Avis Villa Anastasia: Large Private Pool, Walk to Beach, Sea Views, A/C, WiFi

Villa Anastasia is a 15 minute walk up the road from Gaios. When we came to book there wasn’t that much available, and although we were looking at Lakka or Loggos we’re really glad we ended up at Gaios. As it’s the port, and the biggest town on the island, we were expecting scruffy, even seedy, but Gaios is not that at all. It’s elegant, with great shops (try the butcher), and the odd superyacht lying around. And regular buses leave from there for Lakka and Loggos. The house itself was sufficient for our needs, and reflected the relatively low cost for the island; the position and the view are fabulous, it’s a shortish walk to a number of beaches, and the pool was great. Limited cooking equipment, but we improvised. There was a bottle of water in the fridge when we arrived, but that was it - you have to provide everything. We left washing up liquid, olive oil, charcoal etc - I wonder if they’re still there?

We stayed as a family of four but on arrival found a lack of kitchen equipment to cook supper, a rusty kettle, no curtains and no soft sitting area (inside or out), despite photographs. The spiral staircase has been replaced by a wooden staircase which takes up a third of the room. No one answered the phone so we went to Gaios to find Agni Travel the next day, who did provide some missing kitchen equipment that day but no sofa; a two-seater sofa eventually turned up on day 5. Evenings in the villa were not relaxing sitting on kitchen chairs around the kitchen table. The management said the sofas couldn't fit with the new stairs, but the area under the stairs could accommodate bean bags or something our teens would have been happy to sit on. The whole interior is functional but depressing with the lack of soft furnishings, nylon table cloth, 1 dish towel, no ice tray, no grater, no sieve, we would recommend the owner visit and maybe invest a little in his well located property with great views.

Great location, could easily be improved with an internal sitting area, and better equipped kitchen. We enjoyed our stay very much.