Blue Horizon Hotel

We have just got back from the blue horizon today and i disagree with the comments that say the hotel is not up to standard. It is true to say the hotel is very basic and is not a complex but mainly it is just somewhere to rest your head. Breakfast is included in the price but is just bread and jam mainly. The pool is a decent size with a small kiddies pool at the shallow end. Although the Blue Horizon is close to the airport planes are infrequent as the main days for them are tuesday and sunday. Rooms are of decent size but it was noticable that all the bigger rooms went to greek families rather than english. Our stay there was pleasant and relaxing but there isnt a lot for children and especially teenagers to do. I went with my mom and dad and i must say that if there weren't any other teenagers there i would have been bored. luckily we made a few friends and Nikos was very welcoming and bought us a few drinks. All in all a good holiday and a small friendly hotel.

Just got back from the Blue Horizon. We had a fantastic holiday. Nickos and Nikki realy made us really welcome and could not do enough for us. The hotel is family run and is in a good location for exploring the island and I would say that a car is required for at least part of your holiday, unless you just want to chill by the pool which is cleaned and maintained on a daily basis by Nickos.The rooms were a good size, clean and serviced regularly. The hotel is close to the airport which makes for a very short transfer and since there are only a handful of flights per day it adds a bit of interest.
We ate at the hotel few times both lunch and dinner and the food was cooked to perfection by Peter.
In the evening the bar is well populated by both holiday makers and expats who have decided to make this beautiful island their home There is a disco/Karaoke on Thursday night which plays varied music to suit all tastes. The drinks are reasonably priced considering the alcohol content and the size of the measures. Nickos makes some wicked cocktails too and knocks out a few free drinks and the bar stays open until the early hours. The lounge area is comfortable and has sky tv.
We can't wait to visit again, one of the best holidays we have had in a long while.
P.S
The people who think the staff are miserable and grumpy must have been to a different hotel or have had their personality chip removed!

Having stayed at the Blue Horision a number of times - I am staggered that people were unhappy. True it's fairly basic, may I suggest that people investigate the place they are going to even if it is "last minute" On one visit a vile and common woman poked her head out of her room and said " Hey Love, do you know they aint even got kettles in the rooms, where do you get a brew from" I just smiled and carried on walking. To be honest if you were disappointed it may be because you had unrealistic expectations. The owners are great - just make an effort to get to know them. I'll keep returning!!!

I visited this Hotel for the first time June this year with my Mother and Father who have been coming to this Hotel for years and I found the staff excellent food good plenty of Jim Bean bacardi and coke Nikos likes a few and gives a few frebbies Nikki very pleasant especially when she smile Gerry always having a laugh with us.
I went back there in September this year on my own looking for property, I love this country, would look in a permanent movew to to this area.
The rooms clean and very quiet thats what I look for

Great holiday if you want peace sand quiet. Hotel is family run and they can't do enough for you. I will keep going back again and again.

The drinks get bigger as the night goes on!

Just like to say probably the best holiday we have ever had.We went away to become two beach bums and that is what we were, well pool bums anyway.
The accommation was basic but all we wanted was a shower and somewhere to put our heads each night.
The food was "lovely". We did venture out two nights but always came back to eat at the hotel.
All the staff were very friendly after realising all of them spoke "English!"
We are hoping to return next year for two weeks, where we will be pool bums again.
We recomend this hotel for a totally relaxing time if all you want is food, drink and relaxion with alot of laughs from the staff who made you feel very welcome.

We did not stay here but the retaurant and bar were both very good. The tuna salad was superb - and all the courses were on the generous side. If you want English food - it does cater for the Brits! and Sky TV too!

I've read some of the criticisms on here and can only think that last year was a bad year or the people involved had not researched their destination very well.

I've just come back from a two week stay at the Blue Horizon and found it to be a perfectly relaxing experience. The only disturbance to my days were the four or five flights coming in, but they added a little interesting diversion to the business of relaxing by the pool. The bonus of the close proximity of the airport is that it was the shortest transfer I have ever had. Well worth the trade.

We were fortunate to have room 109, which had a great view of the sea. If you can make a request, go for rooms 107, 108, or 109. All are on the top floor looking over the sea and have large balconies.

It's true that there are no fridges, which does make you use the bar facilities for all drinks, and that is probably the only complaint that I would have. Otherwise, the rooms were reasonably sized and I'm tidy enough to not need a cleaner every day, every other would do.

The food was simple, leant toward English food but had some local choice. It was always tasty and none of my group ever had any complaints. Don't ask for soup though (tell 'em Nicky!).

The bar was reasonably priced compared to other places around the area and you could always see that there was a decent measure going in. The beer actually tasted better than any other place we tried. If you become friendly enough with Nikos, you will earn a few freebies on the side. He's partial to Bacardi and Coke, that'll help!

If you're looking for a busier night out, it'll cost you 10 euros to Lassi and 11 euros to Argostoli. Try So Simple in Lassi for a good late night drink.

All in all the Blue Horizon has very friendly staff, Nikos, Nicky and Gerry looked after us magnificently during our stay. The place was clean, not to busy, close to a good beach and has great staff.

Don't go here if you are looking for a manic time, but I would highly reccomend it for a relaxing sunny week or two.

I've just been reading the comments about the Blue Horizon and I though I would add my two pennies worth!

I will try to keep my comments impartial, but I have been to this hotel 4 times between 1994 and 2001. I have seen the hotel without a swimming pool and been at 3 different times of the year, October, May and July.

I have only given the Location Quietness and Cleanliness Good for each as it is near an airport and yes the towels and room are only cleaned every other day.

However if I were to give it an overall rating I would go for Excellent.

You must remember this a family run hotel and not part of large hotel group like those you would find in Spain. There is no children’s club and no evening entertainment shows.

The nearest beach (Ammes) is 5-10 minutes away (depending on how fast you can walk and if you have children with you). It is small but has every thing you need. There are a number of other beaches but you must walk inland towards the village of Svoronata to find the track (near the Puerto Helis) that then takes you to some larger beaches, one of which is at the bottom of a cliff!

The hotel is best for people who want to relax and take everything slowly (like the Greeks). If you want adventure, discos and bars then try the White Rocks hotel or others like it in Lassi or better still go to a different island (like Corfu).

So it’s near an airport, a concrete runway about a kilometre away, just looks like a big road. A few times a day a aircraft will go over to land, lasts about 10 seconds of noise, you should try living near Manchester airport or Heathrow!

We have come to know the owners of the hotel rather well over the years and they are Greek, despite the English style lunch menu. Yes one of them can be rather moody, you just have to get to know him and if they’ve never bought you a drink you must be doing something wrong!

I would not recommend the hotel if you have kids that get bored quickly, but if they are like mine and love to swim, then they will spend all day in the pool and you can fall asleep on a sun lounge, that you don’t have to pay for and don’t have to reserve with a towel at 07:00 in the morning.

Just arrived back from Kefalonia yesterday.

Svoronata is a very peaceful resort with a few hotels, apartments and tavernas, set in very scenic countryside with little traffic and close to 3 beautiful, uncrowded beaches (2 sunbeds and an umbrella for 7.5 Euros a day). Hence we liked the location - if you want bright lights, loud music, traffic, lots of bars and lots of other holidaymakers, then don't come here!

It is close to the airport, but a maximum of 5 flights went over in a day and was a welcome distraction rather than a disturbance.

Svoronata has the luxury of being away from it all but a taxi ride to Lassi and Argostoli (10 to 12 Euros each way) should you want a change.

The Blue Horizon is a family run business and all were perfectly pleasant and happy to talk. We tended to only be in the hotel infrequently for food and drink, preferring to eat out anyway. The hotel does food from 8am until late at night for evening meals. Although we never ate in the hotel, the food always looked fresh and tasty and those who did eat in the hotel said it was very good. Breakfast is included, but it is very basic and consisted of bread, butter, jam, marmalade, cheese, ham, hard boiled eggs and tea, coffee and cordial. As long as you don't expect breakfast to mean a full English, then this isn't a problem.

The rooms are fairly small but very clean and of a higher standard than a lot I've seen in Greece. The only downside was that with it being a hotel there were no fridges in the rooms to keep drinks cool (obviously intended to get you down to the bar!).

The hotel itself was very pleasant, clean and fairly modern for Greece.

The tour operator for that hotel was Golden Sun and being an ex-employee of one of the big UK tour operators I can safely say that the service received from them was excellent should you need a rep. I've never needed one, but I saw the rep a couple of times a day around the hotel, talking to customers.

Although a last minute booking, transfers from and to the airport were free (usually £10 to £15 with the big operators) and meals were included on the flights who were with Monarch (usually £10 with the big operators).

Have just found this web site 6/9/02, sorry for the dalay ! We stayed at the Blue Horizon for a week in July ( 6th -13th ) same week as other guest "Anna"... and we can only agree with her comments, We booked a last minute deal ( turns out that everyone else did too) I think the Greek staff have a lot to learn from the Spanish staff !!!!!!! We found the staff at the Hotel slovenly," dirty aprons etc " and down right miserable :-( We had no problem with the planes " about the only enteraining thing that happened through the week" !!!! The other guest is right to point out that you are in the middle of nowhere, you have a long walk to the beach 20-30min walk depending how hot it is " in our case 110 " phew !!!!! We even had to share a room with our 16 year old son, last time that happened he was a baby in a cot !!!!!! The Hotel is also a staging post for other guests from other hotels they are dropped off to wait for pick ups for the airport ( being so very, very close ) so some days it can be very busy, I don't like to knock the Island because of a poor hotel, we did take a tour of the Island and found it to be a very beautiful and interesting place. ( have read the book etc ) see you soon (yeh right)!!!!!! back to Mallorca next year Connell family Manchester

I have just returned from my week at the Blue Horizon in Svoronata and I thought I might add my comments to this forum. This is not a 5-star hotel, but nor is it self-catering. A small, friendly, family-run hotel. Breakfast is very basic (unless you go for the optional fry-up). Lunch is a reasonable selection, not very greek but good quality. Currently does not offer evening meals, but this may change as the facilities are there. The rooms are spacious, good sized balcony and very clean, toilets and showers en suite. As with all toilets on the island, you must use the bin provided for toilet papers, but you soon get used to this. It was nice to have a shower with curtains and a wall holder - a nice feature of this hotel! View from room was fantastic, overlooking the sea and Ammes beach - well worth the small extra for a 'sea view'. Be aware that there is no air-conditioning in rooms, but you can rent a fan for 15 Euros and I recommend this. Hotel location is excellent. An area with lots of greenery, the hotel stands on its own but less than 5 minutes walk to a few tavernas (My favourite was at Puerto Helis) and mini-market shops. Also only 5 minutes to the beautiful sandy beach of Ammes. If enough people want it (which they did while I was there), the hotel put on a bbq with entertainment on Thursdays, otherwise there is always the bar (good selection of drinks and cocktails), officially open till 1.30 but sometimes much later. Large pool, with separate kiddies pool. Diving is now illegal here for safety reasons but almost anything else goes. For the busy life, you can jump on a nearby bus, or taxi to Lassi/Argostili for about 12 Euro. Being near the airport, there were an average of 5 or 6 flying over per day, but this was more interesting than annoying, and we were all happy with it. In summary, this is a nice hotel, friendly staff, very good location - ideal for a relaxing holiday.

We have just spent a week at the blue Horizon and I feel that it does not really deserve Hotel status. It is really just apartments with a taverna on the ground floor. They do Bed & breakfast, and every breakfast is exactly the same....local bread, jam, orange / coffee / tea. English breakfast is extra. It is located very close to the runway, and air traffic is quite regular throughout the day. This did'nt bother me, because it was quite a novelty seeing aircraft that close. I found the staff pretty miserable by holiday standards. We had a good time, but on reflection, it was entirely down to the holidaymakers making the effort. The Hotel owner / barman was not proactive in attempting to organise events. A smile and attempt to ask how the day had been, would have helped.( Oh.... and don't offer him a drink....he accepted each occasion but did'nt return the gesture once ) A barbeque was arranged for the Thursday, but the owner cancelled it because of allegedly insufficient numbers. Drinks are quite expensive in the bar. The rooms are quite small, and overstocked with furniture....and after a couple of days you get sick of stubbing toes & knocking shins. The balconies are equally small.There was'nt any air conditioning in our room, but they rented me a fan for something close to £12 for the week The pool is'nt large, but in fairness it isnt small either. The floor drops away quite steeply, and its not a gradual slope from the shallow to deep end. I had a week there & it was enough

The Blue Horizon Hotel is OK, but very very English, so not ideal if you're trying to get away to experience a different culture - the lunch menu is even things like cheese-burgers and egg and chips!!!! Drinks are pretty expensive, personally I would recommend going self-catering for holidays on the Greek islands, then you can stock your fridge up with a few beers and chill out on your balcony a bit. We paid an extra £55 or so for our sea view, but although the view was lovely we couldn't actually sit out on the balcony to enjoy it as it was so small!! Our room wasn't cleaned daily, and the towels were not changed regularly, which meant that we ended up doing a lot of hand-washing!! After all these negative comments I should add that we had a lovely holiday, but that was because we made the effort to go all over the island visiting the lovely little villages and seeing the sights, and go on boat trips, etc, not anything to do with the hotel.