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4.5
#19 of 151 hotels in Rethymnon
Location
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Value
Tripadvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.
Creta Palace looks upon the glorious Creta sea and Rethymno old town silhouette 4 km away. Mature gardens with gigantic araucarias frame the distinct bungalow villages that surround the Palace main buildings. The most hospitable people host you in the most hospitable beach in Crete. Above all, Creta Palace is a kids and activities paradise. A real resort classic. Experience an escape where every room, suite, villa, and bungalow is thoughtfully designed to evoke the comforts of home while exuding an air of unparalleled luxury & elegance. A miniature Cretan village square, a church, a traditional kafenion, a monastery souvenir shop and retro retail make up for a unique atmosphere in Grecotel’s Birthplace. Cuisine is original and in a class of its own. Comfort pack, all-inclusive upgrade meal option, available.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
Places to stay are graded on a 0-100 scale. The higher the grade, the easier it is for travellers to find restaurants and things to do within walking distance.
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Grecotel Creta Palace earns rave reviews for its friendly and professional service, with staff members often going above and beyond. Guests appreciate the hotel's prime location and family-friendly atmosphere, alongside the pristine cleanliness of the premises.
However, some travelers report that room quality can be hit or miss, citing pest issues and dated decor. While the live music and luxurious setting are popular, guests have called out the high costs of à la carte options and spa treatments, which may affect the overall value of their stay.
Location
Beachfront
Atmosphere
Welcoming
Rooms
Well-designed
Value
Expensive
Cleanliness
Immaculate
Service
Attentive
Amenities
Well-appointed
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After leaving from this hotel, I couldn't resist to write a review and share my experience with potential travellers. I felt like for 1st time in my travel life not wishing to leave from a hotel. As soon as you arrive at this hotel, you feel that your holidays start in the best way; amazing gardens full of nature and a wide variety of flowers and trees making the whole scenery looking like a scene from a fairy tale. As you enter the lobby, an amazing fragrance makes you feel the positive vibes of this place. They offered as a selection of welcome drinks, such a nice touch of hospitality! The gentleman who welcomed us was very polite and friendly and willing to assist in any possible way. Our room, the Palace guestroom was so well designed offering the luxurious sense of a 5* hotel and had a balcony with beautiful sea views. I want to make a special mention to their housekeeping department who do an excellent job! They were tidying and cleaning the room so well and always leaving flowers on the towels while they had given to the towels so beautiful shapes of flowers! Room service was very quick too. All the staff members at every area such as the front desk, the breakfast area, the bar areas had always a warm smile and greeting us making us feel like home. The breakfast is so rich and delicious which is one of the highlights of this 5* hotel. It seems to be a place of heaven for all the ages and especially for the kids who seemed to spend lovely time. This must be definitely your only choice for accommodation at Rethymno and you won't regret it! I am already missing it and look forward to getting back soon!!
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Date of stay: October 2023
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Georgios Perantonakis, Γενικός Διευθυντής at Grecotel Creta Palace
Responded 15 Nov 2023
Αγαπητή Σμαράγδα Σ, All the team members and hotel management thank you for taking the time to write and share your wonderful review of your recent stay to Grecotel Creta Palace. Your nice words, really strengthen our efforts in order to continue providing the highest level of services. Receiving positive comments like this, is a great boost to our overall functioning and morale and we truly appreciate your recognition. "Yours respectfully, Georgios Perantonakis General Manager"
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This was our 7th year back to Creta Palace with our four kids and considering the difficult environment due to Covid, it proved, surprisingly, to be one of our most memorable stays. The hotel has undertaken enormous measures to ensure sanitary safety; guests had to wear masks indoors (not required once seated at the restaurant), staff were permanently wearing masks, hand sanitiser was available everywhere, the buffet at the main restaurant was as enjoyable as ever and served by waiters behind plexiglass (ensuring no exposure to viral transmission),same beach umbrellas were allocated for the entire stay, towels on the beach and pool area were provided in vacuum packed plastic covers. Had we known that such tremendous and meticulous measures were taken, my parents would not have cancelled their trip. The weather in October this year was glorious and particularly hot for the season with the sea water being warmer than usual. We stayed in a palace suite bungalow which accommodates 2 adults and 4 children and had a lovely view on the sea. Interactive activities were suspended, such as the rock climbing and beach volleyball but the lovely weather, excellent food and service more than compensated for that (which in any case was totally understandable). Two other families joined us upon our recommendation and they were both enchanted with their stay. The beach service was excellent with Maria and Penelopi whisking up drinks and snacks tirelessly throughout the day. Our daughter enjoyed, as always, the wonderful atelier on the beach with Diana, where one can paint pottery, scarves, t-shirts etc.Don't miss the two shops at the hotel which have a surprisingly lovely little collection of sports and leisurewear and very affordable prices. Every year we pick up some nice things there. Although the hotel is truly a totally relaxing and enjoyable environment, I do highly recommend hiring a car and visiting Rethymnon, Chania, the Arkadi monastery, Knossos Palace and the museum in Heraklion. Crete has a vast wealth of archaeology depicting the Minoan civilisation which should not be missed. As for Creta Palace, it is a gem of a hotel where its people really bring meaning to the word hospitality....we are already planning our return next year!
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Date of stay: October 2020
Rooms
Cleanliness
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Maria Mathioudaki, Guest Services / Front Office at Grecotel Creta Palace
Responded 02 Dec 2020
Thank you very much for taking the time to leave such a detailed review of your most recent visit to Grecotel Creta Palaceand we are delighted that you and your family enjoyed your time with us again this year. It sounds like you truly enjoyed our hotel experience and made the most of our favorable location, food and facilities, which gives us great pleasure. In these unprecedented conditions we are experiencing in recent months, it is a huge delight that the extra protection measures taken for the COVID-19, made you feel safe and relaxed. Wewill make sure to share your kind comments with the rest of the team here and we look forward to welcoming you and your parents again soon, in the near future! Kind regards, Vassilis Minadakis General Manager
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A holiday this summer has never been more longed for or deserved by all of us in this strange COVID world. What most of us will have been looking for is a reminder of normality and relief from it.
The Creta Palace Hotel has succeeded superbly in this. Whereas, compliance with the rules is taken seriously, this is done effortlessly, with subtlety and reassuringly. The staff have clearly been well training in this novelty.
2020 issues aside, staying at a Grecotel is always a delight and we have visited a few now and will continue to do so.
The Creta Palace Hotel stretches out over a very well maintained long sandy beach giving lots of space. Staff in every context went above and beyond, especially Maria in the Customer Relations team.
We had an especially lovely evening at their Agreco Farm Restaurant in the hills. This offers a complete contrast to the seaside main hotel in that you are introduced to traditional Cretan agriculture and the succession of dishes is genuinely home grown. The other standout meal was at the Barbarossa offering a divine sunset and very superior cuisine.
All in allow we would recommend Creta Palace Hotel highly and if you feel deprived of a holiday in 2020, just go!
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Date of stay: July 2020
Value
Cleanliness
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Maria Mathioudaki, Εξυπηρέτηση πελατών/Υποδοχή at Grecotel Creta Palace
Responded 02 Aug 2020
Dear Ian N, Thank you for taking the time to review your visit to Grecotel Creta Palace. I am glad to read that your overall experience was to your satisfaction, especially in this strange COVID time. Your feedback is very valuable to us and I am delighted that you enjoyed our long sandy beach, the Agreco farm with the traditional Cretan cuisine and the Barbarossa a la carte restaurant. I will make sure to share your kind comments with the rest of the team. Looking forward to welcoming you and your family again in Grecotel soon. Kind regards, Vassilis Minadakis General Manager
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This summer the hotels of course face many challenges due to the COVID-19 situation. The Grecotel Creta Palace tries hard to implement social distancing and disinfection of surfaces touched by guests. Unfortunately many guests don’t pay attention, especially at the buffet, where they often come much too close to you.
They have a lovely beach which however has only small wicker umbrellas that let a lot of sun in. We are currently at this hotel and would love to spend all day on the beach, but the lack of shade in this heat just won’t allow that until the evening.
The pool area has decent umbrellas, but since the pool is very small there are limited chairs. This creates a huge annoyance. Myself and many other guests have complained about the difficulty of finding some place to sit by the pool. If you come around 8:30 in the morning there is already almost no chance to find anything anymore, although almost no one is there. People just reserve everything by putting one personal item such as a bottle of sunscreen on a chair and not showing up for hours and hours, obviously never having even used the chairs. There might be less chairs this year to enforce social distancing, but despite this, the hotel still offers these lounge areas for rent all around the pool which go unused all day because no one wants to pay extra for a lounge chair in a 5-star hotel. They should really adapt to the situation this year and create as much seating space as possible without trying to make extra money off of it which doesn’t seem to work anyway. It seems like everyone arriving in the morning looking for a place is upset.
The children’s pool area is very secluded and in a garden-type setting, where you don’t notice anymore that you are in a seaside location. My child doesn’t enjoy it much as the water there is much colder than at the other pool.
The room is dated but ok and clean.
The staff is mostly nice and helpful.
The food choices at the buffet are very limited and don’t vary much. Many dishes are served daily. The taste and quality however are good.
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Date of stay: July 2020Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Κατερινα Αξαρλή, General Manager at Grecotel Creta Palace
Responded 31 Jul 2020
Dear Gnu1, First of all, thank you for posting this review to TripAdvisor, shortly after your recent stay with us. We were thrilled to read that you enjoyed our lovely beach in front of the hotel, the cleanliness of our rooms, as well as our COVID-19 measures. But we were more than happy when you mentioned about our staff and their unique attentive attitude. Moreover, your feedback as regards the limited chairs in the pool area, and the food choices at the buffet, is more than valuable for us to investigate and take all the necessary actions to correct things. We will make sure to share your comments with the rest of the team in Creta Palace We thank you again and we look forward to welcoming you back during your next visit to Greece in one of our Exclusive Grecotel resort properties, around Greece! Kind Regards Vassilis Minadakis General Manager
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A beautiful Spanish roof tiled white washed palatial property on the beach. Turtles come at night and leave their eggs in the rocky sand beach. The beach stewards are protective of these babies and it is a blue flag beach. The hospitality is excellent, we were provided welcome beverages at our very late arrival. Everyone here is super accommodating and the food is a good quality. Room service can be overwhelming for breakfast in that one menu item will feed three comfortably! We enjoyed our stay and would recommend this property to friends traveling here.
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Date of stay: June 2021Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
This is a nice hotel with its own beach and multiple restaurants. The hotel was nice, clean, cozy and with modern lobby and entrance. The private beach is supper chill and with enough beach beds. We had a double-bed room with a balcony and sea view. The room was big enough for a couple and the bed was enough comfortable. However, the room was furnished in a minimalistic way and a bit out-dated too. For example, one of the annoying points was lack of working desk in the room. Rooms are also noisy as they are not fully sound proof.
Regarding the service, the staff were really polite and helpful. We are supper happy with their customer support. Hotel has multiple restaurants where with a TUI half-pension package you can only use one of the restaurants for free. To eat at other restaurants you have to pay yourself. Also the most annoying point about the dining at the free restaurant is that they don't provide you any drink with your dinner even water (Euro 3.90 for a bottle of water).
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Date of stay: July 2021
Rooms
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Maria Mathioudaki, Εξυπηρέτηση πελατών/Υποδοχή at Grecotel Creta Palace
Responded 19 Jul 2021
Dear hosseink804, It is a great pleasure to read that you enjoyed your stay in our resort and especially that you mentioned our cleanliness and the politeness of our staff. Concerning the half board package, it includes indeed breakfast and dinner or lunch in the main buffet restaurant without the drinks. Thank you though for your feedback, regarding the sound proof between the rooms and the furniture, which will help us to improve in the future. We do hope to welcome you again in Grecotel Creta Palace. Kind regards, Maria Mathioudaki Corporate Guest Services Manager
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First of all, it was a truly nice experience. It is a luxurious resort no doubt about it. The food is nice and everybody very friendly. The check-in was efficient done outside because of the corona limitations. If you own a smartphone you can download an app from the hotel to reserve your mealtimes, which is required.
Nevertheless there are some - minor - flaws: Shampoo, hair conditioner and shower gel should be replaced when empty without asking for. Some People didn’t adhere to their located eating times, which results that you have to wait for a free table. I found it not acceptable to see guests in swimwear at the restaurant. Later on, they opened the indoor dining. A bit short of personnel because of Covid. Also on the beach, if you go there after 10 a.m. no more free sun beds but on many of them you see nobody. Also no desinfection of the sun beds, as it should be. Covid protection was OK, more or less, we didn’t have to show our vaccination certificate, also on arrival at the airport (Chania) the controls were very rudimentary.
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Date of stay: July 2021
Rooms
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Maria Mathioudaki, Εξυπηρέτηση πελατών/Υποδοχή at Grecotel Creta Palace
Responded 11 Oct 2021
Dear Wiesi, Thank you for sharing your experience of your recent stay in Grecotel Creta Palace on Tripadvisor. We are really delighted that you enjoyed your stay and that you mentioned our exceptional food, friendliness of our staff. Concerning Covid19, please note that our staff follow all the strict hygiene measures and they are willing to help at any time. We look forward to welcoming you again in our resort. Kind regards, Maria Mathioudaki
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Having seen our room on arrival we honestly thought it was a bad joke. I have NEVER stayed in such a miserable hostel-like room before in my entire life including student years. Especially not having paid well over 600 EUR per night... Beware of the rooms starting with number 5... they have nothing in common wth a 5 star hotel apart from prices. To give them their dues, the management reacted promptly and friendly and offered us a different room which was much better, but still not been renovated in the last 20 years. It is especially disappointing, that the pictures on the hotel website have nothing in common with the reality. It seems their tried to renovate the common areas (lobby, restaurants), but the rooms remain old and crappy. The hotel is so huge (which one does not see on the photos), that when the whole crowd spills into buffet breakfast or dinner, the experience becomes one of very limited pleasure. Barbarossa restaurant is nice but they only book a dozen tables per night, with the herds of guests staying in the hotel one has to reserve many days in advance. We ended up going to Rethymno with a taxi every night, which has great restaurants. However, i am still giving a neutral rating because all this was saved by the hospitality and helpfulness of the staff. There is A LOT of staff, and they all work really hard. The kids club teachers are very motivated and make great effort to keep kids occupied (spoiler alert: kids club also looks nothing like the photos on the website). Would I recomment it to a friend? Certainly not. There are enough great hotels opening in Greece in the last years, one just needs to book earlier. But did we have a good holiday i the end? Yes, only thanks to the staff of the hotel.
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Date of stay: July 2021
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Room Tip:Main building or bungalows only!!
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We had a great time at this hotel , when we arrived we was greeted with some lovely drinks and welcomed by a friendly member of staff. We wasn’t overly happy with the room selection but when speaking with Antonio the manger he had no problem changing our room the same day and gave us an absolutely stunning change, it was no trouble for him and he really helped us out. The food in the hotel is stunning we couldn’t fault it at all , so much choice breakfast lunch and dinner we didn’t have one bad meal.
We went on the all inclusive package , now when bookings this with jet 2 they don’t state it’s a comfort package but the comfort package I would say is your normal all inclusive you get a variety of drinks and cocktails all day which were nice you just don’t get premium drinks. we had one use of the sushi restaurant which was great. If you did want to use more À la cart though you do have to pay.
We visited the roof top bar one evening but we was unaware that the comfort package is not included in this so was told we had to pay for our drinks up there which we decided not to and we left to come back down to the bar which is great and have a band on every night till 11 or you can take the kids to the kids club at 8.30 and then watch the show at 9 and make your way back over to the bar for more.
I really liked that the show and band were separate so you had a choice of what you wanted to do that evening.
You get waiter service around the pool bar which is nice and a big shout out to Mariana who was amazing she was very friendly and she even Brought my daughter a toy for her birthday while we was there.
The pool is nice I would say more sunbeds should be added as it was getting busier while we were there and people didn’t have sunbeds to sit on. And also a little music around the pool would be a good idea.
The beach has white sand where the sunbeds are placed but when you get near the water and further into the water it is actually a pebble beach, which wasn’t a problem as the beach it’s self is lovely to sit on but it’s not Sandy when entering the water so you would need shoes to go into the sea.
The staff in the restaurant are amazing and we loved the lady who ran the lunch restaurant she was very nice. Antonio and his team made my daughters birthday extra special by putting balloons on our table and bringing a cake out at dinner.
All around I would say this hotel is definitely a four start plus and with little changes it could definitely be a 5 we all had a lovely time and I would go back.
Thank you for a great holiday.
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Date of stay: June 2022Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Maria Mathioudaki, Εξυπηρέτηση πελατών/Υποδοχή at Grecotel Creta Palace
Responded 04 Jul 2022
Dear Lauren Turner, Thank you so much for your positive and detailed review in Tripadvisor. It is so important to us to read that you and your family had a great holiday in our resort with our amazing staff and especially that you enjoyed your daughter’s birthday. Indeed it is very valuable your feedback in order to understand what is good and what needs to be better. We would like to wish to your family all the best and we do hope next year to celebrate again your daughter’s birthday in Creta Palace. Kind regards, Maria Mathioudaki Corporate Guest Services Manager
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We are currently at the hotel for 15 days. the hotel is well maintained even if it is aging. The staff are very polite and very friendly. The beach is very beautiful and spacious, bring shoes to go in the water. The negative is the food. We chose this hotel on the recommendation of the travel agency who told us about a themed evening such as barbecue party ... and the disillusionment none of that we are told that it is not the high season (in July !! ). Worse still for those like us who take the all inclusive formula (who do not have one) of course the drinks are included but in terms of food you will have the right for lunch to an almost non-existent buffet compared to the one in the evening where they are served again the leftovers from the day before. We are talking about the possibility of eating at the beach bar where you will find a menu with hamburger, salad gyros and other things but not included in the all in only a mini window with 2 sandwiches and 2 pieces of cakes. For a hotel of this category it is a shame that, at the price charged for the supplement all in the service is minimal, advice do not waste your money. We still have 10 days spent here hoping to see a buffet lunch at the height of the asking price as well as grills and barbecue party as promised by the agency. To conclude, the hotel is very good but the food is an integral part of the holidays and can spoil the stay if not up to the task. To have traveled a lot, I think it should be inspired by some estinations with services all in that would make them blush with shame and for less ... I will get back to you at the end of the stay ;-)
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Date of stay: June 2021Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Maria Mathioudaki, Εξυπηρέτηση πελατών/Υποδοχή at Grecotel Creta Palace
Responded 10 Jul 2021
Dear Smeagol79, Firstly I would like to apologize for my late reply but thank you at the same time for posting such a detailed review. It is very important for us to read that you enjoy in general the hotel, the beach and that you mention our polite and friendly staff. On the other hand we are really sad for this misunderstanding with your agency concerning the description of the all-inclusive package and especially that you do not enjoy the food in general. Please contact me personally or any of my colleagues of the Guest Services team in order to discuss it and see if we can do something, even if you have only a few days left. Looking forward to seeing you in person. Kind regards, Mathioudaki Maria Guest Services Manager
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Hi,
It’s not too far about 2km, if you’re good on foot ( which I wasn’t) Definitely walking distance but temperatures can get very high and it’s 10 euros in a taxi that reception will book for you and arrive in minutes. Quite touristy but lots of nice little bars and restaurants if you want a change of scenery. Lots to see in the Old Town, again guest relations will advise you on this.
Enjoy your holiday! You wont be disappointed:-)
There are more places to choose from in the Rethymnon area.
PRICE RANGE
R 3,293 - R 5,571 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
ALSO KNOWN AS
grecotel creta palace rethymnon, hotel grecotel creta palace
LOCATION
GreeceCreteRethymnon PrefectureRethymnon
NUMBER OF ROOMS
335
Prices are provided by our partners, and reflect average nightly room rates, including taxes and fees that are fixed, known to our partners, and due at time of booking. Please see our partners for more details.
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