Nafplia Palace Hotel & Villas

Wonderful location with views to match, and very friendly & helpful staff. But… Most of the property is mothballed, with very few of the facilities as advertised on the website. I have visited many 5-Star hotels around the world and this is, without doubt, the worst one by a mile. On arriving at the main property, you are greeted by a big red 'Do Not Enter' sign and, with no one around, you wonder what you are expected to do. Intuition takes you to a grubby car park with signs to Reception. You go in a graffiti-strewn lift, descend one floor, and are met by a man who guides you to Reception. This is not based in the main building at all but is located in a sad little room among what remains of the rest of the accommodation. You pass boarded up windows, unkempt gardens, impossible-to-lie-on sun loungers, and you cannot help the feeling you have made a terrible, terrible mistake. Fortunately, we only used the hotel as a convenient base, from which to travel around the rest of Greece. Had we not done so, we would have felt trapped in our room, since there was no other spaces we could use. No lounge, no sitting room, no bar area. Nothing. It came as no surprise to discover there was no WiFi, the TVs were at least 30 years old, one of which did not work. It took 2 days to discover how to turn the lights on and off. There were lots of other issues, too many to mention here. One particular memory which will stay with me forever is the reply to my request for somewhere comfortable to relax. I was told to go sit on a chair in the breakfast room! The rooms are hugely expensive. The owners seem to be treating the property like a 'cash cow' until it eventually goes into administration, which it undoubtedly will.

We decided to splurge on this hotel without really knowing what to expect. Apparently there are hotel rooms here that are no longer open—just the villas are open. So this place has a bit of a weird abandoned vibe. But the villas are lovely, and the staff is very nice. We enjoyed the breakfast and the 2 pools. The elevator that goes down to the main town is a bit creepy, but for us it just added to the adventure. We really enjoyed our time at this peaceful hotel.

Once this was a great hotel on a great location. The spacious rooms are the only thing left, with a tiny reception and a dining room that has to serve as just that, but also as a lounge, a bar ... no one ever goes there. It misses everything that makes such a hotel fun, cosy and special. It is just a place to sleep, for everything else you have to go into town. It is owned by a family in financial trouble and they cut costs on everything. Maintenance is zero! In our first room there came hardly any water out of the tap or the shover, the bubble bad didn't work and the door jammed. Not even worth half the price they ask! The staff is very friendly though and does everything to fix things for you (in our case an upgrade to a room with working plumbing). Until the day we left and couldn't enter our room after breakfast: the door blocked! Stay away!

Giving this hotel a 4.5 hinge rating, as these tired feet need a good night’s sleep. Nice central location. The town square is close by and a walk along the waterfront is nice. Not much traffic or tourist this time of the year