Phaea Blue, a member of SLH | Elounda, Crete

Excellent Stay ! |I had a wonderful experience at this hotel. The food and the staff were incredibly welcoming and attentive. The room was very comfortable and the location was perfect for family vacations. We had one of the best experiences in anthos restaurant the food and the staff were amazing. I would definitely stay here again and recommend it to anyone visiting the area.

The way you are pampered makes you feel home. The kindness and professionalism of the staff is something absolutely worth. Always available and attentive. The restaurant on the seaside, Blue Door, is a place with an idyllic view, you forget you are in a hotel, you feel like being at lunch or dinner with friends. Here too, impeccable service and excellent cuisine. Breakfast is truly unique, quality and courtesy. The beach is located in the most beautiful part of the gulf, in front of Spinalonga island. We were very satisfied with the cleanliness of our room and in general. A totally relaxing holiday in a place with a unique view.

We recently stayed 4 nights at the Phaea Blue resort for our 10th anniversary . The hotel was nicely situated and check-in went smoothly. Service was very pleasant. The room was nice, although we were situated right above the restaurant so we weren’t able to enjoy the terrace without restaurant noise. The pool area is nice, but a bit dated. We did use the pool one day, but beware the pool is not heated so a bit chilly. Breakfast each day was very nice, with a cooked to order and/or small buffet - we really enjoyed it. The concierge was very helpful with local restaurant recommendations and transportation. We tried the casual taverna one night - it was good, but very expensive compared to the restaurants in Plaka that had good (even better) food and views, and were a 7 minute walk down the beach. The other onsite restaurant was also very expensive compared to other local options. We didn’t get a chance to try the spa (was booked on the only day we had free) or the beach area (too windy/cold for the beach). All in all, a good, but not great visit. I would classify this as a 4-star hotel.

We recently stayed at this hotel and have been a number of times before ,all of them very enjoyable, but this visit was really excellent in every way. It is in a beautiful setting with superb facilities but the new, smaller scale, style means an even more marvellous level of personal service by all of the staff. In particular we greatly enjoyed the dining experiences - very good local ingredients were beautifully prepared and served. The beach, pool, spa and gym are all first class and the rooms are excellent in every way with super views. There is some construction going on nearby but it did not impact on our enjoyment of the experience.|I highly recommend the Phaea Blue under the excellent management of Mr Rocos, and we will be returning soon.

We had a wonderful at Phaea blue. The staff was friendly and helpful, the room was clean with stunning sea views, and the atmosphere was peaceful and relaxing. Brekfast at anthos restaurant was amazing with great selection. We loved this place we will come back next year 100%.

We have just returned from a stay at the Phaea Blue. Whilst it was a lovely stay in some respects, it is lacking in others and some areas need addressing to call themselves a luxury 5 star boutique hotel. ||Some of the staff really made our stay feel like a 5 star experience, in particular Maria, Vaso and Tassos were outstanding and we will truly miss them.||Unfortunately, the construction work is intrusive, loud and constant. We were not warned about this when booking, nothing is on the hotel website, or in any email exchanges. Furthermore, nothing was said to us at check in. Had we known we would not have booked.||Our room was lovely and impeccably clean, however, there was some things missing that would make it more comfortable and what we would expect for a 5 star luxury hotel. |There wasn’t anywhere to do your hair. The options were either to stand in the bathroom, balancing the hair dryer/straighteners between the sinks! Or sit on the small table and prop a mirror on some books. A little more thought needs to be put into the rooms. A small table, chair and mirror with a plug close by would be easy to do.|The ‘partial sea view’ was blocked by cactus.|The hotcast technology was temperamental and needs updating.|We could not fault the cleaning team who worked tirelessly making up the rooms twice a day. Fantastic!||The private beach is lovely and well hosted by a team who work tirelessly to look after you. The facilities are extremely clean and well maintained.|The only negative was that the umbrellas don’t offer enough shade. There is a well shaded area that is only available to the grand villa. More of these need to made available for other guests. We saw a couple of families struggling with toddlers and babies to find shade.|The bottled water is charged for at the beach but you can bring water from the hotel for free….why isn’t this free like the rest of the hotel? ||The hotel pool is small, tired and dirty. Some basic maintenance/ repairs need to done: |Cracked tiles need replacing.|Tiles need to be cleaned (a previous reviewer has included a photo).|Soft closure on one of the pool vents needs fixing.|Pool water needs to have dead bugs and leaves removed. |Some mornings there were dirty glasses with ants all over them. There should have been staff to clear things away and clean.|There is no service around the pool,meaning you have to go into the hotel to get any drinks or food. Often we ordered drinks and when they were brought out to us other people would request drinks from the member of staff. Why not have staff host at the pool?|The umbrellas don’t offer enough shade and the seating areas around the pool don’t have any shade at all. |Several couples came to the pool saw there wasn’t any shade, made a comment and left!||The 2 hotel restaurants serve similar menus and are adequate but very expensive. The restaurants in the local town offer better food and hospitality at a fraction of the price. ||The concierge team were excellent. They booked all of our restaurants for us and we had excellent tables every-time.|We booked 2 tours:|Via and Toplou - we were supposed to have wine tasting and a guided tour of the monastery but didn’t get this!|Via beach was lovely and we stopped at a great lunch spot with a fantastic view. ||The private tour to Spinalonga was outstanding. Georgina is very passionate about the island and brought the history to life. A 45 minute tour went on for 2 hours and we were totally hooked. She felt like a member of our family and genuinely cares about what she does, a real gem. |We would highly recommend this tour and be sure to request Georgina.||All points were raised with members of staff and although they seemed to be listening no action was taken.||In general, we enjoyed our stay but we won’t be back.|Crete has a lot of construction underway, the whole bay has been sold to different developers and is becoming very busy. |We are glad we visited now and got to see some lovely people and places before it becomes too busy. |The Cretan hospitality is fabulous and we were made to feel very welcome. We hope all the developments don’t ruin it. |Crete will have a special place in our hearts.

Spectacular hospitality and the food at both restaurants was insane. Buy their olive oil and get the breakfast - you won’t regret it! The Phea feast is a must experience - it’s well worth the price! The rooms were gorgeous and we got an upgrade to the plunge pool. The masseuse at the spa made me fall asleep. Highly recommend the experience!

First and foremost, the staff here are what makes the place. They are friendly,helpful, kind and attentive. They are a 5/5 and the 4 rating would have been a 3,5 without them.We did have an advantage in having been to the Blue Palace about 6-7 times, with the last visit with our family in 2022 when it was still the Blue Palace.|The SIGNATURE room: We had room 605 which we really liked, partial sea view, view over the pool from the balcony and the terrace outside reception, with easy access to reception and breakfast room( Anthos). There were a couple of niggles but sorted immediately. It has a nice size walk in shower.The fridge is a decent size and plenty of cupboard space. There isn’t anywhere to do your hair other than standing in the bathroom where there is a mirror. There is only one USB in the room which is surprising if it has indeed been refurbished.|TV is a good size and you can hotcast to it. No English channels, BBC doesn’t work and mainly Greek,Italian,French and German channels.yes we are on holiday but it’s sometimes nice to chill and watch TV in the evening/night.|DELUXE SEAVIEW BUNGALOW WITH POOL(713):We spent one night in this room which is not really a bungalow, more like a ground floor room.Not much privacy.The pool is really nice,two sunbeds and an umbrella.Water from the shower seeps into the toilet area.The shower area is very tight and someone with a bigger frame than me would struggle.The toilet separated by a glass panel/ door is also in a narrow area.|Double sink but unfortunately the sinks don’t hold water.The mechanism for the plug does not work.Blackout blinds in the various windows do not fit the description and the room ends up being very light.Aircon is over the bed which is not ideal.The fridge is smaller than the one in the Signature room.This room is also further away from the reception/breakfast area & you may need the buggy.The pool aside, we would not choose this bungalow over the Signature room we had.|The Beach: We love the beach. Never a rush for beds as it’s a beach which allowed for a very large Blue Palace Hotel previously.The sea is absolutely stunning,a beautiful colour, transparent. It was pretty breezy down by the beach during our stay but if it drops you will want it back to harbour you from the heat.The staff here , Stavros( whom we have know for many years), Ilias and Voula are all great.You can also walk along the beach, passing a water sports hut, to get to Plaka. You get to the beach by ordering a buggy on the app.|RESTAURANTS: There only two, Anthos( doubles as the breakfast room) and Blue Door. They both serve very similar menus, whereas I think it would be good to have a different type whether it be Italian, Asian or other. |The breakfast is lovely. There is plenty of choice of yoghurts, cakes, salads, fruits , bread, cheese and you can have omelette, scrambled eggs and other items from an à la carte menu.What a lovely team it is here! Maria, Vaso,Maria, Eleni, Nikos ,Sofia & others look after you so well and are very welcoming.|We only visited the Blue Door in the evening.The food here is excellent & the portions are decent size.The team of Haris,Rena and Dora are wonderful, fun,attentive, kind and know their stuff.The only downside is that both restaurants are, in our opinion, very expensive but if you are on HB or FB then that matters less.|Plenty of nice places to eat out in Plaka( Carob Tree, Ostria,Isla), drinks at the Pine Tree, Despina’s on way tobElounda to name a few! |THE POOL : This was the smallest pool at what was the Blue Palace and it is one of the real negatives of the hotel.There isn’t any shade.Whoever designed it didn’t plan it properly.It needs someone to come up with a solution.We understand that the wind gets up here and this is the reason given for fixed umbrellas and heavy beds but as useful as a chocolate fire guard ! No good for young children/babies for sure and us looking for shade. Generally, the pool area was empty. |THE SPA: There isn’t one! It’s just treatment rooms.|CINEMA room: seems like a waste of space.|WHATS APP “app”: works very well for ordering buggies, booking dinners etc.|CONSTRUCTION: We were told before we booked that there wouldn’t be any outdoor building works which was totally untrue.As mentioned by others you will hear Jackhammers,drilling and general other noise, especially around the beach.|We spoke to the General Manager and Lina about various issues and they promised to do absolutely everything to help us have a lovely holiday and they did.|Must mention Chrysoula ,the lovely “buggy guys” Tasos, young Dimitris and too many more to mention.|Would we go back? Be interesting to see how this develops alongside the new Rosewood Blue Palace! All I would say to the Team there, is “ the devil is in the detail”