SOLO at the TESORO Hotel in TSILIVI Zakynthos, Greece

SOLO at the TESORO Hotel in TSILIVI Zakynthos, Greece

It’s half 4 in the morning. I’m 
at Manchester airport departures and I’m off on another adventure. Are you coming? I am going to Zakynthos. If you know, you know. I’m in Manchester Terminal 2. I’m off my way to Zakynthos in Greece. It’s the first time I’ve been to Terminal 2 
since February, which doesn’t seem a long while, but they’ve actually opened it up and put in 
lots of new shops and there’s more seating. So, there’s still lots of building work going here, but anyway, it’s a bit different to last time I came. So, that’s 
been interesting to have a look around. But now I’m just hanging around waiting for my 
flight to be called, then I’m on my way to Greece. [Music] It’s a 3 and a half hour flight from Manchester 
to Zakynthos. That’s a short haul flight, so the plane doesn’t really come 
with entertainment. And although there is food and drink service, 
you have to pay for that yourself. [Music] I’m in Zakynthos, heading for the bus. I’m on bus number 46 booked with TUI so airport transfers are included. It’s very warm. It’s only a short walk from the terminal door to 
the buses. There’s quite a few here. [Music] So its only about 20 minutes to get from the airport to the resort. And then when I actually got to check in, apparently check-in is not till 3 o’clock. As we arrived, it was about 2 o’clock-ish and the lady on reception told us to just drop our bags and go and get lunch because lunch is included. It’s an all-inclusive hotel. And lunch was on till half past 2 so I went in. I just had some spaghetti bolognese. That was very nice as well. And now I’m in my room. So I’m staying at the Tesoro Hotel. I’ve got room 204. It’s a twin room. Kettle there. Tea and coffee. Twin beds. Apparently they’re all twin beds. So even if you book a double room, you get twin beds. Just heard somebody asking that at reception. A nice little sofa there. I presume that’s a sofa bed if there’s three of you. There’s not a huge amount to it. Oh, actually quite a big bathroom. Big sink there. Bathrobes, 
toilet rolls, towels, toilet, big walk-in shower. Being Greece, the sewage system 
can’t cope with toilet paper. So, it’s one of those places where you get a little 
bin, put your toilet paper. This is good. Bit of storage space there. And just in this little desk, got a little fridge. There’s a wardrobe. Few hangers. Oh, safe deposit box. That’s what you need. Plenty of space for shoes. Actually, looks like there’s some spare pillows underneath there as well. A small TV on the wall. I don’t generally watch telly on holiday. Bit of a phone. Quite comfortable. Then I’ve got a terrace. So it’s balcony or a terrace. Now I’m overlooking the pool area there. [Music] If you lean over. Got a view of the mountains. 
That’s nice, isn’t it? Yeah. And look at this. It is the 16th of September and it’s lovely and hot, beautiful blue sky and not cloud in the sky. Apparently, the air conditioning only works when you’ve got the door shut, which seems logical. And it’s free. You don’t have to pay extra for it. 
The little control on the wall there. And also, there’s a little do not disturb or cleaning sign. So, we landed just after 1 o’clock Greek time, which is 2 hours ahead of the UK. and it’s currently 25 to 3 and I’m in my room now. First things first, it’s a boiling hot day here. So, I’m going to get out my jeans, get my shorts on, and get settled in. So, I’m all inclusive on this one. 
I’ve got my little wristband. I’ve got my little welcome letter. Tells me all about the hotel and things to do. We have restaurant times. So, breakfast is 8 till 10, lunch 12:30 till 2:30, and then dinner from 7 till 9:30, and there’s snacks in between. I’m deliberately not going to just live by the all-inclusive and eat in the hotel because I’ve come for some Greek food as well. But that’s nice to have the option. I think the bar is open till 11. Then there’s entertainment at the next door hotel, but we get to use our all-inclusive just while the entertainment’s 
on in that hotel. So, that’ll be good, too. After a busy day of travel, I 
got out onto that sun terrace and decided to spend the rest 
of the afternoon on a sunbed. [Music] So, dinner is a bit of a concoction. Gigantes, 
beans, oven baked potatoes, roast duck, bit of beef in Bernaise sauce I think and I’ve had a few fries. It’s not loads of choice, but enough. And I’ve made a nice little plateful there. So, that looks good. And I’ve got a beer because it’s all inclusive. There’s a big choice of gooey cakes and desserts. So, I’m having three different types because I can. [Saxophone music] Good morning from Tsilivi in Zakynthos and 
it’s day one of my holidays proper. I’m in my hotel room. It was very comfortable last 
night. So, I had a good night’s sleep. So, this is a good start. That’s what you really want. 
It’s a very nice room. So far so good. I had a very good night in the hotel last night. Never 
actually left the hotel. Stayed around the pool. the sax player who was on as part of the 
entertainment was very good and actually weirdly he was the sax player on Marella Discovery last year. So if you’ve seen my videos from Marella Discovery in the Agean last summer then he was the sax player on that ship. So anyway so that was some good live music to start my holiday. I’ve been for breakfast. It’s all inclusive so your breakfast is included. It’s not a huge choice. 
It’s not like a buffet the style of a cruise ship obviously because it’s only a small hotel but they had a good enough choice. There was a full English of sorts. You know, they had your funny sausages and bacon, but enough to make a proper meal and then they had lots of meats and cheeses and cereal and things like that. Plenty of choice. So, I’m not going to go hungry, that’s for sure. So, I’ve been sitting out on my little terrace. It’s about half past 10 in the morning. It’s already 25° C. So, that overlooks the pool sunbathing terrace, so there’s two pools, one up on the top and one down on the bottom by the bar. Plenty of sunbeds around it. So, there’s already 
people out sunbathing already. I’m sure I’m going to be doing that at some point today. I need to go and explore the town as well. I need to get some water and just go find my bearings as much as anything else. So, I think that’s what I might do next. Go and explore and then come back and have 
a relaxing afternoon and see how my day goes. There is a welcome meeting with the rep today at 12 o’clock. Tell you about Zante. They’ve actually got an app as well and they’ve been sending lots of messages which have actually been quite useful for the most part, but they do sell you the tours on there as well. So, if you want to buy a tour through TUI you can do. I’m going to just go and explore. I’m not even sure I want to go on a tour this week. I just want a nice relaxing 
chilled out week. [Music] This is the Tessero Hotel. Right across the way from the Alura 
Hotel, which is its sister hotel, This one’s slightly bigger 
and more expensive. That’s where all the entertainment is that 
we can use at night if we want to. If you’re staying at the Alura or 
the Tesoro which is just there, they do warn you in the brochure there’s a steep hill. It’s about this steep so it doesn’t seem to be very much. We’ll test it. And then you’re just walking down just normal little roads, just walking down and the bars are just around this corner actually from what I’ve seen So, to be honest, although it’s a steep hill, it’s not actually all too bad at all. Just about that much, to be honest. So, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem. Ask me again when I’ve had a couple of beers in a couple of days. Yeah. And in no distance at all, I’d say less than 2 minutes walk, you’re already at nice little streets where there are some let’s you get breakfast, Sunday lunch if you want. Few little cafes and tavernas and things, cocktail bars, lots of outdoor seating. Obviously, everything’s quite quiet at the minute because it’s 11 o’clock in the morning. [Music] So, actually, there are some boat tours 
and things. They look pretty much the same ones that TUI are offering. You can just book them right outside the hotel near enough. The boat tour apparently goes every day. You can just book it the day before. So, that’s quite nice. So I can decide really as I want to do 
rather than having to be planning days ahead. Lots of little tavernas. This street is 
just winding round. These are the sort of places I’m going to come out 
to at night. Ooh, and actually some live music. Freddy Mercury tonight. Oh, half past 10 might be worth looking at. Pharmacy there on the main 
road if you need it. Actually, there’s a few down here as well. Oh, and a Spar. 
That’s what I’m looking for with some water. So, there’s a supermarket not 
very far away at all. So, if you want water or if you’re self catering, 
I guess if you’re staying somewhere else. So, this little main street in Tsilivi seems to be full of cocktail bars and restaurants. So, that’s handy. Want to hire a car or a scooter? There’s lots of ATMs around. Actually, 
there’s one at the hotel as well. Souvenir shops. I’m sure I’ll be looking at 
some of these as well over the week. I haven’t found the way to the beach, but I have 
a feeling the beach is in that direction. But I’m going to keep following the main street for 
now. See where this winds around to. Yeah, another rental place. I’ve 
seen another tour place. Oh, these are proper Greek Tavernas. I’m going to try some Greek food later in the week. [Music] There’s the little bars with all the tables out. I think you’re only really going to get 
a sense of what this is like after dark when it comes alive later on. But it’s very 
nice to just have a wander around. Lots of places with local food. Plenty of places to 
eat. You can get your Greek cuisine. It’s what I want. I am going to probably eat in the hotel 
again tonight just purely to see what the buffet is like every other night sort of thing. So we can mix it up a little bit. Gorgeous day today. Got a sports bar, too, if 
you’re after your sports. Get your rubber rings if you want to go to the beach. Oh, sign to the beach. Just head down a little side street passing the TUI Blue Zante Maris . I can see the sea. And it’s taken me less than half an hour to walk the length of the strip past all those bars and I’ve made it to the beach. There isn’t so much promenade. You’re going to walk the length of the beach on the actual beach itself. Lots of sunbeds. They belong to the 
hotels on the beach front. So, I’m sure there’ll be a public beach. Actually, it looks like it’ll be down there somewhere. So, this is Tsilivi Beach. Nice view of the island around you there. The water bit chilly. Ooh Nearly fell off the edge there. That’s a little bit of a step. And actually, I can cope with this. I’m sure I could have got to the beach quicker if I’d had taken an earlier turning. So, it really depends where you’re staying, but I think for our hotel, I’d read it’s 
about 10-minute walk to the beach. It’s definitely a leisurely stroll. You’re 
going to enjoy doing that anyway. [Sound of the waves] Yeah. Down the bottom away from the hotels, 
you’ve got more of a public beach. It’s a bit of a stony one, but that’s fine. And then I guess you hire your sun loungers down the bottom there. Overhead…. [Plane engine sounds] We’re in the flight path at our hotel actually. Down the bottom end of the beach, we got the Barracuda Beach Bar. There is a charge for sunbeds. It’s €25 for the front, three rows, and then €20 a bit further back. But obviously, you can pick and choose according to your budget there. And they have little menus so you can get food and drinks if you want or you can just lie on the beach for free. There are places to do water sports, more beach bars, more cabanas. So I haven’t come prepared to stay on the beach today. This wasn’t my plan. I think beach day might be tomorrow. I’ve just found another road at the bottom end of the beach. It’s a little car parking area. So if you’re staying in Zakynthos generally come and enjoy the beach here for a change. Now, this seems a little bit of a quiet road, but I’m assuming it will take me back in land towards the hotel. So, just following my nose. [Music] Another sign for the beach. I think basically 
if you take any of these little offshoot roads, you’ll end up at a point on the beach. Lunch time menu. [Music] Having a little mixture for lunch. It’s a gorgeously sunny day, so I’m going to go and get my stuff together and go and find a sunbed hopefully. [Music] [Plane engine noise] So, the Tesso has two pools. Actually, three pools really because there’s this little one. This is like an infinity plunge pool. Nice little comfy beds. I quite like the comfy 
beds. There are some slightly less comfy ones which I ended up on today because it was busy. And then you’ve got the pool area downstairs with the bar. And again, a big swimming pool down 
there. And we’ve got a nice view. Little chairs and tables on the terrace, which again, lots of people sit out here as well. You can see the sparkly lights just down the bottom of the hill there for town. And then this one across is the Altura. That’s the bigger, slightly more expensive hotel. They have entertainment on as well and we can go and use their entertainment and it’s the only time our all-inclusive works. It’s another concoction tonight. So, I’ve 
got moussaka with mushrooms, a bit of chicken, a bit of lamb, and a bit of pasta. That 
moussaka was so good I had two. And fortunately, there’s no calories on holidays. So, now I’m having these calorie free cakes. I thought the food was okay and I ate in the hotel buffet most nights. I always found plenty to fill my plate. Lots of bars and restaurants. Bit quieter about the pool in the evening. You can of course sit at the bar and get a drink. [Sax music] We’re in Tsilivi by night and lots of people out and about. [Music] Its so different compared to this morning. 
Much more lively than it was earlier. Welcoming you in. Wanting to 
get your food. I’ve had my food, but I will be coming back down here. Maybe tomorrow. I’ve got some plans. Souvenir shops still open. So the street that I walked down earlier, was quite empty earlier. Now really busy. I’m amazed where all these people have come from. Even coffee houses and ice cream places. So it’s not all just bars and beers. Right. I’m ott exploring. I’ve come to a bit where it’s more restaurants than anything else. But I passed a bar up there that I really like the look of. So, I’m going to head back, get myself a seat and a beer. [Music] Just been in Magdalena’s for a Fleetwood Mack Tribute Night. It’s a little bit quieter now. It’s getting up for midnight. It’s not quite midnight. They closed the doors at 11 o’clock which is interesting. I’m going to go and see if I can find another bar on the way home. There is a nightclub. So, that was a good one. Caught the end of the Freddy Mercury tribute act. He was actually really good. A bit of Cher and Abba tomorrow maybe. I’ll have to come back and do some more of these. In the next two episodes in this series, I’m going to take you out and about in Tsilivi itself. and go on a day trip to Zakynthos town. That all added to a brilliant week at the Tesoro Hotel. My holiday in Tsilivi is coming to an end. 
The Tesoro Hotel has been really good. So there we go. All done. It’s home time. So 
I’ve had a really nice time. Would I stay at the Tesoro Hotel again in Zakynthos? Yes, absolutely. It’s been very nice actually, I’d give it perhaps 9 out of 10. Couple of minor little things, but nothing that would spoil me coming again definitely. I’ve had a really nice time. So, yeah, the food’s been good. I’ve quite enjoyed the food in the restaurant, although I did enjoy going out and eating out. So, it’s all inclusive, which is very nice. But don’t get hung up on just doing things in the hotel and go and enjoy the town because that’s well worth doing as well. I’ve just had a lovely chilled week to be honest. It’s been really nice and comfortable. It’s a really great location for getting out. It’s 5 minutes to a lot of the bars on the main centre of town. And I’ve explored outside the centre of town and actually this seems to be quite a lively area. And it’s perhaps 10-15 minutes to the beach. I’ve never done it in that time because I’ve just ended up looking at other stuff on the way. So it’s a nice walk to the beach, let’s put it that way. Other than that, I’m just hanging around now waiting to catch the bus. So the bus is picking me up at 10 to 11. I’ve had a chance to go and have a nice leisurely breakfast. I’ve said tada! to a couple of friends just by the pool. had a bit of a chat, came back, just made sure all my cases were the right weight limit. The TUI app has been very good. That tells you your flight times and I’ve been able to get my boarding pass on there and it’s told me the bus times and stuff. So, none of this thing you used to do where you root around in reception for a binder. It just comes to your phone now. So, make sure you get the TUI app. I will recommend that one. So, yeah, other than that, I’ve had a brilliant time in Zakynthos. I definitely think I would like to come here again someday. It’s definitely made me want to come and see more Greek islands. So, keep watching. You never know. Check out’s 11 o’clock, but you can leave your cases in reception if you’ve got a late flight. Fortunately, that checkout time worked nicely for me, and the bus was just going to pick up outside. So, the Altura’s just there. 
You have the mini buses. There’s all sorts going on here. They’re all a bit late, and they’ve all arrived at the same time. [Music] When you walk straight in, there’s a queue. 
We’ve had our update to say that our flight is delayed about half an hour. It’s not 
the end of the world. I did get a text for that. Actually it’s quite a nice departure hall. 
It’s nice and air-conned. Quite pleasant, is Zakynthos. It’s not a big airport. Quite a nice little duty-free [Music] You get through duty free. There’s a couple little bakeries, but actually you’re going straight to passport control here. So you go through passport control, there’s just one little bar Down at the gates you catch a bus out to your plane. So we’re 5A, I think. There’s not a lot to do. It’s just seating down there. So it’s really whether I want a beer or not or whether I just go and read my book for an hour. Last look of Zakynthos in the background from the airport there. Didn’t think there was a lot of seating upstairs. There’s a little Street Food kind of cafe bar downstairs as well. I’m boarding at the back again. Goodbye Zakynthos. You’ve been amazing. I’ve had a great holiday. This time I had a window seat and the weather was perfect for views over the Greek coast as we flew home. [Music] That is Tirana, the capital of Albania. The good weather continued all the way up the coast of Croatia where we got views of Dubrovnik and Split. 3 and 1/2 hours or so later, we were heading into Manchester and we flew over the Jodrell Bank radio telescope. I might be back in Manchester, 
but don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE then you don’t miss the next couple of episodes in Tsilivi and Zakynthos Town.

I’ve had a week long, land based holiday on the Greek Island of Zakynthos, also known as Zante.

I chose the resort of Tsilivi (apologies now for the dodgy pronunciation in the video) and found the All Inclusive Tesoro Hotel, which I booked direct with TUI. As usual I’m travelling solo, but the hotel is good for couples too.

The package included flights from Manchester with TUI Airways.

In this video I’ll show you around the hotel and have a first look at Tsilivi itself. In the series I’m also going to explore Tsilivi a lot more and there’s a day trip to Zakynthos Town to come, so make sure you SUBSCRIBE then you don’t miss the rest!

So whether you’re interested in this hotel in particular or just want to see what Tsilivi is like and some ideas of things to do, then this series is for you.

MUSIC CREDITS from Pixabay:
Ikoliks
Background Music
Hits Lab
Bransboynd
Grand Project

And Isaac the sax player

CHAPTERS
00:00 Flying to Zakynthos with TUI
02:09 Tesoro Hotel Room Tour
06:09 Day 1 in Tsilivi
14:36 Afternoon by the pool
16:35 Evening in Tsilivi
18:47 Homeward bound