"Location
The hotel is in Hersonissos, but not in the sense that you are in the middle of everything. You are a short walk (15–20 minutes) from the very centre of Hersonissos, but that also doesn’t mean you are in any way remote. Think more of it being at the start of the main run into the town, rather than in the thick of it. The biggest benefit to this is that you are perfectly placed to see the local villages of Koutoulefari and Piskopiano. The hotel itself is set into the rock, so people with very poor mobility may struggle – that said, it has been very well designed with ramps everywhere there are stairs and we observed wheelchair users while we were there, quite obviously enjoying the place.
Hotel Grounds
The hotel is a large resort. It is spread over two main ‘sides’, those being Imperial or Belvedere – it is mostly low rise with room options in all directions. The resort is impeccably clean in all areas – no ants, wasps, cockroaches or anything like that to contend with here. The planting was lovely and in full bloom during our stay. In terms of the resort plot itself – perfect. The cleaning staff need more credit for what they do !!
Hotel Facilities
This was amazing – they have mini golf, multiple arcades, pool tables, a kids club (we presume – we didn’t use it), multiple parks for the kids and a tennis court…. Then you walk down the hill and they have what can only be described as a mini farmyard – chickens, ducks, goats and donkeys.
Rooms
We had a superior family room (garden or mountain facing) and it was almost perfect – we had a west facing balcony so had perfect early evening sun to soak up while the kids were getting ready. The room was adequately sized for the 5 of us, the only downside was having one bathroom – which we knew before we went but will never attempt again. Why mention this as a negative, you may ask? because we learned of other guests changing rooms on arrival to family rooms with multiple bathrooms. So they did have them - we simply weren’t offered one. The cleaner visited every day, was cheerful and polite and replaced bedding, towels and bathroom supplies. She also topped up the provided bottled water. All electrics worked, the shower was powerful and hot. There is a fridge in every room for anything you want to bring back and keep cool, and on the subject of cool – the aircon was ice cool.
Pools
Where to start….! We couldn’t afford the new swim up rooms with exclusive pool access – that would have been epic – but they do have them. They also have the insanely big main pool, an indoor pool, a kids pool (with slides and fun stuff), an upper pool and a lower pool. All had lifeguards and all were happy with swim floats and toys.
You do get early reservations on the sunbeds (in the upper pool mainly but they do have wooden beds with quality cushion so can be expected). The rest of it felt less like entitled sunbed-hoarding and more like families, in the height of the season, trying to secure a decent spot for the day. If you avoided the height of the sun and came to any pool after 2pm – you had tons of choice.
The pools were clean. The water is saltwater, but it was warm. I don’t think it is heated in winter months.
Bars
Like the pools really, there are plenty. Never saw a queue that took more than a few minutes to clear. Alcohol for the all-inclusive is branded – Absolut Vodka, Havana rum etc. These were also used in the ‘all inclusive cocktails’ which were pretty good to be fair. Different pool bars could offer different drinks/cocktails, and we liked this because it meant we went to each. The alcohol included in the all-inclusive is branded.
There are indoor bars and these were very good – you had drinks served in glasses and a slightly different offering on the range – one night in the upper pool bar per week they have an Aperol spritz party with DJ – a recommendation for sure. The Aperol was an additional charge of €5, but very much worth it.
Food
We’re not fussy eaters by any stretch of the imagination but we couldn’t believe how good this offering was. I’ve read reviews saying otherwise, but I think they really need to rethink the type of resort, the different nationalities they need to please, and what was possible to create from the vast amount of what was offered.
There is a snack bar in every place there is a pool. They are open from early morning until very late and serve everything from a full breakfast to toasted sandwiches, wraps, nuggets, fries and burgers. Then there are salads (excellent – the Greek and beetroot were lush), a full gyros menu, puddings, fruit and ice cream. How anyone goes hungry or cannot find anything to eat is beyond me.
In the main restaurants you have the fuller offerings – and it is beyond what I can write to describe it but think multiple live cooking stations (breakfast would be fresh waffles, quality bacon, poached eggs, omelettes etc….. evening meals would be sea bream, chicken breast, lamb etc)… then you have the usual food areas which would contain the main food offerings – Greek night was amazing – and they always have multiple offerings for vegan, vegetarian and gluten free. Oh the fresh honeycomb dripping for your fresh Greek yoghurt was something else.
Then you have the specialist restaurants that you need to book on the app – we were there a week in high-season and could easily book so can’t imagine it would be a problem for others. We had options of Japanese, German or Traditional Cretan. We opted local and booked breakfast and dinner in the Kafenio Church Restaurant – both times were exceptional. I won’t write too much as you just have to go to understand.
Hotel Staff
Very polite and very friendly – we spoke to many people and they were very happy to engage. This is unfortunately the only problem area for us as well, which is a massive shame. I reported that kids were self-serving tens of cups of soft drinks – only to take it to the pool and launch it all at their family – coke, fanta etc just being chucked in the pool. I was told ‘no problem – the water is filtered’ – and this was not the response I expected. I know the hotel cannot be held responsible for the visitors behaviour but this was a joke – twenty cups floating in the pool with the kids, mum, dad not having one care in the world, almost encouraging it and staff who didn’t see a problem with it. I know the hotel cannot be held responsible for the behaviour of its guests, but I do think it can be held responsible for how it responds to it.
Entertainment
Amazing – it took some time to understand what was going on where – but we stayed most nights for each of the shows and it is clear they work hard to entertain – the circus show highlighted this…! They are active around the pool during the day with the aqua aerobics, table tennis, darts, water polo – but not intrusive to guilt trip any involvement.
Our Summary
Would we return ? Absolutely. This is a big, busy resort and it won’t suit someone looking for a tiny, peaceful boutique hotel but that isn’t what it is trying to be. For a family holiday it gets an enormous amount right: beautiful grounds, excellent pools, genuinely good food, branded drinks, loads for the kids to do and a location that puts Hersonissos and the villages above it within easy reach. There were a couple of things we would change, but nowhere near enough to take the shine off what was an excellent week. If we return to this part of Crete, the Imperial Belvedere would very comfortably be on the shortlist – and next time, I’m finding the money for one of those swim-up rooms."
