Minoa Palace Resort — Hotel in Municipality of Platanias

We stayed at this Hotel for 7 nights. The room we chose was in sea view (limited) category and was on half-board meal plan. We also hired car to get around and try other restaurants on this island.

First the good part, The hotel staff were pleasant and arrival to check-in was handled well. The luggage was traferred to the room, in the Imperial building, promptly. We found the building structure be a bit confusing at first but we got used to it very quickly. The room was far from the main building and had a "very" limited indirect seaview, that is not what we expected or was displayed on the website. It was mostly overlooking nearby Hotel's rooms. The view to the sea was diagonally from a small corner of the balcony. Upon request, we were moved to new room with direct limited sea view after 3 days. The view from new room was amazing. The two rooms I stayed in were large enough. The reception did a great job to accomodate the move without any hesitation at all (much appreciated). I guess, there are not many rooms with diect sea view, hence make sure to adjust expectations or request it prior to arrival.

Pools and gardens were well maintained including outdoor premises. Excellent upkeep. The surroundings in the main building were pleasing. Gym facilities are decent and adequate. Imperial rooms are very close to the beach. Choice of the building is dependent on personal preference i.e. choice between proximity to beach/ pool/ bar (Imperial building) Vs pool/ garden/ gym/ restaurants/ bar/ reception/ padel/ Tennis/ etc. (Main building) .

The breakfast served had good variety to choose from. There were choices for vegetarians however hot food were limited. On the other hand, there are sandwiches, fruits, salads, juices, smoothies, and nuts/seeds which will keep vegetarians healthy for a week. The live station for Omlette was my highlight. The lady at the live counter made omlette with good care - Good work! The dinner, in general, had a very wide varirty to choose from. As a vegetarian, some days were very well done with plenty of choices and some days I had difficulty choosing hot food (and was very limited). The food does not display any note to indicate if it is vegetarian or not. Overall, the hotel has done a good job to keep it together.

The part that did not work out very well, The reception greetings felt artificial and smiles that did not feel genuine (Yes I know, it is not always real). But this was very obvious from the very moment of arrival till the last day. It varied quite a lot from one day to another (and who was staffed).

In room, toilets were not top notch. Details like, leaking (droplets) from the wash basin, puddle of water during shower, small insects in bath tub upon check-in, etc. is unacceptable. I have stayed in better rooms with better toilet than this.

To ruin our trip, my wife got crawling worm in her plate in the salad she picked up from the dinner buffet. Even after this being informed to staff and at the reception, we lacked a decent explanation/ apology for this serious shortcoming, The plate was quickly removed and incident was as if ignored/ forgotten.This incident took away all our excitement.

The experience at the hotel varied widely from day to day and was not consistent. It offered us both good and bad feelings. Some of the things mentioned above is not acceptable from a 5 star facility.

Overall good stay at this hotel but we will not return for sure. Not...

We had the most relaxing 10-night honeymoon at the Minoa Palace Hotel, and we couldn’t be happier with our choice. The hotel is perfectly situated right on the beach and also right in the heart of Platanias, and just about a 15-minute car ride to Chania. The combination of beachfront tranquility and easy access to town made the location ideal.||The grounds of the hotel are beautiful, with two different types of buildings—one older and one newer—we stayed in both and each had its own charm. The older building has x2 larger pools but the imperial pool looks right onto the beach so nice to mix up the days, with more than enough space, and we never had trouble finding sunbeds. Towels were always plentiful, and service for drinks and room service was impressively quick.||We also made use of the gym on several days, which was always quiet with plenty of space. The hotel actually has two small separate gyms—one weight-based and one cardio—as well as a calming spa area. There’s even a separate indoor pool for rainy days (though thankfully the weather was perfect for us!).||We stayed on a bed and breakfast basis, and the breakfast was simply fantastic—tons of variety (hot, cold, omelettes to order) and we were gifted a special waterfront à la carte breakfast on one morning that was a real treat. The staff really paid attention to the little details. Since it was our honeymoon, they also upgraded our room not once, but twice! For the last three nights, we had a gorgeous waterfront room that would normally cost significantly more, which made our stay feel extra special.||On arrival, we were greeted with a wonderful surprise of a bottle of red wine followed by a bottle of prosecco, honeyed walnuts, and chocolate-coated strawberries, which was such a thoughtful touch. Then, on our way home, the night before we left, they gifted us some Cretan tea to take home with us—a lovely way to end our stay.||Housekeeping was impeccable—the room was always spotless, towels changed twice daily, and we had separate towels for the pool. Room has shower robes, nespresso maker, fridge, glasses, mugs, toiletries (including tooth brushes/paste, razor, moisturiser, needle and threads) and hairdressor. They really think of everything to make your stay comfortable! ||A very special thank you to the receptionist, Elfonsi (we think!) who went above and beyond to make our stay effortless. She kindly handled all our outside dinner reservations, organized taxis for different evenings, and ensured everything ran smoothly for us.||This hotel truly deserves its TripAdvisor rating and lives up to its 5-star reputation. In short, it was a peaceful, wonderful stay filled with thoughtful touches, beautiful surroundings, and outstanding service. We’re already looking forward to returning...

What a beautiful and nice hotel! It’s impeccable clean, very well preserved and all of the staff is so nice.||I arrived after midnight and received room nr 814, which is west facing (and btw in the Imperial beach wing which is SO worth the extra price). When I woke up the next morning my room was completely in the shadow and I saw that I was facing a building which had their terrace looking almost straight into my room. Went back and forth to the reception to try to change a room and they were nice and offered me another one, but I am so glad I decided to stick with the one I had. Firstly the room was of the newest ones and the decor was so modern and nice. And it was large. Second, my balcony was much larger than the others the opposite direction and even had a small sofa which was great for sunbathing in the afternoon when the resort’s beach beds were almost blowing away because of the wind. And nobody was staying in the opposite building so I had no problem with privacy. And I had the sunsets. Also my cleaning lady really was the sweetest!||The breakfast at the imperial beach wing was amazing. I was able to make myself a Greek salad each morning, in addition to plenty of other options. Lots of fresh fruit! When I was able to sit outside the views of the beach and the sea was amazing.||Unfortunately I had three days of really bad and cold weather at the point where inside life was the best option. Their gym is more than sufficient, but when raining it got too crowded as it’s quite small with for example only two thread mills. But I guess this was an extraordinary case with the weather. I tried the spa one day. Unfortunately I found the pool too cold to have a pleasant dip. Not very relaxing. The jacuzzi was nice though, but when I came back the next day it was all crowded so I ended up skipping the whole spa. I don’t know why the sauna, which seemed like a basic wood one, was extra cost. Should have been free in my opinion, felt like there was a push to buy treatments. Being a five star hotel I felt a cold pool and a small jacuzzi just wasn’t up to par.||Other than that I loved the hotel and the best part of my stay definitely was the wine tasting with George in the wine cellar! He had such great knowledge in wine and taught me a lot, in addition to having me taste some amazing Greek wines! They were paired with small bites of food to accomplish the wine which really highlighted the experience. This is a must if you’re staying at the hotel and appreciate good wine!||Overall I had a great stay and would heartily...