Mayflower Apartments, Tigaki, Kos, 2023

Travel

We’d booked the flight/transfer/accommodation package through TUI, and we’d planned to get an Uber to Luton Airport, but none of their drivers seemed interested.  We eventually used an excellent taxi firm recommended by a neighbour.  We thought that Luton Airport wouldn’t be too busy for an early afternoon flight on a Tuesday, but we were wrong.  There were only a few vacant seats airside in the terminal.  We bought ludicrously expensive drinks from a bar, but there were no seats available in the bar itself, so we sat on spare seats just outside.  We were immediately approached by an officious airport staff member who told us we couldn’t sit with our drinks there as the bar was licenced, but the corridor outside wasn’t.  A master-class in how to annoy your customers….

The TUI flight was uneventful, with, again, drinks at rip-off prices.

On arrival we collected our bags and were met by a TUI rep who unhelpfully directed us to the wrong transfer bus.  We sorted out the error ourselves and sat on the right coach.  We sat there for an hour while TUI waited for another flight to arrive.  We were eventually dropped off outside our apartments at nearly midnight.

The return journey was smoother - TUI's coach picked us up from the apartments mid-afternoon, for a 10pm take-off and a Luton arrival around midnight.  A few minutes' walk to the taxi rank, to arrive home just after one in the morning.

Mayflower

The main apartments are modern, well-designed and maintained, and in good condition.  Christo and his family, who own and operate the property, are really friendly and attentive – nothing is too much trouble.  For example, we asked Christo for a recommendation for a taverna for our anniversary – he not only wrote out a list of half-a-dozen, but offered to book a table and drive us down to his favourite, Esperos, on the seafront.

The internal area includes reception, lounge area, and the bar.  Outside there are lots of under-cover dining tables and chairs, plus a couple of pool tables.  There are also some not-under-cover tables.  The large swimming pool has plenty of space around it, with sunbeds and sunshades.  There’s a kids pool area.

The apartments are sited about three-quarters of a mile back from the beach, off a street which runs parallel to the main strip of bars and restaurants.  This means it’s surrounded mainly by fields, and is quiet, unlike apartment blocks closer to the main strip and the beach.  The downside is it’s a bit of a slog walking down to the beach and back in the heat of the day.  So most people stayed by Mayflower’s pool.  There seemed to be a good number of repeat guests.

There’s a big supermarket, Konstantinos, just a few minutes’ walk away – ideal.

Our Room

Our apartment was number 303, in the older annexe building.  Relatively spacious, apart from the kitchen and the shower.  There was a comfortable bed and adequate drawer and hanging space in the bedroom.  The lounge area contained a put-you-up sofa, a dining table, a TV and a fridge, with a freezing compartment.  The balcony area contained a table and two chairs as well as a clothes-horse.  No room safe, but there’s safes available in the Reception area at extra cost.

The kitchen was cramped – there were four electrical appliances (microwave, one-ring hob, toaster and kettle), but only two electricity sockets.  There wasn’t enough room for all four items to be on the worktop at the same time, so we moved the unused microwave onto the dining table, and juggled the remaining three power leads.  There was sufficient crockery and cutlery provided.

The shower was guaranteed to flood the floor every time and leave you with a soggy bathmat.

There’s aircon at €15 a day extra cost, but we didn’t need it.  We were slightly disappointed that there was no view of the sea or the mountains from the room – our view was of the plentiful, well-laden lemon trees and beautiful bougainvillea in the garden instead.

Tigaki

We’d gained the impression that Tigaki was a small, quiet sea-front village – it isn’t.  There are dozens of bars, restaurants, shops and clubs along the main strip up from the beach.  The long wide, sandy beach is covered by well over a thousand sunbeds and sunshades for hire (€12 per day for two) in a long line to either side of the centre of the resort.

If you walk along the beach to the west, you come to the dry channel that links the salt lake to the sea.  It's said that there are flamingos on this lake at times.  On the other side of this channel is a long, clothing-optional beach, but it’s used for horse-riding, so you need to watch where you put your feet.  The sand is also marred by lots of dead sea-grass, so it’s not that attractive a beach.  There were no sunbeds for hire, either.  The main strip of beach by the resort is much cleaner, where the various sunbed concessions even have toilets behind their patch.

Food

The Mayflower Apartments itself offers a good basic menu, and the food we tried was tasty and well-cooked.  Big-sized portions, too. For example, one delicious home-made Tzatziki was enough for two people as a starter.  We didn’t need a separate Greek Salad with our Pork Souvlaki, as there was already a good salad helping with the pork.

Sagittarius is a traditional Greek taverna ten minutes’ walk from Mayflower.  Good food, well cooked.

Esperos was 25 minutes’ walk, away, a traditional taverna on the sea-front.  Excellent, huge swordfish steaks.  Recommended by Christo - he booked a table for us, and even drove us down there.

We went up to Zia, a village up in the mountains behind the apartments. It’s very quaint, but rather over-run with tourist-tat shops.  We were fortunate to have a clear sky, so the sunset was magnificent, looking down from the mountains across the coastal plain, with the salt-lake, Tigaki’s main strip brightly-lit, and then across the Aegean towards Pserimos and the Bodrum peninsula in Turkey, just eight miles away.  We ate at Olympia 2, with a great sundeck packed with tables, good food, and the best view.  Thanks again to Christo - he recommended it and booked a table for us.

Photos

Just a few photos this time.

Conclusion

The Mayflower Apartments are excellent as a place to stay - modern, clean and well-maintained, set back from the beach among fields.  This means it’s a bit of a slog down to the beach and back, especially in the heat of the day.  Our older room was a good size, but cramped in the kitchen and shower area.  The owners are great, the food is good, and the swimming pool is a good size, with plenty of room for sunbeds and shades around it.  There’s a kids pool area.  There’s a big supermarket just a few minutes’ walk away.

Tigaki was much more touristy and commercialised than we thought it would be.  The bustling main Strip down to the beach contains plenty of shops, restaurants, bars and clubs.  There are thousands of sun-beds and shades for hire lined up along the tidy and well-equipped beach.