Porto Elounda Golf & Spa Resort

"Overall an excellent hotel subject to one qualification ,i will mention below . The staff were all very helpful and clearly well trained (especially the reception staff who were very good in helping with external restaurant reservations /calling taxis etc ) .We were very pleased with our rooms which were spacious and clean and our daughter had an interconnecting room for her toddler which worked out very well with plenty of room for everyone and no disturbing the toddler when going to bed . A bit of a trek up and down the hillside to get to the pool with all that entails with children .However the pool was clean and there was never any difficulty in getting pool seats .We didn't go in the sea really as we were put off by the line of incoming plastic rubbish when the wind was blowing in .To be fair the pool staff worked very hard to scoop up the plastic waste ( mainly fishing nets and lines ) and i guess this is just a feature of the modern Mediterranean . With one exception the restaurants within the resort were all very good but priced knowing you were on the resort . The exception was the buffet -we were on a half board basis which meant that breakfast and dinner in the buffet were included or there was a E24 pp allowance towards dinner in the other resort restaurants .Breakfast in the buffet was ok, nothing particularly exciting apart from the fact that virtually all of the "hot food" was on griddles that were barely warm so it quickly became not quite hot food. However the evening was at best underwhelming and at times just awful .It is good to have fish fingers.chicken and chips to help feed the children at suppertime .However as an adult i don't really want this for dinner.I will attach a couple of photos showing the uninspiring dinner buffet .One of the items i thought was a meat turned out to be tuna steaks that had been there so long they had turned to rubber ( and i think of the price of tuna in London...) We ended up going out of the resort on a few evenings just to avoid the buffet . So F& B management please try to improve this aspect of your service ."

"We stayed end of May/start of June 2026 at Porto Elounda. The hotel is part of 3 hotels owned by the same people, also included is Elounda Mare and Elounda Peninsula. Mare is a Relais & Châteaux property and Peninsula is a luxury suite and private pool hotel. Porto, where we stayed I would say is probably the most family orientated of the 3 properties. On arrival the hotel felt very private and exclusive, a small unassuming gated entrance welcomes you into the grounds. We received a warm welcome on arrival and were given plenty of information about the resort and options. We were then shown to our room. I would recommend that the hotel perhaps takes the opportunity on arrival to give a print out of the children’s activities available for Families. There’s plenty on offer but you have to do your own research and if you weren’t proactive you might miss something. We didn’t realise we had to pre book football the day before which meant that our kids missed out a few times. This could be easily remedied. We had booked a premium suite with shared pool - mainly because the pool is larger and our kids love to swim, the bathroom and room layout works better for us also. We were shown to a premium Room with private pool (which was smaller). A note on this room - the shower and bath has a glass screen between you and the room - great for couples perhaps but with 2 boys was not what we wanted. After the first night in this room we were moved to the room we had booked. It was perfect. The pool with the room was saltwater and quite chilly, which is to be expected at this time of year. During our stay we visited the main pool and swam in the sea. We booked various watersports including the lazy couch, SUP, pedalo and waterskiing. The whole family loved this. We booked the Oppa night, the italian restaurant and also the Yacht Club at Elounda Mare. We had booked the Japanese restaurant for our final night but our son was unwell - we will have to try this next time. All of the food in both the buffet and restaurants was fantastic. Lots of options available. I would say the only place we experienced slow service was at the pool bar - the staff are all very friendly. The Buffet breakfasts were great - plenty of choice and calm and clean. We also used the football pitch, kids club (the slides are closed for maintenance in June which was a bit of a shame) played golf, table tennis and bought from the on site shops - the lady who manages the shop was so lovely go us all. *note you can not but drinks from a shop here - it’s either at a bar/restaurant or room service. Sunbeds and towels were always easily available. The area around the sea was stunning - lots of opportunities to snorkel and use fish nets - we managed to (temporarily) catch an octopus, crab and various fish. We took a day trip to Agios Nikolas and walked around the lake and went to a restaurant called Gioma Meze which we highly recommend. We took a taxi which was €18 each way - it was about 10 minutes. The transfer from Heraklion was 60 minutes and there looks to be upgrades being made to the roads between the airport and hotel Which I assume will improve the travel time in the future. As a summary I would say we have come away from this holiday feeling rested and wanting to return. The location is utterly beautiful, children are welcomed and encouraged to be civilised (our youngest was a bit trigger happy with a water gun and was asked to keep it in the pool - something we didn’t mind and thought reflected how the staff want everyone’s experience to be restful). There’s a good mix of nationalities and cultures at the hotel which we felt was also something we appreciate on holiday. Next time we will make sure to check out the spa. Thank you to everyone who made this such a happy and restful trip. We can clearly see that the hotel is becoming something very special. We would not hesitate to recommend the hotel and staff."

"We’ve stayed at Elounda Beach five times over the years, so were slightly nervous about trying somewhere different. In the end, Porto Elounda exceeded our expectations. The biggest difference is the atmosphere. It feels much more relaxed and family-oriented, while still being a genuinely high-quality hotel. Nothing feels forced or overly formal, and we found ourselves unwinding much more quickly than usual. The food was a real surprise. Even the buffet was excellent, with a level of quality and variety you don’t often see. We genuinely looked forward to dinner every evening. A special mention to the manager, who was outstanding throughout our stay. He was always visible, always helpful, and clearly cares about both the guests and the team. That attitude seems to run through the whole hotel. The location is beautiful, the beach is great, and the service was consistently friendly and professional. After five stays at Elounda Beach, I didn’t expect to find a hotel in the area that suited us better, but Porto Elounda probably does. We would happily return."