Tarsanas Luxury apartments

Finally I managed to carve out a time to write this review and I am exactly in the right mood to properly pass our impressions. Early in the morning on August 23, our group of 4 people (my wife, my mother, daughter and me) arrived at the Thessaloniki airport. A distance from it to Loutra Agia Paraskevis is about 110 km and we decided not to rent a car at the airport upon arrival but take any car to explore Halkidiki later in Loutra. Unfortunately a taxi driver was not speaking English at all or skillfully pretended he was not. With some difficulties I explained where we should go, he seemed that he understood. He showed us a pricelist with fares on routes from the airport to various towns of Halkidiki peninsula and I chose the closest point to Loutra, it was Pefkohori and the fare was about 100 euro. I estimated that the whole trip should not make more than 110 euros. It is important to note that taximeter was turned on all our way to Loutra. While moving I just noticed that we passed by Pefkohori and drove on the east coast of the peninsula even though I knew that Loutra is located on the west coast. I hardly convinced the driver that we passed the turn to Loutra so we began to look for a right route stopping next to each passerby and asking the way. In the end after wasting much time scouting the peninsula we got to Loutra where we spend another bunch of time searching for our apartment though I perfectly knew that it should be located somewhere on the beach but not our stubborn driver who didn’t want to understand even a word. Upon arrival he declared a cost of 150 euros for our trip I pointed to the taximeter which showed something around 70-80 euros but he said it was the Thessaloniki city fare and this trip is billed differently and showed me the route to Paliouri fare in his price list which was 140 euros and again I had a long time to explain that it was his problem he did not know the road and took us a long time all over the peninsula in the end he realized that it’s impossible to deceive us and gladly accepted 120. Much later Nick the owner of Tarsanas Luxury Apartments told me that 100 - 110 euros is quite a reasonable price for the trip from the airport. This was the only unpleasant moment for the whole vacation my advice is to be careful and do not get in a taxi if the driver does not speak English or you are Greek! ) So we finally arrived to the place that become our home for 2 weeks, we got apartments on the 3rd floor with 2 bedrooms and a large living room with kitchen and 3 balconies! Balconies were equipped with chairs and dryers and you can feel free to call one of them a terrace which was equipped with a big table to have breakfast with a stunning view. The breathtaking view to the sea and the gold sandy beach that seems can be reached by your hand. Later we counted only 30 steps distance to the sea. A step below on the ground floor there was the Tarsanas restaurant located and the air was filled with the wonderful aroma of coffee and fresh bread. We remembered we didn't have a breakfast this morning and immediately moved down to try a real Greek food. Here I tried a real Greek salad for the first time which tastes better Greek salad I’ve ever tried and else we had a terrific grilled eggplant with cheese and great fried fresh anchovies and fresh delicious bread! I really can say that after this dinner we finally realize that we were on vacation and all of our problems and concerns immediately went away. Later we moved to the beach. Tarsanas has his own beach and you should order something to drink to have sun bed and umbrella. It is important to note that Loutra beach has a blue flag and has it not in vain I’ve never seen such a crystal pure sea water. It will be interesting here also for those who like snorkeling, I noticed dozens different species of fish. A small remark - Loutra is a small town, very small, if you're looking for a rich night life and parties, you aren’t supposed to be here, this is the place for those seeking seclusion from the bustle of the city and wants to enjoy the tranquility and nature. There is also a spa and a hot springs rich of sulfur that treat many illnesses and a lot of travelers come here just for this treatment. The spa is in a 10 minute walk from Tarsanas. However we had everything we need to feel like home, our apartments were equipped with wi-fi, satellite TV, washing machine, cooking utensils, refrigerator, air conditioning, etc. It is also important to understand that Tarsanas isn’t a hotel, it has no housekeeping, laundry and other services you may expect to receive than you’re staying in the hotel. Here you are free to shop any products in a 5 minute walk and cook your own meals if you wish, or you can go to a Nick’s restaurant. There is no doubt you will pay attention the owners are extremely welcoming and hospitable, they are ready to help you with any of your desire, if you need anything they are happy to help you. There are several other restaurants near Tarsanas so you can always choose the one you like. But we were conquered by Nick culinary skills and the quality of his food and every day visited Tarsanas restaurant. Here you may enjoy natural homemade traditional Greek food, you can choose every fish you prefer for dinner and it will be excellent on the grill. We decided that there was no need to search another place to dine Tarsanas Tavern simply the best place. Nick and his team made all their best and surrounded us with great attention and care so we really feel like home in this wonderful place. We had everything that we can only wish a beautiful clear warm sea, well-kept beach, great food, great view and all you may need within walking distance! It was rain only once for two weeks of our staying although it supposed to be raining a whole week according to the weather forecasting but clouds miraculously bypassed the Loutra bay, Nick told me that it happens very often, this place is so quiet that even bad weather passes it by ) There is no any car rental office in Loutra but Nick as you already know could help us carry out any desire. He helped us to rent an almost new car in a very good condition for reasonable price. So we drove around Halkidiki, visited different beaches of Alexandria and Sithonia, enjoyed the extraordinary beauty of these places, went to Athens for a few days that was all interesting and informative but there was no better place for us than Loutra and Tarsanos. In a word - it was great! Best regards to Nick and his family and the whole Tarsanos team. Nick, Aliki, Giorgos, Ellie Alexander thank you so much, you made our stay memorable! We all fondly remember the time spent here and happy to come back here again!