Elounda Mare Hotel, Relais & Châteaux

We stayed in July in a Bungalow with private pool (number 30). This hotel is really lovely. I would say that the rooms are not at the very top end (Four Seasons quality) but they are still very well appointed, with good amenities and efficient air conditioning. The private pool was a reasonable size; the main pool is really big (and deep). Be aware that all the pools are salt water and very salty - even saltier than the sea! The beach is amazing - a truly beautiful little bay with clear sea and plenty of sunbeds, but not too packed together. We found the service very good both at the pool and at the beach. For meals, breakfast was standard stuff, no complaints. We had lunch every day in the restaurant overlooking the beach and found it excellent. We did not have dinner int eh hotel, every evening we got a taxi to Elounda or (better) Plaka and I would recommend both. The only issue in the whole holiday was that the first time we went to Elounda, we asked reception to recommend a restaurant and they booked us a bizarrely shabby place on the noisy main road serving average food when there are beautiful restaurants overlooking the harbour which have lovely fresh fish etc. I can only presume that the person on reception knows the owner of this other restaurant! After that, we just wandered around and found our own restaurants. On the way to Plaka you drive past the flash hotels like the Blue Palace and the Domes - I think Elounda Mare's setting right on the sea is far superior and I was very glad we booked Elounda Mare rather than one of those hotels. In summary, I would thoroughly recommend Elounda Mare. In fact, I think we will go back next year.

There are a couple of things you need to consider before booking a holiday at the glamorous Elounda Mare with its wonderful views over the Aegean. The first is, how physically fit are you? Sorry to get personal, but I found the sprawling multi-level Elounda complex quite a challenging resort to navigate. The walk from the hotel to the pool is via a series of staggered natural stone steps; and the pool bar (the ???Deck???) is on a lower level to the pool, accessible via a flight of 17 steep stone steps with a handrail that, rather alarmingly, stops halfway down. My second question is, how important to you is swimming in the sea? The Elounda Mare is situated on a promontory, its only access to the sea being the beach at ???The Yacht Club???, a delightful restaurant-bar-gallery-boutique extension, which is a good five minutes??? walk away ??? involving more stone steps down to be beach and an ascent on the way back. Now, none of this is any consequence, other than a minor annoyance, if you???re fit. But if you have a mobility problem, even a temporary one (in my case, arthritis in my right knee) you need to consider some of the challenges that Elounda will throw at you. And it wasn???t just me struggling. I saw a couple of elderly guests having difficulty getting in and out of the pool via the rather narrow ladders down the side. Despite my dicky knee I enjoyed a pleasant and restful week in this this picture-postcard location. As you would expect from a Relais & Chateau hotel, the rooms are comfortable, the staff welcoming and helpful, the food excellent (there are half a dozen restaurants in various locations around the property). The all-included breakfasts, with freshly squeezed orange juice, make a great start to the day. I have a couple of other niggles which have nothing to do with mobility. When I stayed in May, there were no pool attendants to bring towels or drinks to the sunbeds around the pool. You have to help yourself to a couple of towels from a pile by the door and deposit them in a bin at the end of the day. I took to bringing my own bottled water to the pool because drinks and snacks come via the Deck restaurant on the lower level, which is staffed by two willing, but overburdened, waiters down below. There is no way of summoning them except to sit up on your sunbed and catch their eye next time they appear. Self-help is not what you expect at a Relais hotel, although this was pre-season and maybe reinforcements are drafted in for high season. Still??? And my last gripe, I promise: I think a hotel of this standard should provide a more modern and user-friendly satellite TV system than the one in my room. If you do decide to stay at Elounda Mare I would urge you to book one of the ground floor suites with a veranda if it???s within your budget ??? or, if booking a less expensive room on one of the upper floors, make sure that it is located in the centre of the hotel, near the lift. Some of the rooms (not mine, fortunately) are a good five minutes??? walk away ??? an annoyance if you have to nip back for something. One of my fellow guests calculated that he spent 30 minutes a day just walking to and from his room. The Elounda provides an exceptionally comfortable meet-and-greet service from the airport, which is about an hour away. On your return, they have a concierge who meets your car as you arrive at the airport and takes you and your luggage to the check-in desk. The return is 200 Euros but worth every penny.