We stayed at this hotel for 4 nights as part of the Thomas Cook Santorini Island Hopping holiday. This was supposed to be a 3* holiday, but the Marcos beach was only 2* - and it showed.

The positives:
The hotel in general was clean, the view from the room was great and the bar prices were cheap.
The manager did give us a larger room when we asked for a swap.

The rest are negatives:
Breakfast was limited to a choice of Cereals, Bread (and jam), Ham and Cheese, but no eggs! If you wanted more you had to pay for a full English.

No fridge in the room, air con and safety deposit boxes were extra. All supplied gratis in the other hotels that we stayed in. This had the added twist that the hotel kept BOTH keys to the safety deposit box. Fortunately nothing went missing.

To get to the beach, you had to walk down a rocky dried-up riverbed, only just manageable by day but unlit and deadly by night. To get back to the hotel by the road, this means a heart-pounding climb up and down steep hills. Fine if you are young, but when you are over 60.....

There is a lovely pool, with a nice pool bar. It's just that the pool bar shuts at 4:00 pm and re-opens at 8:00 pm, the exact times when you come off the beach and fancy a sundowner!

So our group of travellers are sitting around the pool bar at midnight, having a drink and a chat. Then the manager locked up the bar and told us to leave the glasses behind when we finished! Not once, but every night of our stay.

If you are young and want to party all night and sleep all day then this is the hotel for you, otherwise leave well alone.

As part of our island-hopping trip, I was looking for good value accommodation with a nice pool and a good location. Marcos Beach certainly ticked all those boxes.

The Hotel itself is well located, just off the main road between the Village and Mylopotas Beach. If you are travelling independently and want somewhere easy to get to from the port, then Marcos Beach is it. It is a 5 minute walk from regularly served the bus stop.

The rooms are basic but clean and a good size. Airconditioning was available at 6 Euros per day, which I did not mind paying extra for given the good value price that I had paid for the room. The bathroom had a shower curtain which is a real novelty in Greece. There is no TV or fridge in the room (which I had become rather accustomed to in the earlier stages of my trip), but hey, this is a 2* hotel in Greece and I suppose those are luxuries, not necessities.

The hotel staff were very helpful, with the manager Jackie looking up ferry schedules for me on the internet as just one example of the good service. There is a pool bar with reasonably priced drinks and a limited range of snacks available. The pool area was well maintained and there was never any problem getting a sunlounger at anytime of the day.

I am not a huge fan of traditional Greek breakfasts, but if you're into the whole cheese, ham, cake thing then you'll be ok here. If you're more of an English breakfast fan, you can pay extra for that.

As for the party crowd (of which I am not one!), you wouldn't even know you were on a 'party island'. There were some groups of teenage lads and girls staying here but there was no issues with noise or inconsiderate behaviour. To my surprise, it was possible to have a quiet and 'coupley' holiday on Ios and avoid the drunken kids as there were plenty of nice restaurants around for couples, with the drinking mainly confined to the Village well after my bedtime!

Overall, a good hotel that does what it says on the tin.

The person that reviewed this hotel a few posts down clearly does not know anything about hotels and accommodation and quality. Being a Gold SPG and Hyatt Platinum member I have been to several of the worlds finest hotels for both business and leisure and I can guarantee without a shadow of doubt that the best time I have had at any hotel I have visited in the last two years was Markos Beach Hotel! It's now the second year in a row I have stayed at this hotel whilst in Ios and I'm not planning to change next year.

If you are 18-25 this is definitely the hotel you need to be at because no doubt you will meet exceptional people who all gather around the pool and bar area for drinks before heading out to Ios nightlife!

This hotel brings out the essence of what a Greek Holiday should be, and being in a 5 star deluxe hotel where you dont get to know anyone and have no fun its definitely not. The owners of this hotel are wonderful and make your stay extremely pleasurable. You will always find your room clean and your sheets made up and they try their best to satisfy your needs within their means. Enjoy the owners company and the company of their staff and guests throughout your stay and I guarantee it will be unforgettable!

5 Star rating from me for Markos Beach Hotel!!
Nader