Blue Palace, a Luxury Collection Resort and Spa, Crete

Stayed for two nights in a Mediterranean Maisonette Suite with Sea View and Private Pool, this was lovely but overlooked by the other rooms but a lovely luxury. The service in the Bars and restaurants was exceptions, especially on the beach where drinks and snacks were served to your sunbed. The beach is large pebbles which had a decked area to walk along but I preferred laying on a sunbed on the grass and would suggest that this would not suit families with small children and seemed to have more couples and families with older children staying. Great location if you want to eat in Elounda - Taxi cost us 8 Euro each way and also you can walk into Plaka which had some nice traditional restaurants to choose from. There are some nice restaurants in the hotel but we wanted to eat out locally. The only negative was one lift from reception to beach - you always had to wait for it (they need more than one) you could walk down but unless you are super fit would not walk up, they have buggy's as well but not that many. This hotel is definitely 5 Star Luxury, we found it quiet and really relaxed and the views at sunrise and sunset of Spinalonga were amazing, this hotel is worth a visit.

Stayed at the Blue Palace for 2 nights and I wished we had stayed longer. The rooms were excellent with fantastic views and a private pool. The service was very good and they were very informative, it's quite far from the airport and port, but this is what makes it special ( peace and quiet). The resort has 4 different restaurants and plenty of water activity for kids or families. The views of the mountains and sea were amazing. The only negative comment I can make about this hotel would be the Asian restaurant , we went there to try something different and were very surprise that the restaurant did not meet our standards. ( but I guess eating Asian food in Greece is not very smart ). Overall I would definitely recommend the hotel for some R&R and excellent views.

we ended our 2 weeks in Greece in Elounda, and this hotel truly is American style 5 star. The service was excellent, the breakfast was great but the ambiance was lacking. We were here are the beginning of June, perhaps still slow season. There wasn't much to do in the evening and Elounda town is very small.

Blue Palace is a nice modern hotel next to the village of Plaka. The hotel itself was clean and modern with all the facilities you would expect of a hotel of this calibre. We were upgraded at reception to a room with our own plunge pool which was a nice touch. We had the half-board option allowing us to eat in the main restaurant for free or use the other restaurants for a surcharge of 26 Euro's each (we didn't bother as did not seem worth it). The food was buffet style and had a very good selection both for breakfast and dinner. A couple of nights we ate in the village to have a change of scene. The beach and pool areas are great, although it is a pebble beach. This did not really matter as the hotel had walkways and a jetty to get into the water (which was freezing but beautifully clear). They have a nice system where you just push the button on your table and someone comes and takes your order. The beach bar food was nice but quite expensive. The service from everyone we met was very friendly and professional. When we ordered anything to be delivered to the room ( ice bucket, coat hangers etc) they arrived very quickly. We never had any problems during our stay. Sitting out at night with a glass of wine looking over the Island of Spinalonga was really nice. The area around the hotel is quite quiet, the village of Plaka has a few bars and restaurants but it is still quite quiet (which I thought was great). Overall I would come back to the hotel again as it has a great location and the everything lived up to our expectations.

Exceptional location, dramatic views, outstanding guest rooms, friendly, high quality service. The Blue Palace truly deserves its ratings and whilst certainly not cheap it is great value for money. Our favorite stay on our tour through the Greek Islands and we can't wait to one day return.