Cretan Malia Park, a member of Design Hotels™ - a member of Design Hotels™

A very beautiful hotel with fantastic gardens. We liked the ammeneties like the pool and direct beach acces a lot. Only 2 points disappointed us: Rooms Our room was close to the parking lot and the reception. We love to sleep it off during our vacations which was very difficult as the cleaning ladies had their storage closeby and were quite noisy every morning. Also there was construction going on behind the parking lot and I woke up to the sounds of trucks every morning. Now you could say "why did you not change rooms" but traveling with two kids you know how much luggage you have and once it is unpacked you do not want to go back again...it is a vacay after all. Also the AC in the rooms cannot heat, which is ridiculous for a hotel that is open end of October, where it is 18C outside. Food We reserved a table at the Italian restaurant but when we arrived the wanted to seat the 4 of us on a table of 2...ridiculous. Had to calm down my wife as the kids were looking forward to Pizza and the disappointment was huge. Also coffee is a catastrophe in the hotel: I really lile good quality coffe but at breakfast there was no way to get one, only horrible bland coffee soup. They also had a Nespress machine there but from a 5 star hotel I expect more than Nespresso garbage. Again: the stuff was fantastic (except at the Italian restaurant) and unbelievably helpfull and friendly. Fix the things I explained above and the hotel is finally worth its money

We really enjoyed staying here. Great staff, nice enough rooms, great food (both the A la carte restaurants, and the breakfast and dinner buffets, although the beach shack food is what I would call missable), the superb sunny weather and beach with wonderful waves obviously, pretty good snorkeling (for a non equatorial Island!) where I found an octopus and a lot of fish (mind the waves though!), an organic garden you can put about in, and a cat cafe where they look after 20+ resident cats. We normally book adults only places, and there were also a lot of small kids and babies here (I guess it's super family friendly), and while we were initially a little worried in the end we didn't mind that at all, it was just part of the ambiance, and if anything it was quite nice to hear happy kids playing, or have random small people come up to babble at us while we were on the beach. :)

Stayed with my fiancé at the end of August for a week. Very disappointed overall. Resort was overrun with German families and lots of badly behaved screaming children. We went on holiday for some quiet and relaxation. However, it was almost impossible to relax as there were no adult only areas - you would think they would make one pool adult only, but they didn't. Some staff were friendly (particularly in Italian restaurant), others seemed to treat requests as a mild annoyance. Food was okay in some places (Italian, Cretan) - terrible in others (the beach shack basically served dog food) still in disbelief that 4 metres away from the sea they could serve tinned tuna! Having stayed in 20+ 5* hotels this place is definitely not 5*, average 4* at best. The place was way too overcrowded with not enough communal space and lots of loud abrasive families. If you are a couple looking for an escape, I would highly recommend not to fall for the slick marketing and avoid this place. If management worked to improve food quality, service, adult offering and focused on the customer journey perhaps there is potential. But too much wrong and left severely disappointed by what should have been a week of relaxation in the Mediterranean sun.

Malia Park Hotel is a nice and stylish hotel, but there were a number of things that negatively impacted my rating of it: - The hotel is full of families (almost all German, so it seemed to me that the hotel targets German all inclusive package/charter tourist and not boutique/designer as advertised). It almost felt like a kindergarten with screaming children literally everywhere. During breakfast you would be surrounded by min. 15-20 them! There were no areas for adults only and even late evenings in the bar you would see and hear children. My partner and I came to Malia expecting it to be a relaxing hotel stay for a couple, as it was marketed as a romantic designer hotel and not a family hotel. We chose to leave the hotel premises every day because we were unable to enjoy our stay to the fullest because of crying babies. I would recommend the hotel management to brand themselves for what they are - a family hotel: “Cretan Malia Park Family Only Hotel”. This would help you keep a high rating as you wouldn’t disappoint couples/adults. I spoke to another couple about this and they said exactly the same. - The dinner buffet was extensive, but the food was bland and not up to standards expected for a 5 star hotel - It was hard to make table reservations for the restaurants. They always seemed to be full. The food at the Cretan restaurant was good. The Italian was not great, the pasta overcooked and very greasy - Everything from food to spa is very expensive for Crete. I understand that resort normally charge a premium, but the prices are out of proportion and on par with high end places in Scandinavian countries. Catch of the day €85! Espresso €3! Cocktails €10-15! Pasta dish €18! On the positive side: - Staff were really friendly. Especially in the lobby bar and the Cretan restaurant. They really helped make the stay pleasant and pull my rating of the hotel up - The hotel is very stylish and beautiful designed. The rooms are spacious, clean and the beds are really comfy. - Plenty of parking - The garden and outdoor area is beautiful both during the day and night. So my conclusion - don’t go there if you’re a couple/adults. Unfortunately we regretted spending our money and last 3 days at the hotel. If you’re a family you’ll have a fantastic stay. For the hotel management, please market yourself as a family hotel.

Stylish hotel with a clean, private beach that has sand and, contrary to many other beaches on Crete, very few stones. Two pool areas, one for children, the other bordering some apartments and quieter / used largely by adults. Three main restaurants (Italian, Cretan à la carte and Cretan / international buffet) to choose from as well as a beach bar and the lovely "Crush" for sweets (our child loved the ice cream there). The staff went out of their way to make our stay a very memorable one. Staying at the hotel's facilities, the time at Cretan Malia Park was fabulous. Only the surrounding towns - Malia and Hersonissos in this case - were mostly full of pubs and clubs and, so locals said, full of party tourists from mid-May onwards - so I subtract 1 star for location.

Very clean, lots of property to wander around on, and the food was fabulous. The staff were very friendly too. Highly recommended (at least in May when we were there). We walked to the Malian Palace, about 20 mins, and into town was about 25 minutes. There are a few other shops and restaurants in the neighbourhood.

Nice Hotel at the beach with two pools and different bars and restaurants. Service was fine and cocktails were very good. Highlight were the wine tasting with the food and beverage manager and the cat cafe in combination with the overall sustainability concept of the hotel.

We had a fantastic time at Cretan Malia Park. The hotel is beautifully designed and in a gorgeous location right by the ocean. The whole team was forthcoming and friendly. They offered us a room to shower since we didn’t leave until 6pm on our last day. This didn’t bother me personally, but some people might be surprised that - unlike the website implies - this is more of a family resort than a design hotel, so there are many families here. If you don’t like kids this may not be right for you. But since the property is so big, we felt like there’s enough room for everybody.