Melissani Cave Lake — Attraction in Sami Municipality

My Honest review.

Visit date early August 2023

You will read that you should get there between 12pm and 2pm. You need to be here earlier. We queued for 1.45hrs after arriving at 12pm. A lot of coach tours also arrive at this time. As we got in at 1.45pm I think we would have had the same experience if we got in at 11.45am, so go a little earlier and join the queue, your timing might be perfect, but if you you are hitting the front of the queue earlier than expected and really want to board the boat at 12pm, you could always let people pass you in the queue to get the boarding time correct.

There is some shade whilst in the queue but not a lot if the queue is large. Be prepared for standing in the sun if it's hot or taking turns to got off to the shade whilst someone in you group takes turn to hold your place. Again, get there a little earlier than 12pm and you will be in the shaded area and heading down underground where the temperature drops.

The ramp when coming back out is not overly steep but it's quite long if you have people that may struggle. Maybe 30mtrs, 40mts at most but steeper than a disability ramp.

The boat rides last about 15 mins. The boat is very stable when boarding and not over packed. I would say each boat holds approx 12 people maybe 16 at a push.

The tour guide....hmmm. our guide clearly had limited English. No disrespect, he spoke a million times more English than I speak Greek, however, I got the feeling he had been taught a number of things to say and repeated them at random. A bit like when you pull the string on the back of an action figure from the 90s and it says the catchphrase. I would personally have preferred a more informative recording being played whilst we moved around. Earthquake. Roof fall in. Water go to sea. Earthquake. Shallow here. Deep there. Water always running. Earthquake. Very clear. Water goes to Argostolli. Earthquake..... You get the idea

It's pretty, interesting to see the rock formation and a must do.

Cost was 8 euro per adult.

Gift shop reasonably priced. Another 3 euro fridge magnet purchased for the wifes collection, I don't know why we have to get these, the fridge is built in with a wooden door but hey ho 😁

Food and drink available.

Deli sandwiches and snacks, not a sit down area.

Parking free.

If you are going to the Drogarati Cave afterwards there is better food and drink available at the...

Reviews are subjective, so the variables I want you to keep in mind reading this are the time of the year and the time of the day. I've visited the lake a number of times over the years and as a geological feature it's amazing. Crystal clear waters, a subterranean cavern with a collapsed roof, rock structures that have taken hundreds of thousands of years to form. All well worth the visit. So time of year, in peak season you'll be contending with coach loads of tourists. Yeah we were tourists too but these people were actually on a tour so they've totally out touristed us. The lake has maybe 6 boats, each boat can take maybe 12 people, so a coach loads has a super long processing time. What do you do while you wait? Well mostly cook like a sausage on a lava fueled BBQ. Yes the highly unfriendly staff have setup a shop to sell you overpriced drinks and ice creams but there is no shade if you're in the queue. Prepare yourselves. Also beware the internet closing times, these have no bearing on reality. We attempted to turn up just before closing and found out that they're already closed. So we asked. Seems sensible right! Well not so much, turns out the people that work there don't know when it will shut either. Maybe the mystic waters of the lake tell them on the morning. More likely they get bored and shut up shop when they've had enough. The official opening and closing time seems to be written on a white board in an extremely delable pen. That said if you are determined to go in high season about 5pm is a fairly safe bet. Low season and it's a completely different experience. No queues, a boat to yourselves, just a relaxing and informative experience. One other thing, the ticket and shop staff are a bit rubbish at customers, odd for a tourist location. The boaters however are amazing. They know loads of interesting facts, seemingly in all languages. They are friendly and courteous and will take an awkward photo of you on the lake. My favourite kind. All on all, know what you are buying into and...

The place itself is absolutely breathtaking and well worth a visit BUT do not go anywhere near this place if there is a cruise ship is Argostoli harbour. The coach companies that descend on this place are a joke! There were 15 coaches parked in a very small car park creating a queue that ran out of the site and beyond. On seeing this queue, we left and went to Sami. When we returned a few hours later in was no better. The coaches were one in and one out all day, ruining the experience. We queued for almost 2 hours whilst pushy and rude your operators tried to push past us to keep to their schedules. It was horrendous. When we did finally reach the front, the boat trip and views were spectacular BUT again, we were shoved onto a full boat, the staff member rowing our boat demanding to take our photo for a tip which he then immediately pocketed rather than putting in the tip box, and then said absolutely nothing about this history of the cave or how it was formed. Just towed us in and out in under 15 minutes. I understand they have a large queue to get through and are working super hard to row in and out hundreds of times a day, but to have queued for 2 hours in blistering heat with rude coach trips, having paid €8 per person to get in and queued even more for the boat, for it to only last 10-15 mins and have nothing said to us expect “photo” and “tip” was hugely disappointing. This site desperate needs separate queues for coaches and members of the public and needs to offer a better tour guide aspect to the boat trip. They also massively need to limit the number of coaches of the site at any one time. I know they have to make money, but everyone left feeling disappointed and agitated and I was very close to complaining or asking for a refund. Worth seeing, just not on...