Aristea Hotel

Things we liked||- The room was nice and the beds comfortable. Nice that they'd thought about including a full length mirror and a magnified make-up mirror on the dressing table, too. ||- Air conditioning and TV included. ||- Location was lovely with a sea view which was also quiet.||- Outsider courtyard area for breakfast is pleasant.||- Clearly a family-run establishment which was nice to read about in the comment books from the 1980s! ||- Nice of them to celebrate its history with the older touches such as the telephone in reception and the tapestry along with family photos. ||- WiFi, air conditioning and TV included at no extra cost. ||- We were clearly very lucky to get a sea view!||Things we didn't like||- Bathroom needs updating.||- Stained curtains which looked like blood. ||- Lack of tea/coffee/kettle facilities in the room. ||- Communally, it could have been cleaner. ||- The breakfast was VERY limited and lacking in choice. There was coffee but only green tea with one choice of cereal and warm milk (bleurgh!)||- The unrelated staff member on reception was incredibly rude and miserable. ||- Only one English channel but that's to be expected in a small, family run establishment. 

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.

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 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. |WiFi 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.

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.

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!

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. Yes, the bathroom and breakfasts are basic, but perfectly adequate, especially given the extremely competitive price of this hotel. ||I had a perfect week in Elounda and will be returning to the Hotel Aristea!

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.