Phāea Cretan Malia, A Member Of Design Hotels

“Almost 2 stars due to restricted sunbeds. Impossible to find a place to relax here.”

Ok for young kids but not ideal for teens -underwhelming kids club, they seem to run out of ideas, every day it's arts and crafts or face painting, no outdoors activities or swimming etc. Our 6 year old was fine with it but on the cusp of being incredibly bored by the lack of variety. You get what… more

Ok for young kids but not ideal for teens -underwhelming kids club, they seem to run out of ideas, every day it's arts and crafts or face painting, no outdoors activities or swimming etc. Our 6 year old was fine with it but on the cusp of being incredibly bored by the lack of variety. You get what you pay for I guess (it's free)... - young kids activities are similarly unimaginative, there's a disco but it's a bit rubbish, there's an outdoor games area with a pool table and table tennis but no toys or anything else for young kids outside of the kids club. - the outdoor pools... one is heated but still on the cold side for our 2 year old. The other is unheated and practically unswimmable in Oct. Freezing. - the worst part is the deck beds situation: all the nice ones are reserved for specific rooms so the cold pool which is nicer to sit by than the kids heated pool is basically out of bounds unless you have a room with a specific sunbed attached to it. All the nice ones are in the sun and reserved. By the kids pool there are v few sunbeds that are in the sun or a location where you can watch your kids in the pool. It's too busy and there's nowhere to sit. When we tried taking one of the (many) sunbeds from the trees area and bringing by the pool we were told off rather rudely by the staff and told its not allowed. I've never stayed anywhere where it's so hard to find a sunbed and when you do actually find one, it's impossible to use due to ridiculous rules. This one reason almost makes this a 2 star rating for me, and I'm actually still pretty angry about it. - but, the food is actually pretty good. Not so much the buffet which is as good as they tend to be in these types of places, but the other restos are actually pretty decent. It costs a bit if you're not all inclusive though and overall with the other issues mentioned this I'd only stay here if your budget dictates it's best. There's a lot better places in Greece if you're willing to spend a bit more though.

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“honest review”

An honest review - the hotel is smaller than it seems on the website. The rooms are ok - our family of three stayed happily in a sea view room (although the balcony made it impossible to see the sea if you were sitting on one of the chairs outside - so not sure if the extra cost was worth it at al… more

An honest review - the hotel is smaller than it seems on the website. The rooms are ok - our family of three stayed happily in a sea view room (although the balcony made it impossible to see the sea if you were sitting on one of the chairs outside - so not sure if the extra cost was worth it at all). Make sure you book half or full board as you will be crippled by the cost of the food if you do not. Average price for us (we didn't do half or full board unfortunately) was over 100 euros each meal. They charge 75 euros for a portion of red snapper or bream - over 10 times that of M&S - daylight robbery. 6 euros for a portion of french fires and 4 euros for a bottle of water. Ridiculous. Cleaning staff of the rooms were great, hotel staff so-so. They have a lot of temporary staff from various universities in Europe doing work experience for three months which means there is no feeling of pride in the island or the hotel, it makes it feel transient. Malia itself is not really worth going to unless you need the supermarket. Do not go to the restaurants advised by front of house - they are average at best and not worth the money. Great hotel if you stay put and do not want to explore. Beware - if you are not out before 8am/8.30am on the beach all the beds are taken or 'reserved' with towels etc. so if you want to go to the beach you need to join in that madness.

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