Palace Hotel

Just a few words which i hope may help people thinking about going to the Palace Hotel in the future. EXCELLLENT CHOICE!
I spent 2 fantastic weeks with my friend there last year and i'm definitely going back! We loved the location, the rooms were exactly what we needed, the food served at the snack bar was delicious and reasonably priced and the owners were great - very friendly and helpful! The rooms are extremely clean and the pool area is fabulous - emormous pool, plenty of sunloungers and umbrellas for everyone and chilled out music.
Anna and her family who own the place clearly take pride in what they do and have guests coming over again and again, obviously because of the friendly atmosphere, all the guests got to knew each other and had a great time!
It was one of my best holidays ever, and i recommend the Palace Hotel to any one going to Malia without a second thought!
Oh! One more thing! BEWARE! The brochure and the website are SOOOOO misleading! It is NOT a young and lively hotel, or an 18-30, or 20s, or wild or ....! It is a family run hotel with minimum noise and vandalisms tolerance. Perfect for a laid back holiday...

Just a few words which i hope may help people thinking about going to the Palace Hotel in the future. EXCELLLENT CHOICE!
I spent 2 fantastic weeks with my friend there last year and i'm definitely going back! We loved the location, the rooms were exactly what we needed, the food served at the snack bar was delicious and reasonably priced and the owners were great - very friendly and helpful! The rooms are extremely clean and the pool area is fabulous - emormous pool, plenty of sunloungers and umbrellas for everyone and chilled out music.
Anna and her family who own the place clearly take pride in what they do and have guests coming over again and again, obviously because of the friendly atmosphere, all the guests got to knew each other and had a great time!
It was one of my best holidays ever, and i recommend the Palace Hotel to any one going to Malia without a second thought!

The owners although being a little bit strict on noise levels were lovely!! They would get up at any time without question to let you in after a late night on the strip and on our last day whilst waiting for our coach to the airport they gave us free food and drinks!!
I agree the rooms are very basic, but cleaned to a decent standard!! The food by the pool was lovely, including some gorgeous authentic greek salad!!
There was 8 of us girls who went with our lad mates staying at a different hotel, so everyday our lad friends would come spend the day by our pool as it was better than theres and the owners were very welcoming!!
Overall had an amazing time, and couldnt of asked for a lovelier family to stay with x

Well. Let me begin by saying that it’s true what people say about the www – you can never trust the people on it! It’s a good thing I never make my decisions based on what others think! I have been to the Palace with my partner three times and we consider it to be our Palace too! It is a family run hotel and Anna and her family are the most hospitable keepers. It’s such a relief that there is a quiet place away from the madness of Malia. We love the beaches and I could practically live on greek salad and kleftiko but I don’t think I could ever stay in one of those youth hostels in the centre of the town! The location is ideal in that we were far away from the glaring lights and the ranting noise of all the clubs but still close enough to, well… everything!
We were last there in late July and we stayed for a fortnight – still missing it! We arrived at about 4 their time and Anna was up waiting to check us in. Another couple we travelled with stayed next door to us and both rooms were spotless. We had the sheets and the towels changed twice a week with maid service almost every day – I think not on Sunday. Yes, there is no shower curtain but no other hotel we’ve been to in Greece ever had one! The rooms were big enough for the two of us with plenty of storage room.
The pool area is great! It’s always clean with sun loungers and umbrellas and you can literally soak up the sun from the very early morning. Anna’s husband (Staforos or something!) sweeps the pool in the evening and keeps it clean.
The breakfast served is continental of course (bread, jam, butter, ham, cheese, orange juice, coffee or tea) but who would expect a proper fry-up at a B&B for free? At least the bread IS fresh and you get more than enough of everything. Apart from that, they serve tasty toasties, full English, chips with stuff (go for the “absolutely sinful” chips-bacon-cheese!) and omelettes, burgers, pizzas, salads, ice creams, milkshakes, beer, soft drinks to name a few, all reasonably priced.
Last but surely not least, it felt great to know we could ask Anna, her husband and their daughter, Maria, about practically anything! They would always greet us with a smile and were up for a chat at all times! When we needed directions they helped us out, they called the doctor for me when our friend wasn’t feeling well (she was pregnant), and Anna even lent me her iron.
Needless to say, there are so many drunken idiots out there so they had to make sure the hotel didn’t get demolished and that everybody was ok. The first week we were there, two girls tried to bring back some random guys, and the drunken louts smashed the front door as we were told around the pool the next day. If you still want to party at 5 in the morning, why on earth would you go back to the hotel and spoil it for everyone? Stay out and sing your heart out! Have some respect for us already in bed! Or stay in one of those “escapades” hotels – plenty to choose from – and leave the Palace to us “oldies”! (29, 34)
It’s a long review I know but I’m glad to get it off my chest - thumbs up for the truly Palace Hotel and for the nicest Greeks I’ve met!

Just got back from holiday in Malia. Hotel was quite nice, the rooms were adequate size. Small balcony but with table and chairs. Shower room was a good size, no shower curtain but a drain in the floor so doesn't matter if floor gets wet. I felt the toilet etc was clean but they obviously hadn't cleaned into the corners. I stayed with my partner, 2 single beds pushed together, a bit annoying.
The cleaning lady came in while I was in the shower and my partner still in bed to empty the bin! They only changed the sheets at the start of the week and as we went to the beach most days our bed got quite sandy. Showers only hot for a couple of hours on cloudy days. I found they stayed luke warm until the next day on sunny days.
The beach was great but a long walk especially as it's down narrow pavements that the pubs use to put tables and chairs on and you have to fight your way through a road full of bars and restaurants who all want you to come in. At night they are very pushy and frequently dragged my partner into their pub/club even though we stated no and I had to rescue him! The sea was so clear and warm even in October. There are lots of hotels with swimming pools backing onto the beach which will let you use their pool. There was a particularly nice German one just past the Bikini bar with a pool big enough to actually swim in. All the pools are freezing cold but you can get used to it.
The organised trips were good that you pay for separately. Definitely overpriced as you still have to pay to get in once you arrive, although having said that it is normally quite cheap to get in. We had a very knowledgable guide called Veta who spoke very good English. The 2 trips I went on were the Minoan Highlights and BBQ boat trip to Spinalonga which were both great.
I would highly recommend the first taverna that you come to when you walk left out if hotel. They were very friendly and food very tasty and authentic. There was nowhere I found as good as this even in the supposedly traditional Cretan village that we visited. Their food was reasonably priced, they gave us free shots with 1 of our meals (we went there 4 times!), and they didn't stand on the street trying to make you come in.
I would just like to mention that our rep booked us on the wrong day for 1 of our trips, it was booked for after we would have gone home! Luckily I noticed 30mins before and the hotel owner kindly rang up and spoke to them in Greek and a trip that was going that day was rerouted to pick us up.
I think I'm writing too much now although I could say a lot more but I would recommend this hotel to anyone who might want to get some sleep at night. As long as you don't mind slamming doors that is as you can hear everyone coming back in especially if they happen to leave their balcony door open! Otherwise ok hotel.

All I can say is that if you are young and looking for a lively holiday DO NOT go here. The rooms don't have a fridge or air con. You aren't allowed to bring your own food or drink in to the hotel everything has to be bought there. You can't play the music loud and we discovered that for every room it is the same key so anyone could go into your room. We went out one night but I forgot something so went back straight away and found the owners in my room!! It is definitely not young and lively so if you are planning for a lively holiday DO NOT go here. The owners are the cheekiest people I have ever come across!!!!

I went with my boyfriend for fairly chilled out holiday. Saw the picture in the brochure and thought the hotel looked cute. My first thought when we entered our room was I can’t believe how basic this is, or words to that effect.
The room consisted of a small double bed, 1 bedside table and another table. There was a set of plastic patio furniture on the balcony but the balcony was long and very narrow. There is no air conditioning but you can hire a fan for 15 euros a week this does help during the nights. The hotel does not hire fridges.
The bathroom /shower room (there was no bath), just a shower tray with a shower head on the wall above. This meant that the bathroom got completely soaked every time you had a shower. Although, there was always hot water – sometimes too hot.
The breakfast was a basic continental breakfast consisting of a slice of ham and cheese for each person, jam and a few of slices of bread with orange juice and either tea or coffee. (Due to the fact we liked lying in we missed breakfast for most of our holiday!)
The pool area was nice, always tidy. The food served around the pool is nice but limited. There are only so many times you can eat a cheese and ham toasties.
The owners were friendly and helpful, my boyfriend broke his foot while we were out there and they would ask how he was and would ring a taxi for us.
There were a couple of things the owners were strict about. The noise levels, this is partly to do with the fact that they live downstairs. Also, you can only purchase food and drink from them to eat by the pool, they didn’t sell things like crisps and chocolate or normal snacks. The pool bar menu consists of chips, toasties, omelettes, hamburgers etc... The ice creams they sell were very nice though.
The brochure said you were about 5 minutes from the centre of Malia, this was more like 10-15 minute walk while dodging cars, taxis, quad bikes and scooters.
The hotel is situated on the main road through the north of the island and gets very busy at certain times of the day resulting in traffic jams where the drivers usually sit and rev their engines and beep the horns to no effect. The main road is about 10-15 feet from the wall of the hotel by the pool.
Overall the hotel is very basic, but what do you expect from a 2* hotel. The room was adequate for our needs would have liked a little bit more, for example ability to hire a fridge would have been very useful. The owners Anna and her daughter Maria were very helpful and always friendly.

Where on earth do I start? This hotel was a cross between Alcatraz and an 18th century boarding school! Admittedly, me and my friend were not expecting much as many Greek hotels are very basic and have been to Malia before, but this place was a joke!
Room was clean-ish, but then again, it was the size of a matchbox so you would expect it to be. The cleaner strolled in when she wanted, even when we asked her to come back later she carried on 'cleaning the bed', and when I say cleaning this consisted of rubbing her fingertip down the side of the bed frames (whilst we were in bed) and then folding the dirty towels and sheets up - I say dirty as I don't think these were changed all week! Bathroom was tiny, with no window or ventilation!
Oh and there are also a few notices around the room basically telling you if you make much noise etc you are likely to be deported, have the police called, be evicted etc. All very welcoming as you can imagine!
As the hotel is so tiny it is impossible to sleep as you could hear a pin drop in the room next door, and LITERALLY all of the doors slam! So even though the hotel is in a good location you would probably get a better night's sleep lying in the middle of bar street!
Whilst we were there almost everyone had a warning for some reason or another - the main offences seeming to be door slamming and drinking water not purchased from around the pool! Even though there are only 2 floors in the hotel, during our stay, the entire 2nd floor had a warning for being noisy and were threatened with eviction!
The daughter however was quite pleasant but the two parents were extremely miserable and seemed to seize every chance they could to get money out of you - some people were even 'fined' for breaking certain rules!
There is no luggage room to leave your cases if you have a late flight. We had to be out of our room at 12, and were not being picked up until 1.15 the following morning - so our cases were just left hanging around reception all day meaning we couldn't go far. This was pretty boring considering there is absolutely nothing to do in this hotel. The bar was closed and 'lights out' was around 9pm!! They wouldn't let us keep our room on, and there were just two grubby little shower rooms in reception which you can barely turn around in. We had to dry our hair etc actually in the reception - oh and of course we got the evils for having the hairdryer on!
Would definitely go back to Malia again but under no circumstances stay at this hotel. Stay at Sarpidon or Kristalli!!!! I think the only good point was the cheese & ham toasties from by the pool!

Well, before I went I read all the comments and would of hoped to of gave it a better rating as I am not a judgmental person but I was really disappointed, as someone said they were like parents, on 2 occasions me and my girlfriend got stopped as they thought I was bringing her back! Well they should no who’s all checked in at hotel!
At a time went there was a major heat wave and a small fan had to do. Last morning I had mould on my bread, which I thought would never be true but it was.
Your so far away from action and you are regardless of what anyone says, next to the main road in Malia, a don’t no how anyone can say there not, its crazy the way the drive, you’ve got to look over shoulder all the time!
The pool is really clean and cold, and the rooms are always clean, even though the maid is pretty scary as she stares at you.
The food at the bar was nice but little over priced and was disappointed that we were facing on to a bit of work land which spoiled the view and at the back there was a building that was half built in your face with spikes on it, not a pretty sight but suppose you don’t see it all the time.
As for some one else’s comment saying they can here people, well a can say I couldn’t here people talking in bedrooms but could outside, and when the door slams in 1 bedroom then it echoes through all the building.
Our rep was hardly there, pretty much warned us away from lots of stuff, wasn’t there when we wanted too book water park(which I may add had millions of cockroaches in pool and the water kept switching off, everyone was disappointed in it)and would only be here 45 mins sometimes.
Anyway apart from that I had a good holiday, weather was amazing, nightlife really good, but to sum the hotel up it would be that is far away, clean, and very basic rooms and breakfast, but cant expect loads with 3 star or 2 star whatever it is but I will choose better next time.
Would recommend Malia but no this hotel.

The Palace Hotel is lovely, I stayed there with my friend for two weeks. It's really clean and it's family run. The family were really nice and helpful. It's about 10 mins away from the night-life so you're not too far away and not too close. The pool and surrounding area are always clean, you get fresh towels and sheets most days and the maid cleans every day apart from a Sunday.
The food from the pool bar is priced reasonably and is all home made. Most of the restaurants are on the main strip, which is to your right of the main Malia road and to the left is the old town which would suit more family orientated people.
I would definitely go back. The holiday was lovely except for a group of middle aged men who thought they were teenagers, diving in the pool and banging about at stupid o'clock.
Overall a great holiday - recommend it to young people.