Kefalonia Bay Palace

Takács Gergely

Hotel staff very friendly and helpful. The place itself is located at the end of the village and is quiet. There are a lot of stairs, which needs to be taken into consideration, when booking a room. One of the elevators seems to be out of order for a longer time now. Generally speaking, some parts of the hotel, such as the bathroom would need some renovation. The bathroom in our room had some mouldy spots but the hotel was fully booked at the time of our stay, so we could not ask for another room. In case some wants to see anything beyond the village and the nearest shores, a car rental is needed. Fortunately the hotel staff can help with that, too. The locally used Fiat Pandas consume around 10 litres/100km with a/c on and driving in the mountains. The bed is very comfortable, the view from the balcony is amazing. The filter coffee at breakfast us good. Breakfast overall is OK. The stairs to the sea, which can be seen on google map do not exist and the next stairs are also closed. It is not a far walk from the hotel to the next beach but the appeal of the direct access is not existent. We will not chose the hotel again as it was not worth the price for us but that might be only a personal opinion and we did have a nice time there.

Jason Ofgainesville

I apologize in advance for the lengthy review but there is a lot to cover. This hotel is like a double edged sword, with both good and bad things about almost everything. First is location. The village is wonderful, lots of great places to eat and drink. The village is also fairly remote. The hotel is set at the end of the road high above the bay. The views are no less than spectacular! With that said, driving to the top parking lot of the hotel is also no less than horrifying. It is an incredibly steep and narrow incline straight up. Although most of the village appears to not be too far away, the hotel climb is not for the weak. These things are the items the hotel has no control over, however the remaining items are self imposed by the hotel itself. The hotel has 3 separate lifts (elevators) to get from the lobby to the top level of the property. They are separate in that they aren’t in the same location and you would need to take all of them to get there and walk to each one. However one is still under construction and during our stay the other 2 were broken at the same time. When people say that there are a lot of steps, they aren’t exaggerating. The hotel lobby and dining area are beautiful and the views are priceless. However they are not air conditioned and when it’s 90+ outside it’s worse inside. The breakfast is “ok” at best. There is almost no variation so it’s the same thing every morning. The hotel was short staffed so the inside bar was closed. The pool bar was staffed by a friendly young woman, however she didn’t speak any English nor did she have any knowledge of making drinks, but she tried at least albeit unsuccessfully. We had a 2 bedroom villa with a private pool and courtyard area. The space and views were absolutely amazing. However the rooms were not without significant issues. Upon our arrival the air conditioning was off and the room was sweltering. We had to contact maintenance for a completely clogged shower, a sink with zero water pressure, another sink which leaked water on the floor like a sieve. The rooms and bathrooms were “cleanish.” Like others have mentioned, things appear well dated. The staff were very friendly and helpful with handling issues. As a hotel this is at best a 3 star experience, however the views and the village are as mentioned earlier amazing.

Chris von Fintel

The 2 stars on the review are for the view and pool only, without that I would give 1 star. As this was our last stay on our Greece trip we decided to splurge and get a “4 star” hotel. What a disappointment! I would rather have stayed at an AirBnB again at half the price. The rooms are dilapidated and basic. More like a hostel room than a 4 star hotel. Very old fit out and in need of maintenance. Don’t be fooled by the pictures on the website. The balcony views are nice but that’s it. When you showered, water would go all over the bathroom floor and stay there for hours, posing a fall risk. As I have a knee injury we mentioned this hazard to them and asked if they could move us to a different room. After 2 nights they moved us to a smaller room, this one however had mould on the wall. They then moved us to another room, which was acceptable, although the spa bath didn’t work. One of the lifts was broken so lots of stairs to climb. Toilet seat in the restaurant area was broken. Breakfast was acceptable but nothing special. They did offer us 2 free drinks for the hassle of moving rooms. Definitely not 4 star accommodation! They should either reduce their prices and stars or renovate the hotel.

Julian Williams

We had a great week at the hotel. All staff were friendly and couldn't do enough to help us. Didn't use the restaurant in the evenings but breakfast was always good and we enjoyed lunches/ drinks from the pool bar! Couple of minor areas for improvement- fixtures and fittings are a little tired in places, for example bathrooms need total refurbishment. Quite a few of the sun loungers by the pool are broken and need replacing. The view was to die for and we enjoyed the short ten minute walk into Agia Effimia each day for dinner and the small beach directly below the hotel. Thanks for a great stay, hope to come back soon!

Zsuzsa Molnár

The location of the hotel is good, with great sea view for every guest, and balcony to enjoy the view from. There are lots of stairs to climb (which we found ok), and one of the two elevators is out of order since a long time. This means, everyone needs to climb some stairs. Our room was in need of renovation, with mouldy bathroom and thick brown scale in the toilet. Also, the bed, which was very comfy, was real worn-down on the sides. Even the stairs need repairing. Apart from that, staff was super friendly and helpful and breakfast was good. It is a pity that the stairs leading directly to the seashore are closed off (for security reasons). In general, the hotel is in need of renovation, profits should be used to give the place its former glamour. Until then it remains overpriced.