Aristea Hotel

From the moment we walked in we were made to feel welcome. Vivi and Vicky on reception were brilliant,any queries or information you wanted they went out of the way to provide it. This hotel is one of the cleanest and best run I have ever stopped at in Greece.The room was cleaned every other day and towels and bed linen were changed on the same basis. The cleaners always had a smile on their faces and nothing was too much trouble if you wanted extra towels or the like. I cannot leave a review without mentioning Babiss the ever cheerful bartender,what a star! He had us in stitches with his stories and sayings.He was also a mine of useful information about Crete having lived there all his life,he told us of places that were worth visiting which we did when we hired a car. Thankyou Babiss! All in all a great hotel with even better staff,thankyou all for making our holiday so enjoyable.

They use false advertising. What you book on their web site is not what you get. - The room is not according to the pictures. It was only partially refurbished. - cleaning only every other day - without us asking, the reception informed us at check in that we had come to a two star hotel (their web site claims that they are a 3 star hotel) Management was nonchalant and invisible. After check out they sent us an automatic message on “Whatsup” requesting an evaluation and a review. We answered, but did not received a response. Fortunately our holiday in Greece is saved as it is distributed on two other hotels as well. These two hotels are fantastic, even better than they promised, absolutely more value for money and more serious.

Stayed with my two adult children in June and we absolutely loved this beautiful little hotel. Everywhere was spotlessly clean, our studio was very spacious with two balconies, one of which was huge. We had a separate modern wet room (wish all hotels did this) from the toilet and sink. The pool area was lovely and again spotlessly clean. We had the breakfast buffet on our first day and although very good, was expensive at 13€, would have been good to be able to order individual items. Instead we enjoyed breakfast on our balcony - small supermarket across from the hotel, larger one plus two bakeries a five minute walk away. The staff were so welcoming, especially the reception staff and Vicky was really lovely and friendly, gave us so much info about the area when we arrived and always so helpful. We loved the area and would highly recommend both the hotel and beautiful Rethymno. We were very sad to leave this wonderful island.

Just returned home from this lovely Hotel, room was a good size, clean and well maintained. Really close to beach. Good pool bar for drinks and food. Staff were really friendly and helpful. Self catering, we had no problem buying food from shop opposite hotel and two more shops 250yds up road. Bus service is cheap and frequent, bud stop 250 yds from hotel.

We booked in via a package holiday company. Just a basic room on a B&B basis. Our room was “in the basement” and on first entry we had our doubts. However, we need not have worried. It suited our needs down to the ground. With temperatures in the low thirties, apart from two days, the room was cool and so no air conditioning required. (An extra charge, along with a room safe key and the “extortionate” local tourist tax of €0.50 per head per day). Vicki the British expat head receptionist is an absolute star. Knows the area like the back of her hand and will not only answer all your questions, but anticipate most of them too. The other receptionists are equally knowledgeable and speak good English. The hotel is located 70 metres from the beach. A taxi rank is 150 metres away and if you walk there you save a couple of euros on the ride into Rethymnon town. Not that it’s expensive- €6 from the rank, €8 from the hotel. Buses go to town too. The 6km walk to town takes about 45 minutes. There are a whole bunch of good tavernas within a 10 minute walk. Including one of Rethymnon’s specialist fish restaurants. Breakfast is a self service buffet with hot (egg, bacon, sausage, omelette etc), continental and sweet/savoury pastries plus coffee, teas and fruit juice offerings. Plenty of it and they don’t mind if you squirrel some away for lunch. The hotel serves generously sized poolside snacks from 1100 to when the evening barman decides he won’t rustle up any more. A chunk of the menu stops at 1530. The bar is reasonably priced and does not play loud music so great to relax in. For those departing late there is a locked luggage room to stash your bags during the day. Our studio type room had a bedroom, bathroom and a living area with a kitchenette. Ideal to eat in on the veranda if you do not want to go out. There is a mini market directly opposite the hotel and a larger supermarket is a 15 minute gentle walk away. This suited our desires and plans to a tee. Not that it is expensive to eat out we never paid more than €45 for mains, dessert and wine plus water. The local portions are generous. We didn’t find a dud eatery either locally or in town. It had been 35 years since we were last in Greece. Why did we wait so long? Certainly we will be considering returning here. The pool is not huge, but you can swim in it and there is a shallow kids section too. There are poolside loos and showers.

We visited July just before the school holidays. Fabulous location, just on the edge of town on a lovely uncrowded beach which also had turtles nesting in the sand. You also get free sun beds and water when you buy drinks from the hotel, which was a great bonus! We strolled up to town most evenings and got a taxi back (to the end of the seafront road) for 6 euro. Rethymon is a lovely town. The hotel facilities were basic: in the room (electric portable hob and microwave, small fridge and tiny freezer) and very small gym. The pool area was clean but became very crowded especially as it got closer to the school holidays. Bedding and towels were changed every few days however the rooms should have a basic clean, bin empty everyday. Also woken at 9am a number of times for the change (we like a lay in on holiday!) However, the atmosphere was fantastic, the reception staff Vicky and Vivi always friendly, chatty and helpful and Babi, the barman was brilliant! Created a great atmosphere and old friends and visitors were always dropping by for a catch up. He made our stay extra memorable. The bar food was very basic, but ok if hungry. We hired a car and visited Lake Kournas to see the turtles and palm beach. We also went for a walk to the local Mili gorge (Vicky organised a taxi back for us!), boat trip to the beautiful Balos and Gramvousa beaches (very busy!) and evening trip to the lovely Chania. So loads to do as well as the lovely beach and everyone helpful and friendly. We ate both in town and local taverna’s, a couple of our favourites were Manolis on the beach front and 1-1 behind the hotel. Also fabulous coffee/bakery shop down the road! All in all we had a lovely stay due to the staff mainly, so would say it’s a nice 3 star as the hotel would benefit with updating.