Gaia Garden Hotel

I stayed at the 3*+ Gaia Gardens Hotel in Lambi for 6 nights in early May 2006.

I paid just 22 euros (15 GBP) per night for an en-suite single room and this proved to be superb value for money!

Location:

This impressive hotel is located in spacious gardens in the beach resort of Lambi on the north-western tip of the island. From the hotel, it is just a 2 minute walk to the main street of Lambi with its large choice of tavernas, bars and shops and just a 5 minute walk to the nearest beach. The harbour of Kos Town can be reached in about 15 minutes on foot.

Hotel facilities:

The hotel consists of a main building (in which the reception area and dining room are located, as well as a number of guest rooms) and several smaller annexes, each containing a handful of guest rooms, located among the gardens. You may want to bring a torch for getting to the annexes at night.

The reception area is staffed by exceptionally friendly staff who will be happy to assist you with matters such as car hire and booking excursions. There are also safety deposit boxes in the reception for storing your valuables and a TV corner.

Outside, there is a large swimming pool (with a smaller children's pool attached), a children's play area and pool tables. A large terrace with sun loungers and umbrellas surrounds the pool and there are other shaded terraces set back from the pool if you want a break from the sun.

Free car parking is available outside the front of the premises.

Room facilities:

My single room in fact had THREE single beds in it and was easily spacious enough to accommodate three guests. The room also contained satellite TV (100s of channels from all over Europe, the Middle East and Asia), air conditioning/heating, an outdoor terrace (rooms on upper floors have a balcony), large wardrobes, bedside cabinets, a telephone and a small en-suite bathroom.

The en-suite bathroom contained both a bathtub and a shower attachment. Fresh towels were provided every day.

Unique Quality: Food:

Breakfast and dinner are not included in the room price but can be purchased at a cost of 5 Euros per meal per person per day. There is also a poolside snackbar.

Overall, I had an excellent stay at the Gaia Gardens Hotel and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a hotel close to Kos Town.

However, in order to give a balanced view, I would highlight the following good and bad points:

Good points:

Room facilities - the room facilities are excellent. Rooms are well-furnished, clean and spacious. On the guest questionaire, one of the questions asks whether the hotel could achieve a 4* rating (from its current 3*+ rating)....and on the basis of its rooms, I believe it could. The only additional item I would have liked is a fridge.

Staff - the hotel's staff are exceptionally friendly. I was always (without exception) greeted with a friendly smile and polite conversation in reception. The staff went out of their way to let it be known that if I needed any help with anything or needed anything in my room that wasn't already in there, then to let them know and they'd sort it out for me. Nothing was too much trouble for them.

Bad points:

Ants

I was staying in a ground floor room in one of the garden annexes. I therefore found that quite a few ants got into the room. On a couple of occasions the bathroom floor was crawling with ants. I know this is a common problem in hot countries and I certainly don't hold it against this hotel. In fact, the cleaners seemed to have an effective method of getting rid of them.

Lack of hot water

The water in my shower never seemed to run completely hot at any time of day or night. In fact, it usually struggled to get warm, never mind hot. This didn't seem to be a widespread problem and may have been specific to my room or the annexe my room was in. The water from the hot tap in the sink always ran hot without any problems.

Directions: In the beach resort of Lambi, a short walk (10-15 minutes) north of Kos Town.