Village Panorama Hotel

We arrived at the airport early hours of the Morning and jumped in a cab which cost 35EUR and took around 20 minutes. On arrival at the hotel we were welcomed by Yiannis the night receptionist... he is very friendly and made us feel very welcome, I have to admit i paid for a sea view room as he showed us the room and i could tell even in the dark that it was a beautiful room, I was not dissapointed!! ( Also some rooms have a lot of ivy and plants all over the balconies and this is where the mosquitos hide so you are guaranteed to get bitten more! We were told by Yiannis that the Aircon in the room would cost 5EUR per day but we didnt find that we needed it at all...
Now onto the food - I have to admit that it was worse than i thought, I am ot a fussy eater but i would say that you should try to fill up on breakfast and lunch and go down to the beach for a cheap meal in the evening as it is ok for a few days but when you are not sure what it is you are eating it does get a little much to eat. We also had a couple of instances with pink undercooked burgers.
Although the food was not that good for the money we paid the all inclusive drinks are grest as you can have all the soft or alcoholic drinks you want tos 12 hours a day...
The staff were all very friendly apart from 1 english barmaid who works in the evenings and is incredibly stroppy and very rude!! there is a 1 drink per person at a time rule there and you cant have more that 1 drink at a time but this is not that much of a problem unless there is a big queue at the bar.
The entertainment in the hotel is fantastic... Peter the entertainment man has 1 day off and apart from that he is on the go all the time he is fantastic energetic and gets everyone involved... even i got involved so he must be good! My boyfriend got involved in the sports every day and this helped everyone sitting round the pool have a good chat and get on well, there is usually bingo every night which lasts about 30 minutes then onto the other entertaintment rainging from Movie quiz, some thing like Mr & Mrs, Oke Doke Kareoke and other things which are all good fun.
The location of the hotel is very quiet and it does take 20 minutes to walk down the hills to the main beach and shops and about 10 to walk to a quieter one which is beautiful (this one has a very steep hill which is hard to climb back up!) I would not recommend this to anyone with even slight walking problems but if you are able to walk and enjoy a laugh and are open minded i would highly recommend this hotel.
We had a fantastic restful enjoyable time

Okay here we go.
dispate having arrived at the hotel at 4.15am we were greeted by a very friendly gentleman named Yiannis on reception who as the hotel had only just re-opened the day before gave us the choice of rooms.
The room had a fantastic sea view and was very clean, with TV and a nice bathroom.
As we were a couple of the first to arrive on the new day of opening there were only about 20 quests for the first 2 days so it was like a family atmosphere where we all got on and formed some very nice friendships.
The food was of very good standard and there was a very wide variety at breakfast, lunch and dinner, and the chef always has a special going on on the hotplate.
the staff are very friendly and are there to help at all times from any problems that may occur, to booking your trips and getting taxi's for you. They will even confirm your booking back to the airport when you depart.
The Staff: Aris, what a pleasure he is, the most polite young man to work behind a bar that I have met on holiday for a long time, always smiling, having a joke and never to busy to talk, he also remembers as many peoples names as possible and what you drink. Although we went in May and probably not as busy as the summer months he ran the bar on his own from 10am till 1pm and would stay later if he had too. We cannot fault him and look forward to seeing him again.
The pool was very clean and by the middle of the week very warm, we played alot of water sports with the entertainment guy named Peter, he was very enthusiastic and would get everyone up to play games and join in which made it even more fun.
We would recommend this hotel to anyone and would definately go back, it is well worth the money.
Hello to anyone from the hotel that reads this from Jackie & Jackie and thanks for a great time. XXXX

I went to the Village Panorama in the last week that it was open, the hotel was the very basic but still was good for what I used it for. I went with my friend and her parents and we all seemed to have a good time, there was no entertainment so we made our own, the bar man Aris was a laugh and kept me and my friend smiling.
Everybody seems to talk about the food, the food wasn't that great so if you want a nice meal go down to the town, a few of the restaurants there do really nice food some traditional greek as well as a few english meals.
My time at the hotel was good as I wanted to chill by the pool, even went in a few times was freezing but very nice to get out of the heat.

Me and my boyfriend Charlie went here and first impressions were oooohhh its so pretty.
Walked into reception and the man was very friendly though did try to get us to pay extra for a luxury room with sea view which we didn't want to do, but the room we had was all right any way, as we are only gonna be sleeping and getting showered in there you really couldn't moan.
Food was not all that good, but there is fresh bread, salad and pasta so there is something always to eat, but you have to bare in mind that this is a 3 star hotel!
Rooms are clean and ours was cleaned every day with fresh towels and sheets.
Pool was nice the view from the pool was nice, the location of the bar was perfect and view was nice there also.
Staff was really nice, the entertainer Coco was lovely and funny and was always there to get everyone going.
Entertainment at night was good as well, now I'm in my early 20's and I really enjoyed the quizzes and bingo, disco games, disco and good old karaoke which me and my fella had a good blast on! But whatever the entertainment Coco made it fun and gave us a good laugh.
Bar Staff Charlie and Aris was lovely, though found out that if you are planning to go in July/August time they're really busy and sometimes takes up to 20 mins to get a drink, so if you want to go here, October is the best time to go.
People with bad reports are the ones who go in July/August time so I do recommend going in that period. October was great weather for us and was in its 30's for whole two weeks we were there.
Also the hotel is on top of a hill and to get to the beach and the nice taverns you have to walk down a hill which takes about 10 minutes to walk down and about 15-20 minutes to walk up as its really steep.
We can actually say that we had a lovely time, and is a bargain for a 3* hotel and the price that we paid, food didn't put us off at all as the food near the beach is so cheap!
We met some lovely people, and can honestly say I would go again.

We went there expecting hell after reading some of the reviews on here. I can tell you now, most of it is a load of bull. Yes, the hotel is not the Ritz but you get what you pay for. Our room was OK and had a brilliant sea view! Our first couple of days were horrible weather wise but, boy did it make up for it. It just got better and better by the day.
The staff were friendly and nice especially the bar staff Charleen and Aris. We always sat by the bar in the evenings and it was a really good laugh. We met some very nice people as well. The guy who does the entertainment was very funny. His name is Kookoo and is famous for his "Oki doki Karaoke!".
We always went to the quieter beach and it was so peaceful. The views in the whole area are spectacular.
I would definitely recommend this holiday to a couple looking for some peace and quite and a bit of fun.

We booked a late deal and knew we'd probably get what we paid for, and that was exactly what we got. Rooms were clean and adequate. Staff were OK.
We are a couple who are always adventurous with our food and there is little we won't eat, but I do have to say we felt it necessary to eat out for at least half the holiday and had some lovely meals in Agia Pelagia - particularly Taverna Mythos. The food was a bit bland and boring and often the dishes didn't go together e.g. a tasteless Moussaka with mashed potato and cold sprouts salad! Desserts - Jelly & more jelly.
Overall a basic hotel made up to tolerable by the glorious sunshine. I wouldn't choose to go back or recommend to my friends.

Before I decided to write this, I checked what other people were saying. Just to check I wasn't going to be over the top about it. Basically everyone is saying the same thing and have been for the past year. If I had read the reviews first I would NEVER have booked this Hotel!
We landed at 2.10am Saturday, but then had to wait for another couple to arrive from a different destination. We finally arrived at the Hotel at 4.30am feeling very sick from the exhaust fumes from all the coaches waiting for their passengers in the airport car park.
Please Crete, up-date your airport for everyone's sake!
We asked for a sea view, which we got for an extra 60 Euros (for the view I was glad to pay this, but not for anything else). On the first day our plug (for the sink) broke, we asked at reception to have it sorted out, a man came the following day - letting himself in without knocking - I told him my boyfriend was using the bathroom and could he come back later, we never saw him again!
Our bedding and towels were not changed until Wednesday and that's only because I threw all the bedding & towels on the floor in the bathroom (the floor was by this time very dirty and wet as there was no shower screen or curtain).
Now, what can I say about the food - how many of you holiday makers been offered Brussel Sprouts for breakfast...YES, that's right...for BREAKFAST, then when no-body ate them, they were sliced up and put in a SALAD for lunch! Now' I’m not going to say anything else about the food because I think Brussels for breakfast say's it all!
The swimming pool look's really beautiful and inviting but not when you try and get in it...it's absolutely freezing cold, I mean really freezing cold considering the heat we had (38 degrees) I really thought the pool would warm up as the day went on...but alas not!
Not sure how they did it (maybe they kept it so cold so they wouldn't have to clean it, if nobody went in it). We were up by 6.30am most morning's and only saw the pool man twice all week...need I say more!
Entertainment...where oh where should I start! Coco the entertainer was great at the start of the week, did a Miss Panorama (which was really funny, but only thanks’ to the girls who took part - Well done Stephanie from Scotland) and a Mr Universe which was also very funny (again, thanks’ to the boys who took part - Well done Ian from Scotland) (you 2 and your crowd, especially James & Jo, made our week).
As for the Bingo, I never thought you could cheat at this game but how wrong was I. Coco; you should be ashamed of yourself! As for the bar staff - please get rid of them, they were rude, ignorant and very slow.
If you want a really good night out, get the 6pm bus down to Agia Palegia, have a wonder around the many lovely shop's and go for a wonderful dinner at any of the wonderful restaurants, personally I would recommend "Kri Kri", they are such warm and friendly people down there, it's only 7 or 8 euro's in a taxi back to the Hotel, unless you’re feeling energetic to walk up the hill.
As an overview - we did enjoy our holiday but that was thanks to the many lovely people we met throughout the week, so thank you to all of you.
Would I ever go back to Crete - YES Would I ever go back to Agia Palegia - YES.
Would I ever go back to Panorama Hotel - only if they made some BIG, BIG, BIG changes.

We went here on a late deal with our 11 year old daughter; we read the reviews and thought we would go for it. How wrong we were to go.
The positives-our room was good, sea views clean and quiet side of hotel. The staff were very nice apart from the entertainment team.
Entertainment-what a load of rubbish a young woman who invited the Polish to do everything and ignored all other nationalities. She danced with the kids for 4 dances a night and never smiled once. Leon was pleasant as long as you were buying his bingo tickets! We stopped cos the prizes were cheap tack and it cost 5 euros each for one game. He then became rude towards us. He repeats everything weekly and did his fire show 3 times while we were there.
Food-horrible, we are not fussy or a burger and chips family but after a few days struggled to eat it. Breakfast- bread, jam, hard boiled eggs, tinned sausages everyday.
Lunch/dinner pasta and salads then other strange concoctions, squid and spinach and rabbit stew some of the delights and desserts jelly or melon and grapes every meal everyday. No snacks or ice-cream on the all inclusive, drinks in small plastic cups all day and night.
The beaches are lovely the larger one more stoney but an easier walk to it not as steep but a bit longer. There are some lovely restaurants and bars.
When you get fed up with the hotel go into town and on the main street there is a kebab shop fantastis! Not like the Turkish ones we have. Try the gyros on a pitta you will go for more and they deliver to the hotel on a scooter.
Finally if you take no heed of the warning take lots more euros so you can get out of the place to eat and ride a taxi back.

Having read good and bad reviews about the Panorama we decided to go with an open mind.
On arrival we were offered an upgrade to a better bedroom, but decided that we would rather pay for air conditioning than the room supplement.
Our room was typically Greek, basic, but spotlessly clean.
The staff were all very friendly and helpful, and the hotel facilities were fine. The location of the hotel is really for the fit and healthy as the steep walk up from either beach is really hard going, especially under a hot sun.
We never tried the swimming pool as we noticed that the sun loungers were far too close together, and we do like our own personal space.
What lets this hotel down is the food, it’s dire. They really should label everything as sometimes We didn`t know what some of the dishes were, and a couple of times even after trying something we still couldn`t put a name to it! An example is that one evening there were Brussels Sprouts on the menu, and the day after the leftovers were served cold as part of the salad.
There were a great number of Polish guests and the menu seemed to be aimed at them. They certainly piled their plates high, unlike the English guests.
We would not return to either the Panorama or Agia Pelagia, there are far nicer hotels and resorts in Crete.

This hotel on first viewing is absolutely amazing. Its part up a hill, kind of built on the edge of the cliff so all you can see from the views is 200 feet or so down to the water where the golden beaches and rocks live
The hotel itself is very nice, very clean, nice decor and gardens and generally friendly staff. The hotel is very family orientated and caters for all age groups from toddlers to teens.
The area is nice and quiet, being up a hill, but is along the main bus route east and west along the island so is easy to get to the main village and from town to town
The pools are very nice, always clean and it's very relaxing to lounge around. The food is amazing (but I love Greek food so maybe biased) and the drinks taste nice, rather than the normal watered down coke of other All Inclusive resorts
All in all I would recommend this holiday for any family as kids will be well entertained and the adults will enjoy the relaxing, laid back life of the Greeks!