Aristea Hotel

Horrendous place. The bathroom was so grubby, I purchased bleach to clean it. The rooms were not attended. I even had to ask for a toilet roll. The staff were so unfriendly. And rarely do you get a Seaview. Good luck to anyone staying. The breakfast was bread, cheese and tomato. Every day. And after 10 days, I'd given up on it.

This is an old hotel and has seen better days — but it's clean and cheap. The rooms are small and the bathrooms comical — the toilet is practically in the shower. They boast about their sea views but the reality is that only 9 of their rooms have a sea view and some are overlooking an extremely noisy road. What makes this all OK though is the fact that you are bang in the centre of everything with the sea at the back door. I would go there again.

This is my second stay here, and I’m sad to be disappointed this year. The location is excellent and the biggest draw to stay here, but having stayed last year, I made sure to email 6 months & 3 months in advance to ask if this year I could have a sea view room, both emails acknowledged & yet I’m in a roadside room again. Manager couldn’t be less interested, or more dismissive if she tried when I politely asked about a change. It would seem solo travellers are less priority for a view, so something to bear in mind if you’re travelling alone.
Sheets are clean but have a lot of holes. Drain is broken in the bathroom (reported) but right by the toilet so a hazard. Toilet is almost in the shower!
Only one available socket.
Wi-Fi intermittent on the 2nd floor.
Luckily I didn’t plan on spending too much time in my room — and it will be even less now.

So we didn’t stay in the hotel but in a Villa Owned by the hotel about 5km outside the town in the hills. The villa was great — lovely pool and a/c throughout. Panos the concierge couldn’t be more helpful and the welcome hamper upon arrival was a nice touch. Daily pool cleaning and refuse collection too.
One down side was that the showers were step into a bath gig which was as little out of keeping with the rest of the Villa.
Apart from that I would totally recommend.

Exactly how I needed a 2 star hotel to be — breakfast, bed, toilet and shower. Friendly staff even when I arrived at 1am. Great location right in the centre of town.

I found this hotel last year when staying further out of town and was determined to stay there this year so booked directly with them by e-mail for 11 nights and could not have been happier.
It’s typically Greek and the oldest established hotel in Elounda. All rooms have a balcony or terrace but ask for a sea facing room and you’ll get a view to die for.
Breakfast is the usual continental and certainly enough to keep me going until dinner. You won’t get a full English but you can find that elsewhere if that’s what you need.
Staff all helpful and polite. Rooms cleaned and bed linen and towels changed regularly.
This was my second solo trip to Elounda and there was a lovely mix of couples and solos at the hotel. There was always someone to sit with at breakfast if you wished and I had dinner out with a couple of similarly solo ladies.
Being so central in the town is a bonus as everything is on your doorstep and there are lovely walks all around.
The owners also have the floating restaurant directly in front of the hotel, the Poulis just further along the front and a restaurant in Plaka which are worth a visit.
I’ll definitely stay here again; booked this trip a year last June and may just get in there early again!

Rooms not up to standard even though it is a budget hotel you dont expect first class but this was a joke sink had no plug shower curtain did not reach the tray, door not fitted properly on fridge socket was a wire hanging out of the wall, sheets had holes in but were clean, website stated a swimming pool but did have one. Breakfast was not as shown very limited but the bread was quite nice Rooms on harbour front maybe better but definately not the inside ones. Guess price reflects so be careful.

Quite an outstanding budget holiday, perfect for your needs for a break. Hotel staff are very helpful when required. Breakfast is continental and kept topped up. The cleanliness of the rooms was good. I would recommend this hotel. Perfect location for thr centre of town.

The best hotel in Anogeia! I totally recommend it as the best! It’s close to everything that you can admire in this village and the rooms are very cozy and beautiful. You can go everywhere on foot. It is the most traditional village I have ever visited.

I had an amazing week in the Hotel Aristea! It has the best location, right on the harbour in Elounda. Elounda itself is so pretty and being on the harbour made it easy to take boat trips — I went over to Spinalonga twice and on a five hour boat trip swimming in the most beautiful coves. I met people staying in much more expensive hotels who were taking long and tiring excursions to get to Spinalonga — this hotel really does have the best location! Other highlights of my stay included swimming off rocks from a little headland tucked away near the Kolkythia peninsula — easy walking distance and clearly where the locals went to swim — and the four hour road train trip up to the mountains.
The hotel itself is simple and was perfect for my stay — it was immaculately clean with bedding and towels changed daily, my room facing the inner courtyard was very quiet and the air con worked perfectly and was so welcome in recent heat! I had planned to go B and B but switched to half board when I got to Elounda and saw how stunning the restaurant is, right on the waterfront. Dinners were delicious — a starter such as stuffed vine leaves followed by a large salad and a main meat dish with vegetables, then a lovely dessert, sone times served with complementary raki! The staff in the restaurant were so friendly and made me feel very welcome every evening — something I valued as a solo traveller.

I have just returned from Crete and stayed for 7 nights here, the hotel is a traditional Greek hotel, very clean and simple rooms, everything I needed for my solo trip. I booked half board, the breakfast was traditional good nourishing food everything I needed to fuel my day, no English breakfast but I wasn’t in England I was in Greece. The evening meals were absolutely amazing, I had 4 courses every night and again no processed or ultra processed rubbish, proper cooked from scratch amazingly nourishing food, I’m 52 and I was blown away every night with the selection of food from the hotel it was a highlight of my holiday every evening and I am a picky eater, I took photos of every dish to remind me of how lovely the dishes were including presentation. The staff always made me welcome with a smile as I arrived for dinner, I would just like to mention the young guys who look after the tables in the restaurant they were always ready to have a chat and ask about my day which was lovely especially as I was on holiday alone. I would add photos to this review but I would like you to experience it for yourself. The hotel is in the main square with easy access to bars and boat trips around the island. This was my first trip to Greece for 30 years and I am so pleased I chose to stay here, I will return and I will book this hotel on a half board basis again.

I booked to stay here for a week in July 2022. I’d forgotten to write a review and I think it’s important to share my terrible experience.
I’d booked through a cheap tour company, which was my first mistake. I arrived at 2am, as expected from my flight times. No one could be raised at reception, the telephone number didn’t connect. I spent 30 min shouting “hello” before someone came out in her dressing gown and handed me a key.
The room was far worse than I expected. Not only was it filthy, it had bed bugs (I was bitten badly) there was some kind of flapping board outside that was banging in the wind. No aircon working and I needed earplugs to get any sleep.
I was woken at 8am by a woman in the room. I was naked and had no sheet on my due to the no aircon. I screamed and the woman apologised. When I went down, they hadn’t been expecting me and said they would turn the aircon on with the ONE remote that they keep.
I left the hotel and just cried at the side of the road. I ended up trawling for somewhere else to stay, I would have paid anything to get out of there. Luckily I ended up staying at the Dolphin Apartments, paying for a full week. I cried again once I moved myself in, cried with happiness because it was an amazing apartment. I never got my money back for the disgusting conditions.
In short I would not stay at the Aristea hotel if you paid me. It’s definitely not a two star hotel, it’s worse than a prison.

The rooms here are very basic, but clean and comfortable. Breakfast again very basic, but it does the job. The location is superb (very central but at the quieter end of town) and the staff are very friendly. The fridge in the room worked well and it was pleasant sitting out on the balcony with a beer.
I was here half board, which includes an evening meal in the harbour side restaurant downstairs. Beautiful setting. Dinner each day is a soup or dip, salad, a local main dish, and a scoop of ice cream. There is no choice, it is just brought out to you, but everything I had was delicious!
To be aware of is that the air conditioning is not included in the price, it costs an extra 5 euros a day! This annoyed me as it wasn't clear in the description when I booked, and does add up.
Otherwise a nice enough budget hotel.

I think some places can have that special element. Something that resonates inside you. You take your own imagination when you travel and if you're lucky you might feel the magic of a place too.
From my own experience of staying at Hotel Aristea … It was absolutely wonderful.
It's a family run establishment with a range of different styles of accommodation. The views and the kindness of the owners was out of this world.
I was so happy to stay here.

The staf is fantastic and there are no nois and the bar is good.

Lovely friendly hotel, great breakfast. Good location, 1 minute from the beach and 30minute walk into Rethymno.

What an amazing place. We have literally just got back from a week with you guys and you were all absolutely fantastic. Bar man/lady were very friendly, cleaners were fantastic and reception staff a pure delight. Ideal for a quieter holiday. Nothing was too much trouble for these guys. Always able to get a sunbed next to the pool (even though they were full). Just an all round fantastic experience. Thank you to all the lovely staff. We will miss you guys x.