Domes of Elounda, Autograph Collection, Crete

Fantastic family resort in a beautiful location. This review is based on our second visit in October 2025. Something between 6-9 nights is a maybe good duration for your stay. Don’t forget making dinner reservations early on. Take our comments with a grain of salt - we are somewhat demanding. + Excellent, super friendly and helpful staff - truly outstanding. Beautiful location, breathtaking views, fantastic beach with clear water - also suitable for smaller children. Very well designed and furnished new rooms in 9XX area with private outdoor tub and beautiful seating area. However, the new beds in these rooms are too soft for our taste - if you are used to sleep on a hard mattress, request a hard topper. Beautiful resort outdoors with lots of native plants, organic herb garden. Great food at Antonino‘s (Italia, we tried 7 different dishes and each one was great) and Villebrequin (Fish, catch of the day). It takes about 1.5 hours to get to the resort by car from Heraklion airport, the transfer service works reliably. o Suites in the 3XX area are nicely designed but have seen better days. Especially the bathroom felt a bit small and outdated, with older amenities in need for a makeover. On the positive side, these suites have the best view on the Spinalonga island and work well for families with kids as the living room can be remade into a childrens‘ bedroom. Food in the main buffet restaurant (Tholos) is OK, we recommend going for the Greek options. Breakfast is nice, very good fresh omelettes, poor coffee (except you prefer filter which is great). Dinner at Blend (steak place) is very good, however some dishes were a bit too roasted for our taste. Rooms are well cleaned, some areas could take a bit of an extra effort (e.g. below the sofas). - Outdoor gym and tennis court need a makeover. Both are beautifully located with views of the bay but equipment is worn out (especially the tennis rackets etc. albeit at the end of the season). Special thanks to Aggeliki, Pantelis, Eleni, Irene and Periklis plus the entire kids club team for making our stay even more memorable with their authentic and heartfelt hospitality.

This is an amazing hotel with superb staff, food, location and very comfy rooms. Butterfly was our host cleaner. When we arrived late she arranged two swans on the bed made from towels with flower petals across the bed. The kitchen had organised a meal for us with prosecco drinks, chocolates and turkish delight. The staff in the restaurant were so attentive and interesting to talk to. Particularly Adhul and Giorgio serving us outside. The meals were fantastic, tasty, fresh and superbly displayed. Quite honestly spoilt for choice! The grounds, pool, beach and surrounding areas were beautifully maintained. The customer service staff Lily, Emma and were so helpful with all our requests. It was a lovely relaxing holiday, we would obviously want to return!

This is an interesting and very popular place, but it's important to understand what it is - and what it isn't. Firstly, the Domes of Elounda is not in Elounda - it's about 3 miles North along the coast from Elounda. An hours walk (tricky after dusk), a 12 euro taxi or a cheap (but irregular) bus ride. It's much nearer Plaka (about a mile away), which we preferred anyway. The footprint of this hotel is huge - spread out over a cone shaped hillside. This is a resort designed for well-off families with children. We were surprised by the number of pre-school kids here - all the way up to teenagers (despite our visit being during British & European term time). This adds a lot of noise to mealtimes. Clientel is British, German, French, Scandi and a mix of other Europeans (at least in October). The beach area is rather lovely and designed to be safe for children - shallow, gently shelving sand - you have to go out a long way to get out of tour depth. Views are great. Staff are friendly and well trained. It is impossible to get away from Piped Pop Muzak ! - not just in the hotel bars and restaurants but outside too and even at the beach. This is also true of most bars and tavernas in the area. If you are a young family and can afford the prices here (high), I'd recommend it, but as an aging couple this place wasn't really for us.

This was our first trip to Greece. We picked Domes because it was very highly rated. It didn't disappoint. To start, the staff gets my highest rating. Extremely friendly and attentive without hovering. Anything we asked for was delivered fast and with a smile. Bravo to the staff! Our room was a free upgrade (we're Titanium). It was a well designed suite with all the amenities. Including a private pool. Everything on the resort is clean and exceptionally well maintained. The views are great in all directions. I recommend taking a trip to Spinalonga Island. You can rent a boat taxi at the resort, which we did. There's also a ferry from the nearby towns. The beach here is nice. Try and get chairs where there is a sandy entrance to the water. Otherwise you're stepping on large rocks. We came late in the season so the sea temp was around 75F. Not bad if you're from New England. And, the water is crystal clear. The service for food and drink at the beach was great. Take a picture of your scan next to your chair and delivery of food and drink is fast and high quality. Food here was top notch. While not all was traditional Greek, I highly recommend Makris, Antonio's and The Blend. Excellent sommelier if you like high quality wines. Great personal touch as he will take you right to the wine rack and help you pick, regardless of your expertise. My other recommendation is the Soma Spa. Well worth the price. Great options. They have a concierge and a separate desk for on site restaurant reservations. The family pool, next to The Blend, is heated, salt water. Best choice. It's tough to wander from such luxury but I also recommend traveling to the nearby towns for authentic Greek foods and shopping.

Our second time in this amazing resort. I cannot even find the right words to describe the quality standard, the vibes, the hospitality and generosity we had the pleasure to experience here (again!) Besides the whole place being a true luxury oasis the most amazing place the 1 Million stars award goes to the whole team here. We are traveling a lot and no words can do the staffs efforts, their smiles and attention to every details justice. If you want to spend a perfect (family) holiday this is the place to go. Thank you so much - we will 1000% be back! Christoph & Family