We stayed at Parosland Hotel in Paros, Greece as a family of five in July 2022. Our kids were aged 10 yrs, 8yrs and 13 months. I struggled to find accommodation in Paros that could comfortable house a family with three children. I booked in April for our mid-July trip so behalf I left it too late to find availability on this little island in the Cyclades. Thankfully it all worked out well, Parosland Hotel was a great choice for us. Here’s my full Parosland Hotel review.
Parosland Hotel Review
Parosland Hotel is a rustic 4* hotel near Aliki village on the South West coast of Paros. Parosland Hotel is a great reasonably priced family-friendly hotel in Paros.
When we arrived at Parosland Hotel it felt quite remote and looked a long way from, well a long way from anything! The reception area, a desk and a couple of chairs, stiflingly hot with just the whirring of a fan for ambiance didn’t fill me with confidence about where we had just arrived. I’ve learnt never to judge a place on arrival though and I’m pleased to report that Parosland Hotel was an excellent choice of hotel in Paros for our family.
The rooms at Parosland Hotel, Review
The rooms are traditional Cycladic style, whitewashed villas with wooden shutters. Which, coupled with blackout curtains, do an excellent job of keeping the light and the heat out of the rooms.
There is no high-rise hotel building here. I chose Parosland Hotel to because they could offer a suite that accommodated 2 adults, 2 children and a baby. I think they could also add a third bed for another older child if needed. Please check with the hotel before you book though.
Our room was basic but very functional. We had a large double bed, a living space with dining table and around a corner the girls had their two small single beds. The layout of the room allows some privacy and sense of separation from adults and kids. We had two doors which opened out on to a terrace in the courtyard. We had a large wardrobe and a couple of drawers for storage.
The bathroom offers a shower over a bath. The bathrooms could do with a bit of TLC but they’re clean. The hotel provides toiletries such as shampoo, conditioner and moisturiser. There’s also a vanity kit available in the bathroom.
Family-friendly hotel in Paros
Parosland has a large swimming pool surrounded by comfortable sun loungers with umbrellas for shade. There is a pool bar, with a small seating area, dining tables, sofa and hammock nearby. The restaurant terrace also overlooks the pool. It’s a small hotel and it whether you are sat in the bar area, the restaurant or a sun lounger you will be able to see where your children are around the pool area.
In the garden there is a small trampoline. This needs to be closely supervised, the netting zip was broken when we visited. The kids couldn’t completely close themselves in. It’s absolutely fine for a gentle bounce though.
There is no Kids Club or entertainment programme at Parosland Hotel.
Parosland Hotel provides beach towels and you can change them daily.
Breakfast at Parosland Hotel
We stayed at Parosland Hotel on a bed and breakfast basis. Breakfast is a buffet, served in the restaurant area with seating overlooking the pool. The setting is very pretty. The buffet usually consisted of a selection of breads, a form of eggs, a range of Greek pies (cheese, ham and cheese, spinach etc), sausages, cold meats and cheeses, fruit, yogurts and sweet treats such as baklava and cakes. Yes, baklava for breakfast. YUM! To drink you have access to water, oranges and a juicer are provided for you to squeeze your own fresh orange juice, squashes and a range of teas, coffees (filter coffee and Greek) and hot chocolate.
While most of the food wouldn’t have been considered a breakfast food in England, my kids and I always found something we enjoyed each morning.
Is Parosland Hotel a luxury hotel?
This hotel describe itself as a luxury hotel in Paros and in many ways it deserves that title. Little touches such as being served water as soon as you sit down on a sun lounger, or the complimentary bottles of water in the room replenished daily are excellent. The pool and gardens are beautifully landscaped and designed. The sun loungers themselves are super comfortable. The service is excellent and the hotel were incredibly quick to respond to me via email before we arrived. Parosland Hotel provide free airport and port transfers too and the airport pickup for us was seamless.
Having said all of that, in the interest of this being a comprehensive Parosland Hotel review, there are a few areas of the hotel that are a little rough around the edges so I wouldn’t quite put it into the ‘luxury’ category. The reception area and rooms are very basic. The air conditioning unit was a little slow to cool the room. The old sink plug would regularly get stuck and the showering behind a plastic curtain, standing in the bath never feels super luxurious to me.
The breakfast options are limited, perfectly adequate for our family but I wouldn’t put it in the luxury category.
I hate to find fault with Parosland Hotel because they have been so accommodating of our little tribe. The staff have looked after us superbly. I had a little chat with the cleaner most mornings and she would happily clean our room avoiding Max’s nap time. The restaurant staff were always quick to find our high chair and help with picking up Max’s dropped water bottle over and over and over … you know how it is with a toddler!
An environmentally-friendly hotel in Paros
The hotel works hard to stay environmentally friendly, with paper rather than plastic packaging, card pens and paper sanitary bags rather than plastic in the bathrooms.
There is no single use plastic at breakfast. Yogurt and honey are bought in bulk and served in reusable glass.
Is Parosland Hotel buggy-friendly?
There is step-free access around most of the hotel grounds. The pool area has 4 or 5 steps whichever way you enter it. We found this perfectly manageable with Max’s buggy. We rarely took the buggy to the pool area anyway.
Parking at Parosland Hotel
The hotel has car parking available. Cars are parked at the side entrance of the hotel and there is a cover for shade.
Location of Parosland Hotel
Parosland Hotel is very quiet and peaceful. If you want a busy hotel with lots going on, this is NOT the one for you. You will need to walk in to Aliki for a livelier atmosphere and even then it is only a quiet fishing village. Click here for more about Aliki village.
The roads from Parosland Hotel are dusty and pot-holed. The Babyzen YoYo buggy just about managed on the rough terrain and Max seemed to enjoy the bumps. The roads aren’t too busy and we felt perfectly safe walking around any time of day or night. It’s a short 15 minute walk into the village of Aliki and Agios Nikolaos beach is slightly closer.
The area around the hotel is incredibly quiet. You won’t hear noise from any bars or restaurants because everything is a bit of a walk away and there’s nothing really going on at the hotel. If you like to be guaranteed a quiet night of sleep this is the perfect location for you.
Do you need to hire a car when staying at Parosland Hotel?
If Parosland Hotel and Aliki is your only stop in Paros then yes, I do recommend hiring a car so you can see more of the island. There are so many things to do on the island of Paros and without a car you would be limited to just Aliki village; a beautiful destination for sure but there’s more to see!
We actually did not hire a car when staying at Parosland Hotel. This was our first of two stops in Paros and we wanted to take it slow and relax a little for our first few days of the trip. I always feel it takes a few days to ”land” in a foreign country. You need a bit of time to adjust to the heat, the time zone and the change of pace and routine. Parosland Hotel was perfect for helping us slow down at the end the busy summer term at school.
Places within walking distance of Parosland Hotel
Agios Nikolaos Beach – A small quiet stretch of sand and pebbles, Agios Nikolaos beach has no facilities as such. There are no sun loungers and just a handful of umbrellas for shade. Find a shady spot under a tree! The water is gorgeous and stays shallow for a long way out to sea. Eat at Asterias over the road.
Aliki Beach – In the centre of the fishing village the sand here is better than at Agios Nikolaos beach. There are a couple of beach bars offering sun loungers for a minimum spend (around 25Euros). Again, the water is very calm and shallow.
Folklore Art Museum of Civilisation – this museum is absolutely gorgeous and a lovely kids activity in Paros to introduce them to some culture. Imagine a model village with Cycladic traditional architecture and life through the centuries. The amazing part of that it was all handmade by the father of the lady who now runs the museum. Allow around 30 minutes to an hour to explore the museum and gardens. You can read my full review of the child-friendly Paros museum here.
Beach playgrounds at both Aliki and Agios Nikolaos beaches
Too hot to use during the day, the playgrounds really come into their own after sunset. Great areas for playing after dinner.
For activities and places to visit further afield check out things to do in Paros with kids.
Restaurants, bars and cafes near Parosland Hotel
These are the places we ate at when staying at Parosland Hotel. Our favourites were To Balcony tou Aki for seafood and Ima for Italian food.
The Parosland hotel restaurant – In our opinion the pool bar serves the best food in the hotel. It is a limited menu but they serve good pancakes, souvlaki and a club sandwich. The restaurant for evening meals has traditional Greek meals such as mousakka on offer. We ate here the evening we arrived as everywhere else is a little walk away but I would recommend going out for your evening meal if you can.
Asterias– seafront all day menu over looking Agios Nikolaos. Great fresh seafood. High chairs available. We also stopped here once evening for a drink as there are a couple of tables that have a view over the playground so we could keep an eye on the older kids having a play while we enjoyed a drink.
Saline Paros – Set at the far end of the pedestrianised strip of Aliki. Serving excellent burgers, steak and tuna steak! A beautiful outlook of the sunset over Aliki bay. High chairs available.
To Balcony tou Aki – right on the sea front in Aliki this restaurant has stunning views over the bay. We chose to eat here because my daughter was fascinated with the octopus legs drying in the sunshine from the balcony above. She had to have the sun-dried octopus for dinner and it did not disappoint. The seafood here is delicious. High chairs are available.
Ima – an excellent Italian restaurant on Aliki bay at the beginning of the pedestrianised section. Th pizza here was incredible and the service impeccable. They hadn’t quite finished preparing the lasagne my kids wanted (they make one big one each evening and we arrived for dinner early by Greek standards) but they created a lasagne-like pasta dish especially for my demanding cherubs.
Ramantanis Bros Juice and Coffee Bar – This boutiquey juice bar services gorgeous fresh juices, iced coffee and smoothies with just a few little seats at benches outside. It feels really luxe, despite being on the side of a dusty main road.
Agkairia Bakery – ok so not a restaurant but you can buy gorgeous snacky, baked goods here to take away. Delish, and so handy when travelling with littles who need regular snacks.
