2020 - The year of holiday cancellations, restrictions and last minute holiday swaps. Back in February I booked for Lee and I to go to Gran Canaria for my birthday to stay in the Riu Papayas which we were really excited for - but due to the island not being on the travel corridor we cancelled the trip (We had the worst experience with Ryan “rip-off” Air trying to do this) and booked a last minute holiday to Kos instead.
The airports are still extremely quiet with very minimal open - but we checked in and found Wagamama was open so stopped here for some lunch before boarding.
After researching pretty much every hotel on the island we decided to book the Tui Blue Oceanis Beach & Spa Resort as the reviews sounded pretty positive. I upgraded up to a sea view room so that we had nice views from the balcony. It was the perfect place for relaxing with my book or some TV before dinner and also made the perfect photo backdrop. The main lobby and outside of the hotel was very luxury and you had that wow factor driving up to the hotel entrance.
The beds in the room were very comfortable (something we are very fussy with) and you get one large double bed rather than 2 pushed together like a lot of hotels. The bathroom was cool with his and hers sinks but I would say it is not designed particularly well, especially for new couples, as there in no bathroom door, the shower door is seethrough and the toilet door has a gap above it so there is no keeping anything you do in there discreet. This being said the shower was very powerful and great quality for a hotel.
We spent most of the trip in the hotel, around the pool just relaxing as we were only there for 5 days and just wanted to get some sun. We chilled round the ”quiet pool” As it was right outside our room and they had a little cafe/crepe station attached to it. The staff here were really friendly and the service great. The weather was perfect as it was hot but not too hot so you could easily sunbathe without sweating and feeling the need to jump in the FREEZING cold pool. The hotel was right on the beach too so there was a nice breeze and beautiful views. There was also a little beach bar we found ourselves heading to for drinks and lunch as the main buffet wasn’t all that.
Although the hotel was very nice the rules around eating were all rather odd. The breakfast buffet was open until 11am but after 10am you couldn’t get fresh orange juice and you couldn’t get eggs or pancakes. You could wear material flip flops to the buffet for dinner even if there were worn out and tatty but you could not wear brand new Havaianas and had to go and change your shoes. The food selection in the main buffet wasn’t great - it was all very unusual combinations of food that didn’t look particularly appetising, but that being said I managed to find at least something I could eat and the seafood night with fresh fish was very good. You also cannot bring your AI drinks from the bar into the buffet and you can only have house wine or beer - everything else on the wine list has to be paid for so watch out when they give you the wine list. They do have 2 a la carte restaurants but you are only able to visit one of them once on your stay unless you pay extra. The food in the Culinarium was very nice (minus the prawns - don’t order them unless you like mushy prawns) and displayed very well.
The Island of Kos has a lot of history to see. When we woke up on my Birthday the weather wasn’t amazing as it was quite cloudy so we thought it was the perfect opportunity to go site seeing. We hired a driver for a few hours to take us to to the Asklepion, Roman Odeon and the old town. It was so interesting to see all of the ruins and the old town was very pretty. Our driver Ioannis was very informative and I would recommend him to anyone who needs a river (info@kosprivatetours.com).
After our day out we went back to the hotel (to find a little Birthday cake and card left for me) and got ready for dinner at Barbouni. The restaurant was beautiful - right on the waterside and the perfect sunset spot. The food was delicious and the staff couldn’t do enough for us.
The next evening we found Taverna Romeo which was a little family run restaurant 2 minutes walk away from our hotel. Our meal was so nice and the owner was so lovely - bringing us free drinks at the end to thank us for our business.
On our last day we booked in for a massage at the spa and went for the couples relaxing candle massage and a facial which was so lovely. You get use of the spa facilities before and after too.
We has a lovely little break away and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a nice relaxing holiday.
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