Mare Garden

Terrible from start to finish, other guests I spoke to had similar experiences. The 5 star reviews I feel are from friends of the accommodation and maybe fabricated. - numerous issues with the room and no urgency to rectify - the pool is filthy and has algae and mould on the edges, guest’s swimwear turned green - the food area is awful, full with flies and a canteen like atmosphere. Most food was cold and some chicken we were served was raw. The cutlery and glasses were dirty and plates stacked up still wet. People were eating cereal in small coffee cups most mornings as there was barely any bowls. We ate out most nights. Certainly not 4-star. Only positives were the housekeeping staff were great and the area itself is beautiful.

We’ve just come back from 9 days staying at Mare Garden. When we booked the reviews seemed good but have definitely declined this year, we agree this 4* hotel definitely does not deserve the rating! Positives- Room was cleaned everyday, towels changed and cleaning staff very friendly. Good location, close to beach and small town with nice restaurants. Car hire close by which was great as we could hire a car and go out for day and also local taxi service to Lake Kournas. Staff on reception friendly, particularly in evening as we arrived at 1am, we had our bags carried to our room which was a nice touch. Pool staff also lovely. Room was of a good size, comfy bed, TV, hair dryer, toiletries, fridge and air conditioning. Pool was not too busy, we had no problem getting a sun bed everyday and were even able to get one at 2pm. Negatives- Pool- not very clean with algae on side of pool wall. Beds close to pool constantly had water going under them, I don’t really think this is hygienic as the underneaths looked covered in mould/algae. Every so often at the pool there was a strong smell of sulfur. Not much entertainment offered at pool, there was water aerobics on once during our 9 days stay. We paid extra for a room with a pool view- this was a mistake as any entertainment on took place at the pool until 1am keeping us awake. However the entertainment was lacking, only 2 out of 9 nights has entertainment on. Food- although the restaurant is not on the premises it is only a 1 minute walk away. However as soon as you get close to the restaurant a horrible cheesey smell hits you I am unsure if this is from the rubbish but it was vile. The food was very repetitive and usually cold and not pleasant. There was also a lot of flys. This resulted in us having to eat out most nights. Breakfast was the best meal of day but still not 4*. Upon checkout our wristbands were cut meaning we could not access food, drinks or facilities. This was a shame when we had a few hours before our flight. Drinks- most cocktails had a €7 charge and were not included on all inclusive. The soft drinks were fine in restaurant but the syrup ratio was off at the pool making the drinks horribly sweet, I had to keep mixing them with soda water!!

We had an amazing stay at the hotel and we want to give a big thank you to all the team. The pool was very clean and the beach was beautiful. It was pretty crowded though but its fine. I will return next year to this wonderful hotel, lovely people , great food and weather and fantastic views from the beach to the mountains

We have just had 7 wonderful nights spent at Mare Garden and have thoroughly enjoyed our stay. The beach and food were great. The all-inclusive package was excellent value with buffet of outstanding quality.

Me and my partner arrived back from our holiday last week and we did enjoy our stay. I cannot thank housekeeping enough, they made sure our room was cleaned and up to a great standard everyday. The restaurant isn’t in the hotel, it is next to it which is a 2 minute walk (not bad at all). The food was repetitive but it wasn’t bad. There was a lot of option for each sitting and the workers in there were amazing, making sure all food was topped up when it was running low. The waitresses and waiters work so so hard to constantly turn tables for new guests and making sure everything is clean. The only thing I would say is that they need proper air conditioning in the food area. The hotel itself is lovely but unfortunately we will not be returning due to the issues we were faced with. When we first arrived to reception (when we eventually found it), the receptionist asked for our booking details and for us to email screenshots of our booking to an email provided, the fact they didn’t have our booking on their system was worrying in itself. Once we emailed our booking, they then went on to say our room was not ready even though it says check in at 3pm which is the time we arrived, they told us to sit and wait and they would call us when it was ready. Half an hour goes by and we still don’t hear anything. More people to come to check in and all their rooms are ready. I then approach the desk again to ask if the room was ready and one of the ‘new’ receptionists seemed to find it funny and laughed as I was talking to them. Just wow. The woman then said our room was ready and we were shown to our room. The room was a good enough space but the balcony was tiny and it overlooked the pool area so no privacy at all. We had to keep the curtains closed for a lot of the time which was a nightmare on the first few days as the lights stopped working. We were sat in darkness for the first 3 days. I went to reception ask about the lights, again for the same receptionist to laugh and no apology for the lights. The response was ‘yes we know, we’ve had a lot of people telling us. There’s a problem with the system’. Me and my partner avoided reception as much as we could. They are not helpful in the slightest and just to be laughed at was just awful. I didn’t pay all that money to be laughed at. It’s a shame we had a bad experience with reception as the hotel itself has so much potential but they just don’t seem to care and they’re not at all apologetic. The pool area is so dirty. The pool has a layer of suncream on the top of it (which you could see). My bikini turned green from the pool. We know another couple went to reception to complain about the pool in which they responded with that it is cleaned daily. We were there for 10 days and the pool was cleaned once, that is not daily. We went to the beach and it was beautiful, it’s a 5 minute walk from the hotel and the sea was actually cleaner than the hotel pool. So many bars and restaurants along the beach too wh

Great room, food and nice long hours for food and drinks. The beach is a sandy beach and the pool is quite large, atmosphere is great with plenty of seating...I highly recommend the rooms with pool view