Apollon Hotel Apartments

“Back again”

Just returned from another fantastic stay at the Apollon apartments and it is still our favourite place on Crete. The place is spotless and the staff are so friendly and helpful. The apartment was very well equipped and the beds were lovely and comfortable. The hotel is situated in a nice quiet a... more

Just returned from another fantastic stay at the Apollon apartments and it is still our favourite place on Crete. The place is spotless and the staff are so friendly and helpful. The apartment was very well equipped and the beds were lovely and comfortable. The hotel is situated in a nice quiet area but only a short walk to plenty of shops, bars and tavernas and only a short bus ride into the old town. Can’t wait till our next visit

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“Amazing place”

Our 4th visit to this wonderful place. It's holds a place in my heart n we will always return every few years. The owners and staff are wonderful people, always make you feel at home. Rooms are spotlessly clean, cleaners come in every couple of days. Lovely pool and bar area. See you soon apollon :)

“The Hotel and Rooms were better than expected”

We landed early hours of the morning and picked up the hire car (if you're getting a hire car ask for a full tank - we got a quarter and was told it would perhaps make it to Rethymno but it would be best to stop at the petrol stations on the way - which were all closed, luckily we made the last b... more

We landed early hours of the morning and picked up the hire car (if you're getting a hire car ask for a full tank - we got a quarter and was told it would perhaps make it to Rethymno but it would be best to stop at the petrol stations on the way - which were all closed, luckily we made the last bit on fumes!). It was about 3am by the time we arrived at the apartment, the reception doors were open and a solitary letter with our name on it containing directions and a key.  I had emailed the hotel directly to upgrade from a studio to a one bedroom and asked for a nice view. The room (225) was in a perfect location, close to the entrance and pool, which it overlooked and although it was on the second floor had very few steps so ideal. There were two sofa beds in the living area and two single beds in the bedroom. That first night we didn't have aircon and it nearly killed us so we paid the 6 euro nightly charge as soon as reception opened in the morning. If I'd have thought ahead, i would have asked the hotel to leave the remote in the bedroom so that we could switch it on on arrival, maybe the hotel could be proactive and suggest this?  The aircon was ok but it was just in the front room so we had to leave the bedroom door wide open to be able to feel it which meant it was really cold in the main area. There was a welcome 'hamper' that costs 8 euros waiting for us on arrival that contained a bottle of orange juice, water and milk, crackers, cheese slices and tea/coffee. To be honest, I'd have paid 8 euros for that bottle of water and orange when we arrived. If you don't want to pay for it, you take it to reception in the morning. But I thought it was a nice proactive and welcoming touch. I didnt really notice the self catering facilities other than we had a normal size fridge. The cleaner was really good and we had our towels replaced regularly. Drawer space was limited however the wardrobe was a decent size but it did mean that everything had to be hung up. The hotel was much prettier than I expected with masses of Bougainvillea, Oleander and other colourful flowers around the pool.  The pool was bigger than I expected, The older Greek guy and his partner kept all the areas and gardens including the pool nice and clean - it was a perfect temperature for a cooling dip.  Out of two weeks, we only spent a handful of days at the pool, but it was fairly calm and relaxing. A big positive and a refreshing change is that there were always sunbeds available - no need to set your alarm. You still got the odd selfish ones that would put their towels on the best beds at the crack of dawn and then not emerge until mid-afternoon (and they were British). Although the bar stayed open until quite late, the hotel lacked any atmosphere - which isn't necessarily important to some. The lady that worked the bar during the day brought the vibe down even further - she was so miserable and was rude to quite a few people, to be fair that was her manner so I don't think she meant it but even though she seemed efficient you wouldn't put her near any customers.  Lots of us joked that we had to go to the room for a drink because she scared us. Also, you have to pay for each drink - you can't sign it to your room which is a total pain. The ladies at reception were smiley and professional. They wanted paying in cash for the upgrade, aircon, etc which wasn't too much of a problem. They weren't very proactive and it did come across as they were just doing the bare minimum - for example I asked about the local bus. She said that there was a paper on the wall. I didn't really get it so I asked where you caught it from, and she told me - what she didn't tell me is that you have to buy tickets in advance and they sold them at reception - that would have been useful information and handy to know. We paid 30 euros to keep our room on until 6pm. I'd assumed they'd be pretty flexible as both the other apartments on our side were vacant so there was no rush to allocate ours to shortly arriving guests (we knew that because we'd enquired about staying another week). Straight after 6 the manager was banging on our door saying we had to vacate which I understand but we were in mid meltdown as we couldn't find our passports (thought we might have packed them in the cases) I asked for 5 more minutes but she told us we had to leave immediately because the cleaners had to come in.  I get that it was our fault but it would have been nice for her to show a bit of understanding. What I really was put off by was the treatment of the animals. The first day we spent round the pool - Housemartins were really making a racket on our balcony. Guests that had been there a while said that they had a nest with chick's in on our balcony but it had been destroyed the day before. It was heartbreaking watching the parents keep searching for them. You could clearly see where the nest had been on our balcony and I felt guilty that there family had been destroyed on account of us.  Also - the cats.  There were two - a cute, very skinny kitten and an older cat that was very poorly. There are signs up asking not to feed the cats because they need to see the vet - strange as I wasn't sure what feeding them had to do with seeing the vet, but ok we didn't feed them. We saw a couple Feeding them a day later - they had been there for 2 weeks and the signs had been up there before they arrived and previous guests to them had also tried to hurry the process along. They asked at reception and were told that the vet was booked for the next day. Another week past and still no vet so I asked at reception and I was told that they were trying to starve them so when the vet came they could catch them with food. These were very friendly cats that could be caught in the blink of an eye. Yet they'd been trying to withhold food since more or less the beginning of season.  IMO they have no intention of calling the vet. I contacted a local Cat Rescue before we left who said they would try to help.  I get not being an animal lover but you can't let them just suffer. There are 3 or 4 restaurants just around the corner and tons down at the beach road. We had a car so tended to go further afield. If you have a car, Taverna Fantastiko is a must visit (I think I was told that it's about 12 euros in a taxi), this is also the cost of a taxi back from Rethymno Old Town. Baja Beach Club was also exceptional, it' a 5 minute drive  - very cool and luxurious for the day and prices were a little inflated but not extortionate given the place - 20 euros for 2 beds (with ultra thick mattresses) and an umbrella and about 20 euros for a sandwhich (really nice ones) with chips. The beach isn't great and sometimes it is very wavy (we went 3 times and twice they had a red flag), it is more or less impossible to get in without beach shoes and the current can be strong.  We went mid week and it was very chilled and pretty quiet, apparently weekends are 'banging' with great tunes where the bronzed and the beautiful drink champagne and exotic cocktails. So go for which you'd prefer. I wouldn't recommend the trip to Elefonisi beach.  All beach beds had gone by 9:30, by 10 the beach was crammed and there was barely any space to lay a towel. The water was lovely, Clear and turquoise but it wasn't nice enough to brave the hoardes of people plus the walk back to the car park is a killer.  We had the hire car but I'd have been more unhappy if I was on a coach tour. We also did a speedboat tour to Balos Beach and Gramvousa Island which was ok. We went to Spinalonga and Plaka which were amazing. But it's a long drive so we stayed overnight in Agios Nikolas and drove the Lasithi Plateau the following day (which was epic). We had a brilliant holiday and although I think the hotel lacks genuine warmth and hospitality, I wouldn't be put off staying at this hotel again. You can't help but admire the setting, the flowers and the pool so you have everything to make a great holiday. 

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