Skala Kalloni, Pela Hotel

I have been to Pela Hotel and Studios twice in recent years. The area is fantastic and the staff at the hotel are extremely friendly and always happy to help. Pela Hotel and Studios is named after Pela, the daughter of the owner, also a lovely girl. The hotel now has a poolside bar which is great for relaxing. The centre of Skala Kalloni is wonderful, there are many tavernas, shops and bars as you walk from Pela. The beach is around 5km long and is beautiful to walk along either in the day or at night.

The only bad points are the dogs and cats, if you dont like these then beware as there are many of them around and it is easy to take pity on one of these animals.

Before we went to Lesvos in August 2008 we looked for reviews on our hotel, The Pela Hotel. There were very few reviews but what there were seemed promising. I'm writing this to enlighten people about the real Pela Hotel.

In the travel agent we told them we wanted to go to Greece, we weren't taking children and didn't want to see children. This may seem strange to some people but if you have children and get the chance to go away without them you'll understand why it was said.

The travel agent handed us a Sunvil brochure telling us it was just what we were looking for. After looking at the brochure we settled on Skala Kalloni, there's nothing for kids to do unless they're into bird watching.... Yeah!! Right!! Like that's going to happen!

Reviews on the Pela Hotel looked promising and most said how friendly the owners were. Listen to me... They are not friendly! They are two of the grumpiest women on Lesvos.

We stayed for a week and apart from "Kali Spera" I doubt we shared more than two dozen words. It wasn't for a lack of trying either. Any visit to the bar resulted in minimal conversation, the hotel wasn't exactly busy so it wasn't as if there was no time for small talk.

There were a few people there that had been there for the past 4-6 years. They had more lasting conversations but they were far from chatty. I suspect it's these hardened Pela people that are giving the reviews, they need to get out more! See a few other islands, hotels and countries! I've travelled a fair bit and I would say it's one of the un-friendliest hotels I've stayed in!

Back to the "no kids holiday"...... Be warned! The hotel lets the local families use the pool facilities if they buy a drink in the bar. That would be okay but the children take over the pool area, running and screaming uncontrolled by their parents. The hotel owners admitted to us that they didn't like the locals using the pool area because they were noisy but they never asked the parents to control their children. As long as the money keeps rolling in at the bar they're happy for them to be there and sod the tourists.

On the Saturday night the whole pool and restaurant area was taken over for a Greek christening. There was no warning that this would happen. Children were running all over the separate hotel building away from the restaurant area. Uncontrolled, they were even running about on the second floor. At midnight I decided enough was enough and went to complain. I was not the only one complaining! To be fair the hotel owners stopped the children running riot but why should you have to complain to the owners?

The hotel has built more rooms on the left as you enter. Apparently these are family rooms. I can only believe that the service is going to get worse and the pool area will be over crowded next year when these rooms are occupied.

Breakfast was plagued with wasps, there were wasp traps all around the bar and dining area but this didn't stop you being pestered constantly and trying to fend them off your yoghurt and honey, orange juice, toast and marmalade.... If you're eating something sweet you'd have a wasp for company! We never had this problem anywhere else and presume there's a huge nest nearby but the owners aren't getting anything done about it. The traps looked like they'd been there for some time so it must be a long standing problem. The breakfast was typical for Greek hotels and good quality but the evening meal was a different matter. If you require an evening meal you need to inform the hotel before 3PM. There is no choice! Only a set menu so be warned if you're a fussy eater. I'd recommend going into the village and visiting one of the many tavernas..... Now there's friendly people!

The village centre is blocked off to vehicular traffic at night and the local tavernas spread across the main square, it's fantastic!

We recommend a visit to Skala Kalloni, it's a lovely area with great tavernas and a long beach. Perfect for a relaxing holiday........

We'd also recommend Sunvil, unfortunately they're not arranging holidays to Lesvos after this season. The rep was readily available and a mine of information without being pushy!

Close enough to all amenities, but not too near resort. Very friendly clean hotel. A home from home