"Just home from a wonderful week at this beautiful resort. This is a Greek all inclusive resort, so if your used to the Costa Brava or the Caribbean with 24hr drinks packages, entertainment and untold food outlets, this is more like a Full Board with drinks option that is from 11am to 11pm and if you need a constant programme of entertainment to be provided for you and cant entertain yourself, then this isn't the place for you! All the staff here are very friendly and helpful and make you feel very welcome.
The resort is built on a hillside with slope access to all areas (there are steps as well but you can use the slopes to access everything). Some of the slopes are on an incline so are a little bit steep but nothing excessive. The resort is extremely well kept and maintained, the pools and surrounding areas are clean and with 3 large pool areas and one separate children's pool area, there are more than enough sunbeds for everyone so no getting up at 5am to reserve a sunbed and actually, the clientele here seemed to be more refined than that! I went with my friend for a girls week away to de-stress and that is exactly what we did! We stayed by the adults only pool, let's dispell the myth about paying for the pools I've seen on other reviews! If you would like to use resort provided towels at any of the pools, you can get these from the reception, they ask for a €20 deposit for each towel. They give you a receipt and when you return the towel, with your receipt, they refund you the €20. During our stay we took our towels back to reception every day after use and were given fresh towels, lovely and at the end of the week we returned our towels with our receipt and got our deposits back, voilà! (The guests are a mixture of French and English) You can use your own towels if you want, your choice, we'd taken our own but decided to save on the washing! Our room was lovely, No 118, nice furniture, shower gel provided, you book online daily when/if you would like your room cleaned the next day and choose your time slot according to when you want it. Perfect, no maid coming in when your having a lay in or in the middle of a shower. It really is no hassle to do this and we found it much better knowing we could book the maid to come while we were out of the room. You receive a free bottle of water in your room when you arrive, if you want more you can fill your water bottles or buy bottles from the shop on resort, it cost 90cents for a litre. You also need to buy your own milk for your room.if you want tea and coffee, again its only a couple.of euros for a big carton if you want to make drinks in your room, the tea, coffee and sugar are all provided
The hotel offer a free shuttle to the beach, you can walk it (which we did one morning) but it is 4.24km and took us just over an hour, aided with Google maps! It was a lovely walk, but you need to take plenty of water. The shuttle takes 10 mins from the resort and we used this to come back and when we next went to the beach. The Paraplous restaurant where you are dropped off is lovely, staff are very friendly and they maintain the sunbeds and umbrellas by their patch of beach. They had a lovely young man working on the beach, keeping the empty sunbeds swept, the beach tidy and taking orders for drinks or food you might want from the restaurant, collecting the orders and bringing them to you while you laze on the sunbeds, heaven! There is no charge for using the beds, I think it is just expected you might at least buy a drink if your using their facilities and €3 each for a glass bottle of coke and €10 for a box of chips which was more than enough for 2 of us seemed very reasonable. To get into the sea it is shingle and pebbles and then lots of stones and rocks. Be warned, you need swim shoes on to not hurt your feet. The water is beautiful and clear and lovely to swim in.
The hotel also runs a shuttle service to Rethymno which is the nearest city. You must prebook your trip at reception as it is well used and only 8 places available on each trip. €11 each (this is a return trip so works out €5.50 each way). We went in on Thursday when there is a small market in the old town selling €5 t-shirts and souvenirs, fruit and vegetables, it was really nice to walk round, we got the 11am shuttle, was in town by 11.20am and we booked the 18.20 shuttle back. We had a lovely day, definitely recommend the tourist train trip, €10 each, takes you around the city and the harbour to view the sites. It takes around 30mins and was really good fun. We also ate lunch at one of the tavernas we passed on the trip along the strip by the fort overlooking the sea, beautiful! Lots of little back streets to walk through, beautiful church of the four saints, worth taking a look inside. A really good place to visit.
So let's review the food at the resort. If you want burgers, fries, nuggets, full English, etc then dont come to the Greek islands! Large selection of food available at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Typical continental breakfast selection with fresh slices of oranges, grapefruit and kiwi, dried fruits, cereals, boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, fried eggs, baked ham, baked hotdog type sausages, grilled tomato slices and different selections of small pastries and fresh bread. Fresh juices and tea & coffee. At lunch and dinner always freshly prepared salad, meat dishes, fish dishes, cheese, melon, cakes and ice cream. Alcoholic drinks included in the all inclusive are the basic local wines, beers and spirits. If you want named brands then you need to pay for them, or pay more for an all inclusive resort offers them! Dressing for dinner is required and no swimwear allowed in the restaurant during breakfast or lunch but t-shirts and shorts were fine. This made a refreshing change and actually fitted with the feel of this resort as that bit more refined. There were only a couple of children there during our stay and would say they looked about 3 or 4 years old. Again, if your children need more than a swimming pool, outdoor chess, air hockey table and pool table (available in one of the bars) to keep them entertained then this isn't the place for them. There isn't anywhere to walk to in the evenings, there are only the 2 bars on resort or you need to take a cab off resort.
There is a spa which we made use of, again well laid out and looked after, lovely and clean and towels are provided. There is a pool and a jacuzzi pool, steam room and sauna. We both had neck and back massages which were excellent and well worth the €65 each! Would highly recommend and fits with the general vibe of rest and relaxation.
To pick up on another review that talks about the cats, yes there are cats here, its a Greek island, there are always cats! We only see 4 and although they wander around if you dont encourage them they leave you alone, they certainly weren't a y bother.
All in all this resort is excellent value and for those looking for a restful break away from it all, this is definitely one for you! We will definitely return and felt that if we were solo travellers this would be a great place to stay, it felt very safe.
It is a good base if you want to hire a car and explore further or if you want the odd cab ride into town for an evening out. If what you really want is a lively nightlife every night and a strip of bars and Tavernas then this is not the place for you, Malia would probably better suit, although be warned, Malia is usually full of 18-30year olds getting on the lash!"
