"⭐️⭐️ An honest and balanced review
We booked Almyrida Village & Waterpark Hotel for our holiday in Crete, Greece, in August 2026. Before and after booking, I read many reviews about the hotel. I always feel that some people can be too harsh when reviewing a place, especially when they expect a lot while paying less.
We paid around €1,700 in total for 2 adults and 1 toddler, including flights, one 20kg suitcase, 7 nights, breakfast and dinner. With that in mind, we tried to keep our expectations realistic.
However, after our stay, I would personally give this hotel no more than 2 stars.
🛏️ Room
The room was generally clean when we arrived, although there were some defects and areas that needed maintenance.
The air conditioning looked quite old, but surprisingly, it worked perfectly during our stay.
We had a double bed, and the hotel provided a small folding bed with a mattress for our daughter.
Unfortunately, when I removed the sheet from the mattress, I was shocked by its condition. Please see the photo below.
The shower was another big problem. The water pressure was extremely poor, and it took me around 30 minutes just to have a shower.
🧹 Cleanliness
The cleaning service was not what we expected.
The cleaner first came on the third day, brushed the floor and made the bed.
She came again on the fifth day, but by then my wife had already cleaned the room herself, so we didn't need cleaning.
We were told that towels would be replaced once a week, but by the fourth day nobody had replaced ours.
We asked the cleaning lady for fresh towels, but she did not seem very happy about the request. We ended up giving her a few euros in order to get new towels, which we did not feel was appropriate.
🏊 Swimming Pool
Unfortunately, the swimming pool was another area that really disappointed us.
The bottom of the pool felt very slimy in several areas.
There were also many spots where the pool floor looked dirty.
In several parts of the pool, you could clearly see dark marks or dark debris on the bottom.
As we were travelling with a toddler, this was particularly concerning for us. We expected the pool to be properly cleaned and maintained, especially in areas where children would be swimming.
The pool could be a great feature of the hotel, but in our experience it needed much better cleaning and maintenance.
👥 Staff
We had no major problems with the staff.
Whenever we asked for something, they generally helped us. Most of the staff were not particularly interactive with guests, but they did their jobs and we had no serious complaints about their attitude.
📍 Location
The location is definitely one of the positives.
Around 8 minutes' walk to the beach.
Shops and restaurants are also within walking distance.
The local beach is small but very nice.
The location was convenient and we enjoyed being able to walk to the beach and nearby places.
🍳 Breakfast & Dinner
Unfortunately, this was one of the biggest disappointments for us.
For a 3-star hotel, we found the breakfast and dinner options very poor.
The food was almost the same every day.
There wasn't much variety.
We could always find something to eat, but it wasn't easy to find something we really enjoyed.
Because we were disappointed with the food, we ended up eating outside almost every day and spent around €700 extra on food during our holiday.
💰 Value for Money
For us, the hotel did not offer good value for money.
We paid around €1,700 for our holiday package, which initially seemed reasonable. However, after experiencing the room, shower, cleaning service, pool and especially the food, we felt that there were probably better options available for the money.
One thing we also found quite strange was the price of water. If you order water during breakfast, it costs over €3, while the same water from the hotel reception costs around €1. We found this quite surprising.
🌴 Overall
Crete itself is a beautiful island with amazing places to visit, lovely beaches and plenty of things to see and do. We really enjoyed exploring the island and spending time there.
Unfortunately, the hotel was the weakest part of our holiday.
We tried to be realistic with our expectations and understand that this is a 3-star hotel, not a luxury resort. However, there were simply too many things that disappointed us.
Overall, I would give the hotel no more than 2 stars.
We personally would not book this hotel again and would not recommend it. There are some positive points, especially the location and the fact that the staff helped when we asked, but overall we feel there are better options available for the money.
Despite the hotel experience, Crete is definitely a place we would love to visit again."