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Astir Palace Complex, Athens, Greece (Luxury Collection & Westin)[Master Thread]

Astir Palace Complex, Athens, Greece (Luxury Collection & Westin)[Master Thread]

Old Sep 17, 2010, 10:22 am
  #61  
 
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Originally Posted by bichoo
We had breakfast once in the morning that was really nice, really expensive but amazing! We never had dinner and instead went into town. Note that the walk is a good 25 minutes at least so grab a cab!
Which town are you speaking of? It's a good 25+ minute drive to Athens. Did you go to some local restaurants near the hotels?

Great review! I forgot about the automatic curtains!
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Old Sep 17, 2010, 10:27 am
  #62  
 
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The town i mean is vouliagmeni where most of the restaurants are. The other pricey seafood ones are closer. I went to Loizidis I think it was called. Authentic greek food at reasonable prices. Definitely check it out!
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Old Sep 17, 2010, 10:29 am
  #63  
 
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I stayed here last year between X-mas and New Years. Too cold to swim or anything like that (the Westin was also closed then, just their restaurant was open). Beautiful property. One of the nicest I have seen anywhere.
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Old Sep 18, 2010, 7:49 pm
  #64  
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About how long does it take by taxi to get here from the airport? Is it still approximately 30 euros?
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Old Sep 19, 2010, 4:12 am
  #65  
 
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Originally Posted by SanDiego1K
About how long does it take by taxi to get here from the airport? Is it still approximately 30 euros?
sorry, cant comment on the fare but it takes about 25-30 minutes without traffic. dont go on the highway, but head straight south from the airport.
vouliagmeni has plenty of places to eat. our favourite was zaxos grill who also does takeaway. greek grill stuff, fast service, good food, cheap. across from zaxos is a more family-type taverna, also very good and tzatziki that makes you smell for a week....:-)
btw, no more free lounge use at the Arion for Plats when staying at the Westin....also the spa at the arion is no longer free, unless you are PLAT.
overall the place is great, drawback is that the beach/sea tend to get garbage (plastic, stuff).
one comment made by staff was that the W wont come....it will continue to be delayed....not sure how true that is though.
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Old Dec 7, 2010, 1:23 pm
  #66  
 
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Arion Astir Palace

I stayed at this Luxury Collection property from 10-17 october. I was upgraded to a Excelsior Club Suite on the 4th (top) floor with a huge balcony and fantastic sea views. The staff was overall very friendly. The lounge however is really strange. You just walk into it from the elevator or stairs and most of the time it was unmanned so anybody could come in/out.
As a platinum member, I (and family) had free access to the spa and indoor pool (25/person otherwise), the pool is really great with fantastic sea views.
On the downside, the outside pool was home for a colony of seagulls and there were no pool towels. We went to the (much bigger) Westin pool and to the beach.
Overall a great property...
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Old Dec 12, 2010, 6:25 pm
  #67  
 
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Originally Posted by SanDiego1K
About how long does it take by taxi to get here from the airport? Is it still approximately 30 euros?
I paid about 25 Euros from the airport, took about 25 minutes.
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Old Feb 5, 2011, 6:51 pm
  #68  
 
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Any recent stays .
Im thinking of staying the the Astir Arion resort and SPA for 4 days instead of spliting time between that and GB Athens.
its looking like there is a lounge
what is the lounge like?
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Old Feb 7, 2011, 9:01 am
  #69  
 
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Originally Posted by tinkybelle
its looking like there is a lounge
what is the lounge like?
The lounge is .... a joke. The lounge consists of some chairs in the gangway, some drinks and fingerfood.
The hotel is quite nice. I stayed there in October 2010 and received an upgrade to a suite with sea view. Outdoor pool area and beach area are relaxing - especially if the weather is fine. Indoor pool and Spa are free of charge for Platinums.
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Old May 31, 2011, 4:15 pm
  #70  
 
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Just got back from a 7 day stay at the Westin Athens. The hotel itself was great. I loved the large balcony overlooking the ocean, the private beach, and the pool. It was extremely tranquil and relaxing.

As many people have mentioned, the food is very expensive. To avoid the 30 Euro per person breakfasts, my girlfriend and I went to Vouliagmeni and found a grocery store where we bought a loaf of bread, some bananas, jam, etc. and ate that for breakfast. It was a much better value. We also went into town for most of the dinners. We went to many of the restaurants mentioned here and all of them were very good. We usually just walked along the main strip and went into the ones that looked good. Bulk wine was an amazing deal at 5 Euro or so for a liter. Not the best in the world, but pretty solid especially for the price. The biggest issue we had was what to do for lunch. We didn't necessarily want to eat the same thing again that we had for breakfast, but sandwiches were all right around the 20 Euro mark. Although we broke down and did this for two of the days, the sandwiches were not even close to worth that price.

On the last night we went the the Blue Hytra restaurant at the hotel after seeing a few reviews and noting that it was a 1 Michelin star. I was really looking forward to the restaurant and was actually rather disappointed. The food was similar to WD-50 in New York with the chefs trying to change the texture of foods in unexpected ways. I appreciate the attempt, but it was not very successful. There were four foams over the seven course meal, which is a little silly. Normally I prefer savory courses over deserts, but at Blue Hytra this was not the case. The desert was great and the main courses were very disappointing. The price of the restaurant was as terrible as I was fearing, 70 Euro a person, but I enjoyed the meals at any other place considerably more.

Overall, the hotel was a great value for the points, but I would probably not return because of the food options. If they offered decent value lunch options, it would not have been an issue. But as it is, the food was just way too expensive.

(If anyone wants a more in depth review of Blue Hytra, let me know. I can give you a course by course breakdown and love to talk about food.)
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Old Jul 13, 2011, 6:56 pm
  #71  
 
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Im booked in there on my free resort nights.next week
anyone had any recent stays there?

how are the upgrades using these free resort nights?
I understand that a cab to Astir from airport would be about 20 euro?

and Astir still has lounge so free breakky
anything else I need to know?
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Old Jul 23, 2011, 4:59 pm
  #72  
 
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Would love to hear recent reviews too as we're going to the Arion at the end of August.
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Old Jul 26, 2011, 1:29 pm
  #73  
 
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Thumbs up O M G

I have stayed at some awesome places in my life
i consider this is in the top three
checked in today using free nights.

got top floor suite view to die for,
terrrace with sunbed for clothes free taning
huge bathroom
friendly lounge with a red, white wine , sparkling water and coke
and a few salmon blinis
what else can a girl ask for
to die for views and sunset.
think im here for 3 days
they will take me kicking and screaming outa here.
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Old Jul 26, 2011, 7:50 pm
  #74  
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Definitely seems that the Arion is the better place to be. I stayed a few nights at the Westin and wasn't truly that impressed.
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Old Sep 28, 2011, 9:00 am
  #75  
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I've got a stay at Arion Resort in a week, spending my FRN's with my wife.

As a Platinum, can I expect breakfast to be complimentary (in the lounge or the restaurant) ?
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