Sol Marina Beach Crete

“Pros and cons but overall value for money”

As always there are pros and cons to the hotel but overall we felt it was good value for money. We were welcomed at reception and staff were helpful. We were there as a couple for a week and the 'tax' was €70 payable in card or cash. The receptionist pointed out a QR code on the back of the room … Mais

As always there are pros and cons to the hotel but overall we felt it was good value for money. We were welcomed at reception and staff were helpful. We were there as a couple for a week and the 'tax' was €70 payable in card or cash. The receptionist pointed out a QR code on the back of the room key that had useful hotel information (WiFi is good in the hotel so easy to access). Beds were comfortable enough. Had 2 pillows one very hard and the other very soft - to the extremes. Rooms are pretty basic. We had a small cupboard and then a hanging rail in the main bedroom. Only 2 drawers but the sideboard and bedside table had storage 'holes'. The mini fridge was helpful and we were left on bottle of water a day. If you take a reusable bottle you can fill this anytime at the pool bar area if you need more. The main pool, bar and snack bar were easy to find and access from reception. The main pool was where all of the activity areas are as well (mini golf, table tennis, darts, yoga, water aerobics, kids playground) However, we did have to ask where the 'quiet pool' (with swim up bar) was as it wasn't signposted - The kids splash pool was next to the quiet pool. We were staying in the main building but if you were staying in one of the more separate buildings it was possibly more obvious to find. In general the buffet food was good. We especially found the theme nights the best (Mexican and Asian) but there was always some sort of griddled meat and salad if nothing else. The pool bar had a fair variety of drinks and cocktails. These were all poured by hand (plastic cups in the day glass at night if you were drinking there). The main inside bar in the evening had a slightly different cocktail menu. These were all poured by a machine so at times ratios could be off is something was running low. If you walk out of the hotel on the beach road out the back there is 'Isla' where you go for your one Al a Carte meal. Isla is also open as a bar/restaurant to the general paying public. When we arrived for our complimentary meal we were given a 'menu' and told we would receive it all mezze style in 3 parts (starter, mains and dessert). Not all tables were told the same as we had another table ask us to look at our menu. The food was nice but we found the service a bit hit and miss (we never received one dish at all). I think unfortunately for us we were there at the same time as quite a lot of 'paying' customers as well as a group of about 20 from the hotel also having their complimentary meal so think we were a bit forgotten. We did actually purchased a bottle of wine for the meal but you could just have the standard beer/wine/soft drinks that are normally served in the buffet restaurant. If you walk further along the road (turn right when you enter the beach road from the hotel) there are 3 or 4 other restaurants about 100 metres away. These had the best views of the sunset while we were there and the far end one had some nice rocking chairs. I would definitely recommend going down at least one evening to have a drink and watch the sunset. If you carry on walking along the road you pass little beach/bay that you can pay for sunbeds on, just passed that and you will see a sign on the bend for the town center pointing up the road to the right. If you walk up there there is a little shopping area on the left but carry on and turn left by the jeep hire you will find more bars and restaurants (get Google maps out if you struggle - we spoke to a lot of people who didnt know it was there). We ate in Knossos Taverna which was lovely food. They have a great garden out the back with a small kids play area. They also do traditional Greek nights with dancing etc (Weds, Fri & Sundays I think). Highly recommend going any night for food and drinks. If you fancy going further afield taxis booked from reception cost €20 to Hersonissos and €40 to Heraklion (we found local taxis in the towns to bring us back - they were about the same price). All in All we enjoyed our stay but did feel the need to leave the complex for a change of scenery.

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“Amazing hotel!”

We had a fantastic stay at this hotel! We arrived late at night and were told that the restaurant would be open an hour later for hot and cold foods. Reception staff were lovely and helpful. Room - Our room was nice, basic but that doesn’t bother us. Would have been nice to have a bath. Shower w… Mais

We had a fantastic stay at this hotel! We arrived late at night and were told that the restaurant would be open an hour later for hot and cold foods. Reception staff were lovely and helpful. Room - Our room was nice, basic but that doesn’t bother us. Would have been nice to have a bath. Shower was colder around 6pm when everyone was in the shower I presume! I wasn’t keen on the storage in the room, there wasn’t enough drawers or hooks. Our view was the car park which was actually nice in the late afternoons. Food - really nice, always something to eat. They enjoy their fish and snails here! The pizza wasn’t the best which we commented on to management, it was always too hard. I feel that this was due to the pizza base as well as the way they are cooking them, the manager was great at listening to feedback and brought the chef to us to discuss this with him! My son especially liked the crepes in the morning and the ice creams all day everyday! The pistachio ice cream was delicious. Staff - cleaners were lovely and the whole hotel was exceptionally clean, the cleanest hotel I have been too, as much as I love cats (I have two at home) they have a rule not to feed the cats u less at their cat station which I thought was good, for those who are Algeria/scared. This meant that you didn’t see the cats very often. Animation team always worked hard, Johnny Boy was really lovely! Shows - we saw some great evening shows and I appreciated that they started at 9.15pm- some hotels don’t start their evening entertainment u till 10pm! We saw acrobats, African acrobats, light and fire show, an amazing singer. It was a great variety and we really enjoyed them all. Pools - were a little cold, my son loved the kids pool and the indoor pool. Always got sun loungers no matter the time (stayed last week in May first week in June) Drinks - didn’t like any of the cocktails except from the sex on the beach- please do this at the evening bar too! The beach front is absolutely gorgeous! Loved that there was always in loungers there too. We had photos taken (amazing but expensive of course) and we also had a lovely back neck and shoulder massage. I actually fell asleep it was so relaxing! The only down fall of this hotel was the location. We like to have a walk and there is literally nothing around. Had to walk 30 minutes to the odd restaurant and chapel (we ate at the Island Gouves- gorgeous). We hired a buggy purposely to travel around and went to Malia, Sissi, Heraklion, Archanes and Kastelli. It was beautiful to see some of the real Crete. I wouldn’t come back to this hotel purely due to the location but I’m so glad we have experienced it. We had an amazing time.

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