Mitsis Family Village

After reading some recent reviews I have felt the need to write this. Firstly the location is hilly so if you have mobility issues don't book here. If you like being close to the centre of Kos don't book here. The clue is in the title family village so if you want adult only and no kids disco, don't book here. Entertainment if you are expecting London west end, don't book here. If you are wanting 5star restaurant food, don't book here. If you are wanting a great view of the sea and mountain, a relaxing but a bit of atmosphere, close to the airport (25mins) a swimming pool that is vibrant but not overcrowded crowded, always have access to loungers or a table and chairs with no sunbed wars,decent all inclusive buffet food, a clean room, the beach close, a bus service to the main resort every hour, great service where even in peak periods your waiting less than 10 minutes, an entertainment team that work hard and can even entertain shy 15 and 17 year olds ( yes they even did the junior disco) evening entertainment that will give you a bit of light hearted fun and entertainment, then I would fully recommend this hotel. This was our 4th family all inclusive in school holidays and this holiday was the best value for money. Don't listen to the negative reviews.

Here is my completly honest review of the whole hotel. We had a fabulous holiday and there were no major concerns or faults. I will give as much detail as possible! Overall, we had a brilliant holiday. Nothing would put me off visiting this hotel again, but equally nothing wowed me.

Location Stunning! Being able to stand and see the beautiful sea, coast and mountains was amazing. One of my favourite views!

Easy access to Kardamena with the local bus, quick and easy link to airport.

Beach Lots to do. Aqua Park was great value. The beach bars and food outlets are really nice and well kept. However the slow service was disappointing in the pizza and gyros outlets.

The beach itself was a disappointment to me. The beds, whilst plentiful, do feel very packed in and ours were not the best quality. I felt the beach itself was very grubby and didn't really love it.

Accommodation We booked a family room with shared pool. We cannot fault it at all. The decor is dated but everything was beautifully clean and in good order.

The room was plenty big enough for 4 of us. The shared pool was great. Quite big and only shared between a few rooms. Would book this room again.

My only grumble with the room is the terrace. The furniture wasn't great, uncomfortable and only 2 chairs despite 4 of us in the room.

Food / Drinks Restaurant was fine. Typical AI fare trying to please everyone. Everything was clean, no concerns.

There were some more wow bits - huge fresh king prawns, beautiful lamb chops grilled in front of you, whole lamb shank. The Greek night was our favourite.

Creperie was fab!!! Loved it.

Drinks were decent quality and selection. Queues could be long sometimes, but generally not a problem.

Entertainment Was OK - again, usual AI. Nothing to complain about.

Staff All nice, but nothing stand out really. Again, no concerns.

A very average trip that cost more than it was worth :(

Food The food is very average we are not fussy eaters. There is nothing specifically dedicated to children so mine did struggle some days and stuck to the same few things. This is a shame for a “family” hotel. Everything was lukewarm or cold except the freshly made pizza which was lovely but a queue for this every time. The scrambled egg at breakfast was just inedible slop!

Great to have self service soft drinks, coffees and beer. But again quite often a queue.

The crepes and ice cream is lovely, but often a quiet wait for these too.

Drinks These are great. No complaints! Iced coffee was lovely!

Pools We booked a superior family swim up room. The images on the website are outdated as none of the rooms have the really tall ladders. The first room we were allocated had incredibly dangerous access for children is an accident waiting to happen. One side was just the small tiled edge and then a sheer drop. No direct access in with ladders so my young children had to carefully walk along the edge to steps, negotiating cracked tiles and broken edging.

After a lot of backwards and forwards we were allowed to move rooms to a pool that was enclosed and this was much safer for us, despite still experiencing broken edging, cracked tiles.

Saltwater pools were ok, the coldest pool I’ve ever been in abroad when we arrived but this seems to have been because they pumped them full of water. Usually go into a pool to get out of the heat but this was getting out of the pool to get warm! As the week went on they warmed to a nice temperature.

Maintenance however is really lacking. Broken edges of the pools in many places, broken paving slabs/bricks and sharp pieces on vents in the pool. My son cut his toe open on the second day and we heard many had the same experience across other pools. We told the lifeguard but he couldn’t really have cared about what caused the cut or fixing it to prevent others getting injury. But did provide a plaster.

The family pools were also very deep in parts - 1.6m outside some swim up rooms. Access is poor as well for some rooms. Having to walk along the edges and round corners isn’t great for those with mobility issues. Not a problem for us as we had a ladder outside (not ideal in itself but the lesser of two evils with the other room allocated to us).

Slide pool is good. Three slides but not manned by a lifeguard at the top so it’s a bit chaotic with people coming down in quick succession. This is freshwater as well so that was more enjoyable.

Room These are ok. We didn’t have early knocks from the maids as others did. Maids didn’t wait long for an answer before letting themselves in, same with the drink guy. Mini fridge was broken in the room so we had to get a new one but this was sorted quickly.

Sofa beds weren’t comfortable. Many complaints from my kids about these. Main bed was ok. Had to ask for extra pillows but again this was sorted quickly.

Shower doesn’t maintain a steady temp, randomly goes scalding hot. Needed to take a lot of extra care when my kids were showering.

Location Very hilly and very windy! Take towel clips for drying swim stuff outside as it will all blow away. We didn’t leave any floaties on the balcony as these would take flight.

Beach Lovely, and food down here is great. Didn’t experience many queues. Sea is lovely and great to snorkel and see the fish. Buggy down to the beach and back is very handy and always ran on time. Much comfier loungers as well!

Check out We asked for an early check out but we were told to return later, then return later again. Finally told we couldn’t have a late check out but could book a slot for a shower room. We weren’t advised of this earlier so the only slot was much before our pick up so not overly convenient.

Overall as a 4 star hotel centred on “family” there are a lot of aspects that really let it down. We paid a lot of money for the holiday and have been unfortunately left somewhat disappointed. Struggling to reconcile the 5 star reviews we’ve seen with our own experience. Wouldn’t recommend the swim up room for families with younger children. Wouldn't recommend as a family centred hotel and certainly wouldn't return.