Ostria Resort & Spa

Beautiful resort with lovely rooms. We really enjoyed our stay and would thoroughly recommend. There are a few considerations if you're thinking of booking - the resort was windy on a couple of days and the food (although very good) did get a bit 'samey' as you could only visit two of the restaurants once during your stay as part of the all inclusive. The Greek staff at the hotel spoke great English, however the animation team's English was basic at best, so much so that they were unaware that they were playing music featuring English swear words around the pool area with lots of families present! Lastly, I would suggest taking your own towel as we paid a deposit for four and one of ours was taken while we were swimming in the pool which happens quite a lot apparently!

The hotel is beautiful. We had a room with private access to the pool and the rooms as well as the whole hotel were really clean and all the services were at a high level that corresponds to 5 stars. The hotel environment is very modern and timeless. The food at the hotel was amazing and of good quality. We recommend this hotel, we will definitely come back here again and thank you for everything,

This is a really nice place, set over a massive area which means guests aren't falling over each other when it is busy. Location wise, it's about a 10 minute bus/taxi from the nearest town (Ierapetra which is well worth a visit on a night time). There's nothing else much around the hotel but to be fair, you're well occupied. The beach is a shingle beach that's reasonably clean and tidy. We spent most of our time at the adults only pool and bar. Yannis and Manos are an absolute credit to the hotel. Yannis is the most mild mannered and smiley waiter you'll ever come across and Manos is attentive, friendly and an absolute legend. I don't have enough superlatives for those two who made our holiday fantastic. The resort is a french resort with limited English guests, not that it really matters, all staff can speak good English. The beach bar disco is dominated by french music though to please the crowd. The reason I have rated the place 4 instead of 5 is that it's not truly all inclusive. There are 2 restaurants on site that you have to pay for. Thalasso fish restaurant, this place is fantastic albeit quite expensive with no discount offered to hotel guests. The same with the wine and grill restaurant. Personally, on a 5 star resort, you'd expect these to be included or discounts offered. In summary, it's a really nice place and the week flew by. If you go as a couple, use the adult pool and bar, tip Yannis and Manos everyday, they work incredibly hard and will make your trip magical

Me and my partner visited this resort last week and as much as I hate to say it.. there were more negatives than positives about it. - I got food poisoning from the maestro a la carte and was up at night being sick in the bathroom. - There was a Lifeguard at the main pool who was acting extremely inappropriately towards young women (Putting suncream on their backs, touching their faces, kissing their hands and their heads etc.) We reported this to the reception and it was supposedly dealt with but just wanted to mention it. - Poor service from select few staff because we are English, but they would serve French people right after us with a smile and talk more with them. - In the Thalassa seaside restaurant, admittedly the food was of better quality in comparison to the all inclusive (but paid). However, after choosing a bottle of wine to share, our waiter only offered a tasting to my partner and not myself as a woman. The entire evening I was barely acknowledged and when our waiter would speak it would only be towards my partner, which we found very rude and sexist. - Events (eg Gala Night) mainly catered to the French Guests. Any information that was given in English was extremely condensed and minimal in comparison to French. - Two French men (that were in intoxicated) were knocking on our door at 3am on one occasion, as well as many other people’s doors. This caused a lot of anxiety for my partner for the remainder of the stay. We called the reception to send the security to solve this issue, however, they didn’t seem to do anything about this. The Incident was not recorded even though we complained about this. - Allergies were a big issue for us in the buffet areas. (My partner has an allergy to nuts) Food was not clearly marked, some food didn’t have markers at all, and some were toppled over or misplaced. We had to carry medication at all times in case my partner had a flare up. - All entertainment was in French so does not cater to any other guests and this was not mentioned on the website. These are all the major negatives that we thought were quite unacceptable for a resort that’s supposedly holds themselves to such high standards. However, there were a few positives from this experience. - The spa was quite enjoyable, although it could have been a bit more well maintained in the swimming area. It was also quite expensive, but still good enough for us to go twice during our trip. - The adult pool was where we spent the majority of our time during our stay. The pool was lovely, the service was mostly consistent and the atmosphere was nice and quiet. - The boutique, although overpriced, had a good selection of essentials and gifts to take home and was a nice addition to the resort. - The Guest services was exceptional. The two woman at the desk were extremely helpful and were very kind and patient with us. They helped us book our reservations for the restaurants and plan our experiences around the resort. - The dessert bar

Overal I was more than happy with this resort. This is my review: Accomodation is really nice and clean. I appreciate this is not one big hotel, but everybody have his own flat. Clean ladies kept everything clean everyday. Toilet, shower and furniture is kinda new. Every room is very close to the pools or sea. For me the bed was little bit soft (but probably it will suit most of the people). - 5/5 Food was really good. There is really huge selection of meals and I believe everybody will choose what suits him. Meals was similar everyday but everyday you will find something new. And if you cant choose anything from swedish tables, you have still another restaurant to choose some brunch and street food. - 5/5 Location is of the hotel is little bit problem, because from Heraklion its about 2 hours by bus. But I assure you, its worth it. Surrouding of the hotel is very calm, you can feel calmness. - 4/5 Sea and surroudings is very clear. You will find no garbage. Its lot of cats here, so if you like them you will be happy :) - 5/5 If you are active person, you will find here lot of activities from animators. Zumba, cykling, gym activities, cooking class and lot of more. Only disadvantage is, if you cant speak French (as me) you will have problem to get involved into some activities. But here is s many activities you can deal with it :) Also lot of this animators really tried to speak English with us, to involve us into this activities (it was very kind). - 5/5 People here in resort was 5/5. Dont need to talk about it much. Smiling, kind... dont know what to add. And last thing I want to add is life in the resort. Almost every day we experienced some event, what we didnt expect. Performances, view into Greek / Cretan culture, dinners ala carte and much more. - 6/5 We will be happy to come back and will also recommend to friends and family. Best regards Pavol and Zuzana