Athina Palace Hotel

Poor service, poor food, poor entertainment and unhelpful staff. If that is 5* Crete style I am glad I never went 2/3*. Oh and I think I still owe them something at least that how I was made to feel despite spending a packet to stay in a room with a sea view which happened to be a tree.
If you like stale left over cheese and ham in bread, well you’re in snack heaven. Because that’s all, there was day in day out and if you fancy a late night drink, you had better buy one from somewhere. Because at midnight everything stops. Not that it started anyway, and one other tip don’t dare to sit any later than 9.45pm at your table after you have eaten or you will be thrown in the dungeon!
With it being a palace we thought we were going to treated like royalty well as Jim would say 5* my arse.

Do not stay here….EVER..!!!
This place was booked and advertised as a 4.5 star hotel. We visited August 2004.
These are the “features” which many others and I found by stopping here.
Meals
Every meal, every night is pasta or chips and basic meat. Flies are everywhere in restaurant, on one occasion 6 at once on my table. I accept that you get flies but no attempts are made to reduce them.
The Italian restaurant is open 3 nights a week and serves the same food as the one below but this one offers small slices of cold bland pizza and first goes at the stuff before it gets dropped into the trays in the standard restaurant.
Water is not free so prepare to pay for it.
They even serve Brussels and chips for breakfast. One morning my wife was told to go away when she asked her pancake to be cooked on both sides, as she didn’t want to eat the raw runny mixture.
Sports Facilities
There is no Gym. The indoor pool is closed and is never open. Sports Facilities consists of a locked empty office with a few cables on the floor.
The Bar
It takes on average 20 minutes to get served at the bar in the evening.
All Inclusive Snacks etc
All snacks (ice creams, sandwiches etc), are not all inclusive despite whatever info you have to the contrary. One guy argued with them and took some sandwiches, which he said were all-inclusive as per the brochure specified…Good for him and we all cheered. Until he was arrested by police for stealing sandwiches. He showed them to an Internet console and showed them the advertised info and charges were dropped.
Entertainment
There is nothing for children/teenagers to do apart from play around the pool in the dark and dangerous slippery steps. We entertained ourselves by queuing at the bar, attempting to find somewhere to sit or going back to our room and having an early night.
The Rooms
The bungalows are at best between 2-3 star.
One couple we talked to had not had clean towels or sheets at all during the holiday and indeed on the last evening had nothing and were waiting until after midnight to get sheets so they could sleep.
We booked a honeymoon 5 star suite and ended up with 2 single beds in an awful apartment with mismatching furniture, door that hung by 1 hinge and a shower that’s electrical switch dangled near the shower head as it was not screwed to the wall. It was the sort of room you’d expect by paying £200 and waiting to see where you were going to end up.
Standards do differ from country to country but this room didn’t even come close to anything more than 3 star.
Getting About
There are steps everywhere and you need to be a hardened walker to get anywhere here. One man with arthritis was given a room with over 100 steps up to complex, he complained and they said tough. He had to hire a car to take him to the restaurant at 40 Euros a day… 40 Euros a day to eat cold chips, brussel sprouts and covered in flies.
Taxis
Fees are expensive and vary depending how much they want to rip you off.
On site shop.
Not a bad shop but the shopkeeper maths were not the greatest, many occasions we had to point out that the change was wrong and he had charged too much.
Summary:
Go here if you are a sadist and enjoy misery and wasting money.
This is not a bitter review, this is how it was and how it compares to many places I have visited and travelled to.

Firstly I am suspect that this is a 5* Hotel - We were sold this as a 5* holiday and in our opinion it only warrants a 2* - 3* and no more!
We actually renamed this Hotel as Colditz because it was so remote, you couldn’t walk anywhere as we were so far away from the nearest town that you would have to pay for a taxi 15 euros each way, just to escape for a few hours At least when you got there you got a wonderful meal, served by friendly people, the sort of service we all should have had.
We are in total agreement with all the other comments made on this site, the food was diabolical, reheated and served up for breakfast the next day. Breakfast was described as American buffet style, since when do American people eat sprouts, carrots and green beans for breakfast? Also it states that there is international cuisine - that must mean Chips and plenty of German Sausages, repetitive - the same thing day in day out.
At no time was it mentioned that we would have to negotiate hundreds of steps to get to the restaurant for our meals and going to the beach was a nightmare down really steep hills or you could take your life in your hands and go in the minibus provided by the Hotel which had no side door and was well past it’s best.
In the evenings there was only 1 bar open with only 2 bar staff serving this caused lots of problems as it would take up to and over half an hour to be served, then later in the evening they would run out of glasses. There was supposed to be entertainment - where and when was that?
The gym that was described was non-existent with all the equipment removed with the room left empty. The indoor swimming pool was locked and so was the TV room. In fact there wasn’t a lot to do at this Hotel.
2 sets of honeymooners were telling us that they had been given SINGLE BEDS and when they complained the staff said we haven’t got any more double beds so we will push the 2 beds together and throw a double sheet over for you!! In the Hotel brochure it states - Honeymooners will receive special treatment and they assure you that it will be an unforgettable occasion - It definitely was for them!!
The staff were aggressive, rude and totally unhelpful especially the one that looked like "Nadia" and if you were treated like this in England then you would be marching orders!
So as you can see we did not receive 5* anything.

Athina Palace know as - A Thinner Prison - during our stay.
3/10 - 1 for the views, 1 for the pools and 1 for the weather!
Staff and management rude and unhelpful.
Accommodation 3 star at best.
Food disappointing - lunch and dinner the same each day.
Left over dinner vegetables (i.e. sprouts, beans, carrots etc) served at breakfast the next day!
Only one understaffed bar serving drinks in the evenings would often have to wait half an hour to be served as they would run out of clean glasses. No adult or teenage entertainment - not much for kids in the evenings either just two Pool Tables!
All inclusive snacks very poor choice of dry sandwiches or some rather poor looking Greek pastries, toasted sandwiches available but had to be paid for!!!
Beach was stone and grit, it is NOT a sandy beach and it is not a private beach, also accessed by hundreds and hundreds of steps or via a steep road, mini bus provided but did not run on time and would only accommodate 10 to 12 people so long waits in the hot sun!
NO MOTORISED WATER SPORTS available, just 3 pedaloes, a few canoes and sun beds all charged extra.
Beach bar a big disappointment - no snacks only dry rolls at cost of 3.20 euros!! Long haul back to the hotel for lunch!
Some advertised facilities were not available.
The hotel is built into a steep cliff and although it has beautiful views and some good pools it is in an isolated area and is only suitable for people who want to laze by the pool for one or two weeks!!
It is not possible to even take an evening stroll after dinner as there is nowhere to walk. A taxi or a hire car is essential even to visit the neighbouring village of Agia Pelagia - though worth the expense - 15 euros each way - as the food is very good and the local people friendly.
Not a resort I would return to even for free!!!

The hotel staff were rude. Our Air Con didn’t work and after a few days the Manager refused to send an Engineer and told me that if I complained again she would call the police.
There were no snacks or Greek specialities as advertised at the pool or beach bars only stale baguettes that you had to pay for.
The rooms were 3 star at best.
The only bar in the evenings is understaffed and there is no entertainment for adults.
The whole complex is built on a massive hill and to go anywhere you have to climb well over a hundred steps (i.e. to the restaurant / pool etc).
The food in the restaurant is the same thing lunch and dinner day after day and cold.
Every table needs clearing and you have to ask for this to be done and then wait a considerable time.
They do not have the a/c on in main areas of the hotel so there is no respite from the heat anywhere.
3 star at best and a meagre 3 out of 10.

The Athina Palace known locally as Alcatraz. Set on side of very steep hill accommodation is basic 3 star at best.
Many adult parties of 3/4 adults put in 1 room and made to pay substantial amounts for separate rooms -300 / 400 euros.
This complex connected by a labyrinth of extremely steep steps or long winding steep roads to negotiate every meal time and for the 1 bar in evening no adult entertainment. 3 bar staff and not enough seats. Half hour to get served.
Food is basic. Limited choice of snacks consist of stale curled ham and cheese, 1 tray Mousaka pie.
There is only 1 bus per day at 9.20 am to Heraklion returns at 2.30 pm .
Agia Pelagia village is nice and is very restricted. You need to be very fit to stay there. Ideal for pool lovers.

Athina Palace is the Worst Hotel I have ever been to.
*Terrible entertainment
*Terrible food
*The hotel is 20 miles away from Heraklion and the bus service is awful arriving ten minutes early and not stopping to pick anyone up. There is a service to the beach, which is ten minutes in the van. The hotel staff told us that it was a twenty-minute walk; it took us 4 minutes so the hotel staff lied.
Most people we spoke to on holiday where originally booked for somewhere else and was told by there travel agent they where going to be upgraded to a ***** star hotel. All these people regret going, everyone we spoke to will not go back to this hotel full of rude staff.
All Inclusive was rubbish, all the alcohol is watered down and unless you are paying for drinks you will have to wait to be served. The sea front is full of lovely restaurants and not the disgusting stuff you are served at hotel. Although the Hotel was a downfall the Greek folk who don’t live in the hotel are very friendly and the sights are beautiful. I had never seen such a sunset over the sea before as I did in Crete. I do not recommend this hotel at all, the entertainers don’t know what fun is!