Bastione Malvasia Hotel (ex New Malvasia)

Staying at this hotel was an amazing experience. Medieval streets lead to hotel. The rooms are just full of character and felt like sleeping in a castle. However it did have the modern conveniences that we need now days. The breakfast was fabulous. The views are breathtaking.

We just sat in the bar outside and ordered a bottle of water (we were exhausted from climbing the fortress under the scorching sun). The lady asked me with hostility if we were going to order only water. When I paid by card (didn't have cash) she turned very aggressive and insulting. Never experienced such a miserable hospitality in this wonderful country.

I understand the location of the hotel, as in it’s built into a mountain, but it was infested with woodlouse. There were over 200 dead and alive woodlouse in our room. They were in the bed, towels and EVERYWHERE. Upon arrival we were shown our room and the man just kicked the dead ones aside and shrugged. The breakfast was poor, the worst I have seen in my 30 years of travelling Greece. There was some confusion at check out and the way it was dealt with was atrocious. The man on reception was rude and obnoxious. Great location but I would avoid at all costs.

We enjoyed our stay here and loved the view from the balcony of our room. It is a bit of a slog to get to the hotel with luggage. Definitely use the porters waiting to help you at the castle gate…they were detained when we arrived, but we did hire one for the way out!

First, the good. The staff at Bastione Malvasia is friendly and welcoming. The location of the hotel is great. Yes, it is at the end of the main street, so farther to walk, but it means you get unobstructed views of the city wall and see and it is exceptionally quiet at night. Our private terrace, as well as the terrace for the hotel cafe, was stunning and relaxing. This hotel also had the best mattresses and bed linens out of anywhere I have ever stayed in Greece. The toiletries and water pressure were good, as was the wifi signal. The room was a triple, and was very spacious with a bed upstairs and downstairs and unique features like rock right in the room. However, the room did suffer, probably due to its location in an abandoned town on a rock. From dusk til midmorning, our room was full of pill bugs. I was okay with this, as pill bugs are harmless and good for the ecosystem, but there were over 15 - in my bed, on the walls, on the floor where I stepped. Not sure the hotel could help it, but I will say the doors did not seal well and there were no screens in the doors. I hike and camp and was fine, but I think many people would not be okay paying 110 Euro a night (good value otherwise) to sleep with bugs. The only other issue we had was that you were not allowed to take your breakfast to the terrace because it is part of the cafe - you must eat inside, which due to COVID, we did not prefer. The breakfast was high quality though, and the windows were kept open.