Just wanted to share with your viewers that this hotel was elegant and excellent in every way. We stayed for three days and treasured every minute! Beautiful five year old hotel with every modern convience and 5 plus star property. Could not want more in a hotel. The hotel has 5 huge pools, and more than 130 private pools! The views from the hotel are spectacular. The beach area is Mediteranean - delightful lounges and thatched umbrellas with smooth wooden pathways to docks right in the ocean with the beautiful sea and a fabuous beach bar. Beach towels are everywhere - at each pool, in your room, at the beach, you can use as many as you would like. The hotel is located in a very private area right outside Elounda and in easy driving distance to Agios Nicholas. Very romantic location and the rooms are divine - wonderful beds, top notch linens and products, private balcony with sea views, very modern TV and bathroom with everything you could need - so many little touches too numerous to mention (ie. a travel comb, suntan lotion, a switch by the bed that lights up outside the door to indicate privacy, marble bathroom)! The hotel's architecture is amazing - wherever you look, you are surprised by the next turn. A tram takes you down the hill to the beach with more fabulous views. Yet you feel a total sense of privacy and elegance. And perhaps the best breakfast buffet on the planet - try the homemade waffle with fruits, honey, and sugar!

The Blue Palace Resort & Spa was the first of two hotels we stayed in during a two week break to Crete and Mykonos. Having been to Crete before and stayed in Malia we were looking forward to staying somewhere more relaxing.

On arrival at the airport we were met by a taxi which took us to the hotel in just over an hour. Whilst the journey was fine we were a little surprised the hotel didn't have cars of their own, however, we were met and delivered successfully so this was no issue.

We arrived at the hotel at about 8pm and were shown to our Deluxe Room with heated pool. Our immediate thoughts on arrival were that the hotel staff were all very friendly and the reception and bar area were inviting and looked smart. As other people have commented the view of the hotel complex itself on the road from Plaka is not the most beautiful, however, when you are actually in the hotel this is barely noticeable and the view of the Spinalonga more than makes up for this.

It was on arrival at our room that the first of only two real problems became apparent. The room itself was exactly the room we had booked, however, my partner has one pet pieve about hotel rooms and that is that there should be no interconnecting doors between rooms. Unfortunately when we arrived we found out that there were two - one on each wall. Having managed to calm things down slightly we agreed to give the room a try before seeing whether we could change rooms. The room itself was reasonably small but well laid out and appointed. We went for a room with a heated pool, but if I were to go back I wouldn't bother with a pool at all. As other reviewers have mentioned the pools are all in a line with a very low wall separating them from the rooms next door. This unfortunately gives a complete lack of privacy, however, we were lucky in that our room was not near the funicular as pools around that area are clearly visible to everyone. All appeared to be well until we arrived back from dinner to find that people in both the rooms next door were watching Euro 2008 and that the interconnecting doors were effectively channeling the sound clearly into our room. At this stage we both went to reception to complain and asked to be moved.

I cannot compliment the hotel enough as to how they dealt with this, in particular the duty manager, Clare, quickly and effectively dealt with two tired and irritable people and continued to check with us on the following days that everything had been resolved and we had no further issues. It was not only Clare that was excellent in her customer service. All the hotel staff we dealt with both around the pool and in restaurants or reception/concierge were outstanding and really helped make us feel that despite being in such a large hotel we were being given a personal treatment. This was further proved when problems with Olympic Airlines meant we had to rearrange our flights including requiring an additional nights stay in Crete. This was all dealt with with the minimum of fuss which was very important as it had the potential to spoil part of our holiday.

We ate at the hotel 7 of the 8 nights we were there, and also had lunch everyday at the Blue Door restaurant. This gave us ample time to try all restaurants with my particular favourites being Asia Blue, L'Orangerie and Blue Door. The Italian restaurant was reasonable but had a very limited menu which spoilt the experience somewhat. On the other night we went into Elounda and ate at the Ferryman which was ok but I felt the hotel food was nicer and the price differential was not that pronounced - however it did give us an opportunity to experience authentic Greek atmosphere.

As other reviewers have written, given the nature of the hotel there are two ways to get down to the beach - walk or take the funicular. I never really found the funicular too much of a problem. It was very hot but the journey time was not too long and whilst you occasionally had to wait for it I was never in any real rush given I was on holiday.

Other than the issue regarding the interconnecting doors the only other negative I would raise is consistent with other reviewers in respect of the cost. We were at the Blue Palace for 8 nights and our expense bill for that period was about two-thirds of the cost of the rooms. It was obviously our decision to have lunch and dinner at the hotel, however, the cost of anything additional to the room was disproportionately expensive.

Overall, we had a great stay, the weather was lovely, the hotel staff were lovely and eventually our room was lovely. I would definitely go back to the Blue Palace should I visit Crete again, however, I will certainly need to save up in advance of this!

Our trip to the Blue Palace was incredible. The hotel is stunning and from any angle you are sure to get breathtaking views. Let me sum up the pros and cons of this place instead of writing a whole story..

Pros and Cons-

1. GET A ROOM WITH A POOL- it was the best part of the vacation having a private pool with the room!! The beach is very nice and there are beautiful, huge pools at the Blue Palace, but the wind is very strong, sometimes, unbearably strong, whereas the breeze up by our private pool was perfect. We had the greatest times of our trip lounging pool side with our friends and taking a dip to cool off from the intense heat. We had room 308, which was on the corner and gave us maximum sun exposure.
2. Beautiful location
3. Quiet, romantic, peaceful, ultimate relaxation destination. There were many people there on honeymoons and lots of couples there for a special get away.
4. Very good restaurants in hotel but not too surprising, like any 5 star hotel,especially those in Europe, they were Very expensive. We are talking one ice pop for $10.00- yikes!- but still we had wonderful dinners and lunches.
5. Room service was awesome! Big portions and items such as salads and pastas were reasonably priced, considering...
6. Elouda, the town the hotel is in, is a quiet little town with lots of taverns serving traditional Greek food, however I liked the food in the hotel. The town Nikolaus, which is about a 20 min drive from the hotel, is a more happening place.

Over all, our stay at the Blue Palace was unbelievable and the only thing I really disliked was not having a few more days there!

I can't really add too much to what has already been posted. We (2 parents w/ 8 year old daughter) stayed 5 nights. We had a junior suite which was an ultra modern 2 br /2 ba apartment located in the newer wing of the hotel. It was somewhat isolated from other rooms and guests which was quite nice, with a full view of the sea, beach and the island.

Important to note that DESPITE the following annoying (call it disappointing) issues, we had a wonderful time. Other than the rather opulent buffet breakfast (excellent), the hotel food is rather average. Not terribly significant if (as an example) the "Asian" restaurant's fare was actually not as good as my neighborhood Chinese takeout/delivery AND literally 5 times the price. I don't mind spending $40 -$50 (US) a plate IF the food is extraordinary....but this was cafeteria fare (in rather small portions).

There is a single funicular that takes you from the mail lobby to the lower hotel levels and the beach/main pool area. Nothing like waiting 10 minutes only to be stuffed into a hot elevator cab with other guests. It's a short ride, but they should have designed the system with 2 cabs so that you don't have to continually wait and position yourself in front of the closed opening to insure yourself a ride. I often felt like I was on the NYC subway system while on vacation...not a particularly pleasant experience. As a result, after the second day we stayed at the fresh water pool adjacent to our suite. It remained virtually empty and allowed us to avoid the "crush".

As others have mentioned, it becomes distinctly obvious that the hotel's income proforma was based on significant secondary income, i.e., income other than from the rack charges. There is an additional charge for every service some of which is simply laughable. I ALWAYS find it SO much more appealing to spend more on the room charge and then find all the additional services to be without charge!

Typical of the Sea, the beach is composed of stones with lovely umbrella'd chaises. Quite comfortable...until a breeding denied American or Russian "businessman" decides to include you in his cell phone conversation while pacing up and down the wooden decked walkways. But that's for another forum. :-)

We rented a car, which is the best advice I can give to anyone staying at the hotel. The lovely little town of Elounda is about 3 miles down the road and the local restaurants there are as good if not better than at the hotel and after 2 dinners you will have already saved the cost of the car....unless of course you rent the car at the hotel. There a compact is 105 Euros a day (with limited mileage), while in town the same car is but 70 Euros for 2 days (unlimited mileage)! We found driving to be easy and toured much about the eastern side of the island.

All in all, we had a wonderful time; the hotel facilities, landscaping and room were excellent (down to the bath tub TV's). We just wish there was a bit more "Greece" included with the luxury at the Blue palace. You will find it just outside of the hotel.