Elounda Water Park Residence Hotel

Please note, the holiday was great, but not because of the hotel but in spite of it. It starts with check in, an A4 piece of paper given to you with the usual, breakfast and pool opening times, reception lady went through very fast and gave us the key to our room. She told us it was up the hill and left, what she didn't tell us is there was a golf cart that runs 24 hours a day to save you hiking up Kilamanjaro, except at one point I saw it wheels off sat on pieces of wood? Get to our room after going up the 3 peaks challenge we got a lift in a mini bus with our luggage, but when one of the first people you see is seriously grumpy, it doesn't set a positive tone. Likewise if I'd have known about the hills I'd have brought my walking sticks, bobble hat, oxygen tank, climbing boots and Regatta coat, but I thought this was a Crete pool holiday not camping in the hills and valleys of Wales. The door opens, you see your room for the first time, a put me up single bed from WW2, so hard a drill sergeant would sign it off, no actual proper couch or chair to sit on, apart from 2 wooden chairs round a tiny table that barely had any space to sit down on and certainly not comfortably anyway. Nice touch - 3 small bottles of water in the fridge on arrival. The room is quite small, tiny TV on the wall with only one music station tuned in, just about tuned in as well. Bedroom, 2 adults plus cases and clothes, you've got no chance There's 6 hangers and a few shelves but due to the layout of the room only one of you can realistically be anywhere near the wardrobe at any time. If you've got a child's clothes to throw in as well, one of you is living out your suitcase on the living room area floor till you go home. The balcony had a great view, of mainly cactus plants that had seen better days, but in the distance to be fair was quite a stunning backdrop of the sea and hills far away and beyond. First thing in the morning it was stunning, apart from the noise disruption which I'll get to shortly. The balcony itself was quite small for 3 to sit on, table took up most of the room, metal chairs the rest, they get quite hot as you can imagine, if you used the washing line extension type thing it again took up what little space there was free. We head down to get something to eat, we've gone all inclusive. I'm not a fussy eater, but I won't eat anything I wouldn't eat at home, which takes away, quite a few things straight away, salad bar is vast, but that's about it in terms of choices. The Mediterranean buffet, chicken legs that had that air of been there a while about them, pork cut into almost half a burger size slices sat in some sort of fat/juice, rice, pasta, and honestly very little else. Oh, wait, I forgot the spring rolls, apologies Chef. We sit wondering what the entertainment will be like, there's a sign hidden away in the corner on a plastic board that's barely legible and written only in French. I did GCSE French so glad I got the days

Wow, what a fantastic place! From the reception on day one who made sure we all had rooms close to each other. To the 24/7 shuttle bus service in the resort! They couldn't do enough for us! The food was excellent chefs and waiting staff were polite and always looking after our needs! The bar staff again were professional and polite and always made the effort to guide us through the extensive all-inclusive drink selection! Absolutely loved every day at the resort with so much to do for the kids and us adults! Tonight is Friday, and it's Greek night in the main restaurant with dancing, singing, fire, and fun! What a way to end our holiday! Thank you, Elounda Waterpark residence, we will be back!

Excellent hotel. We’ve been coming for several years and standard is always good. Beautiful views and the food is excellent. Our spacious room was extremely comfortable. The staff were lovely as always. Elounda itself is a lovely town with restaurants, cafes shops and a sandy beach.

Lovely family friendly hotel, enjoyed the hotel facilities, my son especially loved the fun park and little pool area. It is a hotel situated hillside which meant our calves definitely had a work out but there is a golf caddy cart that can take you to and from your room to the facilities which was a life saver for our little one. View from our room was amazing and the room was spacious and clean. Food was great, especially enjoyed the Cretan food we had, the lamb was lovely and soft, there’s salt and pepper for people to season to taste. The man that manned reception usually in the evening was super friendly and helpful, especially when it came to gyro’s recommendations! Be warned, even though the hotel food is lovely, when you taste the local gyros, you will make any excuse to eat them! The hotel had a free shuttle to the end of the hill which then meant we had a short walk into Elounda square and beach. We rented bikes with a baby seat for a day, directly from the hotel and had we not pre booked tours prior to our arrival, I would have just organised all at the hotel. Everything you need in a hotel is found here. We even had a late check out which made it easier for us with a toddler, to schedule his naps before our very late flight out of Crete. Evening entertainment seemed good, as it was mainly geared to the French tourists, we were silent observers but didn’t feel unwelcome when we joined the disco night to let our son run off some stream. Lovely gem of a hotel and we plan to be back next year but in summer to celebrate my father in law’s 70 birthday. Btw Elounda is such a lovely and beautiful little village, if you can, despite the hotel having everything you need, it’s well worth a visit into the main area to experience the local Cretan charm and gyros!

It has taken me a while to decide if a I write this review or not. We arrived and the receptionist seemed very grumpy. Not very welcoming. We were out it an old mini bus and taken to our rooms- up a hill. Our room was certainly not 4 star. It was like going back to the 80s. The balcony came off the main room and with family this was not great, our 8 year old was sleeping by the front door in a kitchen type room. No lounge area. The room was dirty. We asked to move but had to go back the next day which we did. We were given a slightly better room. After one night we had heavy rain during the night and in the new room we had water coming in through the light fitting. We told reception and were told “welcome to Greece” they said they would sort it out as the water had soaked the mattress (we had 2 single beds) We went back to the room where they had just turned the mattress over and not even given us more sheets. The food was average and certainly not 4 star. To be honest we were glad we were half board. I would not have wanted to pay all inclusive. You get better service at the bar if you are half board. If you are half board there is no way you can walk anywhere for lunch. The shop sells nothing to eat really and to pay 20 euros in the restaurant don’t bother. If you are English no point in doing the entertainment. We thought there was a shuttle to town. It only takes you half way down the hill. We had my 76 year old mother in law so no point. Get a taxi. All in all a very expensive holiday and disappointing hotel but came back with good calf’s from being a mountain goat as we had no idea it was set on a mountain.

We went here for a family holiday- stayed 7nights. Water park residence means it has three slides that are ok and a small baby pool area and other standard pools so not quite a water park. But the kids enjoyed. Lots of kids activities available as well and the usual games by poolside. For some reason the activity club hosts were all french so although they spoken english some of the shows and sentences snd themes were french eventhough we were in Crete- Greece not in France- so that was a little annoying as it meant some of the evening shows we did not understand. Food was buffet style- there was some sort of theme nights in the food but we found it not great- just average. Rooms were ok, but as its situated kn a hill its quite steep to go to the different areas, say your rooms are near the top of the hill then you have to come down for the main resturant area another bit of a walk to go down to pools and right down to bottom for the kids areas- yes they have an onsite buggy that you can call but we didnt feel right to keep calling for this only for check in and out. Staff were generally friendly. No issues. Lovely views from there as well. And not far from the town areas.

So… where to begin with! Nice views but other than than I wouldn’t go there again! Rooms are no cleaned, we stayed there for a week and haven’t had our towels changed even once! Free shuttle bus to Elounda doesn’t ever go there as it stops after 2 minutes so basically you have to walk down the steep hill. I don’t even understand why they offer it. Food is ok, but if you’re looking for variety you not going to get it there. Same food everyday and RAKI restaurant is a joke! We booked a table to get the same but pre heated dishes that were served on lunch/dinner. Ridiculous. Also all activities and everything is FRENCH so if you don’t speak it you won’t understand a thing. Wish we had known that. Also, on the checkout they wanted to charge us again for one day even though we had to leave the room basically the day before as we had earlier flights. We explained them we have paid for our holidays a long time ago and the men on the reception couldn’t understand so we eventually used a translator and it was all fine. Nice views but that’s it. Won’t be coming again.

Absolutely terrible, took €200 off us and made out we were lying about paying a safe, would never come back here again, absolutely terrible, the manager off the joint will be nice for 2 days and will be ignorant to you after that, do not come here.😡

Currently staying in the hotel with my partner and we are enjoying us the whole time. Great location with the best view we ever had. Delicious food with plenty of variety, professional and yet familiar service. We did some great excursions like visiting Spinalonga island, visiting Agios Nikolaos city and the archeological site Knossos with the museum in Heraklion. Highly recommend!