Excellent location, peaceful, by or near the sea (5 minutes). Superb holiday spot! Very beautiful beach.
The villas are scattered throughout the lush countryside, with three of them right on the seafront. They have well-maintained, beautifully landscaped gardens, all very tasteful. The property was spotlessly clean.
Ours had a lovely, large, and very well-maintained swimming pool. Excellent restaurant, with efficient and very friendly service. A great selection of activities on this enchanting island.
A few points for improvement (not mentioned in previous reviews):
- While one of the two bedrooms in our villa was well-furnished and decorated, the other was spartan, with no wardrobe, coat hook, or any storage furniture, except for two small, damp shelves (roof leaks? Air conditioning?). Our clothes remained in our suitcases or were piled high on the bed canopy… There was no armchair, chair, or desk. Just a small coffee table. A shelf of books in many languages. No bedside lamp or nightstand, replaced by a tiny stool… Upon arrival, we found two burnt-out light bulbs, which were quickly replaced. The third bed, which was supposed to be provided, was only set up on the third night, after numerous requests.
The bathroom was sweltering, unventilated, and lacked a mosquito net to allow us to open the opposite door at night. There were no shower mats, only one towel rack… and a bath mat was missing.
Our complaints to the management, who were otherwise very friendly, were met with the dismissive response, “All our villas are different.”
Furthermore:
There was no air conditioning in the very hot living room, the fans were inadequate, and half the doors opened onto a slight drop, which was dangerous for young children.
There was no hot water in the kitchen. - Room service and housekeeping were very late, until 3pm, throughout our entire stay.
We visited Koyao Bay Pavilions in July and my family had a lovely stay in Ingfah Villa. Rayan was a charming host who always responded with immediacy to our niggling requests and inquiries.
The hostess at La Sala struck a perfect balance between presence and absence. She was a joy to talk to and passionate about her local food which showed on our plates.
We rented a Honda scooter with a DIY soldered cabana from Papa Santi to quell the taxi mafia overcharging us. If you rent the same sidecar ride be careful as the scooter veers aggressively left fully loaded with too little weight on the front wheel. I learned over 2 days that the safest thing is to drive slowly and don't throttle it for the best traction.
A funny story: we woke up at 2 a.m. local time to watch Spain versus Belgium in the quarterfinals of the 2026 World Cup. My son and I had just seen Spain play Saudi Arabia in Atlanta. Rayan called to our attention that there was a Belgian family in the adjacent villa who were delaying their early boat trip because they were also planning to watch the game. (We heard them scream in the middle of the night when Belgium scored.)
One issue that I would like to alert all guests to is the nearest ATM to Koyao Bay Pavilions on foot, a yellow ATM on the right walking past the mini market. We tried to withdrawal money but the machine declined our card. We were successful withdrawing money at a 7–11 with the same card but when we got home from our vacation we discovered 2 fraudulent charges from the yellow ATM totaling about €400. I alerted Rayan to warn guests and investigate. Our bank in Spain confirmed the charges were fraudulent, so I would avoid this ATM until Rayan gives the all clear.