Campeggio Poseidon Beach

IMPORTANT NOTE: As I was visiting an area which depends on tourism, I had expected to be able to buy from most shops using my credit/debit card. However, NO shops/bars/restaurants on the campsite, and very few in local towns, excepting very large supermarkets such as Lidl (which itself is located a car-drive distance away from the campsite), will accept bank cards, requiring cash only, and cashpoints/ATMs are also very difficult to find. The nearest I found was in a town around 8 km away from the campsite. It is NECESSARY to take enough cash with you to cover all anticipated holiday expenses, unless willing/able to drive some distance to find cashpoints/ATMs.
Review, in order of categories:
1. I could not find the Reception Desk and did not see any staff during a two-week stay, apart from the occasional cleaner in the toilet/shower facilities.
2. There are several integrated toilet/shower blocks throughout the site. These were heavily used and although cleaned several times daily, the floors were usually wet (sometimes with pools of urine) and dirty and the bins were usually overflowing. The showers had hot water but were in poor condition and the cubicles were very cramped. Due to the campsite cleaner leaving, at one point the facilities remained uncleaned for two days and became very dirty, smelly and insanitary. The campsite manager apparently had to clean them himself before a new (and less efficient) cleaner was employed.
3. We did not pay for the holiday ourselves or compare any other prices: no comment on price.
4. The camping pitch was very good. Less than a minute\'s walk to the beach and two/three minutes\' walk to the campsite entrance and amenities, shaded by mature trees, and with its own electrical supply and water tap. The water itself is spring water from nearby Mount Olympus and is fresh and pleasant to drink.
5. Accommodation/guest rooms were readily available but we did not use them: no comment.
6. Child friendliness: My children are aged 10-14 and the site is acceptable for them due to their relative independence and common sense, although there are few amenities for children of any age and the campsite seems to be largely populated by adult parties. I would not be happy to stay there with children under around five years of age for the following reasons:
- Lack of amenities for children: one amusement arcade, suitable for older children but rather boring after a while, and not even a playground for younger children. No beach-based amenities suitable for or aimed at children.
- Frequently unclean/unhygienic conditions in the toilet/shower blocks. Definitely not suitable for baby changing, for example, and young children would have problems with the wet/slippery/dirty floors.
- The campsite is generally noisy: there are many permanent/residential camping pitches where loud construction/maintenance work was often going on, and also the campsite seems to attract a high proportion of adult parties who often make a lot of noise late into the night. This was no problem to my family personally, since we keep late hours, but would be difficult for a family which needs peace and quiet after, say, 11.00pm. There were loud beach parties and/or adult gatherings at various camping pitches going on almost every night well into the early hours.
- The intense heat, humidity and mosquitoes (see below) were a real problem even for me and my comparatively older children. Young children who are not used to such conditions would possibly become distressed.
- The beach and sea are not really suitable for young children, nor in fact very pleasant at all when compared with many Mediterranean locations. The beach is not sandy, but is rough shingle/stony and difficult to walk on, and the sea itself was cold by Mediterranean standards because of its unusual depth: the sea-floor slopes steeply, and within around 10 yards (or less) of the shoreline, an adult would be out of their depth. I am a strong swimmer and even I found the waves to be considerable on many occasions: my 10-year-old daughter, who can swim competently, was often knocked over by them and got into difficulties a few times even very close to shore, due to the depth of the water, the uneven shingle sea-floor and the lack of shallow-water \"play\" areas. It is not safe even for older children to play in the sea unsupervised due to the depth of the water and the strong waves. On several days, the sea was not very clean, with a lot of seaweed in the water, an odd brownish foam on the surface and also general floating rubbish.
The beach does have permanently located free beach umbrellas, which are adequate and plentiful, and beach loungers are available, although we did not use them and I believe they were for hire only. The beach is not well cleaned and is not raked flat overnight, as at many resorts, so it is very uneven (especially because it is a shingle beach). There was often rubbish lying around, and once my daughter injured her leg while walking on the beach at night, by tripping over a pile of barbed wire which someone had dumped there and which could not be seen in the darkness.
7. Sports facilities: None that I could find.
8. Food and drink: There are bars/restaurants on the beach and at the campsite entrance. These are about average and provide a typical range of alcoholic/soft drinks and/or Greek/Mediterranean snack foods and meals. There are several supermarkets at the campsite entrance, selling mainly Greek-style food plus the usual international snacks/crisps/etc. If requiring non-Greek ingredients for cooking family meals, the nearest supermarket selling non-Greek food (and not a great selection) is a branch of Lidl, but this is located several km away.
9. Surroundings: There are two small tourist-type towns within driving distance (about 8-10 km away). There is an hourly tractor-drawn tram service to one of these towns (see below). The countryside is very arid and, apart from a local Mediaeval castle and Mount Olympus itself, there is not a lot to see. The heat (even though I visited in late August/September) was intense (up to 40C average) and the humidity was very high, at up to 80% on one day.
The area was evidently not air-sprayed against mosquitoes, as they are a serious problem and our entire family suffered constant irritation from their bites, despite using insect repellents and insecticide sprays. My son and I happen to be allergic to mosquito bites and by the end of the holiday we were both feeling quite unwell due to being constantly bitten, even with heavy use of anti-histamine tablets/skin creams and hydrocortisone cream. It is worth noting that there is no pharmacy on the campsite and we had to travel to a nearby town to buy any medication more advanced than basic paracetamol/aspirin, which are sold in the campsite supermarkets. Even at that, I had to visit three pharmacies to obtain anything similar to the anti-allergy medication I had brought with me: with such a serious mosquito problem in the local area, this was surprising.
10. Entertainment: Apart from one amusement arcade and a selection of bars/restaurants, there is very little to do on-site. As a non-drinker myself and with children who do not like Greek food, the only thing for us to do in the evenings was to visit the one amusement arcade. There are, of course, far more amenities in the nearby tourist towns, and there is an hourly transport service to and from one of them in the form of a tractor-drawn \"train\"-style tram. This was cheap (2-3 Euros for a return ticket) and a good fun ride, but hiring (or bringing) a car is highly recommended due to the distance from the campsite to the two nearest towns and to Mount Olympus, if wishing to actually visit it. I had no car, so my children did become rather bored: there is only so much one can do on a beach, especially when the beach is small and the sea not very appealing, there are no amenities except for a few bars aimed mostly at adult drinkers, and the heat is so great that it is more or less necessary to stay out of the sun between around midday and 3.00-4.00pm.
A point to note is that there are many stray dogs and cats everywhere, typically in a poor condition. Our family are animal-lovers and found this distressing (in fact, we took to feeding the stray dogs and cats at the campsite entrance each night: they were wary at first, since the locals mostly chase them away, but they quickly became friendly), and anyone who dislikes animals would find them a nuisance.
11. There is no swimming pool at the campsite, nor anywhere nearby that we could find (perhaps some hotels had a pool, but we saw none). This was a disappointment, since the sea was, as I have said, not especially suitable for children and a pool would have been welcome.
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Overall, we did not enjoy this holiday and would not consider returning to this campsite. Although the campsite itself is reasonable, with everything one would expect or need at such a site in terms of the camping pitches themselves, the lack of nearby amenities (certainly for anyone without a car), the poor quality of the local beach/sea, the tremendous heat and humidity and the constant mosquito nuisance were major drawbacks. We had, of course, expected hot weather, but the conditions were verging on tropical and the weather was very uncomfortable indeed. The nights tended to be cold, which of course meant sleeping well-clothed and under blankets, but the early-morning heat was so great that the children awoke very sweaty and in hot and airless conditions, which was not a great start to the day.
I have visited the Mediterranean many times, and I would recommend finding a campsite on higher ground and hiring or bringing a car to drive to the beach when desired: it may seem very convenient to be located a few minutes\' walk away from the sea, but (again, as I have said), the beach itself is not very pleasant by usual Mediterranean standards and the heat at sea level is, of course, much greater than on higher ground, with a far greater incidence of mosquitoes and other insects.

Bad approach to the beach in the corner of campsite. On the long-side of camp there is restaurant with discotheque. On the corner of camp is mass on the beach.

This evaluation has been obtained by our inspector from a questionnaire at the camp site.