Mare Village

"Sorry i know this is lengthy but i know people love reading reviews and want to express how great our stay was! Honestly really cannot fault our experience staying at the Mare Village!! We loved every second of it. We were slightly concerned before arriving due to some of the previous reviews but i really would ignore them. Think lots of people have very high expectations for what they pay for but can’t please everyone!! We certainly thought it was great for what we paid. Arrival: Upon arrival, we checked in and was a super speedy process. Wasn’t hassle like others have said, all you had to do what show your booking confirmation with ours being on love holidays and took 1 minute max. You have to pay a €70 tourism tax but may vary on how many nights as think they mentioned €10 per night. On the arrival desk, there is a map on where the buildings are being the pool, the restaurant, other bars we could use plus timings with breakfast/lunch/dinner and when all inclusive ends. Lots of reviews saying people didn’t know what to go but didn’t open their eyes to the map in front of them when checking in!! Location: Me and my mrs really enjoyed the locations being in separate buildings. Sometimes all inclusive feels like you’re just stuck in the hotel whereas here you’re walking 20 seconds to the pool one way then 20 seconds walk the other way to the restaurant out of the hotel and was quite refreshing. People saying you have to walk across a busy main road to go to the pool or restaurant are having a laugh!! Just a normal road with the occasional car coming past. Pool: Lovely, spacious pool. I know you can use other hotel pools but we just used the main one everyday that was attached to the Mare Garden. Think you can use multiple ‘Mare’ pools that are dotted around but we just went to the main one. Sun beds are lush. Big, spacious, comfy beds that are on the floor that we had everyday. Think we counted there was 14 of the big beds but also have single sun beds and ones that have a canopy/roof that are on behind the bigger ones. You do need to reserve these!!! Woke up at 7:30am every morning to go put towels on the sun bed and normally would be 5 left free so if you want to be safe, go at 6:30/7am and reserve one. Bartenders are super nice and will often come round to take ur empty cups away and ask if you want anymore drinks which they will bring to ur sun beds. Options are slightly limited (cocktails) but sort of expected. Recommend the blue lagoons all day! Bartenders are super friendly, especially the blonde guy that is walking around. There is also snacks provided that you can go up and help yourself too. This includes fresh fruit everyday as well as another option which was a wrap/sandwich/mini baguette type thing that were very nice. Food: Personally, the food was very nice. Only thing to slightly let them down was breakfast but i suppose you can’t change up breakfast too much! They got everything you need (bacon/beans/eggs/cereal/fresh pancakes) only thing to let them down was sausages were hot dogs but find that at a lot of foreign countries. Lunch was great. Had rice, fresh pizza, often a meat being made fresh (the pork is unbelievably delicious), burgers, hot dogs, fresh salads etc. Really can’t complain with the options they provide! Dinner again was lovely. Often a new meat being made fresh with lots of other options. Very nice and can’t really fault. Cleanliness of the hotel was very up to scratch. Very aesthetic hotel which the mrs liked for insta photos. Rooms were made up everyday and the room had amazing air con. Very quiet and stays on all day so going back in the evening after frying in the sun all day was great. Entertainment was good crack. Over at the pool bar attached to the Mare Garden. The dj there is nuts but also hilarious and sort of what you need to get everyone in the mood. A few nights a week is karaoke in which people get up and attempt to sing. Shoutout to us English boys that got up and tore the place apart after our win against Congo - memory i’ll never forget. Only problem (more for football fans) with the pool bar in the evening is football won’t be shown if entertainment at the same time and don’t have commentary in english. Therefore, we want to the bar opposite called Bar 300 which was great. Lovely cocktails and outdoor seating that had 2 big screens and 1 big one inside showing the football in english. 100% recommend going there even if it’s just for a drink after dinner. Location outside: The location is quiet but does have a square with shops and bars that is a 5 min walk away if you just follow the road past Bar 300. We went to a lovely bar called Stelios Sip and Savor that was great. Cocktails were delicious that come out in cool cups (order ‘my ex’ and comes out in a rubbish bin). Great atmosphere there with the woman working being great fun. 100% recommend going there for a few cocktails. Day trip: We went to Lake Kournas which was one of our favourite days as we saw lots of turtles! You get either a taxi there opposite Bar 300 outside the Mare Village Hotel or if you walk to the beach that is 2 min walk away, there is a lovely woman outside the Tropicana bar who sells excursions. We did it through her, that was a train kind of thing, costing 2 of us €14 to get there and back which was super easy. There are timings that the train picks you up and takes you back from the lake, being 10:15, 11:15, 12:15 etc going there and 10:45, 11:45, 12;45 etc going back. You can get on and come back at any time. When you are there, walk down to the bottom and rent pedalos. A 2 person one is €10 for an hour but if you wanted to jump in, you can’t on a 2 person one. They also have 2-4 person pedalos for €15 and one with slide that is €20 per hour. They do accept cash or card. We personally did 2 hours on the 2-4 person pedalo which was €30. 1 hour might cut it tight trying to see the turtles. Once you’re on, head right to the edges at the back in which the turtles will be floating around there! Overall, we have absolutely loved our stay at the Mare Village Hotel. Beautiful hotel, beautiful weather, lovely food and met some amazing friends whilst being there. Would love to come back another time soon and have the fabulous experience all over again. Thank you Mare Village for an amazing holiday."

"Overall, an amazing hotel. Before we went we became slightly sceptical due to the previous reviews, however, we were so pleasantly surprised. Upon arrival we were met with our bags carried into reception, with a speedy check in and followed by our bags then being carried to the room which we found to be a very nice touch! The room itself was very spacious, super modern and comfy as well. The air conditioning in the room was unreal, not noisy either. A lovely balcony as well! We very much enjoyed the pool and beach areas spending most of our time between them. Whilst some days it was slightly tricky to get a bed at either we always managed to get one within 10 minutes or so and found it no problem when there wasn’t one immediately. The sunbeds at both were soooo comfy. There is also the all inclusive bar which can be used at both the pool and the beach with a good variety of drinks included which we enjoyed. The food at the buffet was also good, sometimes slightly repetitive but always good quality and something for everyone with the staff always offering drinks and clearing plates as you eat etc. Overall a great hotel, definitely deserving of good recognition, especially for the amazing price you pay!!!"

"We are about to leave this hotel and overall we have had a lovely time as a three generational family. We were worried about our trip based on the previous reviews and have found the previous ones to be untrue or exaggerated in our own experience. Check it was fine and we were showed to our rooms by reception team. We were handed a voucher for AI for our last day as we had a night flight and there was a snack left in our room on arrival as we were too late for an evening meal. There is one area that could be improved -more sunbeds at the pool as you had to get there early if you wanted a sunbed. There is plenty more room to add more and feel this would be an improvement to the experience. The food was fine and there was plenty of options to choose from even if you are a picky eater and there are many restaurants on your doorstep if you fancy a change of location. Overall a great holiday and don’t be put off by the negative reviews. We have loved Crete and will be back soon."