Iliovasilema Suites

We stayed at this hotel for 4 nights in a room with a view of the caldera. The hotel is along the pedestrian path to Fira or Oia in the other direction. The town of Imerovigli has the best view of the sunset on the island! It is small but has shops and markets and a pharmacy if you need anything. There are several restaurants nearby, including those with a sunset view. At the Iliovasilema, we did not have our own plunge pool but there was the main pool (small) and another wading pool (smaller) nearby. Given the heat in the afternoon it would be better to have had one of the rooms with our own plunge pool. However, we had a larger sitting area with an umbrella and a fantastic view. We didn’t eat at the restaurant but breakfast is included and delivered to the room at the time ou request the day before. The earliest breakfast time is 8:30 am so be aware of this if you are booking a tour that starts in the morning. They had the typical eggs, baked goods, yogurt, fruit and coffee. If you ask for gluten free, they have some baked goods for that too! The staff were very attentive and made reservations for restaurants - necessary given how busy they get after sunset. The staff are also very flexible - they switched our room as the beds mostly have one side up against the wall, meaning you climb over your partner to get up. The most important thing to note is that the stairs are a bit precarious given the hotel is built with the traditional cave style rooms. Getting your bags up and down is a feat if you have to leave before the front desk opens (at 8 am).

I stayed here with my BF in July/August, and it is in a pretty town perched on the coast overlooking the Caldera.

It is a magical location, and the sight is breath-taking at day time, but particularly at sunset, and the stars in the night sea over the Aegean that follows is spectacular.

We stayed in an apartment with a private view over the sea out to the islands, and had a private terrace and jacuzzi. The interior of the 'honeymoon suite' was cavernous and cool with an Air-con and a beautiful large living area, and equally large bedroom to the rear and a huge bathroom to the rear of that. It really is a blue & white wash of perfect postcard imagery.

Andreas, the evening reception staffer, was a really friendly and helpful person who gave us sound advice.

Breakfast the first day was novel and very cute, however the selection is pretty limited and rather than pancakes, eggs or croissants, more delicious greek fare like yogurt, honey, fruit, olive paste, dolmades, filo pastries etc would have been far better. The coffee sadly also left a lot to be desired. Unfortunately with the circumscribed offerings breakfast was a let down, except for its Aegean morning views.

As a same sex couple most of the hotel staff treated us with respect, however there were a few who gawked at us at times, making me feel slightly uncomfortable. The reception staff were excellent again when they allowed us a slightly later check out time, which allowed us to remain in the room after the check out time for a few hours-which was much appreciated.

I think we were very lucky as it seemed to be relatively quiet when we visited and this meant we could really enjoy the setting.

Overall, I'd have to say it's a fantastic hotel with many spectacular features, and well worth staying at. The breakfast issues would be a relatively easy fix.

Quite superb - stunning scenery, wonderful boys and girls looking after you, excellent food, great rooms.

Don't take my word for it - JUST BOOK IT!!!