Amirandes Grecotel Exclusive

What People are saying

Beautiful resort. Great beachfront location and service

Fiona M on 30/10/2017 18:43

From the warm welcome greeting and juice to the decorated and complimentary champagne bedroom set up to the comprehensive breakfast buffet and the beach being 50m from your room equipped with free beachbeds and umbrellas and bar service. The rooms are large and equipped with everything and the housemaids turn down the bed and leave a good night mat - the service here is lovely. The resort is conveniently 30 mins from Heraklion and 20 mins from the Knossos palace.
We loved it and highly recommend to anyone in Crete.

Extremely Generous

BayswaterMum on 28/10/2017 19:29

We originally booked a junior suite for three nights and two day when we arrived we were pleased to find we had been upgraded to a two bedroom villa. On arrival in our villa we treated to a large amount of complementary canapés and drinks. The rooms had also been thoughtfully prepared with child sized hangars, dressing gowns and slippers in the second bedroom as well as a large selection of sweets , a small toy and balloons and even a child sized hairdryer.

The highlight of our stay was a private trip organised by the hôtel to Knossos and Heraklion our guide a trained archaeologist (who is apparently responsible for training the other official guides) was exceptional. Very knowledgable and an excellent communicator not only with both my husband and I when recounting the actual history of the Minoans, but also in telling the myth of the Minotaur to my eight year old daughter.

The second day of our stay was spent enjoying the sunshine and beach and assorted pool facilities of the hotel.

Beautiful hotel and location

Lyle K on 22/10/2017 06:56

We had a lovely room with a great view of the sea, Aegean i think. There was a complimentary bottle of wine in the room and upon arrival we were checked in and escorted to the room with a tour of the place on the way. There was an excellent fitness centre which they opened early for us, 6am rather than the normal 9am. Service in the Italian restaurant was excellent as was the food. They have a sandy beach where we sat a couple of times and my wife went swimming, yes in October. The only downside was that wine and bar drinks were extremely expensive and the place was geared to little kids, hundreds of them it seemed. The staff were all excellent everywhere.

Lovely for couples

Sergey S on 14/10/2017 14:53

The hotel was so great, I don't even know where to start, the staff were absolutely brilliant and delighted to see us even though we came in the middle of the night, our Villa had an amazing sea view that was calming and pleasant, the restaurants were very good, big shout out to the "brasserie by the pool" for offering the best possible lunch😁. For the evening meal however, we went out, or had a romantic dinner for 2 in the room, because the restaurants on the premises were a bit crowded. I would advise the spa as a great way to chill out.

Anyway, big thanks for ensuring a lovely stay for us👌

A Great hotel for the area, but beware of some issues...

Patricia W on 09/10/2017 13:24

I've just spent a week at the Amirandes Grecotel as a guest, and the following sums up my experience and observations:

Good points:

Our flight from London was delayed which meant by the time we hired our car and arrived at Amirandes, it was past midnight. We also drove and parked immediately in the hotel car park and so we entered the hotel reception from the rear of the hotel – my point being: we missed entering the hotel through its main entrance so missed out on a proper first impression of the hotel. However, I must say, even at midnight, my first impression of the hotel was very good even though despite walking in from the back entrance.

Check-in was very pleasant in a lounge opposite the reception and, as others here have mentioned, it included a towel and refreshing drink upon arrival. It is hard to believe the hotel is celebrating its 10th anniversary as it only looks like a hotel that's been around for a couple of years – they have clearly done a good job of maintaining it.

Although spacious, our room was rather unimpressive. We had booked a Garden View through an agent (no fault of the hotel), so I would highly recommend anyone, if they can, to avoid those rooms and opt for a Sea View Room instead with your own private pool. Also, during the last 2–3 days of our stay, a very repugnant smell began to spread along the corridor outside our room and from the drain in our bathroom, so I'm guessing there might have been plumbing issues. It was fine when we arrived and the hotel, in general, was fine without any odours.

As many others have remarked, the service at this hotel is of a high standard and all staff members are attentive and make you feel very welcome. Service and the hotel's layout win its stars for me. Other points, however, detracted from the experience.

Bad points:

If you've paid for "Half Board", you have the option to dine at one of the hotel's several restaurants, but they are immensely expensive for the quality of the food served. During our stay, only a few were open (it's the end of the season there now, so it's understandable), namely its main "Amirandes" buffet restaurant, the "Minotaur" (Italian), "Blue Monkey" (Asian-fusion) and Lago di Candia "fine dining". For adults dining at the "Amirandes" buffet, it costs €55 per adult. As for the Minotaur and Lago di Candia (I didn't dine at the Blue Monkey) for anyone used to Michelin Star dining, it would be akin to paying for a 3-star Michelin meal at a barely 1-star restaurant. I recently dined at Arzak in San Sebastian and The Minotaur and Lago di Candia are definitely in that price range, albeit not in quality. The mains are on average around €35, while the desserts are approx. €17-19. On our first night at the Minotaur, we saw a couple sharing a bottle of water and a salad.

As I had use of a hire car, I had the freedom to wander over to Agios Nikolaos, Hersonissos, Koutouloufari, Agkisaras and Kato Gouves itself for great dining options, so I highly recommend anyone else to do the same. My point here is that I have absolutely no qualms paying €€€€ for something as long as the quality is there, but the food at the Amirandes Hotel doesn't warrant those prices, and so I feel sorry for families who stay there with no car and are trapped at the resort having to pay those prices.

The breakfast buffet, although it offers a wide selection, is rather bland, especially the scrambled eggs, tea and coffee options (for me, a good coffee is most of my breakfast covered, so that stuck out heavily for me). I found that, by Day 5, I started to eat less and less during breakfast, going from one of the larger standard dinner plates to one of the small ones. That said, the breakfast area is beautiful, though, and there are some very nice touches that the hotel offers that I must share: on specific mornings, there are musicians performing some nice and relaxing pieces, as well as champagne being served at the buffet.

A part of the Amirandes' dining options is the Agreco Organic Farm and Restaurant which is a 90-minute drive away from the hotel. My parents and I booked a table and went for the tour, which we enjoyed very much. It costs €55 per adult and the experience was lovely. To dine al fresco on organic wine and produce, in good company with a spectacular view – now that's good value for money.

Other things to note: the aerial/plan view of those nice white tents along the beach at the Amirandes are reserved for villa guests only, so if you have neither booked a villa nor have your own pool, you will have to use the standard-looking white loungers with blue umbrellas. As for the swimming pool, its main pool, which is quite a trek if your room is near the Amirandes main restaurant, is the one in the photos that features white columns, so it's not the swanky-looking infinity pool, which isn't really a swimming pool (that infinity-like pool is only for decor purposes only and is about 2ft deep).

If you lounge by the pool or are sitting near the bar, someone will come over and hand you some bottles of water. I noticed others here have mentioned fruit as well, but I only ever saw a barman/waiter pass me carrying a long and large tray full of sliced melons, but I wasn't offered one (perhaps he has to start with guests in a particular area), but it detracts from service as a guest to experience that.

During our week-long stay, I did experience two negative issues that I brought to the reception's attention which the hotel apologised for and the hotel manager very kindly dealt with by offering a complimentary meal. This was in response to returning from a day trip to Santorini and not only being dropped off at the main road (so my parents and I had to walk just short of a km in a poorly-lit lane) but also returning to our hotel room to find the door wide open. After leaving the hotel at 7:15am and returning at 10pm, that was the last thing anyone would want to experience. Thanks to the hotel manager, who was very professional and handled the situation well.

Would I stay at this hotel again? Yes, I would, but I would stay in a Sea View Room with a private pool or villa. I would also do some more research to find a less windy time of the year to visit. It's been so windy this past week that I missed out on swimming in the sea.

I have stayed at the nearby Atlantica Sensatori Resort Hotel and I can say that the Amirandes Hotel is much nicer and a proper 5-star hotel for this area. It is also only a 15-minute drive to/from the airport.