Katharos Pool Villas - Grecia

We had an amazing stay at Katharos. Alessandro, Francesco, and the whole family are the best hosts and Angela keeps everything spotless! So nice and caring with great advice about the island adventures! We definitely have some new friends in Santorini. We didn't want to leave the villas or the pool some mornings... it's just beautiful :)

I stayed here a week with a young baby and my wife. These villas are stunning, each with a private pool. The service at this hotel is excellent - Francesco was able to help us with every single request, however big or small. I 100% recommended this place and cannot wait to come back.

Katharos Villas was such a great experience! It looks so beautiful with its white design and the private pools for each villa. From the outside, it looks quite small but the place is really big from the inside! We had two floors, breakfast included plus the perfect view! Thank you for that!

I can only echo the comments by other reviewers and say that this was the best service we have ever received on a trip away. We are reasonably picky when it comes to accommodation abroad, and have stayed in many lovely hotels but were absolutely blown away by our experience at Katharos Villas, and cannot wait to return. I had high hopes before arriving which were exceeded in every way. The villas themselves are spacious and cool, with all the amenities you could wish for, and Angela keeps everything spotless with daily cleaning and tidying. Francesco and Alessandro went above and beyond to make our trip special, even driving us themselves to watch the final of the Euros when we were struggling to find somewhere to see the match and collecting us at 2 in the morning when the game finished. They were so helpful with getting us in to the restaurant we had loved on our first night again for our final night, helped to accommodate us with checkout, and were so friendly, regularly checking in to see if there was anything they could do for us whilst giving us space to enjoy our relaxation time . Whilst not in the centre of Oia, the villas are fantastically situated to easily access the town centre, the picturesque Ammoudi Bay, and Katharos beach within 10 minutes walk - make sure to take the back footpath up to the town rather than the road if you are walking as it is much easier and quicker!

We stayed at the Pool Villas for one week and had the best time in Santorini! The villa is very clean, spacious and nicely decorated. The pool is just right to cool off in between. The location is great, it is easy to get to the Village or the port Ammoudi. Francesco and Alex were super friendly and helpful at all times. They helped us with all the planning. After just a week, saying goodbye was difficult. We will be back definitely!

We spent a wonderfull week. The staff is very kind. There is a free parking when you rent a car for visiting Santorini.

If you are thinking of staying here, think again. Advertising for this villa was misleading. We were disappointed. A requirement for where we stayed was about the size and quality of the beds. I was clear with our travel agent that a pull out sofa would not work. When we arrived we found one queen bed, a pull out sofa and a couch upstairs that was converted to a bed, none of which were comfortable, and ended up resulting in waking up not well rested, with sore bodies. I explained to Francesco that my primary requirement was to not have a pull out sofa. He offered to add multiple thin mattresses which didn’t improve the situation. When I told him I was surprised there was a pull out sofa that was listed as a Murphy bed his response was that his travel person provided him with the language to use for the descriptions. Alessandro came to us and had a bad attitude saying that the bedding situation was not their problem and that we needed to contact our travel agent. The bed headboard was made of concrete. The place was a lot lower quality than what we would have expected. The downstairs bathroom had no shower curtain and water sprayed everywhere when taking a shower that the floor had to be covered in towels to prevent from slipping. The upstairs shower did not have a shower curtain but had a concrete barrier. It did not have a place to hold soap, shampoo, etc. so you had to reach around to the counter to get those items or use the floor. The upstairs toilet had a hissing noise. There were stains on the bedsheets and towels. The towels were paper thin and low quality. When we checked in there were 2 bath towels for 4 of us and no pool towels. The Wi-Fi was out intermittently. The lighting fixtures and decor looked like they were from a yard sale. The jacuzzi is part of the small pool and you have to request it to be warmer. It takes several hours to heat up. The Jacuzzi jets are on a 4 minute timer and you have to constantly reset. There’s not much private about the pool. The villas are one right after the other and you can hear people talking who are right next to you or even a villa or two down from you. There were not a lot of food options right nearby. You had to walk at least 15 minutes for food. My son had developed a medical issue shortly before our trip (which made it difficult for him to walk too long and required him to eat somewhat regularly) so that made it challenging. We asked whether they would be willing to refund us for 2 nights so that we could enjoy our vacation in more suitable and comfortable accommodations. They refused to refund us anything despite the fact that I explained our primary reason for wanting to move is due to waking up in pain because of the uncomfortable beds and it grossed us out having towels and sheets with stains. The positives: they were helpful prior to our arrival in providing recommendations for a catamaran cruise (which was excellent) along with restaurant recommendations and securing reservations for ATVs. We were provided with bottled water and other drinks and snacks. Francesco was gracious in driving us up the hill to Oia several times (Alessandro drove us once) and Francesco gave us a platter of fresh strawberries and clementines which were delicious. If you want to visit in Oia, I recommend staying somewhere further up the hill closer to the village and also staying for three days and visiting another village. I do not know how so many positive reviews were posted. It has to consist mostly of people who are friends or who were paid to do so because the majority of our stay was well below our expectations and extremely disappointing, especially due to all of the money we spent. Traveling internationally is not something we do often. We realize that in European countries, the beds are smaller and may not be as comfortable, however, I feel certain that there were many other options that would have been better suited for our needs.

Before and throughout the stay the communication from the staff was timely, courteous and incredibly accommodating. The pictures for the villa do not do it justice. The villa was beautiful inside and out and the perfect location to see the sunset and a short walk into Oia!