The Syntopia Hotel

“Relaxing 5* Holiday”

I stayed at this hotel for a week with my partner. The hotel is located 15 minute drive from the centre of Rethymno and is situated on a road filled with shops and restaurants. The hotel is clean and aesthetically pleasing. We arrived at 3am and check-in was quick and easy. We were provided wit... more

I stayed at this hotel for a week with my partner. The hotel is located 15 minute drive from the centre of Rethymno and is situated on a road filled with shops and restaurants. The hotel is clean and aesthetically pleasing. We arrived at 3am and check-in was quick and easy. We were provided with food and water in our room which was nice after a long journey. There are three pool areas. We always used the catch pool, which was a smaller quieter pool, we always got a bed but had to get up around 7am to get a bed. On the first day we went down at around 10:30 we did get a bed but to get a better bed you need to get down earlier. The food was good, there was always a good variety and there was an Asian, Greek and Italian night which was nice. There was also a canteen bar which served toastie, waffles and nachos throughout the day, we ordered from here a lot as some days we didn’t want to eat in the restaurant area. There is a good variety of beverages. You have to pay for premium branded alcohol and some cocktails are not available until after 5:30pm, but there was plenty of other options during the day. The staff are very attentive. They will always bring drinks over and take away your plates swiftly. The man who worked behind the bar at the catch pool area was lovely and always made me nice mocktails during the day. The rooms were immaculate and cleaned everyday. The only criticism I have is the night time entertainment. There isn’t much entertainment during the evening, some nights it would be movie night and some nights they would have a singer, or musician but the music was always very chilled vibes. The DJ on the Sunday was good and provided a bit more of an upbeat vibe, which was a nice difference to the constant ‘spa type’ music played. If you go up to the Ano Bar, you will catch a gorgeous sunset. We went up here on the last night but wish we had visited sooner because it was nice up there. We went out most nights to the restaurants outside the watch the Euros. On our last day we were not getting picked up until 8pm. We were able to use the all inclusive facilities throughout the day and there was a shower and changing room that we could use to freshen up before our departure. I would give this hotel 5*, and I would return again. If you are looking for a chilled, relaxing holiday with your partner I would highly recommend.

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“Beautiful Hotel with 5 star service ”

Sometimes I wonder if the photos and instagram posts are really accurate... for Syntopia, they are. The hotel is beautiful, attention given to every instagram worthy detail. We travelled for a week with our grown up daughter and enjoyed a fantastic holiday. The hotel when we stayed was very m... more

Sometimes I wonder if the photos and instagram posts are really accurate... for Syntopia, they are. The hotel is beautiful, attention given to every instagram worthy detail. We travelled for a week with our grown up daughter and enjoyed a fantastic holiday. The hotel when we stayed was very much "love island" like, with plenty of beautiful couples relaxing on comfortable bean bags. There is potentially a lack of sun loungers, tables and locations for those who are single or struggle to get down or up from horizontal! The rooftop Ano bar and pool provided a quieter area with drinks service to your loungers which I would say is absolutely 5star. Food was excellent, although depending on your time of arrival was occasionally "warm". Theme nights eg greek, Mexican, Indian should be promoted more. Sadly we felt the evening entertainment, or lack of it, wad a disappointment. The band were excellent and we would have liked to hear them again during our 1 week stay. Rooms are lovely and stylish, but room tip.. we travelled with Tui and our "pool view " room, over looked the small "jungle pool" but also the very noisy road. Ironically our daughter had an inland view room which was quieter. I suspect sea view rooms are best. Finally, the staff were all fantastic. Professional, attentive and smiling, special thanks to Kristina in the main restaurant as well as all the staff in Ano. We are already missing the frozen mojitos

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“Our favourite holiday ever!”

Outstanding! If you are reading reviews unsure whether or not to book, honestly book it as there wasn’t a simple flaw with this holiday. We visited in July 2023 for a week and even asked our employment for extended annual leave so we could stay longer! The beds over the pool aren’t charged which ... more

Outstanding! If you are reading reviews unsure whether or not to book, honestly book it as there wasn’t a simple flaw with this holiday. We visited in July 2023 for a week and even asked our employment for extended annual leave so we could stay longer! The beds over the pool aren’t charged which was an amazing touch, we were there in the heatwave of 45 degrees plus and being able to lay on the beds with our feet dipped in the pool kept us comfortable! The waiters are great and came round regularly (maybe every hour) to ask if we wanted drinks which were brought over to us. We were never without a drink! The food was good but could occasionally be repetitive but there are lovely restaurants walking distance. The rooms are immaculate and comfortable with a big balcony. There is also a rooftop area with another pool, bar, seating area and sunbeds (no charge) this was particularly beautiful at sunset. The evening entertainment was more of a romantic setting with soft instrumental music from live bands or solo artists. One night there was a violinist who was out of this world, brought tears to our eyes. The list could go on… we were incredibly sad when this holiday came to an end and as I said we hoped to extend. We will return here 100%. BOOK IT!!!!❤️

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“A lovely 9 night stay”

I stayed here with my partner for 9 nights at the end of June through to early July. We went for the Jungle Suite as we hate the thought of fighting for sunbeds around main pools and getting up ridiculously early to secure a sunbed, that’s not relaxing for us at all and we’d much prefer to be in ... more

I stayed here with my partner for 9 nights at the end of June through to early July. We went for the Jungle Suite as we hate the thought of fighting for sunbeds around main pools and getting up ridiculously early to secure a sunbed, that’s not relaxing for us at all and we’d much prefer to be in our own zen bubble. The jungle suite was just like the photos, could not fault the room, garden area or jacuzzi at all. In fact the whole hotel was picture perfect, spotlessly clean and always smelt amazing. The only slight niggle is that the hotel is situated on a main road so there’s lots of sound from all types of vehicles at all times of the day, sometimes being woken up in the middle of the night to loud motorbikes so perhaps better sound proof glass could be considered although I will say I’m a light sleeper. As a younger couple we liked the idea of the app and always found that every request put through the app was adhered to promptly and as we had the jungle suite and spent a lot of time in the garden and jacuzzi, it was nice to request a time for housekeeping/jacuzzi maintenance for when we went for lunch and then come back to it done. There’s a few reviews that the check in process was cold, rushed and just directed to the app by reception however we didn’t arrive until approx 2am and the man on reception was very welcoming, informed us of the app, showed us to our room and took us through everything in the room and how to work air con, shower, tv, jacuzzi etc as well as all the other basics about the hotel that we’d need to know so couldn’t ask for anything better there. We also had water and food in our room for when we arrived. I would say the food choice let the hotel down slightly and for us didn’t make it worth being all inclusive. There wasn’t much to choose from and we found it very repetitive and also the quality and taste very average - just typical all inclusive type foods. A couple of nights there were ‘themes’ but only a few dish options alongside the same other dishes every night. I think going all inclusive you know the typical buffet style food you’ll get but previous reviews hyped us up that it would be amazing and we were slightly disappointed although by no means was it terrible food, just not as good as we hoped. However the staff in the restaurant were always very quick to offer drinks and take away plates. After a few nights we found ourselves gravitating towards eating out just for more variety and taste. There’s some nice bars and restaurants along the same road as the hotel and we spent almost every evening in the Roulis beach bar which is partnered with the hotel, either for food or just a cocktail. The entertainment also never seemed to be anything worth sticking around for, as above we went out most nights for either food or a drink and when coming back the entertainment was still on and guests didn’t seem to be all that interested in it and more forcing themselves to be there just to take advantage of their all inclusive drinks. We popped our head into the cinema area once for the movie night and it was a black and white film with absolutely nobody there to watch it. I think they missed a trick not showing the Euros in there every night. Or maybe just showing a film from this century. A couple of nights we went to the roof top bar but I couldn’t believe that they serve cocktails in reusable plastic cups (the same as around the pool cups) in the evening, in a beautiful setting. It really spoilt the vibe for me and also the cups for the cocktails are absolutely tiny so it’s barely worth getting one! I would really advise The Syntopia to review this as a 4* hotel with such elegance to it, should not be serving alcohol cocktails in white or black reusable plastic cups in the evening. We’ve been to 4 and 5* hotels before and never come across this. With the food quality and quantity, the bland entertainment and the drinks not presented nicely, we personally didn’t think it was worth being all inclusive and felt we had wasted money not taking advantage of it as much as previous hotels in previous years. All in all, the hotel is absolutely gorgeous, staff attentive and friendly, the jungle suite was beautiful and worth the extra money for privacy, bed and pillows comfy, housekeeping prompt and mini fridge always stocked. We had a lovely stay and I would recommend to others, just perhaps not as an all inclusive package but of course that’s always personal preference and subjective! Thank you The Syntopia 😊

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