Lesse Studios - Hanioti - Halkidiki

The Lesse Studios in Hanioti are just as described in the brochure. Compared to others that we have stayed in in Greece they are of a very good quality, spotlessly clean & well equipped (by Greek hotel standards). This was the first time we have had a proper electric kettle, an ironing board & an iron and all the staff are very pleasant, especially the bar staff.

Now the bad points. We paid to dine twice in the hotel dining room. The food would have been very good apart from the fact it was seriously over-salted! We thought that the first time must have been a mistake, but the second time proved that this is not the case. Lesson learnt. The breakfast was also a bit hit & miss in the salt department. One morning the mushrooms were simply inedible. Also the breakfast at first seems excellent for variety, but then as the week goes on you realise that nothing changes so it’s just as well that there are some excellent restaurants around Hanioti.

The weather was poor during our stay & that was this holiday’s main issue for us as there is very little to do in Halkidiki when it rains. At the hotel there was only one evening with live entertainment, one barbeque, one evening with a quiz by the rep (took about one hour) & one karaoke night run by the staff. We went into Hanioti to find other live entertainment but there was none to be found. So after a couple of nights looking round the local shops, we were pretty bored.

And where are the friendly bar owners that you normally find in the Greek island resorts? Here they take your order, bring your drink then leave you to get on with it - no chat, no passing the time of day. That’s fine if you want to sit with fellow Brits watching football, but not if you’re looking for a laugh & a chat with the owner, or a Greek band singing in broken English!

Also, there was a lot of litter around, especially on the beach. We won’t be going back!