The whole site is well maintained, beautiful flower gardens and well lit at night - a stunning view over the pool and sea and soft sandy beach. Concierge helpful both in advance and during the holiday for various questions to improve the experience. The food was varied and good quality, bars and day time food options also around the site - accessible by bus to Heraklion or a handful of tourist shops/pharmacy etc on the doorstep. Detailed review of key elements below

ROOM: We spent one week in a superior family suite as a family of four (kids aged 9 and 7). The room was partitioned with a sliding door, kids in a single bed each by the bathroom and our ‘side’ was by a small enclosed balcony (meaning you can put kids to bed and not have to sit in the dark!). We had debated a family room with swim up shared pool or a two floor family room but on balance I don’t think we’d have got the value for money as we spent the majority of time out of the room. The room was on the smaller side overall but it was very modern and clean with excellent A/c (separate zones for the two sleeping areas). We were travelling with our in laws who had a superior double sea view - their room seemed very similar (and even had additional single beds made up), just no sliding compartment door, certainly possible to also fit a family of 4 for the week and save some money.

POOL/BEACH: the pool is huge and exceptionally deep (3m at the deepest). Perfect for confident swimmers - only a relatively small section where it’s possible to stand up. The beach is sandy and easy access to the sea, the water warm and clear. Watersports (paddle board etc) aren’t included. Whilst there are many signs not to reserve the sun beds in both locations, people do and I didn’t see any reinforcement of the policy from the hotel, but there were many beds available when we went late August and we never had any issue to get space for the family.

FOOD; the quality of the food was great - not only the buffet but the four a la carte restaurants, pizza and grill bars (and of course the fresh crepes!) Definitely suggest to book via the app or concierge before arrival though for the a la carte, there were people being turned away during the stay due to no availability. Yes certain times of day crepe and grill get busy and there can be a wait but look at the queue and decide what works for you, honestly not as much an issue as other reviewers mentioned.

KIDS CLUB/EVENING ENTERTAINMENT : whilst the day time programme seemed varied on paper(and for this no need to book in advance, unlike other holidays we’ve been on), kids club wasnt so engaging. The ‘hut’ the site is on seemed quite old and less well looked after compared to other parts of the hotel, when we went it didn’t seem to have a/c running and overall it didn’t seem very well frequented. Each evening there were performances at 9.15 pm in the theatre or live music up by the main bar which everyone enjoyed post dinner.

SPA/FITNESS: I had two lovely spa treatments during the week - the mother and daughter experience and the Zeen massage. The spa has an indoor pool and a relaxation area alongside the treatment rooms. My only minor complaint for the management to be aware of is the the wooden legged spa beds really creak when being massaged which was quite distracting.

The fitness centre is outdoors in a covered space on one of the tennis courts at the front of the hotel, so not overlooking the beach as the online pictures may suggest. Whilst a shame not to have a view (meditation on the beach is one option), the programme was very varied and the instructors work hard to make the sessions run well - all classes were 30 minutes and you can do your own workout at any time with plenty of weights selection, TRX, skipping lots and other equipment available from the centre.

LOCATION; true it’s not in the ‘centre’ but it’s not in the middle of nowhere either. Outside the hotel are some tourist souvenir shops, pharmacy, cafe, supermarkets within walking distance. The bus going to Heraklion stops outside and takes 25 minutes to get to the centre. It’s also 10 mins taxi to WaterCity (themed water park)which I definitely recommend for active kids!

OTHER - yes there are planes and they are clearly audible as they land, however they are mostly early to mid morning and early evening, the rest of the time I personally could ignore them.

All in all, genuinely a wonderful week, super all inclusive meaning snacks and drinks (inclusive of the room mini bar) were accessible - a great family get away.