Porto Elounda Deluxe Resort

I read all of the reviews on here before we left for our holiday, and I must admit I arrived with mixed feelings. We were a party of 14 family members, ages ranging from 2 to 60+. I can honestly say that we all had an absolutely fantastic time. Comments about decor being outdated, food being poor and a *5 to 10 minute walk to the beach* are TOTALLY unfounded. Even my 5 year old could walk UP from the beach in less than 5 minutes! The decor was understated and not loud or leary, something we definitely appreciated, it was clean and comfortable and that is all one requires, surely? The food was, granted, not haute cuisine, but there again if you want to eat well then you use a restaurant other than the main buffet style half board offering! We had plenty of variation over the 7 nights we were there, and even the vegan/vegetarian member was more than satisfied. The staff were great, housekeeping was superb, the Childrens Ark is absolutely second to none for childcare - the 4 children in our party (2, 3, 5 and 6) went skipping into Kate's care on a daily basis. The Spa was a lovely add on and I spent a lot of time there whilst the children were in care - thus we ALL had a holiday, which is unusual! The babysitters were fab, if pricey... The downsides - the golf is ridiculously over-priced if you do not take your own clubs (bear in mind it is a glorified pitch and putt, and to charge 20 Euros to hire clubs and insist EACH player has their own set is taking the proverbial somewhat). The prices of the drinks IS high, verging on criminal sometimes, but the service the bars give is second to none. According to other members of my party, the reception staff were not as helpful as they would have liked, but I cannot be specific about this as we personally found them eager to help and prompt to carry out whatever we put to them. The animation team worked hard, and we did feel sorry for them that we appeared to be the only family that made a concerted effort to show them our appreciation. Is it a true 5 star resort??? Well, no, I have been to many 5 star hotels and sure, outwardly it does not give that feeling, but add on the spa, the kids club, the attitude of the staff, and I would find it hard to say it IS less than a 5 star resort. To be a true 5 star I would ask for some of the simpler things - kettle in the room, DVD/CD player, an adults only pool (not that I would have used it but I can imagine some people would appreciate it). As a foot note, I would recommend this hotel mostly to families with under 10s. Whilst there were plenty of adults there, who all seemed happy enough, there ARE a lot of children present and I know that if I had gone away with my husband sans children, I could possibly have been a little irked at times, romantic around the pool it is not. Will we return (the real proof in the pudding)??? You bet we will!

We have recently returned from a two-week vacation at the Porto Elounda Deluxe Resort, during the second half of July. We travelled with our 8 year son. We all agree these were the finest holidays we had in the last five years or more. Our main purpose was to spend as much time as possible as a family enjoying the Mediterranean sun and sea, and this must be taken into account in our assessment of the resort (e.g. absence of night life was totally irrelevant for us, as well as access to nearby places). In this context, we found almost everything in Porto Elounda – site, views, premises, accommodation, cleanliness, beach and pool area, food, restaurants, bars, etc. – of very high quality and in line with or sometimes above our expectations. We’ve got a room with a shared pool, overlooking the golf course. This was a great asset, as we invariably started the day with a swim (and sometimes ended it the same way, after dark!). The room was quite plain and not very large, but perfectly adequate for two adults and one child. The bathroom was quite large, and all the plumbing was working to perfection. The room was kept clean, and linen and towels changed whenever we asked for (which could be everyday if necessary). The general condition of the building, furniture, equipment, etc. was very good. The premises were clean (one could see cleaning staff at work at any time of the day) and well-kept, including a well-tended garden along the path from the main building to the beach. There were absolutely no signs of the foul smells, malfunctioning plumbing or lack of cleaning reported by some guests. The beach and pool area was well laid out and had enough room to accommodate all the guests, even if the hotel seemed to be operating at near full capacity. (We realize this was probably so due to the two new beaches which were recently added). The fact that the sun lounges were placed on a lawn surrounding the pool rather than on the sand was a plus. The beach was kept very clean – it was actually combed every morning, as I personally witnessed – and the sea was crystal clear and a comfortable 25ºC. The pool did look somewhat milky in the first few days – apparently because of the sun screen guests inescapably must use in the Cretan sun - but then it was emptied and thoroughly cleaned. After reading other guests’ enthusiastic comments, we regret not having used the Six Senses Spa at all, but this is certainly something we would remedy if we return! We were on half-board and had breakfast and dinner in the main restaurant (Nafsika), and lunch at the beach restaurant (Odysseus). Breakfast was abundant and varied, although after two weeks one inevitably ends up repeating a few favourites… The beach restaurant had a fixed menu, but with reasonable choice, and several children’s options. The buffet dinners were very good, with many choices; only on one occasion in two weeks we faced a repetition (“souvlaki night”, which was not too bad!). We also had two dinners in “Elies” restaurant, and the food was again very good. There was no discrimination whatsoever for families with children in any of those restaurants, therefore we assume that the previous policy criticized by a number of guests must have been abolished. Activities for children – Children’s Ark, Minidisco, etc., and just plain playing around in the pool and the beach – were much in line with positive comments made by other guests. We agree that prices do seem high when compared with “street prices”, but at any rate within the range expectable for this level of establishment. The highlights go however to the hotel staff, and to the mutually supportive atmosphere between the guests. Since many of the latter were families with young children, kids inevitably ended up socializing and playing together regardless of country or language, and parents helped one another in looking after their offspring. This atmosphere makes Porto Elounda a great place for family holidays! Staff members were invariably cheerful, caring and proactive in anticipating and responding to your needs, either in the restaurants, pool bar or house keeping. A special word of praise must be given to the hotel manager, Mr. Alexandros Glynos, who could be seen all over the place, watching over every detail, and taking a keen interest on his guests. One particular episode illustrates their unrelenting commitment to the guests’ well-being: we were unexpectedly delayed on departure for more than 20 hours, due to technical problems with the aeroplane. Once again, the hotel staff and manager were extremely helpful, and promptly offered to extend our stay in the same room until further notice, and did their utmost to lessen this inconvenience. In brief, we had memorable holidays and can only thank Porto Elounda resort and its staff for that. Reading through the negative comments posted by some previous guests, we certainly do not feel they correspond to our experience, to the extent that a few of them make us wonder whether they relate to the same hotel at all! We would certainly return to Porto Elounda given that chance. We do not hesitate to recommend it to families with children: we trust they will find it as welcoming, supportive and satisfying as we did.

We stayed here for 2 weeks in june. The room was ok but nothing about it was wow, it was clean and spacious enough. The bathroom was also ok but the shower leaked, so we had a wet floor every night. The pool was rather small and on some days it didn't seem very clean. The water was always cloudy. The sunbeds by the pool are from a 2 star hotel, not comfortable and the pillows were really dirty. A lot of sunbeds were broken as well. Food in the lunch restaurant was overpriced. If you have little children, be sure to take a lot of money with you. Drinks are also very very expensive. Really over the top. Even for plane water you pay 2 euro for a 1/2 liter!!!!! And it was very hot!!! Dinner wasn't really good, not even the menu option. We expected a lot more!! Staff was really friendly Spa was excellent and really worth it, but that doesn't make the hotel worth of 5 stars It's a long distance from the town of elounda if you want to get some (cheaper) drinks. The road is dangerous, no sidewalk!! While we were there a 'forestfire' happened and we were not so happy with the way the situation was handled. At first they said no panic an suddenly hotel guests came to evacuate us in the middle of the night!! Let's say they didn't really have a plan, maybe not a bad idea for such a hotel!! We wouldn't recommend this hotel to anyone and we will never go back.

We recently returned from a fantastic family holiday at the Porto Elounda. It is a great place to go with a young family (our kids our 4 and 2). As well as pools and the beach there is a superb kids club run by caring and professional staff. There is a kids buffet every evening which makes life very easy and kids are also made welcome in the main restaurants later in the evening. For adults there is a stunning spa and high quality restaurants at the two sister restaurants on site. The hotel Manager who has been in place since last Autumn could not do enough for guests. A great place for a relaxing family holiday.

Having recently returned from a weeks family holiday to Porto Elounda with my husband and 5 year old daughter, i wouldn't give this hotel a 5* rating. The hotel itself was dated and needs a good renovation. The communal areas were tatty and furniture was old and worn. The air conditioning was practically non existent. The room (we had a deluxe with private pool) was cleaned daily, and could not be faulted for that. It was basic decor and had no dvd,cd or tea/coffee making facilities. The bathroom was nice enough, although nothing spectacular. The pool we had was only private from next doors as it had a wall partly separating it. We had to ask for the pool to be cleaned on a number of occassions as it was very dirty and certainly not cleaned daily. We were there on a half board basis and the food in the hotel restaurant was of poor quality. We had cold food on a regular basis, and on one occassion, my daughter chose spaghetti from the buffet which was totally cold. When we asked for a some fresh, her second portion, was once again cold - hence dinner didn't go down too well! The only saving grace was the fabulous chocolate pudding! The food in the restaurant by the beach at lunch time was very good - but then again, you were paying a lot of money for that. All the sports facilities you had to pay for. Nothing was complimentary. They were very expensive. One hour in a pedalo was 20 euros! We hardly saw these facilities being used - waste of time and money. Maybe the management should look into this and reduce their prices?! Mini disco was fun for my daughter, she didn't want to go in the kids club. There was a wedding whilst we were there too. This took complete precedence over everything in the hotel. The guests were disrupted for two days and the food was terrible on the day of the wedding. We were also moved from sunbathing by the beach because of the wedding. Totally unneccessary. Maybe thought should be taken over the hotel guests who have come for a holiday. The spa was great. Maybe they should renovate the rest of the hotel to this standard. I had an amazing massage, so i would return for that! Would i go back? Well no. It was very expensive and the standard was poor. Certainly not a 5 * hotel.

Our family (of 5) had another great holiday in Porto Elounda Hotel in June. This was our third year visiting for a two week break with our three children (all aged under 5). The staff in the hotel are excellent, very friendly and helpful and the standards apply to all staff from room cleaning to the front desk. In particular, we have been very happy with the excellent Ark childrens club who took care of our little ones most days allowing us to have some quality time by the pool. The staff there are second to none ! The kids enjoyed themselves immensely and each afternoon they also had great fun on the very safe beach and kids pool. We've noticed over the years the same staff working there which is always a good sign. Despite increases in the size of the hotel this year with the new SPA (we spent the only cloudy day we had there, top class) and more rooms it has not taken from the overall excellance of the resort. Some people don't like the fact there is some walking from the main hotel to the pool but its worth it for the overall location and views from the hotel rooms that you wouldn't have if rooms lower down and closer to the sea. Definitely worth a visit and in particular if you have young children it can work out as being a real holiday for all.

The porto elounda hotel is an absolute must to visit if you are going to Crete. The staff, hotel and food were all amazing. We couldn't have asked for anything better. We stayed for 1 week but when we go again it will definitely be for 2 weeks.

We have just returned from two weeks at the Porto Elounda Deluxe Resort, which we cannot recommend highly enough. Yes it is expensive but I haven't stayed in many 5 star hotels that are not. We travelled with our 7 year son who absolutely loved the Children's Ark. He went there in the mornings and really enjoyed the activities and loved the staff. We spent the afternoons together by the private beach which was a great plus. I have to admit I had been a bit nervous about the fact that we had opted for the half board option but the food was excellent. There are two sections to the buffet; one large room with an outdoor terrace and one smaller room where you can eat from a menu and have full waiter service. We did a mixture of both. Breakfast also was a very good standard. I was very surprised that they had an animation club for kids from 20.30 in the evening until 23.00 most evenings. This included a mini disco and play time afterwards in the mini-club room which was downstairs from the restaurant. The mini disco took place on the terrace in front of the main restaurant. It lasted only a half hour so didn't disturb guests without children, but for those with kids it was great to be able to finish your meal in peace while being able to watch your kids being entertained at the same time. Afterwards they went down to the mini club where members of the animation team stayed with them and played until 23.00. This was an excellent service at no extra cost. The rooms were quite plain but still nice and always very clean. We had a deluxe room with a shared pool which in the end we hardly used as we spent most days by the beach. The best thing however about this hotel is the staff. They are extremely friendly and helpful. They are the real reason this is a 5 star hotel and why my family and I can't wait to return.

I am afraid I do not share the enthusiasm of posted reviews. We stayed there 2 weeks with child aged 3 years and a 6 month old baby. Whilst some staff are very helpful, the majority does not reflect the professionalism you should expect from a 5 star hotel. Lots of thing are overpriced. Food orders were often wrong and late (had to wait 1 hour for a risotto for the kid...); don't want to bore you with a list of things that did not go right (had to carry our luggage myself on checkout as the hotel staff went to look for it...for more than 20 min without returning neither with nor without....then we were told they had been sent to the wrong room....). The setting itself is beautiful-nature is beautiful, clear sea, sun guaranteed, nice breeze. There is plenty to do with kids. the boat trip is worth doing but the advertised "visit" to Spinaloga is in fact only viewing of the island from afar....

We stayed at the Porto Elounda in late June. I echo other recent comments: staff was incredibly friendly and eager to please. We stayed in a beach front bungalow which looked out onto a cove in the Sea of Crete. The room was nice, comfy bed, big bathroom, bottle of wine included. The hotel's restaurant was quite good but expensive (though all restaurant hotels are expensive from my experience there). The location of the hotel is also nice. From Elounda we rented a car and explored the entire eastern half of the island, including Agios Nicolaus, Iraklion, Knossos (where the Minoan archeological site is), and Ireapetra, which has great beaches facing the Mediterranean. Highly recommended, but pricey.