Theartemis Palace Hotel

Our holiday to Theartemis Palace Hotel, Rethymon, Crete 6th – 17th July 2007 This hotel has 4 floors and 2 buildings joined below floor level by a tunnel. My husband and I arrived at the Theartemis Palace Hotel at 4am and were greeted in reception and then assisted to our room by a porter who took our luggage to our room which confusingly we had to take 3 lifts to as it was across the road. We were given room 249 on the second floor which is a double room. As it was so late and extremely hot we put on the air conditioning and went to bed. The next morning we went down for breakfast and got to have a proper look around. You can stay either half board or all inclusive at this hotel and we stayed half board (bed, breakfast & evening meal). Breakfast is served until 10am and is buffet style. The restaurant is large and the staff greets you on arrival and show you to a table (Gianna, Stavros, Katrina and Gambia were charming). The range and variety of food is extensive and will suit most people’s tastes. There are cereals, hot food – bacon, fried eggs, omelette or scrambled eggs, breads, fresh fruit, cakes, croissants, fruit juice etc and they offer you as much coffee as you can drink and more. Dinner is served from 7 – 9:15pm which is also buffet style. The menu changes daily. There is a soup to start with, loads of salads, breads and meats then there is hot food which will be 2 meat dishes, a fish dish and a vegetarian dish. There is a great selection of desserts as they have cakes, jelly, crème caramel, fruits in syrup, Greek yoghurt with honey and fresh fruit. The only thing that is a bit naughty is that they charge you for drinks on your evening meal and the charges are high for what you get. A small bottle of beer (€3.60) and a small bottle of soft drink (€2.40) is €6 a day when you can get it in the shops for half the price but that’s just hotels being cheeky I suppose. Men need to wear trousers in the evening (not shorts). We had a look around the hotel and the reception area is large and bright and clean with marbled flooring. It has fabric sofas and large pieces of antique furniture as well as a large chandelier in the centre. There are 2 shops in the foyer – a jewellers and a newspaper/souvenir shop. The lady in the newspaper shop is so lovely. You can buy your local bus tickets in the shop for €0.80 each way and get the bus (no 10) into the old town or the bus station. The bus stop is just a short walk from the front of the hotel. The rooms are equipped with air conditioning, a hose hairdryer, mini fridge, TV, telephone, and a safe at a charge of €2.50 a day. We took our own travel kettle and iron. *Tip* – when you open the right side patio door the air conditioning goes off, when you open the left side it stays on – mad!! There are 2 swimming pools. I only went into the larger pool and be warned as it only shallow for a short time and then goes very deep. The area is kept clean and there are quite a few beds but you need to get them reserved with a towel after breakfast if you want an umbrella to stay out of the scorching sun as there aren’t that many umbrellas for the number of beds. There are 2 girls who provide most of the entertainment (animation). There is an itinerary of events throughout the day such as darts, French boules which they will attempt to ask you to join. In the evening they are back on again to do kiddie discos then quizzes and bingo which my husband felt is mostly aimed at the French guests. There was a magician on one night that was particularly good, he was on for about an hour and kept everyone’s attention. We really liked the hotel, the staff were lovely and can’t do enough for you and it was in a great location. The beach is 230 steps away from the hotel (yes I counted) so not far at all. They charge €4 per day for each sunbed with umbrella. There are many shops across the road from them if you need to stock up on food or drinks. There is a lady who comes onto the beach selling donuts which she claims are ‘very good good’, people selling portions of watermelon and a Chinese man and woman offering Chinese massage. There are no toilets on the beach but you are close enough to go back to your room or if you’re cheeky you could go into one of the bars opposite. There is a Spar round the corner to the hotel (to the left if the sea is behind you). The pavements are high, narrow and uneven – not good for people with walking disabilities or for pushchairs. Although this is a busy town it is clean. Timeshare people are a pain with their scratchcards. Our ploy was to walk past quickly and not reply to any of their questions. Rethymnon old town is lovely and has lots of restaurants and trendy cocktail bars on the approach. There are lots of touristy shops but they can be quite repetitive as every few along seems to be a jewellers, café, leather shop or pottery shop. We only went around the harbour twice as you only have a small space to walk around it and constantly get pestered to go into the surrounding café’s. If you want cheap gifts there is a €1.50 shop which has some of the same souvenirs that are in the regular shops at a cheaper price. You can get on the White train which leaves from the port and goes around the old town and past the castle, this was €6 each for 30 minutes. There is a Yellow Train which goes from Rethymnon to 6 locations. Each tour takes around 3-4 hours for €15 each. We went to Eleftherna, they journey was nice but the destination was boring. We got the bus (no 10) to Rethymnon bus station and got a further bus to Georgioupolis. There is nothing much to do there, just a few cafe bars, shops and a beach. We heard more English people speaking there than anywhere else we went to. It was really hot when we were there and on one display it showed that it was 41 degrees. We booked a Jeep Safari through our Cosmos rep Sarah at a cost of €68 each including hot lunch and drinks with meal. Well worth the money as it is a really good day out. You go out in a group in an 8 seater 4x4 Landrover with an English speaking guide (we had George who was hilarious). He takes you to see vultures, to a local taverna, then you go off road which can be bumpy and you go to a lovely quaint village called Spilli and then round the mountain roads to a beach called Preveli Beach. When you get to the beach there is a 15 minute trek up and down a mountain to the beach or a beach before the trek which we should have gone to as it was scorching. They give you over an hour on the beach and then it’s time to trek back up and down the mountain to meet at the taverna for lunch at 2pm. After lunch we headed back and on the way stopped off at a gorge with magnificent views. We were picked up at our hotel at 9:15am and returned to the hotel at around 4pm. It was a great day. There is a market on a Thursday and Sunday at the port on the approach to the old town. We went and it wasn’t worth the trip. It was messy and not big. I could get a better variety at home for a similar price so I bought nothing which is very unlike me. Oh yeah………. watch out for that moped!!!!

This was our first 'all inclusive' hotel stay. We found the food selection (variety) and freshness to be good and the availability very generous. The staff were friendly and helpful, some even chatting and joking with the guests (yes, even the all-inclusive guests). Contrary to what some other reviewers have reported, we did not notice any difference in the staff's attitude toward us. The rooms were well maintained, average European sized rooms (I've had MUCH smaller!). The rooms have a double set of double paned windows so street noise was negligible. The hotel is located in two separate buildings each with its own pool. Neither pool is particularly large, but they are certainly large enough for you to swim a few strokes to cool down from lying in the sun. The deck surrounding the main building's pool was large with lots of sun beds, chairs and umbrellas. It was also nicely landscaped with a multi-tiered garden along the far side and large potted plants and vines for shade. They also have a very good ayurvedic massage therapist on site. This hotel is well located - just a couple of blocks from the beach so it's close, but not so close that you're kept up all night with the noise. Being away from the beach also meant that parking wasn't a problem. It is about a 15 minute stroll to the old part of town and the port. We enjoyed our stay and would recommend this hotel to others.

Reading reviews before we came out (we are currently staying at this hotel !) I couldn't understand the conflicting opinions of the service from the hotel staff ? I can see first hand now that SOME of the staff really don't like the All Inclusive guests they think they are above serving this rabble -there are exceptions Angelika and Manolis the Pool Bar guy are fine but several of the older restaurant staff cannot even bring themselves to say Cala Mera to all inclusive guests !

The hotel is a 4* in Greek standards so for our Englist standards expect a 3*! The hotel lobby looks great when you walk in and you think great choice but unfortunately the rooms were quite basic, our phone and tv did not work (not that we stayed in our rooms alot!). The hotel facilities were fine, food was good with quite a good selection of foods. The hotel staff were friendly and were willing to help. My friend and myself went on an all inclusive basis, due to this we were not allowed in the "Daphne" Restaurant and to get our free drinks we had to be in certain bars at certain times which were situated on both complexes. During the daytime this was on the other complex and in the evening it was in the main part of the hotel. Plus the free drinks stop at 11pm. Generally the hotel was good - not sure if I would stay in that hotel again but who knows we picked up a great bargain and really to stop being British it was worth the money spent. The town is great for couples and for people who do not want the hectic lifestyle like Malia, there is a great variety of bars and restaurants and the shops in the old town are beautiful (although some places can be a little pricy). We stayed around the beach everyday, great beach, sea is warm although a little rough at times but there are lifeguards that patrol every 100m and they like to blow their whistles when you have gone too far out (even though the water is only at your thigh at times!) When there is a calm day - it is great for swimming. If you want to escape the heat by the pool as there is no breeze definitely recommend going to the beach cos it keeps you cooler.

Rooms are OK although a little on the small side. Clean but nothing exceptional. Showers are badly designed which results in water covering large parts of the bathroom floor. Hotel is in two distinct parts with an underground/underroad corridor linking the two buildings. Pool a little small for a hotel of this size. No parking available in the hotel. Breakfast provided was a very disappointing selection. Would not recommend this hotel. We turned up unexpectedly and paid 115euros for one night B&B. It's too expensive for what it provides. Reception helpful when we arrived but then very disinterested and uncaring once they had sold us the room. We mentioned to Reception that we would be writing a review on this website but even that did not raise a smile or any politeness. All in all, a disappointing stay.

This hotel is no palace. We stayed there three nights from 15 July 2006. The rooms are basic, the furniture is black and chipped, the bathroom had a rusting mirror and dirty grout. The food was very poor both in quality and choice. We were on half board. The poolside snack bars are for the exclusive use of the all inclusive guests. We were glad to leave and will never go back. Everyone on our tour party agreed. I do not know how this hotel has a 4 star rating.

My friend and I stayed for a week in theartemis palace and found it to be just that....a palace! i cant believe anybody could have anything to say but praise! The bars, pools, food, and in particular the staff were amazing and the location of the hotel to the beach fantastic. My friend and I were told there would be good nightlife, and despite this not being entirely true we managed to find a fantastic bar called The Living Room which served the most amazing cocktails (and served by the most amazing waiters!) and a small but cosy greek club called Rock Cafe which played mainstream music until the early hours and satiated our need to go out and dance! For the standard of room, cleaning service and facilities this is a very good 4* hotel and charges a lot higher price via its own site than what we paid via hellenic holidays on t'internet. and us brits do like a bargain! only tip for hotel is sack the night time organist...its painful...yet comical! enjoy your stay if you go and take advantage of the fantastic food!

We have just returned from a week at the Thearamus Palcae Hotel in Crete and were soo disappointed, the food was terrible, the service poor and the rooms left a lot to be desired for a 4 star hotel. I will never be back, such a dissapointment.

We (my husband mum,dad and myself) travelled to crete 23 july 2006. Our hotel was the Theartemis Palace Rethymnon. On our arrival we were quite tired due to an evening flight and although our rooms were nice we were placed at the front of the hotel which does face a very busy and very noisey road we werent very happy, but on reflection the balcony doors cutout most noise but was nt the best view to sit on the balcony with glass of wine! They did offer to move us later in the day but we had settled in by then and chose to stay. The hotel has guests of many nationalities and not many british which was nt a problem just gentle banter as world cup matches were played! We were all inclusive and we cant fault the food or service and the cocktails went down very nice too. A new girl organising the animation had just started so she was just finding her feet a lovely girlbut can talk for england!!! Evening entertainment was alittle tame was the same man each eve on organ but after drinking free booze all day he seemed quite good! Wed greek night was very good and a must for everyone to get up and joinin the dancing. There were two pools one at the main building and one over the road at th annex we prefered to go there as it was the all inclusive bar the pool was lovely not much sunlounger room but this made it quiet and very peacefull, beach is only a few minutes away and stretches on forever it was beautiful. IF All inclusive ask for a packed lunch and head for the beach. Rethymnon is a beauiful place, nice shops, fabulous restraunts, beautiful harbour and hot weather. enjoy.

My husband and I stayed at Theartemis Palace from June 13-June 27th and had a great time. We paid extra for a room with a pool view, which I think was worth it (could also see the sea). The bedroom was airconditioned which was essential as weather was apparently exceptionally hot for June - around 32C in the shade! Hotel is kept spotlessly clean, sheets changed 3 times a week! There is a fridge in the room, good sized bathroom, and large balcony. The pool is a good size. My only complaint would be there could have been more sun umbrellas, although plenty of loungers with matresses. It takes about 2 mins to walk to beach, and about 15-20 mins to get into the Old Town/harbour. Depending on which operator you go with, its either half board or all inclusive - in 2 separate restaurants. We were on half board, everything on buffet basis, so perfect. Extremely wide choice at breakfast - and dinner. Waiters clear your tables, and bring you your drinks. There is a young girl from Belgium who is the Animator - she organises sports in the day and the evening entertainment. I did water aerobics, water polo and stretching class. Didn't join in the evening entertainment as not our thing - bingo, quizes, etc - mainly older couples. Live music some nights, chap on organ and electric guitar. Can definetely recommond this hotel and the resort. l.