Minoa Palace Resort

Tucked away to the west of Chania, Minoa Palace Resort is a splendid resort of the highest quality with superb facilities, breakfasts, bars, beach, pools, spa, shop and restaurants. But what makes it truly amazing is the people. From our first arrival when our bags were taken care of, and we were greeted by Labrini from customer relations - who was so lovely - to everyone at every level, it was always smiles, a warm hello (or kalimera!), and such friendliness from top to bottom. Another star of the week (from the many we could choose from) were George the resort sommelier - who I spent a most enjoyable couple of hours with one afternoon being educated in Greek wine - some of the finest in world - I can fully recommend booking a session with George in the excellently appointed and perfectly temperature-controlled wine cellar. Finally, Sergio, a genuinely wonderful young gentleman, not only the perfect host, but also a superb guide on food and wine in Galazio restaurant - another recommend. He is surely a future expert sommelier in the making, his knowledge and skill already is terrific. The whole week also turned into quite a gastronomic experience, apart from the joy of so much cheese selection for breakfast, the Sunday evening five-course dinner with paired wines was tremendous, so much so that we booked at Galazio for another two nights. With the team of George and Sergio looking after you, you really can't go wrong! We also made use of the spa, a beautiful and tranquil place, with a great selection of treatments at very reasonable prices. Our final treat was an a la carte breakfast on our penultimate day, an early morning looking out over the sea being looked after by the ever-attentive staff, wonderful. A total recommend, we will definitely be going back. Thank you to everyone at Minoa Palace!

Nice room with amazing aircondition. We had a mountain view. It was quiet and relaxing. The breakfast was good. There is sun lounger enough for everyone. The hotel is near beach. We had a night flight so we didn't want to checkout at 12. Instead we paid to checkout at 17.00. We were thankful for that.

We just spend a week here and have mixed feelings about the hotel. Overall we had a good experience but it has a lot of room for improvement for a real 5 star experience. The room we received was very dated and definitely not the same as on the advertised pictures. Very disappointing! The breakfast buffet was ok, but after a few days you get a bit tired of it. The overall resort is lovely and the staff is also very nice. Be aware that the pool closes at 18:00 which I find very early. Since we came in autumn it was not a problem as it wasn’t too warm anymore but in the summer I can definitely see that as an issue. Also disappointing that some of the nicer sun beds need to be rented for 20€ a day, it doesn’t give a nice feeling that they try to make extra money everywhere. The little spa inside is ok but not worthy for a 5 start hotel. The jacuzzi area smells moldy and the sauna needs to get booked in advance. The gym in the same area is super dated and the equipment needs to get replaced urgently. Platanias is a typical touristic place for charter tourist. There are lots of restaurants and shops in walking distance, but definitely all designed for tourists.

We have just returned after a week at the Minoa Palace Hotel.We liked the hotel with all its pools,resteraunts and gardens.There was steep steps and high gloss tiles everywhere which were dangerous when wet and at night.Myself and my brother in-law took a tumble,so i think you need to put some hand rails in the stair case areas. Our rooms were lovely and spacious and modern decoration and our room attendant was amazing stocking up everyday.My sisters was not as good and got no daily stocking up of teas,coffes etc. Our main complaint was the water situation at meal times. We were on full board,but no drinks were included,so on the first day i asked for a jug of free tap water,only to be presented with a bottle of still table water and a bill for 2.80 euros. I was informed that i could not use my own water bottle at any meal. All the hotels i've ever stayed at provide free tap water,especially when we don't drink alcohol. You should be given a choice of free tap water and if you want to pay for still water then you can. Because we did not order alcohol and only water the restaurant staff became very rude and the service was slow and yes they do try and hurry you off your table in order to seat the next guests. Because of the service we endured for a week from the restaurant staff i would not use this hotel again. On our final day,we went for our lunch and were informed by the rude staff that we would have to pay for lunch and dinner because we had vacated the hotel for going home,even though we were not flying until 12.15am and leaving the hotel at 9pm.We had paid for 7 days board,but were only getting 6 days board.We complained to the reception and she organized vouchers for our lunch and dinner. I had a lovely holiday,but it was spoilt by the extremely rude staff. Do they actually want people to return to their hotel!.

Everything was great, from the spacious room with swimming pool views, to the breakfast buffet. Service was outstanding, accommodating to our needs all the time. They helped us arrange different transports and a rental car. Special mention to the beach bar and restaurant. Super kind and the food was amazing