the street. Ground floor rooms open onto the pool.
The bathroom was modern, clean and had a shower with both rainwater and regular shower head.
Some toiletries were provided:
And there wasn’t a sign by the toilet to say ‘don’t put paper in the toilet’ – which is common in Greece.
There was a nice balcony with a view to the Sea.
Although this did also look over the Breeze Bar, which is part of the Lazaros Hotel complex:
The room had a keypad safe which was a nice surprise.
There was a small kitchen area with fridge, mini-hob, kettle, coffee maker and sink.
Free wi-fi – although it was tragically slow.
The aircon was modern, quiet and worked really well. I’m assuming the cooling unit is mounted on the roof somewhere.
The flat-screen TV had BBC World News in English plus multiple channels in Greek.
All in all we were impressed with the quality of the room.
The pool was modern and clean. There were always sunbeds available.
Behind the pool are some more apartments that I think are probably the best choice – although I haven’t seen the interior. The reason for that choice is that they are furthest away from the street and the Breeze Bar. There is quite a lot of street noise; Greeks like to sound their car horns and there are a lot of motorbikes and rental trikes.
At night the Breeze Bar is in full swing with music until 1am.
So if you’re not a night person or have small children I’d avoid rooms close to the street and bar.
I did have the odd early beer in the Breeze Bar and the staff were really friendly and beer was served in a chilled glass.
There was a nearby supermarket where we picked up some items for breakfast and bought bottled water – we never tried the hotel breakfast, although it looked quite good.
Tsilivi town has a Brits abroad feel about it. Plenty of sports bars and restaurants offering a full English breakfast. But there are some great Greek restaurants with excellent fish dishes.
The sandy beach was just a short walk away – about 400m I think, not 200m as shown on the hotel site. The sea was clean, blue and warm and stayed shallow for at least 50 metres. I didn’t see any jellyfish. The beach is lined with sunbeds and plenty of bar/restaurants.
Over the seven days we were there, I didn’t see any bugs in our room; no cockroaches, ants, mosquitoes nor wasps – although there was the occasional wasp on our terrace that was immediately zapped with my Executioner racket.
The room was cleaned well every day.
We didn’t need to pay anything until our penultimate day – they took credit cards.
We really enjoyed our week’s holiday – some friends were staying in a nearby hotel and villa – we were all able to meet up for dinner. I’m not sure I’d rush back to Tsilivi, but if I did then I’d be happy to stay at Lazaros again.
Lazaros Hotel Apartments
Tsilivi Admiral, Zakynthos 291 00, Greece
+30 2695 026218
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