Archipelagos Hotel

Ive been in 4 hotels in Crete , from all the others ive had an heart's welcome with gifts (Olive oil, honey, wine) . Archipelagos ( the most expensive) gifted me with a broken air conditioning system... no offer of another room (i was a 1 night guest...so...) no refund ...just a portable air conditioning system brought to the room ... it worked with the window open and was so noisy that i was obliged to turn it off after 2 hours of torture....What else...no restaurant...just a beverage machine out of order at the entrance, cheap furniture in the room and a public beach in front of the hotel that is very small and sad considering the graffitis over the concrete wall around that is the base of the noisy street just upstairs (the same street u could hear from the room if you stay with the hotels windows open)....far away from the city center and more far from the sandy beach of Rethymno ....find something more cozy or more luxurious...Archipelagos isnt both

We stayed for 10 days end of June and booked a sea view room 9th floor. Views were amazing however you do need to catch 3 different elevators or take stairs so you need to weigh up if its worth it for a view as to be honest lots of lower floor rooms seemed ok however the lower you go the more likely to have shade on your balcony and less of a view but I would say maybe floor 4 upwards would be a good middle ground. We paid for bed and breakfast and found it good value, lots of hot food and traditional Greek cold food such as yoghurts & fruit. Didn't see a toaster or anyone toasting bread so perhaps that would be one suggestion. You can get breakfast until 10.30am. Kitchen staff are very nice. Mr Stelios and staff very friendly and polite as is Andreas who works the bar. Very clean and maids cleaned room daily and even helped us cart our heavy cases to the lifts. Prices at pool bar reasonable and never struggled to find a lounger (got busier by 10am however nobody bagging loungers really early which ive experienced in Spanish resorts). This hotel has a quiet vibe so I wouldn't recommend it for big families or anyone who prefers to have some form of entertainment we just wanted to chill so it suited us and the bar shuts at 7pm but that was fine for us as we would be out anyway. Every day we walked across the road and swam in the sea it was amazing and one of the best things about how the hotel is positioned. There is a large wave breaker wall so you can swim in the shallow part even when the ocean is choppy, we would go early morning and enjoyed meeting a few older Greek locals swimming and we had many a good culture chat with them. The main negatives but not enough to put us off coming again is the 3 elevators to get to room (we are fit and don't mind stairs but if carrying heavy water or wearing heels) , the walk to the town isn't long but pavements are narrow and people are riding at you fast on scooters etc so a bit of a risky walk. Our biggest gripe with the whole area (so not a hotel issue which is why we didn't reflect the scoring but just wanted to note it here) is the safety on roads and pavements as most of the walks we did single file due to people riding on bikes, scooters on very narrow pathways. We managed to navigate around this but some people might get frustrated so just be aware. Like I say wouldn't put us off. If anyone in your group has mobility issues then please think twice about booking a high up room remember the better the view the higher up to walk the stairs or navigate 3 lifts. Mr Stelios wife owns the business and she is the Boss we saw her but didn't get to talk to her she was always busy working in her office however Mr Stelios is very much the face of this family run business and a very knowledge and friendly person. I will miss the quirky Greek music played in the elevators haha! We loved our stay here and our room and view was spectacular. Would highly recommend.