Parasol Hotel Apartments — Hotel in Municipality of Karpathos

The rating and earlier reviews on this hotel doesn’t seem to be reflecting the actual quality of this hotel at all. We might visit Karpathos again but certainly not this hotel. It is well overrated and doesn't meet the standard of its star rating.||Pros|+ room cleaning was excellent and thorough|+ staff was generally pleasant, polite and helpful|+ location is great, short walk to town and the beach|+ proper showers in the basement next to gym and sauna|+ you are allowed to use the hotel services such as showers after checking out||Cons|The breakfast was truly the worst I have ever experienced. The selection was poor, and hardly anything changed from day to day (except for running out of things). The quality of the products was somewhat questionable for a four star hotel. Fruits came from a can, not fresh as you would have expected. Even the “orange” juice came from a concentrated juice which to enhance the disappointment was watered down. When you travel to Mediterranean you tend to get to enjoy fresh and local fruits and products. However, the breakfast was nothing but. ||There is not enough staff. The service was run by approximately two people. For breakfast the head count seem the have been sufficient but it reflected further. Because the breakfast ended at 10:30, and it needed to be cleaned up, pool bar did not have service until well past noon. This was a huge problem because people tend to use the pool at nine the earliest thanks to the weather. Yet somehow staff finds time to deliver complaints when a Karen cannot tolerate swimsuits in the breakfast area which is coincidentally also the pool area. Funny. ||Staff doesn’t seem to care about the sun beds at all. For the size of the hotel there is very limited number of sun beds, and all of them are quickly reserved with a towel before breakfast. Surely for some of us this does not pose an issue as I will happily throw those “reservations” out of the way if you are not using the bed and sitting at the breakfast. However not all are willing to do that. Most guests even leave their beds “reserved” while they eat lunch in the restaurant tables for hours. This doesn’t really sit right with me. The staff should ask those guests to move their stuff away from the beds while they are using other services and not the pool. ||The exceptional cleanliness of the rooms didn’t seem to extend to other areas of the hotel. For example, the toilets in the basement had to wait three days for cleaning. The floor at the pool was not cleaned daily. Thus, all the dirt and trash carried into the pool. I don’t think the pool was cleaned once during the week. There is also no showers next to the pool which makes the situation worse. ||Not all rooms have been refurbished or done similarly. Some rooms don’t match the description and pictures. The new design of the toilets are dark but the room does not have enough lighting to make it properly usable. Showers leak the water all over the toilet. ||There is hardly any trash cans at the premises. ||Men’s showers in the basement did not have towels or hairdryer whereas women did have those. However, the shower itself was actually a good one and huge upgrade compared to the one in the rooms. ||Both saunas were out of order even during operating hours. ||Gym had several broken equipment. Otherwise, it was ok and well air conditioned. ||Luggage storage is a warm and humid room with cockroaches on the floor. Interestingly, they seem to store pillows and blankets in the room as well. It sure makes you wonder what in the world you...

Had the pleasure of staying here with the family for a week in the end of July 2023. Nice hotel with very friendly staff located about a 12 minute walk to the city centre (a 12 minute walk that can be quite tiresome for young kids when the temperature reaches +35C, If so - just order a cab that will cost about 8 euros and you will get you dropped off by their cab station in the beginning of the centre district).. Beaches is just a cpl of minutes away and we think the best one with not too much stones in the watert is the Piralia Pigadia. We had a two room junior suite which was spacious and kept a good standard with a fridge & small freezer section. Beds were good and the air condition was very good! Also a big + was the friendly housekeeper who kept our room clean and tidy during our stay. Pool was surprisingly cold (in a good way) and atmosphere in the hotell was relaxing and nice. The only thing I could complain of was the gym that could need an upgrade of it´s equipment. It felt like B-class home gym machines that someone had bought second hand and put up there. Well - atleast they had a gym, and the air condition was great there too :) I just wished they would have had a simple barbell for bench presses and some more free weights and yoga mats for stretching exercises. Finally - I can warmly reccomend this hotell to people who wants a relaxing stay with good service...

Prachtig, schoon en zeer comfortabel hotel. Vriendelijk, behulpzaam en hard werkend personeel. Het hotel is redelijk kleinschalig wat het niet zo massaal maakt en dus heel gemoedelijk. De loopafstand tot de haven van Pigadia (Karpathos stad) is zo'n 10 minuten. Het dichtbijzijnde strand zo'n 200 meter. Aan de overzijde van het hotel bevind zich een uitstekend restaurant. Het hotel restaurant was om 17.00 dicht vanwege het voor seizoen en hebben wij helaas niet kunnen proberen.

Ontbijt is vers, gevarieerd en smaakvol, heel goed verzorgd. De fitness was heel fijn om te gebruiken met goede apparatuur waaronder loopband en roeiapparaat. Het zwembad is redelijk klein, dit hebben wij niet gebruikt, maar ziet er zeer verzorgd uit.

De kamer dan. In ons geval een junior suite met zeezicht op de 3e verdieping, met groot balkon. Bij binnenkomst valt meteen de ruimte op. Ruime, zeer verzorgde en schone badkamer, ruime slaapkamer en woonkamer met twee bedden / bankjes. Ook is er een kitchenette achter de deuren met koffiezetapparaat, borden, bestek, glazen en koelkast met vriesvak. Alles is brandschoon. Iedere dag schone handdoeken. (Hoeft van ons niet, maar was er wel)

Wel is de kamer erg gehorig gezien deze grenst aan de hoofdstraat. Er raast iedere dag veel luidruchtig verkeer langs van 7.00 tot ca. 02.00. De deuren isoleren niet. De airconditioning werkt goed maar is ook erg luidruchtig. In mijn geval was ik erg blij met oordoppen om goed te kunnen slapen. Diezelfde weg oversteken is ook echt soms een opgave, dus wees gewaarschuwd, er word erg hard gereden.

Vanuit het hotel kun je Karpathos het beste ontdekken per huurauto. De smalle hoofdwegen slingeren langs bergen en afgronden. Afstanden zijn, gezien je vaak niet harder kunt dan max 50km/h, erg groot. Vanuit het hotel is bijvoorbeeld Olympos een uur rijden, Diafana zo'n 1:15. De wegen zijn prima begaanbaar maar vergen veel concentratie en stuurmanskunsten. Het eiland is echt een juweeltje, ruige berglandschappen gevarieerd met kristalheldere zee en mooie vegetatie. De inwoners zijn lieve, vriendelijke en hardwerkende mensen die alles voor je zullen doen.

Samengevat: fantastisch hotel, zeer netjes en schoon. Goede uitvalsbasis voor Pigadia en de rest van Karpathos. 18km vanaf de luchthaven.

Nadelen: gehorig qua verkeer en parkeren bij het hotel zelf is niet mogelijk , dit kan in de nabije omgeving, bijvoorbeeld aan de overzijde naast de olijfbomen.

Ten slotte nog een tip: een 6 pack water is voor 4 euro verkrijgbaar bij de bar van het hotel. Je kunt het water uit de kraan namelijk...