Athina Palace Resort & Spa

char _la_land

2.5/5 Pros: -Beautiful location & views. -Very clean rooms with amazing air-con. We've stayed at a few hotels in Rhodes before with awful air-con so this was very important to us. -We are a couple in our late-twenties that enjoy peace and quiet. So the adults only relax pool was great for us and it was never too difficult to find sunbeds. The view from this pool was gorgeous. -Nice beach, only went down there once. (The hotel is huge and up a hill and our walk to the beach was a bit long. There was a beach shuttle but it was always unclear if/when it would turn up.) -The hotel has a bus shuttle service to Heraklion which is super cheap and worth taking advantage of as taxis are very expensive. Take note of the times though as there is only one going to Heraklion in the morning at 9am. Cons: -If you are not French, this hotel may not be for you (we are Brits.) The staff were not friendly or approachable (bar one or two exceptions), we did not feel overly welcome at the hotel by any of the staff and we were openly ignored by staff in the restaurant who would serve the French guests and keep completely missing us. We are both quiet and like to be polite so we didn't make an issue of this, but it was quite obvious and it made us very uncomfortable. -Initially we thought it would be nice to sit on the balcony at dinner with that view, but it is very clostrophobic which people continuously trying to jump on seats and get a table. A few times we sat out there, people who had gone to grab food had their table stolen and the staff would just set up for the newcomers, while the original people had to wait for a new table on the balcony (with food in hand) or go find a table inside. -For a 5 star hotel, the gym was crap. -The food selection wasn't great and most of the time didn't have much flavour. I spent most of the week with stomach problems which could be down to poor food hygiene. I did see staff pick up food that had spilled onto the counters (with no gloves on) and put it back into the serving dishes which was pretty gross. -The snack bars were disappointing. I've been to hotels that serve better food in between meals other than ok-ish pizza and dry cakes. -The cocktails on the all inclusive were very sugary and not the best. To be honest, the quality of the food at all meal and snack times and the drinks made the all-inclusive not worth it. -We were located towards the bottom of the hotel and hill- I will not miss that walk up to the pool/ restaurant everyday! It is steep. For us it was manageable but it maybe wouldn't be for older people or those with mobility issues. -The hotel is very secluded from everything, although the shuttle bus to Heraklion did make up for this somewhat. -Housekeeping didn't always replace our towels and X2 bottles of water in the fridge. I don't want to hike up a hill to refill my bottle with warmish water when I need a drink. :( -Our leaving flight was at 10pm. The hotel let us still dine and use the facilities on the last day. However, in our experience the hotel will give you a room to shower and get ready for the airport in the evening. Here, we were handed towels and pointed to a boiling hot/not so clean out house that we could use for fifteen minutes. Not good. -This didn't really impact us, but the entertainment is all in French. Can't comment on the Spa as we did not use it. Overall, the hotel is in a beautiful location where you can definitely relax and unwind. But I wouldn't say that it's five star. There has to be other hotels in Crete that are friendlier and more welcoming (to Brits anyway) and that offer better quality food/ drinks as part of their all in-inclusive packages. I wouldn't return and probably wouldn't recommend it.

Radka Sochorova

Beautiful hotel complex with lot of gorgeous views. We had a great family Holiday here!

Mai Brüesch

Horrible experience, Sold as 5 star hotel. Wouldn't give it 2. Rooms are great, beach amazing. None of the food was even remotely close to good. Nothing. Half cooked, dirty dishes and standing in the 30 degrees sun. Snack bars offers snacks that are either dry, uncooked or plain flavorless. This hotel is run by French groups that take over the 30 sunbeds. After staying in the Stella Palace before. This is not 5 star. Not even 1. Take your money to some place else!!!!!

Anita Nistryan

Horrible horrible horrible Rooms dirty , came after check in - found hair in the bathroom Bed sheets changed after 4 days - changed for another dirtier than previous Instead of cleaning - they are making more dirt in rooms and bathrooms On our third day got dirty wet bath towels , had to ask to change them Breakfast saying is till 11 am , at 10 am they are cleaning everything already Honestly , horrible Came for our honey moon , so disappointed On our first day I was crying and really wanted to cancel our booking , but we didn’t have any options for another hotel Not 5 stars at all The only really good thing is the view , I love it! PS tried to download pictures but google didn’t allow me , shocked 😳😳😳😳🤯

Bri Tong

Fabulous staff, very friendly restaurant and bar tenders. Reception team very helpful. Location was fantastic with awesome sea views. beach a short walk down steep hill and if you've enough energy afterwards you can trek back up it. If not the shuttle bus is every 15 mins. We upgraded to a pool room, again lovely room with 16ft private pool and sun terrace. However I think the cleaner forgot to come to ours most days. Floor and bathroom never cleaned in our week stay and beds not made up on 2 days.. water/coffee pods not replenished as promised. Ohh and animation only really in French. That being said would stay here again, just need to swot up on my languages 😉