Golden Mare Resort in Municipality of Central Corfu and Diapontia Islands, Greece - reviews,open hours,photo spots,things to do

Greece Peloponnese, Western Greece and the Ionian Municipality of Central Corfu and Diapontia IslandsGolden Mare Resort

Golden Mare Resort

Μπαρμπάτι 490 83, Greece

4.0(374)

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+30 2663 091850

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goldenmarecorfu.com

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Greg WoodsGreg Woods

Pristine hotel with good all-inclusive Greek food. Despite the fact the hotel was full, it didn't feel oversubscribed. There was sometimes a ten minute wait for a table in the evening, but with free wine in hand at the bar, who cares? The wine was excellent, as was the food. It is Greek based, so don't expect food from all the countries of the world to be represented here, you may need a Mexican resort for that! As is universal true, the "juice" at breakfast bore little resemblance to real fruit juice, but that is the standing joke of all hotels. You could be staying in the orange growing region of Florida or Seville and still get served "kia ora" for breakfast! And the coffee in all its forms is basically instant. Those are the only 2 low points, but they are just following what every other hotel does. The pool area was big enough to accommodate everyone and there were plenty of sunloungers, with free beach towels for. €10 deposit, changed every two days. Barbati beach is nearby. There is a free bus, but it is less than 15 minutes walk. There is also a smaller beach down some steep steps just outside the hotel. An pair of sunloungersand a parasol could be had for £10 for the day. One aspect of the hotel, which I've heard mixed things about, is WiFi. We stayed in room 103 near reception, and had perfect signal all the time, even streaming Netflix in bed on occasion. Some reviews have complained about lack of WiFi. Only stay I didn't observe any WiFi access points anywhere on the walls and ceilings, so it is possible it is only officially available around the reception area. If this is true, it is an unforgivable ommision for a new hotel. Aircon and WiFi are 2 in-room features which should be built in. Who needs a flat screen TV when you can watch what you want on your own device. So if WiFi is a priority (and it is for most), you may want to do additional research. However, for us, it wasn't a problem. Service was good. Bar staff and waiting staff all friendly. The bar area really needs a proper barista coffee station. They had a small domestic unit where you could get a decent coffee for €2.50. But really, decent coffee needs a proper machine, and in this day and age, no one should be subjected to "filter" coffee which is really weak instant brown water. This tends to be a Greek problem generally. There was a "posh" rooftop bar. We didn't go there except to take a picture. I'm not sure how used it was, but with all-inclusive drinks downstairs, the thought of paying for cocktails, even though they are better quality, didn't appeal. It is a pity the hotel didn't give some vouchers for the roof top bar, to get people up there, give them a taste for it, and give it a bit of life. So overall, a good, spotlessly clean, reasonably priced all-inclusive in a quiet area of Corfu.

Hans BuizerHans Buizer

The Golden Mare Barbati presents itself as exclusive luxury 4 star hotel. A wrong presentation! However the location of the hotel is beautiful, all elements of a 4 start luxury hotel are missing. A average 3 star would fit more. Although our room was big, it had no atmosphere, nothing on the walls, a little table and only one chair. The curtains are too long and hanging over the floor. The bathroom was impracticable, the showerscreen is too small so after a shower you can mop the bathroom. The toilet is placed onlogical so the door of the bathroom hits it. Tiles are missing near the window so they painted the wall. The plastic protection layer of the window is not removed after installation although it clearly says 'remove after installation'. Paint stains are on the glas door and floor. Bad craftmanship everywhere. This can also been seen through the whole complex, glas panels as a fence are not in place, not placed right or cracked. A wall near the side of the pool is fixed in a hurry. Don't push it... you will break it. Although the people are nice, the service is below average. Problems with changing the towels are blamed to an other company and not solved. The restaurant is small and although 2 or 3 waiters are trying, they can't get a grip on the situation. Plates are left on the table, several times I had to get my own drinks at the bar during diner. Not quite the luxury you aspect! The food is also not great. You won't starve but is is absolutely not 4* worth. The dessert is good but not refilled so almost empty if you eat late. There is only one bar for the all inclusive. The bartenders are nice, and will make you all kinds of drinks. There is no coctailcard but if you know your drinks, you can explain it to them. Not quite a 4* approach. The rooftop bar is beautiful but all drinks there are not all included. So most of the time it is empty. A real waste of a beautiful place. It would give the hotel a 4* class.. but they excluded it from the all inclusive service. So there we go again... just average 3 star class. The pool is nice, but there are not enough loungechairs. People go up early to 'reserve' a chair by putting on towels etc. The parkingspace is small, it suitable for about 6 cars. Conclusion is that the luxury image that Golden Mare Barbati has given itself can't be proven. It misses good management, experience and insight how to run a 4* hotel. The renovation of the buildings was poor work and nobody from the hotel apparently cares. So one star for trying and one star for the location. If you want a real luxury hotel, Golden Mare ain't it. If you are looking for a very expensive 3 star experience, give it a try.

Bob NunneyBob Nunney

When we purchased the holiday it was advertised as adults only, which was the main reason we chose it. However, upon our arrival we realised this wasn’t the case with around 20 children/babies present. Our room wasn’t part of the main hotel but was a separate accommodation block around a 400m walk up steep roads, also something we were not told until we checked in. Golf buggy transfers were available to & from our room to the main hotel, however these were not always reliable with the staff. We were once told to wait 5 minutes for a driver, who then proceeded to come into the hotel and eat his lunch, meaning after 15 minutes of waiting we decided to walk instead. Our room was clean and the facilities were good including air conditioning, but this could not be left on whilst away from the room, presumably for power saving. The staff however, were very friendly and polite. The food at the hotel was good, some of it wasn’t to our taste but there was always something to eat. There was a lack of clean cups & glasses during several meal times and cutlery could be difficult to get. We chose to eat out 3 nights of our stay, just for some variation and to see different parts of the area. Snacks were only open for an hour a day which we felt was quite a short window, and the selection was limited to cakes & oranges. The all inclusive drinks were practically impossible to get drunk on unless you drank the alcohol almost neat. The service during busier night times was very slow also. The main communal areas of the hotel were clean. The toilets however had no locks on the male cubicle doors, and all the doors to the cubicles in the male & female toilets were frosted glass & had gaps around the edges which didn’t offer any privacy. The pool area was nice with plenty of sun beds available, we never had trouble getting them. There was also enough shade with parasols & fixed pergolas. The pool was unheated but this was fine given it was over 30°C every day. Daytime entertainment consisted of aqua aerobics & water polo so not an awful lot if there are children present. Evening entertainment was a different musical act, and a traditional Greek night on Wednesday which was good. The hotel WiFi was poor with limited connection speeds. The TUI rep Luke helped us organise a trip to Aqualand, and explained how the bus system worked meaning we also went to Paleokastritsa for a day. Barbati is a nice, quiet town with plenty of restaurants and a beautiful beach with lots of sunbeds available to rent. Overall our experience was good, but there are some elements written above that were surprises.

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Reviews of Golden Mare Resort

4.0

(374)

5.0

My husband and I came here for our honeymoon and my birthday a few weeks ago and we are so glad we did! First and I think most importantly, I want to highlight the staff. As soon as we arrived to the hotel, the staff went above and beyond to ensure we felt looked after and welcome. If we needed anything at all, they were there to help. When we realised we had to walk up a steep hill to get to our room, I asked Julia if there was an easier way- she told me we could get a lift anytime; so everyday staff would would take us on a tuk tuk or minibus up to our room without any issue. One evening when it was a little late, the man at the desk even offered to take us in his own car. I can’t express how happy we were with the service from each and every staff member, they truly go above and beyond for their guests. The hotel itself is absolutely gorgeous. Everything is very modern, extremely clean and just beautiful. The pool area is perfect and the view will take your breath away. Our room was also perfect, it was so peaceful, the view was incredible and the bed was probably the comfiest bed I’ve ever slept on! The location of the hotel is great, not too far from the beach and there’s an amazing cocktail bar across the road which is definitely worth a visit for the view, music and cocktails. The food was fantastic- everything tasted really fresh and there was a lot of variety. Only thing I wish they had was gyros and some pita bread!

There were a few downsides but nothing too big and definitely nothing that ruined our trip! First of all, the cocktails were not great- they were all so sugary and syrupy that you can’t really taste the alcohol, it makes them hard to drink when you feel like all you’re drinking is straight sugar. I ended up just asking for rum and lemonade but even the lemonade tasted really syrupy. My husband said he wished there would’ve been more beers and just better cocktails. The bar across the road has amazing cocktails but they were too expensive for drinking everyday when we paid for all inclusive. Generally it just felt like the quality of the drinks didn’t quite match the quality of anything else at the hotel.

Secondly, people reserving the sun beds was an absolute nightmare! We’d stay up and watch the entertainment in the evening and see people running down from their room with towels to place on sun beds then run back to their rooms. The hotel definitely needs to do something about this as people would wait to sit by the pool, no sun beds were available even though so many of them were just left with a towel on and nobody laying on them- one day there was a lady with a baby just laying on the ground while two sun beds by her had hotel towels on and nobody sat on them. This was something that we along with a lot of other people found extremely frustrating. I feel as though there should be a staff member who goes around in the morning and takes the towels off the beds if nobody is laying on them.

Also, the wifi in our room was really bad probably due to us being up on the hill, not that we had to use it much but it would’ve been nice to have a better wifi connection to when we did want to use it. The batteries in the tv were also not really working but again, not a big deal.

One final thing is despite being all inclusive, we had to purchase bottled water from the shop. They provide one bottle when you first arrive but that’s it. Not a massive deal but I just feel if you’re all inclusive then that should include bottled water.

Despite the very few negatives, it was an amazing experience and we had a wonderful, unforgettable stay for our honeymoon. I’d recommend going for 10 days as 7 days didn’t feel like enough time. We want to say a massive thank you to all the staff for everything you do. This place definitely...

5.0

So in October I went the most amazing resort ever!!! Golden mare in Greece Corfu in barbati.

I honestly don’t know where to begin, I wanted to write this review with full honesty and just in a lot of detail so it helps the next person who decides visit any resort in Greece Corfu just should simply look no further and just go to this resort, I want to help people to understand know what exactly they are getting themselves into.

Let me just say that the people who work at golden mare make your experience there simply amazing / perfect. There is just sooo many good things to say about this hotel that I am struggling to decide where to start.

When me and my partner wanted to visit Greece we were so stuck and had trouble deciding which island we should visit as it was our first time visiting Greece and we wanted our experience to simply just be perfect. Golden mare seemed perfect and it honestly ended up being beyond perfect!

The hospitality at this resort is next level! I have to mention Mario, Maria, Alena and the chef George! He is AMAZING.

Let me start by mentioning Mario, Mario will Make sure that your trip is perfect and he will make sure that everything goes well smoothly and he would go above and beyond to make your trip the best as possible.

Maria will make sure that you are comfortable with everything and always checks on you to see if anything is needed or to just make sure that you are happy and on my trip these four people including Mario, Alena and chef George made a very special cake that look so beautiful for mine and my partners anniversary. She also made sure to organise out excursions and made sure that everything run smoothly! She is my favourite person EVER at this resort!

I am not exaggerating when I say they go above and beyond, let me now mention Elena, works in the dining area and she is the loveliest soul ever! She made sure that I always enjoyed my meals and always came to our table when the drinks were about to finish or if the table needed cleaning or just making sure we were completely satisfied. The people who work at this resort are simply just super hard working! Like it’s crazy how hard they work!

Finally chef George is amazing and he deserves ALOT of recognition!!! Twice I was craving fresh fish and octopus and he actually made me and my partner dishes that looked so beautiful and tasted Michelin quality. Like the flavours were so beautiful and not over powering because it was just the perfect amount of everything and I enjoyed every bite of his cooking!

And lastly I have to mention the manager who is just lovely!!! He always made sure that me and my partner were happy. The service at this resort is crazy! Because I have never seen such amazing service and they deserve so much recognition! Like people actually need to go to this resort to experience what me and my partner experienced!

This hotel had the most beautiful and breath taking view! The rooms were so clean and perfect like I genuinely have nothing to complain but if I had to the only thing I wish was for the bedding to smell nicer with a fresh scent. Maybe a air freshener for the rooms might make this hotel 5 star instead of four star.

Everything was just perfect and I am a super picky person who isn’t very easy to please and I can hands down say that this place is AMAZING!!! Everything about Corfu is just beautiful! One of the most beautiful...

4.0

Resort is located under highest Corfu mountain therefore there were beautiful views from apartment, pool and best on from roof bar New and modern design of the hotel which definitely fulfil expectations from 4* hotel (I saw many 5* hotels which didn’t have such nice modern interior). Who likes modern trends in design hotel definitely meets his expectations Helpful and friendly employees of the hotel are biggest advantage. When we needed anything from advices to catch huge insect in our room, there was always who helped us without hesitation. Food was quality and there were plenty of types to choose. I lot of meet, vegetables, side dishes. Even with full restaurant employes were able to supplement bar by new food so you have always enough for all guests (which is often problem in other resorts) Especially deserts were delightful (comparable with very good Café). Cocktails were very good and meny possibilities were available. If you want even better go to roof bar but you have to pay extra for them. Animations were nice and nobody pressure you into them which I really liked if you don’t have a mood. I would say resort is more for couples than for families with small children which we liked very much. There was really relaxing quiet atmosphere. This is maybe more fault of travel agency (we were not informed about it upfront) but there is a risk that you won’t be accommodated directly at resort but about 200-300m away in separated building which is on the hill so walking this after dinner is not best for your stomach and almost very uncomfortable for older people. Advantage could be that there is theoretically more quiet during night but if you have luck to get group of German teens next to you nobody from hotel helps you because there is no reception in this building (So I had to handle these guys myself). Our separated building seems to be brand new therefore I was surprised by very damaged shower with a lot of rust. Why nobody change it for few bucks? It just ruins impression from generally modern and nice room. I would also ratter have bigger shower with 2 wash basin and smaller bedroom which you use anyway mainly for sleeping. We would also appreciate more space for clothes (add some self). In many reviews is mentioned capacity of the beds around pool and I have confirm that this was a big problem. First day on vacation we went to breakfast (9AM) and already find out that all beds are occupied (by towels of faster guests). Trust me you don’t want to tell your girlfriend that she will not chill on the bed next to pool. You have two choices, to get up more early and take some bed before others or to be lucky that somebody maybe leaves during the day (worse option). Resort should invest to more beds because there was plenty of space for them.

In general we enjoyed our more than 1 week stay at this resort and we definitely get perfect services for this price. But resort has definitely bigger potential and some unnecessary things can border you. If Hotel management will concentrate on mentioned minuses, whole experience will be one of the best what you can...

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