Electra Palace

We paid £395 each (two of us 42, 58) for one week in mid September - having found holiday on teletext a few days before we left. You get what you pay for; not brilliant but quite good value for money. Hotel generally is large, over 300 rooms and although not full when we were there seemed pretty full and busy. Wouldn't fancy it much in August. We had to wait 5 minutes once for a table in the evening but then made sure we ate at less busy times The hotel has reasonably extensive grounds with a main block and an annexe ( 5 floors and 4 floors respectively). The pool is large and apparently new - roughly in a circular shape around an island and was never too busy (but the water always seemed quite chilly). There were plenty of loungers - although certain British guests were grabbing the loungers in the best positions early morning. The dining room is large, one side looking over the sea with other spacious public areas. One bar - just outside the dining room is open in the evening, another bar - the main bar where the entertainment takes place - is on an outside terrace open all day. There is also a small bar near the beach. The hotel is on the beach but the beach is poor. Sand and shingle and quite steep shelving into the sea (all pebbles). OK for strong swimmers but I would be a mite worried about kids. We love the sea but only went in once. My wife stepped on a sea urchin which we were told are common. I dont know as we did not try again. It seems rubber shoes are available in one of the shops. In fact, as a general comment, there seems to be a lack of really decent beaches on Rhodes. Sun beds on the beach cost Eur3 each. The hotel is on the West side of the island so is always breezy and whilst we were there, several days were very windy. The sea therefore becomes quite choppy. In the late afternoon this also made it quite cold when you came out of the pool. The other side of the island has calmer seas and a lot less wind. A shower is provided on the beach and showers are available at the pool. The rooms have everything necessary without any frills. Two single beds pushed together. Both matress and pillows are very firm. Irons are not available (safety hazard I was told) there is a hair dryer in the bath room, towels and sheets changed daily. Each room has a balcony with two chairs and a table, we were on the ground floor so no great views but it was fine. TV has 15 channels of which 5 are in German. The only English channel was Euronews (which is in fact a French owned channel) but some of the films on the Greek channels are in English. No shampoo or similar is provided, just soap. The safe costs Eur 10.50 per week which we thought expensive - it should have been free. Double glazing is fine so even though the hotel is under the flight path of planes landing at the airport 4 miles away it did not worry us at all. No room service. Small fridge useful for keeping water cold and so on. The food was average. Mostly quite bland, although plenty of choice. In our view it looked better than it tasted. Catering for this number of people is on a factory basis and for the price, one can not expect gourmet food! Having said that, there were always eggs for breakfast (scrambled/fried/boiled) with other hot dishes, together with salad, plenty of bread, yogurt cheese and so on. Orange juice is foul and tastes as though it was made from a powder. I think this is probably the point - cheap ingredients, cooked in cheap oil. At lunch and dinner there were always salads and always at least couple of meat dishes with fish most days. The restaurant is self-service buffet style and can get quite crowded. We got rather tired of the food and ate out several times. The red wine is as rough as old boots (and I can drink most things) although the white is palatable. Beer and mineral water are provided; they are fine but the other fizzy drinks are of mixed quality. The puddings were usually something cake-like and a flan or a jelly. We thought they were dire. The restaurant manager admitted that the food could be better and they are trying to improve but said it was difficult catering for 5 different nationalities and the chef, he said had been there 15 years. On the other hand, it could have been much worse. I did not hear of anyone having tummy trouble. Food is available in one form or another throughout the day so you will never go hungry although if you arrive after midnight like us you will have to go over the road to the bar which stays open late (and pay) Bar staff were great and worked efficiently. All drinks were locally made (Baileys is called Willys so you will get the drift). Some of what I drank tasted a bit odd, the brandy is cheap and rough but you can get used to it - it did not seem bother people much. The local cola is not too good. Cocktails it seems you have to pay for. We hired a car for 4 1/2 days at Eur 20 per day. Little Fiat, no a/c and well used but it was great - no excess on the insurance. No hesitation in recommending Galaxy Rent a Car - contact Tharrenos Tharrenou. They were the cheapest of 5 quotes and provided excellent service. The roads are poor and the signs are worse but driving was not too difficult. Other comments; late check out to 6.00 p.m. costs Eur 50 and even more if you wish to keep the room beyond that. There is however a baggage room and we were told a room you can use until 6.00 pm for a shower (which we did not use). Some of the older staff in the dining room and on reception were miserable and seemed to hate their job but others, usually the younger staff, were helpful and very pleasant. The hotel will not give you two card keys for the room but I perservered and got one. The entertainment is not up to much - a Spanish night and a Karaoke night seemed to be the most popular. During the day its tums and bums, pool exercises, volleyball and so on. Rhodes Town is a Eur 1.60 bus ride away - well worth a visit but very very crowded in the evenings. Buses go from the hotel three times a day (at inconvenient times) but the main road is 15 minutes walk which has a half hourly bus service. The hotel is perhaps a kilometre away from the main resort area of the village but there are a few bars and restaurants just outside the hotel. We liked Nichos bar - just to the left as you go out of the entrance. English is spoken everywhere Rhodes is not cheap in our view. The whole island is totally involved in the tourist industry so it is perhaps not surprising. Souvenirs, clothes, food, restaurants are in some cases cheaper but in other cases more expensive than here. For example, we had one meal in a recommended restaurant (we were told it was for Greeks away from the tourists) in the interior - stuffed mushrooms and baked fetta cheese (pretty simple and not very exciting) followed by lamb chops (delicious) and chicken both accompanied with sliced potatoes - a bottle of water and half bottle of red wine. The cost was Eur 45 including tip. Not a fortune but...... Even in the South of the island (worth a trip if you get a car) where there are relatively few tourists there did not seem to be anything we felt like buying. We are shoppers but brought nothing back at all apart from some local booze. Many of the towns in the North suffer from strip development - shops restaurants bars and eating places for tourists. Not very attractive. The countryside is generally clean, mostly olive groves and higher up conifers and at this time of year, very dry - but we had never seen a place with so many half built houses - concrete shells seemed to be everywhere. Lindos is probably worth a visit but the entrance to the acropolis on the hill (not a difficult climb) is Eur 6 with no guide, no explanatory literature provided and not even plaques on the wall. As my wife said, that's a lot of money to see a pile of rubble but the views are spectacular. Would we go back to the hotel? No Would we go back to Rhodes? No Nothing was bad about the place and other people obviously love it. We enjoyed our time but it just did not have anything we truly loved, nothing special. A week was quite sufficient and we were glad to get back.

My family and I stayed in this hotel for a week. The pool was great although you had to grab a sunbed early we even set the alarm!!!!!!! All staff are very friendly and can speak some English. The only draw back with this holiday was the nightly entertainment it was very dire and very amateur, in saying this the entertainment crew worked hard in the day with activites. All in all i would very much go back here without a doubt but i will be taking a pack of cards or dominoes for the evening.

Spent two weeks all-inc (Aug 2004) 2 adults and 2 kids (6+3) and really enjoyed it. Weather was great (not a cloud in sight), hot but breezy. Hotel was very clean (sheets changed daily), food was good and plentiful. Staff are nice, especially if you smile at them. The entertainment team are very patient with children. Don't worry about the airplane noise, you forget about it in a few hours. This is the sort of place where you want to go if you have kids - if you don't you might find it a bit too noisy.

we visited for a week A/I on 25th JULY 2004. we found the food v/good and the staff friendly.book your a-la-carte meal with the head door man at the restaurant, it is a superb meal but you pay for your wine.we visited rhodes town , the butterfly valley and the monastory/cross at filermeros,all worth it.rhodes town 8e,butterfly valley 16e,cross 8e by taxi, you can get bus to town for 1.60e each and back from butterfly valley for 3.60e each .only disapointment was the beach, very pebbley also very windy. great sunset at about 8pm sat on loungers.

I visited the Electra Palace Hotel at the end of July and it was the most fantastic hotel I have ever visited. Where can I start! The entertainment team was fantastic! Anyone going there soon please say hi to niki the best entertainer ever! Always with different shows in the evenings and activities throughout the day. The karaoke was totally fab! Water polo every day was great! so fun, even to watch by the poolside. And the club songs are great, absolutely everybody and cowboy! played in the morning and evening. everyone gets up to hav a dance, even leaving the pool! The pool is fantastic, the best iv had before in a hotel. Very clean and very very big! With bridges to swim under and walk over. Just a top pool! There are lovely gardens surrounding the pool to sunbathe in, with really comfy sun beds which was a plus. Also there were plenty to go around. Nice bar near the pool serving food throughout the day. Say hi to a very sexy waiter called reemus. Although the food was not brilliant, the drinks were good to have as all inclusive in the sheer greek heat! The rooms are lovely, we were lucky to get a room overlooking the great pool. cleaned daily very well, and were quite spacious. The beach was quite nice, however a bit pebbly but there was some sand there. Also a lovely large juccuzi next to the beach bar. Just outside there is a lovely bar called the Rainbow Bar. I strongly advise anyone goin to this hotel to go there. Many of the staff go there after work and they are lovely people. The bar owner is always there and is very generous with his free drinks! He is basically alistar meggowen!!! Jus go and see him, he is his twin! Also the hotel shop is cute, the lady there is lovely and often gave me money off! Basically IM SOOOOO JEALOUS OF ANYONE GOIN THERE!PLS WRITE BAK WITH A REVEIW FOR ME TO HEAR AND TELL IF YOU MEET NICKI AND REEMUS AND ALSO HAGGALOS, ANOTHER LOVELY WAITER! PLUS ANY GIRLS THAT LIKE THESE GUYS, THEIR ROOMS ARE ON THE BOTTOM FLOOR OF THE SEPERATE BLOCK. 26 IS NICKI!!! AND 27 IS REEMUS. HAVE A FAB FAB HOLIDAY THERE, I KNOW I DID AND WOULD DO ANYTHING TO GO BACK THERE NOW! I HAVE POST HOLIDAY BLUES COS IT WAS SO GOOD!A****** ENJOY1!!!!

Just got back from our 2nd holiday at the Electra Palace hotel and we thought it was a great place for a family. Room was ok for 2 adults & 2 children (4 + 9), tv is any language apart from English but kids still laughed at the cartoons. Balcony good for drying the towels and bathroom was fine. Room's were cleaned very well everyday and maids even folded the kids PJ's. Food at the dining room & the Taverna was excellent, a varied dish everyday. The pool's were very good and a good amount of sunbeds all around. Pools could have been cleaned a bit more and be careful of the slippery tiles that are around the pools, kids slide everytime when running. Kid's playground is ok, it could have more safety mat's on floor near the climbing frame, etc. The entertainment staff were fantastic, they do kid's club during the day and are very patient with all the kids. There are other activites for older guests such as archery, football etc. All are instructed very well and with humor. The night entertainment is very good and is all based around the idea of FUN for all guests with all main languages catered for. The bar staff are ok, a little over worked in our eyes. There is a Q system for drinks (thats ok) but only allowed to get 2 drinks per visit which is the worst when you have other couples on table. The beach is great, yes its pebbles but hey wear some thing on your feet then. The sea is a fab blue and is very warm. Showers are there to wash off the salty sea water on leaving the sea. Getting to and from the airport is good as its only a few km's away which is just right if you have kids as they dont get time to moan "are we there yet?. Its a very good hotel complex where you feel the kids are safe to be and thats a good point. The let downs are, no life guards, 2 drinks (alco) at a time fom bar and the shop. The shop because our kids spent half the holiday in there buying everything they could get there little hands on and the lady serving is very nice :)

the entertainment was great for kids and adults. han, G, nicky, tom,nick and tess were the best entertainers they have had in all the 4 times i have been there. my boyfriend had to dress up a a woman and that was very funny. mr electra was great! it was just all spot on. everynight they did something v different. if the manager is reading this i want you to take note. THEY ARE THE BEST YOU COULD HOPE 4! the foodwas ok. there was a very rude man on the reception night shift but apart from him all the staff are lovely and very well mannered and polite. the rooms are cleaned very well and everywhere is spotless. the pool is lovely and the poolside activities were great and so was the mini club for the kids.

The Electra Palace is a fabulous hotel. We couldnt fault it one bit. Room was lovely, food was excellent good variety. Children aged 4 and 9 had a wonderful time in kids club. The animation team were great, kept everyone entertained. Hotel staff were extremely friendly and helpful. Would definately visit again.

Great family hotel, good food, beach outside hotel.Only problem free sunbeds by the pool, taken early.Going again in 2004 julie & Giorgio Casales

We went to Electra Palace in September 2001 for a two week all inclusive holiday with our 5 year old son. It was absolutley fantastic and i am back on the net now looking to book it AGAIN! Brilliant Highly recommend it.