Althea Guesthouse

Machi, the owner is the heart and soul of this place. Making the stay in here so much more than anywhere else. The room is very simple and comfortable, the brakefast is so great, all home made each day by Machi and her mother. Real yammy. For everything you need, Machi will help you. She even give travel information for each day. Great place.

Beautiful location, gorgeous breakfast, fabulous desserts, impeccably kept rooms. Can't wait to go back, so sorry to leave

We had such a horrible experience last summer here (which I tried to share here below), we still cannot forget. Also our kids are sometimes thinking about it. It disgusted us so much that we are thinking about not going in the area anymore :-(

We had a terrible experience there! The "hotel" itself is good, however the owner is a witch, the kind Roald Dal wrote about.... She was very non-flexible with us asking to shorten our stay by a day (3 to 2) despite discussing it only verbally and not thru a third party (we honoured our word and stayed the full amount of days), she declined receiving payment by a credit card, but what ticked us completely was that she demanded compensation for a broken toilet flushing mechanism that we "received in a working condition". We obviously refused what seemed to us as normal household maintenance. She threatened to call the Tourist Police. We waited some 40 minutes for the police that never showed up and left with her warnings that a police road block is awaiting us, and that should we attempt to go on the highway, we should expect immediate stop for inspection.... A most bizzare and unpleasant experience.

We had a great stay at Althea Guesthouse and I wholeheartedly recommend to everyone to chose this great family hotel. The houses are very spacious, sparkling clean, the mattresses are comfortable and the location is excellent being in the middle of the Zagorohoria area, everything is in about 20 minutes reach. Most importantly the owner Mahi is a great host, who supplied us with great tips about the sights to see and places to dine! She was very kind and professional making a real difference to our vacation. But most of all we would like to thank to Mahi's Mum, who is the heart and soul of the kitchen and served us the most fabulous local breakfast (home made trahana, omelette, apple pie, pie with feta, a variety of home made jams, home made bread and great coffee/hot chocolate) all this with always a smile and she shared with us her apple pie recepie that our kids loved! We certainly will be back.

We had such a terrible experience here! If you can, avoid this place and give your money to others who value their customers. The owner here, lady called Machi, is really crazy, the case for doctors. If you want to know, what happened, here is a detailed description of our story. The point is quite similar as Amir´s below. Hold your hats, it was a real ride - here we go: (I have been working in travel industry for 12 years, I travel my whole live, so I can say I have a good picture how things work. I know how booking.com deal with hoteliers. So If I can, I always go directly to save money to both sides. I will no longer do that after this experience, as there is one very important thing I have never needed to think about until now - when you book via booking.com, you can review the hotel after completing your stay there. It gives quite a big power to your hands and hotels know it and usually do their best.) Well, I did as I was used to do before. I found hotel via booking.com, checked the price and than I called the hotel directly to enable them to avoid paying a commission to booking.com. It was last time action, 10pm and GPS showed us arrival in 2 hours. Owner on phone asked me how many we are (2 adults and 2 small kids), confirmed she has a room available for us and confirmed the price for 2 NIGHTS. It was cheaper than on booking.com and she confirmed that. No surprise for me, it usually works like that. The room she gave us was a mezonette, which was not very suitable for us (2 small kids), but I did not want to deal with that as it was around midnight already. I sad ok, I will sleep with kids upstairs (the only double bed) and watch them, their father will sleep downstairs (what can we do :-)). The room was nice, nothing special on the other hand. Bathroom needed renovation, shower was without any curtain, so all wet after anyone taking it. On the morning we had lovely breakfast, Machi then gave us a little bit forced briefing around what to do and see around (we know the area) and did not forget to request quite emphatically the payment in cash. We had only cards, but she made a big effort to persuade us to go other direction we originally wanted jut to get to the ATM and give her payment in cash. Ok, we will try we sad (she gave us a good price, we do that for her). We have spent a nice day around. Next morning after breakfast it happened. We wanted to pay after packing all luggage and kids in a car. Normally couple of seconds action. Here, it took 2 hours! Machi said, that the price she gave us was for 1 NIGHT only! Me and my husband we both knew how it was, but here no discussion was useful. We gave many reasons why it could not be a price for just one night, but Machi did not want to hear anything. Even if there was any misunderstanding (I really do not think so), people always try to find any solution, meat on the half-way, win/win for both sides. No here. I have never encountered someone just so money oriented like this Machi was. No interest in us, our arguments, our thoughts, our meaning, our kids. No will to find a solution. After an hour, she said she will call a tourist police. We sad ok, do that, no problem, we will explain the situation to them. I was waiting with kids another hour in a car, my husband was calling me every 10 minutes, whats going on and if/when he comes. After another half an hour he said he wants to talk to the police directly and ask them when they will come. Than she called a friend of her (it was very obvious), saying something in Greek and passing her to my husband. The lady could not even speak almost any English, she said she is working from home, no information about the time of arrival. In that time we already knew it is a theater to make us nervous and pay her price (quite similar practice to Amir´s review below which we have red meanwhile). We did not want to have any problems (as she had our passports) or wait another hours (because of kids) , so we have paid her 60 euros more we counted on originally (she wanted 90 euros more) and we have left.

Machi and her mom are so sweet and helpful. They make a super nice breakfast. The place is beautiful and open with a good view. Great location for driving out to see the sites in Zagoria.

i can‘t put into words how beautiful this place is. the ladies running the guest house are so so welcoming and loving. the breakfast is paradise. they do everything to make you feel at home. we absolutely loved our stay here and would definitly stay for longer if we could.