Greece - Korina Miller [117]
MIDRANGE
Olympic Star Hotel ( 2610 622 939; www.olympicstar.gr; Agiou Nikolaou 46; s/d incl breakfast €65/90; ) Popular with the business traveller, this modern place has a slight try-hard business feel, but with a solid performance. Its contemporary rooms feature hydro showers and personal flat-screen computers. Reduced prices without breakfast.
Galaxy Hotel ( 2610 275 981; www.galaxyhotel.com.gr; Agiou Nikolaou 9; s/d/tr incl breakfast €68/88/108; ) This orange and brown, black and grey (think contemporary retro) joint does some good marketing – even the carpet bears its name in a contemporary design. Although its makeover in the mid-noughties has worn off a bit, it’s still reasonably sleek. Its efficient service ensures its popularity with business travellers.
TOP END
Hotel Byzantino ( 2610 243 000; www.byzantino-hotel.gr; Riga Fereou 106; s/d/tr incl breakfast €90/110/130; ) The Byzantino shows up the town’s standard concrete monoliths. This graceful and restored neoclassical building features good rooms with large iron bedsteads, wooden floors and period furniture.
Primarolia Art Hotel ( 2610 624 900; www.arthotel.gr; Othonos Amalias 33; s incl breakfast €99, d incl breakfast €129-157; ) Follow your mood: you can curl up in the shell room, ‘veg out’ in the mushroom room or dream of travel in the map room. This stylish place oozes individuality, with sleeping spaces ranging from the bold, contemporary and minimalist to the florid, romantic and baroque. All have TV with international channels, fax, minibar and safe. There’s even an in-house sauna.
Eating
To do frappé (Greek-style iced coffee) with the best of ’em, head along Agiou Nikolaou. For good eating options head southeast to Trion Navarhon.
Mythos ( 2610 329 984; cnr Trion Navarhon & Riga Fereou; mains €8-14; dinner) Flowers, petunias and shrubs create an oasis outside this eatery; Mediterranean antiques, lamps and other surprises adorn the inside (thanks to the female owner-decorator). But it’s not all frills. Flavoursome dishes abound. Try the mythos pie (containing chicken, feta and fresh vegetables) and chocolate soufflé.
Society (Taratsa Bistrot; 2610 622 677; Riga Fereou 96 & Drakopoulou 2; mains €8-18; dinner) OK, so we could be in NYC, and it’s hardly Greek. But this funky place – both bar and restaurant – on an aire libre–style roof terrace in the heart of town, offers a great vibe, excellent international dishes and social ‘cred’. A pleasant alternative if you’re mousaka’d out.
Ichthyóskala ( 2610 333 778; fish per kilogram €50-60) This unpretentious place offers few trimmings, save for a lemon wedge or two. But that’s all you need to enhance fresh fish eaten alfresco. It’s about 1km southwest from central Patra.
For self-caterers, Dia Discount supermarket (Agiou Andreou 29) is ideally located for travellers planning to buy provisions and keep moving.
Drinking
Around sunset Patra transforms into a cosmopolitan, sharp-dressing, buzzy, cafe-lined city. Sit, see and be seen at any one of the dozens of places along Agiou Nikolaou, the wide pedestrianised street leading to the port. Radinou is a short, lively, narrow alley packed with bars (some with DJs) that open late into the night and quickly fill with the younger student crowd.
Getting There & Away
Many first-time visitors to Greece assume the best way to get from Patra to Athens is by bus. The bus is faster than the train, but it’s more expensive and drops you off a long way from the centre of Athens at Terminal A Click here. This is a real hassle if you’re arriving in Athens after midnight, when there are no connecting buses to the city centre, leaving newcomers at the mercy of the Terminal A taxi drivers.
The train takes you close to the Athens city centre, with easy connections to the metro system. If you arrive after midnight, you’re within easy walking distance of good