Byzantio Hotel - Thessaloniki, Greece     

We booked this hotel as we needed an overnight stopover en route from Athens to Bulgaria, and wanted to avoid the city center. For that purpose, this hotel’s location is excellent, right on the outer ring road around the city, on an area with low traffic and sparse urban development. Be careful NOT to book this hotel if your intended destination is in the city centre, as it’s far from it, and with daytime traffic commuting can be a real hassle. But it can make an excellent base for exploration of the Macedonia region, or for business in that part of the city suburbs. The room (a triple) we got featured two twin beds and an extra portable one. It would have been spacious as a twin room, but was a bit crowded as a triple. The reception & service people were courteous and polite, and the checkin/checkout process was relatively fast, for a greek hotel. The breakfast was average, but their breakfast room, something like an English patio full with natural light coming from a plastic window wall, was a very pleasant and welcoming experience.

My family and I stayed at the Byzantio for two weeks. The accomodation was to a high standard, we had two studio apartments but they were large and airy. They had a good size balcony which overlooked the gardens and lemon trees. The maids visited daily and renewed towels. The pool was extremely clean and usually quiet, it was like having your own private pool. The pool bar offered a good range of snacks and it had a large shaded seating area. The beautiful beach of Valtos is about 5 minuets walk away, which was great. But what probably made the our stay special were the staff and family who owned the hotel. They was so friendly and very helpful, nothing was too much trouble. On leaving we were given a bottle of Ouzo from the owner ! . I would recommend this accomodation if you want a quiet , restful holiday.