ARION PALACE HOTEL

Great loction well away from busy areas. Its quiet a drive from the airport so if travelling outside a package holiday check taxi fares. Beautiful views and you can hire cars really cheaply to explore other parts of the island of Crete.

We're coming to the end of our first of two weeks here at the Arion Palace in Ierapetra, Crete. On the whole we're enjoying our stay. The hotel building, surrounding area and sea-views are stunning. The hotel is very clean, and the room is very spacious with a great balcony view. Use of the room safe is €10 per week. The food is very good, with plenty of choice at every sitting, and the staff are very pleasant and accommodating, and smile a lot. The pool is a nice size, again with excellent sea-views, and we've always found sunbeds free. Fresh towels are €2 each with a deposit of €10 each. On the negative side, the hotel is isolated. They have a small shop in the hotel lobby, which is necessary, as the nearest alternative is a taxi journey away if you need provisions. Because the hotel is isolated, you'd expect some entertainment, but we've seen only a Greek duo on a single night. We have the usual gripe over ‘fully inclusive’. The inclusive cocktails (there are only four), are poor. Our last hotel offered 11 cocktails with all the extras and trimmings. The four cocktails here come in the same glass as everything else with nothing added. The bar closes at 11pm, so off to bed at this time. There are no tea/coffee making facilities in the rooms. The nearest beach is 12mins walk away, but uphill on the way back! They provide a coach that runs four times a day starting at 10:30am - we're going to use that today. You can hire a car at the hotel if you want to tour the area, so bring your driving licence if this is your thing. Would we come here again? Although we'll continue to enjoy the weather and the food, there isn't enough here to hold our interest; so probably not. If my opinion changes in the second week I'll let you know. EDIT: I've just discovered that the bar doesn't close at 11pm; it's the all-inclusive bar that closes at 11pm, so you can pay for a drink if you want one after this time. Another terrible all-inclusive restriction. We used the transport to the beach today. A people- carrier with eight passenger seats. There were 11 people waiting this morning - apparently they do a second run if needed. We walked into Ierapetra from the hotel beach - it took 30 minutes, so that would be an approximate 40 minute walk without the transport to the beach first. Ierapetra is worth a visit. Walk along the sea-front until you hit the fish restaurants (they'll pester you, but it's a nice place to sit and eat) and then turn into the new part of town. We walked back to the hotel. Hot work! EDIT 2: We’re home now after our two-week stay. Our opinion hasn't really changed a great deal, but I've a few things to add. Firstly, I neglected to mention the distance from Heraklion airport. The journey-time was quoted at 3.5 hours, but averaged about 3 hours over the two legs. It's a very long and tiring journey. I mentioned the beach. There are sun-loungers and parasols provided free, but you cannot get drinks and food without paying at the taverna. Note that the hotel is fully all-inclusive at the time of writing. Other hotels provide bottled drinking water for the room free of charge. This hotel doesn't; nor does it allow you to fill a bottle from the water machine, which is disappointing. Be prepared to buy drinking water, which it quite cheap, fortunately. On a positive note, although we took bug-repellent, we only used it on the first night, and we were never bothered by bugs. If you want to use the hotel as a base for exploring the island (I can think of much cheaper options), you can hire a car from €45 per day and from €230 per week. We had a wonderful time overall. However, as hinted previously, we would not go back. The hotel is far too isolated, and the only entertainment happened on Thursdays, as mentioned. Wherever you decide to go, have a wonderful time!

Great hotel. Lovely pool with a sea view. Food is great and the staff are very nice. 10 mins walk to the beach. The water is beautiful and clear. Go for it

Beautiful hotel in beautiful surroundings. Positives: Comfortable resort, clean beds and clean everything, great food, varied for all tastes, friendly staff in general, especially the pool bar lady, nice size pool and pool area with great views over Ierapetra and surroundings. There is a dog who seems to belong to the place and brings dog friends to visit often, even puppies, great for us animal lovers. A few cats like to be fed too and always appear at meal times. Lovely. Negatives: All inclusive does not really mean ALL is included. Drinks have to be paid for after 11pm. An 18yr old was refused free orange Fanta at 11.05pm. Ridiculous. Not allowed to fill bottles with free water from dispensers. The hotel is a 3hr transfer journey. No entertainment at night, except Thursday which would be OK if the hotel was close to other amenities but it is 40min walk to local town so entertainment is something they need to look at for an all inclusive holiday. Beach towel only washed if paying extra. The staff supervisor was very nice to customers but she would be unpleasant to her staff in front of us. Never good to see. Beds are very hard and only 1 pillow available.

We came here on honeymoon for a week and had an amazing time. We were all inclusive and the drinks and food included were great. There was lots of variety and the staff couldn’t have been more friendly and helpful. We booked a suite and the fridge was stocked with fruit juice, water and wine. We also had fruit in our room. The views from our suite were spectacular. The hotel in general had amazing views all around it. You could see the beach from the room and the pool area was immaculate. We will definitely be back. Ierapetra is a lovely bit of Crete. The hotel staff went over and above to make sure our stay was comfortable

Hotel should not be classified ★★★★ It's old, neglected, remote. Extremely monotonous breakfast of rather low quality, lunch and dinner not much better. Food choices definitely targeted at German and British customers. Very little Greek food. So-called bus to the beach is a shabby van So-called beach is a place you definitely don't want to be at. Not much space at the swimming pool, no life guard!!! Definitely no reason to return

Awesome hotel with many amenities, wonderful views and fantastic staff. I even got a birthday cake from the staff :) 5 stars but I'd give more if I could.

We've been here for a week. It was wonderful time. The room was big and clean. We were welcomed with complimentary wine and fruits. Room service came every day to clean and change sheets, pillows and towels. The receptionists are very kind and helpful. Can call you a taxi, or make a reservation in a restaurant. If you need an advice where to go they will give you exhaustive answers any time of the day or night. At the pool bar works George, very friendly bartender. Very entertaining person. We met few other staff members (driver, technician, gardener) which are maintaining the facility every day doing a great job. Last but not least the manager is a very open and friendly person and needs to be mentioned here. The food was tasty. It wasn't very diverse during our stay but it was enough to try many dishes without eating the same every time. There is a bus to the beach and back few times a day (by foot it is 10-12 minutes if you want). If you want go to the city it will be about 30 minutes by foot or you can take a taxi for fixed price of 7 euro. If you are looking a place to chill and relax I would definitely recommend this hotel. Localization 5/5 (on the hill with great view, calm and not so far from the beach) Cleaniness 5/5 (room service every day, grass and trees trimmed and watered often) Staff 5/5 (helpful, polite and very friendly) Room 5/5 (big, tidy, great views and localisation with 2 entrys (to the hall and on the porch) Food 4,5/5 (fresh, tasty but I miss more local specialities) Entertainment 3/5 (tennis, pool, billiard, air hockey, and drinks at the bar. Great for relax, but if you are looking for any animations you will be disappointed)