Fantastic, worth repeating!!!

Xanthi and Maria served a delicious breakfast every morning that we could also eat the afternoon. Fresh orange juice, homemade (chocolate) croissants, scrambled eggs, boiled egg, homemade bougatsa, fresh fruit, yogurt. Every day a different homemade dish. In short, everything was possible and just as tasty :) Maria shared her recipe for her delicious burgers by showing how she makes them. Her husband helped in the evening with the bbq of the burgers. Besides the top breakfast, they also kept the house clean. Asking for new clean towels for the pool or to shower was no problem. What is also worth mentioning is the great swimming pool with outdoor shower and all the beautiful sitting areas around the house and pool. If you want to relax for a while, that is possible.

Great place - wish we could have stayed longer

Lovely views, loads of outdoor seating areas and only a 10 minute walk to Nikiana Marina. Maria went above and beyond to ensure we had everything we needed and even gave us a lift to Lefkas Marina at the end of our stay when there was difficulty getting a taxi.

Just WOW!!

What a fabulous villa with the best infinity pool and spacious outdoor areas. The highlights however were Kiki and her wonderful cooking and infectious smile, and Maria who looked after our every need. We couldn’t have asked for a better holiday and loved every minute of it.

Beautiful villa!

Wonderful environment, magnificent view, incredible hospitality. The right place for relaxation and tranquility. Excellent food and incredibly helpful staff. The villa offers literally everything, you will not miss anything!

You may leave but your heart will remain...

Its been a while since we returned to Lefkada, even though it has always retained a special place in our hearts since our first visit in 2013

We always go to Greece at least once a year for the last 20 years and have explored many recommended locations both on the mainland and the islands on our search for the our ultimate Greek paradise as our end goal would be to eventually purchase a villa for retirement purposes (Brexit willing!)

Through these journeys we have made many friends and acquaintances and fallen deeper and deeper in love with Greece but although we do still want to discover new Greek gems we now realise that there are a handful that can never be bettered and Villa Kastro falls into this category

Our initial villa search criteria is WiFi, Air Conditioning, Pool, Sea view 2+ bathrooms and after that its down to the gallery pics, location and eventually clear and timely communication with the owners / manager.

Kastro scores 10/10 on all the above, Jimmy and his team at IMAGINE Lefkada work seamlessly with Villa Kastro’s owners to deliver the most unique micro-hotel experience to date that we have experienced.

I have coined the phrase Micro-hotel as its smaller than a boutique hotel, being just you with your friends and family but with the same top notch services and facilities. I appreciate that evaluating reviews is never easy as everyone has different standards and expectations so by way of reference, I would say this is a villa that would equal the standards of the “W” and St. Regis Hotel’s – two of my favourite chains.

Our family has a mixed need – I travel a lot for work so tire very easily of hotel rooms and making conversation with too many other holiday guests – whereas my wife loves the luxury and services of a 5 star hotel.

Villa Kastro with its on-site staff, combined with the luxury (read custom bath towels, luxurious sunbeds, poolside bar area , saltwater pool, Nespresso machine with Nespresso pods– all-inclusive breakfasts that can keep you going to tea time and a well-stocked fridge with fruit and soft drinks) of the best hotels we have ever stayed in with the privacy of a villa minus the need to be forced into making polite conversation with other guests, buying over-priced drinks and constant tipping !!

Your rooms are cleaned every day, and towels refreshed without the need to ask and the attention to detail is outstanding. Try asking where to buy charcoal for the wonderful poolside BBQ and you will return to find it ready made up complete with firelighters inserted and matches beside it (not to mention it will be miraculously cleaned by the next day). After your all-inclusive breakfast the dishes are removed and washed for you so the normal chores of staying in a villa are completely removed.

Kiki is also be happy to provide occasional superb traditional Greek evening meals at a very small extra charge.

Villa Kastro has multiple areas for relaxing whether you need space to think, work or read including at least three (maybe more) sets of quality patio furniture on different levels and the excellent bar area with the unique circular multi-person chill-out poolside sofa.

The minute the silver electric gates close shut, you enter a cosseted and salubrious world worthy of any “A list celeb”. One morning I even amused myself looking down the olive tree covered hillside and back up the mountain to guess where a possible paparazzi photographer may best hide for a lucrative swimming pool shot !!

I must just mention the new saltwater pool complete with diving board – (another rarity). The pool is crystal clean and feels soft as silk on the skin.

If you really want to make the most of most of your day try getting up at sunrise – about 7am in early September, locate yourself near the bar at the far end of the property and gaze out across miles of desert flat indigo sea to the mountains beyond, defined by an orange backdrop as the earth hurtles towards the morning sun. Initially appearing as just an orange point on the mountain and very rapidly launching into an awesome globe that heralds the beginning of another day in paradise. That was my morning ritual – a cup of good coffee and a spectacular sunrise – unbeatable!!

Additional extras that you need such as car hire, boat hire (yes, you really should visit the island of Meganisi during your stay) and restaurant recommendations will be dealt with by Jimmy and the Imagine team. We would recommend using Jimmy with his perfect English and impeccable standards as it makes your life far easier and the prices are still the same if not cheaper than trying to book yourself.

Well, that’s all I really have time for but hope it helps – you can read my review from 2013 also if you like but all I can say is the experience just gets better with time and we won’t be leaving it another six years before we return – ENJOY!

And many thanks to Jimmy , Maria, Kiki and the owners for another amazing Greek memory !!

5 stars holiday

We organized this family vacation on this island Lefkada and before we were visiting many other places in Greece and islands but from all of them this is the island we will come back and visit each time we will talk about Greece.

We arrive there as a couple with three kids and we were guided by Jimmy the administrator of the villa .

You will hardly find a person like Jimmy so professional so patient so God willing and well prepared.

There will not be any question or need that you will answer for him to do not have the right answer and the right information.

At the Villa you will find Miss Kiki and Miss Maria who are the best helpers ever in a villa services.

Kiki it’s a very good or the best probably cooker in terms of Greek traditional food .

She will cook for you every morning whatever you think you want to eat if you want to eat Greek traditional food which is extraordinary she will cook if you want cakes pancakes big cakes eggs bacon omelettes whatever you are used to eat in the morning she will do it for you at The houryou will ask to get it. Be aware that Kiki is not speaking English so it would be better to be prepared for using Google translate but she is a person With empathy and most of the time she will understand whatever you are saying. She is living there so anytime anything you would need she will be there in order to help you.

There is also Miss Maria which is speaking a very good English it’s a very kind person and for us she was answering The phone anytime time of the day or night we were calling her for a specific type of food or any other needs that we had she drove her car and she solves even in the middle of the night any kind of issues that we had because sometimes due to the kids we were unable to go out to search the taverna s in order to eat so we were calling Maria and she propose us the best Taverna on the island which will deliver through Maria any type of food we want it , like best fish best pizza best pasta everything.

Both of them are to be remembered as such kind person they are and also for everything that they did for us no extra charges they are very humble and very kind a pleasure to have them around.

The Vila is having two levels a down one Where you will find three big enough bedrooms and two bathrooms and also you will have a big dressing there and also you have a washing machine which will help you in case of need but Kiki can wash laundry for you also if you don’t want to do it by yourself.

Rooms are having their own TV and AC

The upper level is having the living room dining room and the kitchen which is having all appliances that you wish you can cook there you can deposit because it’s a big fridge you have a lot of ingredients to find there if you need . Also bear in mind that they have a big TV they have a PSP Consola but if you want to watch a movie or something you will not be able , so bring with you a hard and ensure that you bring your movies or whatever you want to watch in the resting time.

From the living and the kitchen you will go out in two places one of the side of the house is having a resting place with arm chairs and silence to drink a coffee in the morning or in the right side you’ll find a lot of resting places tables chairs for eating outside the swimming pool which is gorgeous and also a bar where you can have a drink night time and they have techniques for making you able to plug your phone and listen your favorite music.

The view from this part Is the best ever!!!

The house is cleaned every day by KK and Maria they change the sheets they change the towels they clean everything the toilet it’s a very good cleaning service in the living to in the kitchen to and also outside you will find the house all the time very clean.

Any needs in terms of medicine or care for kids or any issues you have call Maria and she will help you with anything you need in terms of kids need or accidents or whatever hoping it will not be the case but for you to know.

To go to the beach is very easy you can plan very unbelievable trips with a small boat to visit all islands which are around Including Onassis island

It’s very hard to find a place like this especially when you are with kids in terms of the place ! You ll feel relaxed and enjoyed even the kids are making a mess arrownd?

However this place is perfect for any type of families like only couples or if you want to go together with the grandparents or any other relatives you can go without a doubt it will be a dream

Important to mention the food on the island it’s not expensive I found it quite cheaper on the island and also on any island we went with the boat and the food the fish is amazing it’s crazy amazing and cheaper.

I intend to stay in touch with this team Kiki Maria Jimmy they are really great persons with a really great place to handle and I promised myself that each time I want to go to Greece I’ll go there Because I believe for me will be very hard to find another place which can Compete with this place!!

Unieke ervaring in deze prachtige villa!

In augustus 2018 een week met ons gezin in deze prachtige villa mogen verblijven. Kiki, de gastvrouw die naast de villa woont, heeft ervoor gezorgd dat wij een fantastische week hebben gehad! We voelden ons erg welkom. Ze maakte dagelijks de hele villa schoon, en ze zorgde elke morgen voor een fantastisch, uitgebreid ontbijt. Zoiets hebben we nog nooit ergens meegemaakt! Ze verwende ons met de lekkerste Griekse gerechten welke ze allemaal vers bereidde! Het was zoveel dat we er de hele dag van konden eten. We gaan haar kookkunsten missen!

De villa is erg luxe, ideaal voor gezinnen. Het terras met zwembad is fantastisch! Ontzettend mooi en wat een uitzicht! Je blijft er naar kijken, overdag én 's avonds. Je hebt veel privacy, maar je zit maar een paar minuten rijden van de winkels, restaurantjes en het strand vandaan, perfect dus!

Jimmy heeft ons ook goed geholpen, als je vragen hebt, is hij er gelijk voor je.

Zoek je luxe, gastvrijheid, een groot zwembad, en een lieve gastvrouw die elke dag heerlijk voor je kookt wat je zelf kunt kiezen, boek dan Villa Kastro voor een onvergetelijke ervaring! Wij hopen in de toekomst nog eens terug te keren.

Greece Aug 2018

Stunning villa with spectacular views

We spent a glorious week at villa Kastro (I travelled with a friend and my 3 children) and it was total luxury. It was beautifully equipped and the views from the pool area are breathtaking.

Breakfast is provided by the amazing Kiki, an incredibly warm and generous housekeeper who lives in an annex to the main villa. She is a wonderful cook who conjures up breakfast feasts to feed an army, leaving plenty for snacks or lunch. Her cakes and Greek pastry dishes were especially delicious! She cleans the place daily, making the beds and replacing towels, so you feel like you are in a hotel room when you come to bed at night.

The villa is stocked with plenty of water, a selection of drinks, basic spreads and cereals. There is also a coffee machine with lots of pods, so you never run out.

There was nothing negative to mention from our perspective, nothing went wrong and we had all that we needed. It is not cheap, but you get what you pay for and it is definitely worth it!

Amazing Villa and Service

We stayed at Villa Kastro for 8 nights in July and we can honestly say it was one of the best holidays we have had . We were met by Jimmy on arrival who manages the property who showed us around . I could spend a long time talking about the specifics of the villa and how amazing and well appointed it is but just take my word for it . You won’t be disappointed with the quality of the fittings and the surrounding pool area and then there’s the amazing view .

What makes the place extra special is “Kiki” who provides a cooked breakfast everyday and cleans the villa every day . The breakfast is wonderful and large , comprising of local cooked breakfast dishes along with fruit , cereal and freshly squeezed juices and homemade cake !!!

On arrival “Kiki” also made us lunch which was all homemade and delicious. Our friends arrived the next day and Kiki made lunch for them too , this was all included !!

Jimmy makes himself available if you need him and is very helpful with anything you require .

On to Lefkas , the villa is a short walk to the local town Nikiana, which has a collection of decent bars and restaurants around a small harbour . The bigger resort of Nidri is a few miles away which is busier and more touristy but you can find some nice restaurants . ( try ergon ) The harbour is much bigger and you can rent boats to explore the islands . The best place was Lefkada which has a nice town square and has historic churches and features

We couldn’t thank Jimmy and Kiki enough for all they did and we will be back next year

DIE TRAUMVILLA

Wir machen schon zum zweiten mal Urlaub in dieser Traumvilla und es wird auch nächstes Jahr 2018 wieder gebucht.

Wir füllen uns sehr wohl in dieser Villa es ist sehr ruhig und 100% SAUBER mehr geht einfach nicht.

Es fehlt einfach garnichts in dieser Villa,von Handtücher,Badetücher,Bademantel,Klimaanlage,ein voller Kühlschrank mit Getränke und Obst und vieles mehr.

Die Zimmer werden jeden Tag Geputzt,das Frühstück natürlich ein Traum kann ich nur sagen wird jeden Morgen frisch von der Frau Kiki oder Maria mit sehr viel liebe vorbereitet von Obst selbst gebackene sachen kuchen usw.

Der zuständige für die Reservierungen Herr Dimitri ist auch sehr nett sehr hilfsbedürftig und immer da wen mann Fragen hat.

Wir haben einfach keine mängel was diese Villa betrifft weil einfach alles Super schön hier ist. Wir können diese Villa einfach nur empfehlen.

Familie Saroglou Michail,Sofia,Eleni

Perfect gem of a holiday

We (family of four - 2 older and 2 younger adults!) had a very special holiday at villa Kastro at the beginning of July 2017. Although we were a bit nervous about renting privately, Jimmy won our trust early on and followed through with a friendly welcome and an escort to the villa. Throughout our visit, he was attentive but never obtrusive and was quick to respond to minor glitches – for example we had a power cut one evening which he was onto straight away. Special thanks to Kiki who cooked us amazing breakfasts every morning with enough leftovers for lunch and afternoon snacks! She also made a special birthday dinner complete with birthday cake. Although we communicated largely by hand gestures and google translate- our greek being non-existent and her English similar- this was actually rather fun and added to the sense that we were really in Greece and not some anonymous villa with pool.

The villa is spectacular, especially the outdoor spaces which are varied and comfortable ranging from a dining terrace, to poolside loungers and even a bar area. Pool deserves a special mention – it isn’t chlorinated, making for a much less bleachy-eye-stingy experience. Its location is ideal being within walking distance of the village with bakery, minimarkets and cafes: so although you are privately tucked away on the hillside, you never feel isolated. All in all a well deserved 5*, although adding to rave reviews will likely make it less available for us when we want to return, which we definitely do!

Heaven on Earth

What can I say - the previous review has said it all perfectly. Like the previous reviewer we have stayed in 5* villas and hotels all over the world and this one was a class act. The pictures on its own website speak for themselves - they are all accurate, the villa is amazing and finished to a very high spec. The owners agent, Jimmy, worked tirelessly to make sure our stay was perfect and the live-in maids were lovely, breakfast was cooked every day to the time requested. The villa was built to be lived in by the owner, and you can tell it is not your typical villa rental.

On arrival the fridge was packed with wine and basics on our arrival and a simple meal was served by Maria, which was much appreciated.

A few practical pointers - 2 bathrooms in total, 3 bedrooms one en-suite. Could be unsuitable for small children as no baths and the stairs down to the bedrooms have no rail and are all marble tiled. Beautiful fluffy towels changed every day and separate pool towels - no need to bring any towels at all. Bathrobes also supplied. Maria also does your laundry on request, all at no additional cost. Full AC throughout - although this struggled occasionally in the large open plan rooms upstairs but was icy cold in the bedrooms. Unusually for such a well appointed villa there was no hairdryers - perhaps Jimmy will supply a couple for this years guests if he reads this. It is located up a fairly sloping road and the parking at the villa is a little tight for 2 larger cars to manoeuvre so you need to be a confident driver but nothing to concern most people. Excellent internet throughout, we had 2 teenagers on their phones constantly, Grand parents on ipads and the TV set up with a UK plug in and nothing dropped out at all. Streamed radio from the UK all day as well, even right at the end of the property by the pool.

The highlight of the villa though is the pool area - colour changing lights underwater, barbeque with outside sink, and an excellent high quality traditional style stereo which you could plug your iPhone straight into. Outside shower and quality padded rattan sun loungers, sofa set, 2 swing seat and 2 sets of tables to sit at and enjoy the view. Saltwater pool was immaculate and cleaned twice in our 10 day stay. So much nicer than a chlorine pool and a proper 'infinity' view over to the other side of the mainland and the yachts coming and going.

We will definitely be coming back - look forward to seeing Maria & Jimmy again soon, thank you for making our family's stay extra special on Lefkas.

Emma & Mark x

Live like Onassis in your own private hotel!!

5* Villa with 6* Star service

The Villa Kastros experience can be summed up in two words – “Absolutely Faultless”

We have been holidaying in Greece every summer for around 4 weeks a year and have stayed in many villas across the mainland and the islands so we do have great experience in both quality, locations and service.

As you will know if you also prefer to avoid hotels or the overpriced UK villa booking agencies and go it alone through one of the many ‘direct to owner sites’ available there is a little due diligence to be performed to guarantee you have made the right choice and there is always that small percentage of doubt in your mind until you finally arrive and see the villa, that you may have overlooked something.

Anyway this time you need not fear – the villa is only a couple of years old and absolutely immaculate from top to bottom. You can leave your worries and concerns about the villa at the electronic gates as you pull into your private parking space! The pictures on the web site cannot even do it justice and from the moment we walked in we were totally happy. The pool is the cleanest most sparkling I have seen and stayed like that all week and is deep enough to dive in from the board – superb…and did I mention the view - OMG! Try to wake up around 6am one day and watch the sun come up over the mountains for a glimpse into heaven!!!

So I could type on for a few more paragraphs about the beauty of the villa but I want to speak about something that came as much more of a surprise and at a level never before experienced in our villa rentals to date – the SERVICE!

Jimmy (not a traditional Greek name but he is truly Greek ;-) , Eugenia and their team blew our minds from start to finish with a level of service that you would be hard pushed to find in a 5 star hotel. From the telephone call shortly after our booking, to the telephone call just after we landed at the airport thru meeting us at the entrance to Lefkada island to escorting us to the villa and giving us a complete tour and summary of the best places for eating and fun on the entire island complete with map, the communication was brilliant.

And now for the unexpected WOW factor– A traditional Greek meal was waiting for us on arrival, the fridge was pre-stocked with ham, cheese, beers, sodas, water, juices bread, milk, tomatoes, melons, wine, chocolate ice creams, and a bowl of fruit was overflowing on the worktop. There was also free spirits in another cupboard along with a Nespresso machine with an abundant supply of capsules. In fact we only went to the supermarket once all week and that was for a few minor unnecessary items. We never ran out of anything as it was replenished daily as if by magic!

But in fact the magic was performed by Maria and Vicky our two live in staff who stay in a self-contained apartment downstairs. You hardly see them but they are the most efficient and friendly assistants that you can imagine with perfect English and a desire to make your vacation as relaxing as possible. Every morning we were cooked a magnificent breakfast with freshly squeezed orange juices, cheese pies, omelettes, bacon , fresh bread and fruits including strawberries and cherries. You choose the time for breakfast and they make it happen and don't even think about tidying away the plates or washing up – they wont hear of it.

Now lets add to that the fact they that will also cook for you every evening too if you would like and all you pay for is the cost of the ingredients and now you start to see why I am still in a daze from the whole experience. One day I asked where to get BBQ coal as I wanted to cook myself and when I arrived back from the beach a new set of utensils were waiting along with a fully loaded BBQ complete with coals, firelighters and some dried olive wood ready for lighting – and guess what next day you would never have known that we had a BBQ the night before as it was immaculately cleaned out.

So, one more thing you will have personalized thick extravagant towels and dressing gowns and the villa is cleaned daily very quickly and efficiently and your sheets can even be changed daily if required but we went for the twice a week option ;-)

So all in all I can’t speak highly enough of the Villa Kastro experience and the beautiful beaches of Lefkada, the nearby hidden waterfall that you can explore, not to mention a fantastic day out on a rented speed boat to visit the neighbouring islands including Scorpios (Ex-home of Onassis) combined with lunch on the quay side in Meganissi. Jimmy will also book any restaurants and arrange any travel that you require.

We were booked onto a cruise from Athens around the Greek islands for the second week but if we had known that the service at Villa Kastros would have been so amazing I think we would have stayed. Anyway, obviously, we will be back but will have to book soon for next year before the word gets out. Thank you so much Jimmy, Eugenia, Maria & Vicky – The Four Seasons and the Mandarin Oriental hotel chains could learn a lot from you!