"To start with thank you to the staff at the hotel who ensured we had a great trip. The staff really go above and beyond to look after you and make sure you have a good time, this was especially useful for us with one of our party requiring a wheelchair. Staff on reception were friendly and helpful, especially Maria, they booked a taxi at a much more reasonable rate than I found looking online. The hotel is in fantastic condition, its super clean and even while we were there plants were being replaced to ensure that there were plenty of flowers in all the flowerbeds. The whole place is very well looked after and you can tell care has been taken to ensure guests have a good stay, there are lots of areas where guests can have a seat or a lounger and multiple bars dotted around the complex.
There are three pools including a large pool with a pool bar that you can "swim up" to and two smaller pools. One of which has a bar adjacent, the Ouzo Bar which has beautiful views overlooking the sea. Its nice to be able to have a proper glass here if you are drinking at the bar, it makes sense for them to be plastic to takeaway. Nicola on the bar is a shining light, happy, chatty and incredibly efficient. There are also a couple of beaches that are have loungers to relax on.
Most of the hotel is wheelchair accessible and easy to move around but there are some areas that are a bit steep and a user may require some help. I think this is a natural consequence of the hotel being built onto the side of a hill overlooking the sea. Thankyou to the daytime staff at La Laconda supplying us with drinks and putting up with us getting in their way while we played games
The Saloni bar is excellent, large with a great terrace available to sit on, in the evenings they have entertainment. We tended to sit at the bar where we were excellently looked after especially by Dimitri and Timo. Their friendliness and humour made our evenings, it was a highlight of our holiday. A surprisingly number of drinks and cocktails are available on the all inclusive, we particularly enjoyed the mojitos and martinis.
In the buffet restaurant, as with the rest of the hotel staff are friendly and helpful. It is a large room so is easily accessible for a wheelchair and the outside seating area is excellent with a great view if you are by the windows.
The food is generally very good; highlights for us included, the grills where a member of staff grilled meat or fish to order, we particularly enjoyed the tuna and the sea bass, the salad selection with a huge range of salad items including feta, olives, fresh vegetables and the local Cretan/Greek food, a wide selection of Greek honey at breakfast and the homemade pizzas coming straight out the pizza oven. Some dishes are overcooked but in general the food quality is very high for a buffet and there was always multiple things we enjoyed eating.
Whilst the buffet is generally good for allergens, specifically gluten free in this instance, with allergens shown against the dishes, allergens are not labeled on all dishes, including some obvious allergens, meaning it is unclear on some dishes if the allergens are present. Some dishes varied each day as to which allergens were shown as being in a dish, fries were one day shown as gluten free and the next not. Additionally the correct labels are not always shown against the right dish leading to further confusion. It is a good system that when done correctly it works well but occasionally isn't properly sorted.
The Thalassa restaurant which you can prebook when staying a certain number of nights is a beautiful restaurant with views over the ocean. It has a real premium feel, and the opportunity to come here as part of an all inclusive is an absolute treat. The food was fantastic, and beautifully presented on the plate. It has a very "Masterchef" feel so we were unsurprised to see that it had a menu designed in conjunction with the 2019 winner.
Overall its a fantastic hotel and I would highly recommend it!"
