Lagas Aegean Village

Pros:

Location: Just 10–15 minutes from the airport. Around a 20-minute walk to Kardamena, with plenty of shops, bars and restaurants. The hotel has its own beach across the road, and the Aquatica Water Park is only a 3-minute taxi ride away. Food: Excellent variety with fresh bread, salads, fruit and plenty of choice at every meal. Pool: Large pool with plenty of sunbeds available throughout the day. Rooms: Spacious, clean and some have fantastic views of the sea. Rooms include a kettle and cups, but bring your own tea, coffee as they are not supplied. Hotel layout: As the hotel is built on a hillside, a free minibus runs day and night to take guests to their rooms if needed. Staff: Waiting staff were friendly and welcoming, especially the minibus drivers.

Cons:

Reception staff: Could come across as abrupt and unfriendly, although any issues we had were resolved quickly. Evening dress code: Men must wear long trousers for dinner, even in very hot weather, and entry is refused otherwise!! Drinks: Bottled water at dinner costs €3, while the same bottles can be bought in town much cheaper. Outside drinks aren't allowed in the restaurant. Beach: Although it's the hotel's private beach, sunbeds cost €4.50 each per day. Pool- When windy they collapse all the umbrellas, so nowhere shaded to sit.

Top Tips:

Buy snacks, drinks and essentials in Kardamena, as the hotel shop is much more expensive. Avoid keeping food in your room, as we experienced an ant problem. If possible, request a room lower down the hill. We were in the 400 block, which was manageable on foot, but higher rooms rely more on the minibus. Bring towel clips—Kos is often windy. We arrived at night and missed the evening meal and weren't even provided with bottles of water when we arrived so be prepared if you have a late flight.

Overall: We had a lovely holiday with just a few minor inconveniences that didn't spoil our stay but we wouldn't be in a rush to go back.

We have just returned from a lovely stay at this hotel in Kos and, overall, had a great holiday.

The rooms were modern, clean and serviced every day. The air conditioning worked brilliantly and, unlike some hotels, was included at no extra charge. The mini fridge was adequate, although we found it worked much better if we left the cupboard door slightly open to allow air to circulate. There was also a safe available in the room for €10 per week.

The hotel itself is beautiful, built into the side of a hill with stunning views. We were fortunate that our room was close to reception, making it easily accessible. Some of the rooms higher up the hill are quite a steep walk, but the hotel runs a shuttle service throughout the day and night, which is a great addition.

The pool area was lovely, always clean and with plenty of sunbeds available. It was refreshing to see that most guests didn’t reserve beds first thing in the morning, although, as always, a small number of people ignored this. Thankfully, it never became a major issue.

Every member of staff we interacted with was friendly, welcoming and helpful.

The animation team worked hard every day, organising activities in the pool, around the hotel and on the beach. Evening entertainment, however, was a little disappointing. It consisted mainly of karaoke, a movie quiz and bingo, with only two evenings featuring live entertainment – salsa lessons and a performance by The Divas, who were excellent. Unfortunately, these performances only lasted around an hour, which felt far too short.

The hotel offers half board. Breakfast was fairly standard, with cereals, fresh fruit, yoghurts, cooked breakfast items, cold meats, cheeses, pancakes and eggs. Everything was fresh, although there was no made-to-order egg station and surprisingly no toaster.

Dinner was where the hotel really excelled. Every meal we had was hot, well cooked and full of flavour. There was a fantastic selection of traditional Greek dishes, fresh salads, roasted meats including lamb, pork and chicken, all beautifully tender and moist. There was also plenty of fish, including octopus and calamari, as well as a variety of pasta dishes. If you’re expecting chips, chicken nuggets, beans or pizza every night, you may be disappointed. Personally, I thought the food was excellent and exactly what I’d hoped for from a Greek hotel.

There are, however, a few areas where I think the hotel could improve.

A complimentary bottle of water for guests arriving late would have been a thoughtful touch. After a long day of travelling, having to buy water immediately wasn’t the best welcome.

The pricing of bottled water throughout the hotel was also inconsistent. The same bottle cost €1.50 from reception, €3 in the bar and restaurant, while the on-site shop sold six bottles for €5. It would make much more sense for prices to be consistent across the hotel.

Another frustration was that you weren’t allowed to bring your own bottled water into the restaurant for dinner, even if it had been purchased elsewhere within the hotel. Instead, you had to buy water from the waiter at €3 per bottle.

The prices in the hotel shop were also extremely high. For example, a packet of Greek biscuits similar to Jaffa Cakes was €4.20, while crisps ranged from €3 to €6.

The beach sunbeds were charged at €4.50 per bed, per day, which is worth bearing in mind if you plan to spend time on the beach.

Finally, although Kardamena is only around a 20-minute walk away, the hotel didn’t provide a shuttle bus. We’ve stayed at other hotels that do offer this service. There is a public bus costing €2, but it wasn’t well signposted, so we walked most of the time. The walk itself is pleasant, but parts of the road can feel unsafe.

Overall, we really enjoyed our stay. The hotel is beautiful, the staff are fantastic and the food was one of the highlights of our holiday. However, for the price we paid, we felt that some of the extras and little touches were missing, and some charges seemed unnecessary.

Would we return? Possibly, but only if the price was significantly lower. Despite the negatives, we had a wonderful holiday and left with some great memories.

Booked through TUI and stayed a week at Lagas Aegean Village, Kos. Unfortunately can’t recommend it. Our room wasn’t cleaned the entire week - no fresh sheets, no toilet roll (had to get our own from reception toilets), no toiletries replenished. On departure day the cleaner was sat outside our door from 11am despite 12pm check-out. The worst part: my nephew was locked out of his room after maintenance fixed his AC and forgot to switch the electricity back on. He waited over an hour to get back in (reception sent someone to the wrong room first), missed his dinner slot as a result, and staff then refused to let him eat a plate of food outside once the dinner service had closed - because he was wearing shorts! He has allergies, which made this stressful, and management were dismissive when we raised it. Eventually got him a sandwich. Other issues: gym shut at 5pm, pool shut at 6pm, parasols banned whenever it was windy when other hotels all had theirs up (no shade anywhere), slow pool bar service, tables cleared while we were still eating, and generally unfriendly staff. A lot of small failures that added up to a really disappointing stay. Wouldn’t return.