GRAND HOTEL HOLIDAY RESORT

Massage: Maria 2026, July. Lovely Massage, very relaxing yet firm on the points needed. Recommend.

The Grand Hotel resort is in a great location. Its around 5 minute drive from Hersonisis and 20 minutes from the airport. There is a lovely quiet atmosphere at the hotel which hosts mainly French and German guests. Their is no problem gettong sunbeds. The rooms are spotless, modern and spacious with excellent air conditioning. Its good value for money. We went on half board basis which was breakfast and dinner. We did speak to those who went all inclusive and they said that the all inclusive stops for alcohol at 10.30 at night which is a bit mean. The resort itself is so clean and their are cleaners working hard everyday. The service is very good and we were greeted by mostly polite staff. Shout out to the amazing lifeguards who are amazing at their job and watch very carefully. Their was one very rude French entertainment staff member whose entertainment in pool and at evening was questionable. He needs to improve his people skills. Everyone else was very nice. I would definitely go back again. If anyone is looking for nice places out of resort to eat I recommend The Hollywood, class pizza and take a trip to the old town and visit some if its restaurants.Lovely quaint spot. Beware of Heraklion airport as queue for customs is terrible and the toliets are horrific. No toilet seats, soap and urine all over the floor.

I went to the Spa at the hotel for the first time and I got a very nice and relaxing massage from Georgia, a wonderful and very nice lady. Overall a really great experience :)

We stayed for 11 nights and this was our 4th time as it was exceptional the previous time also. Sofia in La Luna Restaurant was the most lovely waitress we have ever had during all our 4 stays. We already miss her!! Anna at the horizon pool bar always greets us with a smile, it's like seeing an old friend each time we visit! We also had a couples spa treatment we had facials. Silia who booked us in greeted with us with the warmest welcome, and Mikela and Maria who carried out the treatments were also exceptional and you could tell they were highly experienced. I have never felt so relaxed after a stay at this hotel!

Beautiful hotel, spotlessly clean. Great choice of food and quality drinks. Icecream, doughnuts and slushies available all day for the kiddies. The choice of pools were brilliant. The water Lovely and warm. The rooms were large and well equipped as was the balcony. About a 20 minute walk to Stalis beach.However a free shuttlebus was on offer. All of the staff especially in the main dining room were very friendly and most helpful. In with your booking you are offered the Greek and Italian speciality restaurants. Both were very good. The only downside to this hotel was the children's entertainment. The 2 young ladies in the animation team were very poor. They had no enthusiasm and looked very uncomfortable when doing the tiny tots disco. They just wore their own clothes and stuck a clown wig on. The same few songs and dances every evening. All in all it was a wonderful holiday. However if you need the kids entertainment to be amazing all singing all dancing, then this isn't the hotel for you.

Returned yesterday from an unforgettable 10 night stay at the Grand Hotel in Hersonissos. Travelled as a family of 4 from the UK - Kids 2 and 7 on an all inclusive trip. After a slightly delayed flight we arrived at the main reception around 10pm (20 min private transfer form airport), the staff straight away were so accommodating and requested we leave our bags in the store room and quickly go in and grab some dinner in the restaurant before it closed. So managed on our first night to enjoy some excellent cuisine in the restaurant which was unexpected before checking in and heading to our room for the night. Rooms - We had room 704 and found it immaculate. Ground floor - Large family room with two separate double bedded areas, modern bathroom and what felt like a private outside garden space to enjoy. Which was a bonus, as a few of the rooms either side felt like the outside space was slightly shared with their neighbouring rooms. We couldn't have asked for a better space. Cleaned daily, amenities, bedding and towels changed - No issues whatsoever. As per previous reviews, this room is situated about half way up the hill of the site and so will be an issue for someone with mobility issues. But for us marching up and down it numerous times daily with a pram and two kids worked off the abundance of food and drink consumed each day, so we didn't mind at all. Pools - Adult pool we didn't go to, but was not far from our room and looked very tranquil as we strolled past. Right at the top of the site is the kids splash park pool (if you do have mobility issues there are transfer vans driving around site all day). Both our kids loved this area. The pool conjoined to the splash slide area is also deep enough to have a swim. What is also great is the bar area alongside, serving drinks, snacks and ice cream all day (Burgers / Kebabs / Fish Fingers) up until 18:00.. Waterpark pool - Amazing, myself and my 7 year old were in this area numerous times a day. On arrival on our first day we were welcomed by Kostas who was great. He explained the rules, asked if my 7 year old was confident in swimming and off we went - Lifeguard top and bottom. Daily Kostas would have a decent chat with myself on arrival and was a real pleasant addition to our trip - Great team leader to have on board, took safety very seriously, but also wanted everyone to have fun. He and his team have it running like a well oiled machine. We saw a few things on fb groups (appeared from people with older kids 14/15) about this waterpark which concerned us before arrival - But Kostas literally explained - If you are travelling with someone under 16 years old, you have to be in the complex with them when they are riding the slides. This is literally in case they start messing around, the lifeguards have a competent adult to turn to, which I think is absolutely fair enough should they need to be questioned or removed. There were days me and my daughter literally had the running of the waterpark to ourselves (visited from June 18th 2026) and was surrounded by over 100 empty sun loungers in the sunshine, it was incredible. Our last few days it did get slightly busier, but this did not affect ride times, waiting or enjoyment. Main pool - Opposite the waterpark pool at ground level next to main hotel building. Lovely pool, great atmosphere - Activities all day (not that we got involved with them much, we like to do our own thing). But in all honesty it was a beautiful space to relax and a pool bar right on site. Met some lovely people around the pool who we got chatting to and was a great space to relax and enjoy some quality family time with the kids. Music on most of the day was a great addition made it feel a bit lively as you were enjoying a drink. Great they have a couple of little goals set up as well to play water polo type games with the kids. No lifeguard there until 28th June - As once again it got busier - Guessing someone is now there for the summer monitoring. What we did love as well when we went, no sunbed wars. We could literally (especially our first week) - Wake up, have breakfast and lay 3/4 towels down in a row at 10 am no issue, the kids splash park at the top of site some days was literally empty at this time when we got up there and so was even easier. Again, last few days this did seem to pick up a bit as it got busier and had to be a bit more on the ball. Food and Drink - Staff at main restaurant could not do enough for the guests. Unreal, variety every day / night. Fresh fruit / salad. Amazing deserts. Several meat dishes every lunch and evening. It was just a beautiful restaurant and cuisine, with so many options. The restaurant itself is very modern and clean. Kids castle area was shut, I am guessing this may open for the summer holidays. I think this was our only qualm food wise (and didn't really affect us), potentially if your child is a fussy eater you may struggle slightly. We are quite lucky with our kids, but can imagine if your child likes chicken nuggets daily etc. you won't find them in the restaurant, although when / if the castle area of the restaurant opens this may change. Mythos is a lovely local beer on tap. Huge list of cocktails to enjoy and they were made to perfection - Also, non alcoholic mocktails for the kids were great. Local spirits if having something with a mixer, all were fine though. Aegean Restaurant - Stunning night, amazing food, friendly staff, catered for the kids (nuggets for 2 year old). Really enjoyable evening. Italian Restaurant - Slightly disappointing - No high chair and after we requested one didn't make the effort to source one from elsewhere, no options for kids - and they openly state this when taking our order. Pasta was hard - Just overall maybe not as great an experience as we had hoped, but still ok and lovely view over the main pool. Entertainment - As a few people have mentioned it is slightly more aimed at other European countries and when we visited we were certainly the minority as British citizens. This didn't affect us at all - The kids loved the mini disco every night and learning different songs from across the continent. The shows we stayed for were ok after - Although we would head to the lobby bar most nights after the disco. Always a live singer on to winde down the evening and some we must say, were really talented and thoroughly enjoyable. DJ plays a couple of times a night in lobby bar also - Great selection of tunes. Negatives - and for us honestly their weren't many. This is just being honest and knit picking. Please do not let this put you off, it is a stunning hotel and we had an amazing stay. - Mobility issues you will struggle, the hotel complex is huge (spread out) and literally goes uphill. It is a bit of a workout getting from bottom to top, especially if you're venturing across different pools throughout the day. - Kids options for food at the restaurant may be slightly limited for some families. - For some reason one of the pools turned all our costumes yellow. We think it was the salt from the main pool, several days we got out and across the board our costumes had literally changed colour by the evening, these were thrown away on our return. - Drinks - Premium branded drinks are not included with the AI although they do have them, couldn't get a Disaronno etc. and mixer, which was a bit gutting. Also, I suppose for a lot of people the 22:30 stop is a bit of a killer (again didn't really affect us with the kids). - For the budget we had this really was an amazing find, after looking for weeks across Europe. We came back early hours of yesterday morning and said this was the best holiday we had taken as a family. We may have been very lucky with the time of year we went, but we could not really fault it and had an amazing time - Beautiful setting for a holiday, highly recommend. Hoping to return one day!

I stayed 9 nights at Grand Hotel in June 2026 and had a lovely time. Pros - Lovely sea view from our room - The food at meal times were delicious. Truly one of the nicest all inclusive buffets I’ve tried. Tasty, good quality food, also not repetitive - 3 pools, including one adults only pool, which was the only one I spent time at. Plenty of sun loungers available - Staff very friendly and helpful. - Good variety of drinks on all inclusive menu (see picture) - The resort is very hilly, and our room was right at the top of the resort. Thankfully, there are drivers in cars and buggy’s in the resort that take you up to the top until 11pm. So very helpful and friendly - Aegean (à la carte) was tasty and included which was nice Cons - Housekeeping could have been better. I noticed a mark in our sink on check in and assumed it was a stain (otherwise it would’ve been cleaned before our arrival) but about a week into our stay, I wiped it with tissue. Straight off.. Also, the clean towels smelled strongly of vinegar. I assume vinegar is put in the was to keep the towels white, but really stinky - All Inclusive was only until 10:30pm which feels very early - Drinks at meal times were table service, which wasn’t an issue per se, just slightly less convenient than self serve. Saying that, the wines at dinner were very nice To note: the hotel mainly caters to French and German tourists I’d say. When looking at the entertainment program (including the kids entertainment), the activities were listed in French and German, not English. We were on holiday to relax so didn’t bother us, but perhaps could be difficult for a family Overall, we had a lovely stay at Grand Hotel and would consider returning

In crete , you'll find the best massages at The Grand Hotel - Holiday Resort (Aquavita Spa retreats) and make sure to book your sessions with "Georgia" , she's simply the best one there is !

Extra special Facial/ Head and Neck massage and Body Mask treatment to re-moisturize and relax before flying home. My second visit this week and once again highly recommended. Thank you Maria once again for the wonderfully refreshing and relaxing experience.