Olympic Palace Hotel

1 reader found this review helpful

I just got back from a week at Olympic Palace Hotel with my boyfriend and loved it.
The hotel is perfect, very modern and clean, our room was lovely, modern, and cleaned every day. We must have been lucky enough to have a renovated room without paying extra, because on our last day we had to check out at 12 and were given a courtesy room in the evening to shower before out flight, and it was clearly older and nowhere near the standard of our room.
However, it was still spacious and clean, just not quite as modern or luxurious.
We had a large balcony also in which we could see both the pools and sea.
We were half board as that was our only option. Breakfast was lovely with lots of choice at the buffet, but we only had dinner once..however if you don't want dinner you can have lunch instead, you just have to let them no the day before!
Ixia is small but nice, a selection of bars and restaurants..a lot of the bars do play sports and soaps, but if you do';t want to see them there are places that don't, or you can just sit outside!! There is a lovely Itailan restaurant right at the end of the strip of Ixia which we ended up at 3 nights!
The beach at Ixia is small and not great, so I wouldn;t recomment the hotel if you are a beach person! However the beach at Falaraki is supposed to be lovely and that is about 30mins away on 2 buses.
You must visit Rhodes Town if your staying here, it's a lovely place with restaurants, cafes and plenty of shops!! The bus stops right outside the hotel and only takes 10-15mins, or you can get a taxi..however this is obviously the more expensive option, unless there are a few of you..we found it best to get to the bus stop and try find someone to taxi share with!
Only bad thing I could say about the hotel is that drinks are quite pricey..however the bars down the road are much cheaper so try them instead!
Loved it and would recommend it to anyone!!!!

3 readers found this review helpful

We stayed at the Olympic Palace hotel the last week of july for 7 nights. Due to air strikes in France we were delayed at Bournmouth Airport and didn't arrive at the hotel until around 11.30ish. We were immidiately upgraded from Montain view room to Sea view room (well pool view room). We showered, unpacked and changed and immidiately went out to investigate the hotel and surrounding area getting back quite late to our room around 2.00am.
Our room was on the second floor room 203 and had everything you need in a room, bed, bathroom, balcony thats all you really need as you only really sleep and change there. We always used the stairs when going out or comming back as the hotel only had 4 lifts and a bit unpredictable at times.
There were 4 pools at the hotel 1 inside pool which was hardly or if ever used and 3 outside 1 baby pool and two reasonable sized pools. We were always able to get a sunbed at anytime of the day. The entertainment team were friendly and were always trying to get people involved in stuff like water polo and table tennis. We didn't particapte as we like to relax when we are on holiday, although saying that i did participate in the water gym which was quite fun.
There is a small gym at the hotel. When i say small i mean small it consists of 2 exercise bikes a running machine, stepper machine free weights, and a weight machine. There is no air conditioning in there so it gets very hot.
The beach is across the main road from the hotel and can be quite difficult to cross at times. The beach is narrow and quite stoney (buy some beach shoes they are sold in all the shops along the strip) as the water is gorgeous and the further you go out there is sand. You pay 4 euros each for a sun bed and you can use it all day. There is a nice wind that you get on the beach, but be warned keep slapping on the sun cream otherwise you will burn. You can do all sorts of water sports on the beach such as jet bikes and wind surfing.
Ixia itself isn't that big, there are a few resteraunts and taverners and a couple of shops. If you go out to eat head for the bars and not the Greek resteraunts as they are quite expensive. The FBI bar and Luna's resteraunt have free wifi and are very friendly. The guy behind the bar at Luna's is Greek/Canadian and very friendly. The guys at the FBI bar are very freindly and greet you like old friends and always remember what you were drinking from the night before.
Take a trip to Rhodes old and new towns as there is more to see. The bus cost 2.10 euros and the taxi a little bit more at 6 euros. Busses are every 15 minutes and they stop directly outside the hotel. They can get very busy in the evenings though and you have to press the bell when you want to get off although they do call out the names of the hotels as they pass them.
The resteraunt was large and we always managed to find a table. There was no real variation of the food at all, they did provide menus on the tables a couple of days but they only had 2 items to chose from and even those were hit or miss. I ended up eating salads every day and they were very nice.
Rhodes old town is very quaint with lots of cobbles and alleyways. We found a lovely family run resteraunt and our food was lovely costing around 27 euros and they gave us a free desert. We went to Jason's in Ixia and paid the same price for a Greek Meze which consisted of frozen fish fingers and the service was no where near as good. There are lots of wild cats and dogs running around the place.
We went to Butterfly Valley but didn't do this through the rep, you can get a bus on the oposite side of the road to the hotel and although you have to go into Rhodes town to get the timetable its worth it as the bus does not run regulary. We paid 22 euros return for the 2 of us. The valley is great to wander round and is out of the sun so you get a nice breeze. It does get very busy there though during the afternoon. Lots of butterflies to be seen and other wild life also. There is a small gift shop and a cafe for when you need a drink or ice cream.
We took a trip to Turkey and went to Marmaris bizzaar. We got picked up at 7.05 from the hotel and then had a 2 hour boat trip, the boat was very busy. Be warned you can get the trip cheaper if you just go to the port and arrange it youself its almost half the price. (don't forget your passports though). The organised trip takes you to the usual places first like a turkish delight factory carpet come jewellery shop were you get the local patter. My husband brought me some jewellery and i nearly brought a handbag as they say genuine fake, but i could get the man down to what i wanted to pay so i didn't bother in the end. I love haggling its a bit of an art. If you don't want them to bother you tell them its your last day and that you are camping they will think you are poor and leave you alone.
The Roof top bar we never actually ventured up to, but you can apparantly get a great view of the sunset from there, we watched it from the beach. The piano bar is off reception and they literally had a man with a keyboard playing songs so we didn't bother going there either.
The hotel is very nice and the staff are very friendly, but i don't think that i would come back to this hotel to stay. Although its a 5* hotel i would say that it is more of a 3* hotel if that.

4 readers found this review helpful

Excellent service! I would like to thank all staff from the Olympic Palace Hotel that made our holiday special.
We were lucky to recieve an upgrade to one of their newly renovated rooms. We were all left breathless to the level of comfort. Thank you!

1 reader found this review helpful

on arrival we had no info given of the welcome meeting, we attended by chance. The rooms were ok but we were expecting better, walls were painted concrete with clear discolouration in patches. we were lucky and had a clear sea view others were not so and were looking at a close cliff side.We were half board, the food was ok but over the week got a bit tiresome eating the same things. The major problem was the lack of sunbeds around the pool. In our week we never got one. it seemed that people kept the towles on all week, i went down at 6.00am and they were all taken.The same people were on the same beds every day, we sat on plastic chairs all the time. this enraged me as half the time no one was using the beds just towles draped over them.
the resort of ixia is a bit boring and we found the beach full of litter and beach was shingley. plenty of beds available on the beach. Rhodes town is only 10 mins away by taxi which is the only way to get around, they were excellent. the trips were expencive and a bit long winded, on & off the buses all day.Although the guides for the trips were excellent we found Rhodes town a bit dirty.
I will be giving Rhodes a miss from now on.

2 readers found this review helpful

I have just returned from this hotel with my two daughters. We met up with family whilst there and first impressions were the hotel is nice, quick check-in and excellent service regarding the maids. Room was very basic, not 4star, however a small part of the hotel was 4star as friends were staying there. It looks like a part has been added and the rooms are beautiful, I think they need to re-vamp the hotel completely with the rooms. The entrance is beautiful and it s very clean. Food ok but too much of the same every night, apart fro the 'baclava' - lovely! Staff friendly but the service in the buffet poor, they did nto clear the tables unless asked. Road very busy , they need a crossing for people , otherwise someone will get run over... Lifts very small and took ages to come. Reasort nice not for anyone who wants lots of action, But I liked it , especially if its a rest your coming for. I would go again but maybe not to this hotel. If they revamped it I would return..

1 reader found this review helpful

Definately been on better holidays!
The hotel, although very nice in parts (such as, lobby, pool area), was a bit of a dissapointment for one with a 4-star rating. The problems myself & my girlfriend incurred were: Staff were occasionally quite short with you, food (although plentiful) was not great & rooms were not small & dark (my girlfriend said she felt like she was in prison cell!) On the plus side, the animation staff were fun & kept people entertained!
The beach was very shoddy (a lot of construction vehicles about!), and the area (with the exception of 1 or 2 places), was not up to much!
We went on visits to both Faliraki & Rhodes Town which helped pass the week away, but although they're not a million miles away, you wouldnt want to be travelling out that far every day to keep yourself entertained!
To sum the resort & hotel up - it was manageable, but one i wouldnt recommend for the price you will pay (Thomas Cook service also very poor). It is the type of place the more mature people would prefer as it is quiet, but younger people like myself would not find enough to keep them entertained!

Our stay at the Olympic Palace was great, having 4 daughters aged 18/14/12 and 10
we felt there was enough entertainment for all. The animation team were great fun
and the food and service was excellent. In addition on half board if you did'nt want to
dine in the evening you could opt for taking lunch instead of Dinner so this gave us
flexibility to dine out in the evening. The rooms whilst basic were clean and the maids
were friendly, we had two sea view rooms but there were a number of complaints from
some people who had a mountain view room and the rooms they complained were very
dark....... There was easy access to Rhodes town centre and it did'nt cost very much in a taxi. The pebble beach accross the road should be given a bit of a miss not very
clean but if you go out a bit further you can find great beaches and whilst Falaraki has
a bit of a reputation, in the day it was lovely and the beach sports were great.... Try out the water park that was great fun. One of the quick lessons we learnt was it was cheaper to book your own excursions yourself, we had a price from the Tour Operator
for a trip accross to Turkey upon further investigation at the Port we found we could do
the exact same trip for half the price. We know it was the exact same trip as our tour
operator was also on the ferry with a group of people, we gave the turkish rug place a miss and walked straight to the Markets, so if you do go on the bus tour as well remember you won't really have much time to shop and have a relaxing lunch.

1 reader found this review helpful

We arrived after a night flight and my immediate reaction to the room we were allocated was utter disappointment - it was dark (we did not ask for a sea-view) and very basic.
However, after a short sleep, later in the morning the sun was shining and although the "mountain view" room was actually "mountain almost in your room view" I did change my mind about the hotel. We had a lovely week’s holiday and enjoyed beautiful weather, good food, and good hospitality.
Ixia is hideous - just a main road with cafes owned by English people showing football and soaps on large screen TVs. The beach is shingle and is across a main road - so you take your life into your own hands! However, if you read up on the area before you book you can find this all out and if you really want a beach holiday then don't go to Ixia. But, if you want a great hotel then come here and make sure you ask for a sea view.
DO NOT MISS RHODES OLD TOWN! Get a taxi there and go in the evening when it is dark - it's beautiful. We went three times and loved it. If you like to go on excursions then don't book through your tour operator (sorry - but they cost so much more than the local tours) go out the front of the hotel and turn left - a short distance across the road you will find a precinct of shops etc and here is a company which does the same excursions as your tour operator at a much lower price.
We booked three tours and had a fab time. The only tour I regret is the Island of Symi - the island was gorgeous but we had to endure a very long ferry trip to get there and back - don't bother unless you are happy to waste most of the day on the ferry!

Having visited this hotel on numerous occasions over the past ten years I can only sing its praises. This is old fashioned Greek hospitality at its best.
The reception is excellent, dining room excellent, thanks to head waiter who cant do enough to please. Rooms on second floor need to be updated but the space makes up for lack of decor. If on half board you can always have lunch instead of dinner and food is always served hot.
Pool area great ! Have visited other hotels in area half board/all inclusive but this is most definitely the best. Many thanks to reception, hello to Pari, George & staff in dining room. We'll be back!