Hotel Kalafati

We've stayed at the Kalafati before, and thoroughly enjoyed our visit this time, as we did previously. It's well situated very close to the sea, a short walk into Itea itself, or you can hop in the car and spread your wings far and wide from Amfissa, Thermopiles, Mornos Reservoir, Galaxeidi, Delphi of course, Arachova, Antikirra, and Parnassos. Watch out though as there's a tricky little speed camera just as you come out of Galexeidi, where the speed changes to 50km/h with a couple of metres of the camera, as you head towards Itea. It's SO easy to miss. That side of the bay, between Galaxedi and Itea has got very scruffy with bauxite ore tainting everything. This is not a good thing. However, the Kalafati is away at the other end of Itea, on the border between Itea and Kirra which run together along the coast. Breakfasts are good and plentiful, though I was rather surprised to see some members of a Greek coach party wrapping bread, cheese, and ham into their paper napkins and shoving them into their handbags at breakfast, clearly for their lunch later on? There are usually scrambled eggs and little frankfurther sausages (a guilty pleasure), hot teas (green, herbal, black) and coffee, and a continental spread of cheese, ham, feta, cucumber, tomato, croissants, pain au chocolat,, and so on. You can always get tea, hot or iced coffee at the (full bar) throughout the day. Housekeeping is daily, and sheets changed pretty much every other day. Towels daily. There is a lift that services every floor. There was a new AC unit in our room this year, and it was wonderful. There were a couple of days where the heat rose to 37C, and we headed for the hills, but had to come back down eventually. The sea is very clean, and the beaches are all Blue Flag. I wondered about this, as sometimes there's debris in the sea, but it turns out this is from the sea grass beds off shore. We found the water to be clearer in the morning, as by lunchtime a wind gets up most days, and churns the sea up a bit. (still clean, just not so clear). What more to say? Lovely clean hotel with friendly staff and helpful owners (Nikos, and your father, that's you!), well situated for all that this part of mainland Greece has to offer. Good value too. Oh and lots of free parking.

Enjoyed the brief stay we had. Nice location. Lovely breakfast. The bed was a bit hard but otherwise we enjoyed it.

Affordable family-owned hotel with panoramic views of the water and mountains. Basic rooms have all the essentials. Beds are harder than our own, but we still slept well. Many freebies -- breakfast, internet, parking. Great service.