Philoxenia Mermaid Studios

My sister and I spent one week at the Philoxenia studios 4th-11th June.  Studio basic,  beds a bit lumpy but all clean and had lovely balconies facing the beautiful swimming pool which is south facing so gets the sun all day.  Mermaid bar below,  no problems with any noise,  served food here although we preferred to go over the road to the two tavernas that were opposite as there were more people and a better atmosphere.  Fantastic meals at both Spiros and Oasis just across the road and supermarket few steps away had everything you could want.  Philoxenia pool had sunbeds which were free but only complaint was there were no mattresses and sunbeds were pretty hard!!  We soon found a fantastic place just across the road past the supermarket and a right turn past Georges Bikes.  Acapulco pool and snack bar was just fantastic!!  The owners of Oasis taverna own this as well and it is fabulous!!  Go there for a lovely day,  plenty of sunbeds with mattresses!!  and a great bar serving all sorts of drinks and snacks/meals from 9-midnight.  Also they have steps down to the sea where you can swim and snorkel. Paleokastritsa is very quiet and ideal if you want to unwind and taste Corfu as it was!  I first went to Corfu 30 years ago and Paleo is just about the same,  unlike many places on the island.  We did do a boat trip which was fine but very long day,  up at 7am and not back till 8.30pm.  Owner of Acapulco Pool has leaflets on private boat hire which I would have done if I had known about it beforehand,  especially if there are 4 of you as that makes price really good and you can please yourself where you go!!  Hope this is of help to anyone thinking of Paleo!!

These rooms are basic, and could do with a bit of "doing up", The bathroom was a bit shabby,  but the only real  bad point was the state  of the matresses & pillows, which were way past their best. Our room (no7)which was on the first floor had a good balcony & had good views, this room is furthest away from the bar, and with the bar not busy, it was very quiet, although as a lot of the apartments in this area are attached  to or near a bar or taverna, I think that in the high season rooms could be noisy.
Philoxenia is one of the first studios as you enter the long road into Paleokastritsa. it is then a 40/45 minutes stroll (you can.t walk fast in the heat), passing bars,tavernas & hotels all the way down to the main beach area.One thing to point out Paleo... has no actual centre and is just the 2k road down to the beach, which does have a number of bar & taverna but no shops, except a few stalls.
The area is very beautiful & you can use paths & lots of the donkey trails to visit villages & all the beaches around the studios. We did a lot of walking so in the evening we did not do the 4k there & back to the main beach tavernas, & chose to eat at Spiros & Oasis which are opposite the studios,  both are very good, but we ended up 6 times at Spiros. the father(chef) brother (a excellent greek dancer)& sister are the main waiters & 2 nephews also help out, they all make you feel so welcome, but be warned the meals are huge.
To sum up, we had a wonderful time, and think a week is about right for Paleo...if longer you would need to hire a car.   P.S. I forgot to say that Philoxenea studios are in & above the Mermaid Pool& Bar. the pool is outstanding
 

The Philoxenia Studio's are very average as Greek accomodation goes. The apartments were quite compact which is fine if you don't intend spending alot of time there. Something which we found disapointing was that throughout our 7 day holiday the rooms were only cleaned twice, and we were expected to use the same, extremeley small bath towel for all of this time. The philoxenia is a good 2 Km walk from the harbour, my advice would be to walk down and get a taxi back, but be warned for alot of the way you will be walking along the road as there are few pavements. On the plus side there is a lovely pool, which was ever so quiet during our stay, the staff are friendly, and there are 2 nice, traditional greek restaurants across the road.

just back from a week here.lovely place!staff friendly,pool brill,bar prices reasonable,and found good mixture of age groups from families to 40+.Plenty of sunbeds by pool throughout the day.Was a bit of a hike to the main harbour and beaches particularly in the heat but made a nice walk-got a bit sick of dodging the traffic on the way though!lots of tour buses and scooters!Beaches were very busy but there were plenty of boats for hire if you wanted to escape.I think the studios were small but adequate and although on the outskirts of the resort were well placed.hope to return!

Arrived 17/05/06 to find rain, woke up next morning to a brilliant sunny day. The studios are approx 45 mins walk to harbour which is a nice walk to view the beautiful sea.
There are a few resturants just by the studios and found Spiros's taverna the best and most pleasant. The swimming pool is I think the biggest in Paleo.

Arrived on the Friday to find loud music coming from the poolside bar. Our room was immediately above the bar, and the music continued through to 3.30 am. This is probably fine for many people, but not for us, so we moved out the following day and found a great apartment, thanks to Aris, at the Belvedere Restaurant, about 1.5km down the road towards the beach. Aris was very helpful to us and has a great restaurant!
Philoxenia is about 2 km from the beaches at Paleokastritsa, so it would have been a fair old walk down to the beach every day.