Levante - powered by Playitas — Hotel in Municipality of Rhodes

Levante Powered by Playitas (also known as Levante Beach Resort) is primarily focused on guests seeking a sunny vacation but with an emphasis on health, fitness, and sports.

I spent a wonderful week there last May (2022) and decided to return again this year in August. This time, I brought my wife with me. As Google only allows one review per place and experience, this review has now been updated to reflect my thoughts from my latest visit.

In addition to everything one would expect from a four-star charter hotel, such as multiple pools, a beach with sun loungers, some entertainment, and a couple of bars, Levante offers exactly what we were looking for: the opportunity to exercise, work, and enjoy good food during a week in the sun.

Activities

The hotel offers an extensive range of different fitness activities. Most are included in the package, including all group classes and instructor-led sessions. However, there are also some activities that come at an additional cost, such as sailing, SUP (Stand-Up Paddleboarding), waterskiing/wakeboarding/jet skiing, and kayaking.

At Levante, you can also hire private instructors for tennis and padel, as well as rent training areas and equipment if you are there with a larger group.

The Delightful Food:

The buffet served three times a day in Levante's large, bright restaurant – with both indoor and outdoor seating – is phenomenally good, offering a generous selection of international dishes and several Greek specialties.

The food was beautifully presented, and all the dishes we tried were excellent. The wide variety of seafood, vegetarian options, salads, olives, creamy feta cheese, fruits, and desserts was particularly impressive. Special praise goes to Levante's choice of coffee machines, which were both fast and brewed exceptionally good coffee for an automatic coffee maker.

In addition to the extensive range of activities and delicious food, I also want to mention Levante's super-friendly staff. Both those working for Apollo (Swedish, Danish, or Norwegian fitness and excursion leaders) and, perhaps most importantly, the hotel's own staff in the restaurant, the store where activities were booked, and the always cheerful reception team. Not all, but many of these friendly people came from Rhodes.

We didn't take advantage of it this time, but next to the gym, the hotel also has a spa with several treatment options.

The Hotel Room

There are many different room categories at Levante. Some hotel rooms are in two-story buildings on the way down to the beach, while others are in the main building of the hotel. The room we stayed in (2047) was relatively spacious and equipped with both a shower and a bathtub, a balcony, comfortable beds, a minibar, and plenty of space for clothes.

The room's view of the mountains in the background and the tennis and padel courts in the foreground may not have been super exciting, but we got used to it after a day. The cleaning service worked very well and was carefully done by friendly cleaning staff.

You don't need to be particularly sporty to appreciate and enjoy one or two weeks at Levante. But if you want to try a new way of vacationing with a focus on health and well-being rather than just lounging by the pool, sipping umbrella drinks, and soaking up the sun, Levante is definitely a hotel concept I can highly recommend.

And if you work remotely, this is truly a great option. There are plenty of places to work, both in the lobby and in the large lounge of the bar, which was always empty during the day. Moreover, the hotel's Wi-Fi connection to the internet is really fast and stable.

Levante Powered by Playitas has a great concept with a balance of everything we need for a more active vacation. We are already considering returning...

We had a fabulous holiday. It’s a great set up at Levante with multiple pools, a close beach with a wide selection of watersports kit, and tennis/fitness/padle/cycling too. (We’ve had one Neilson experience before at a different resort). Marios was especially helpful with a wing boarding lesson and support thereafter, and likewise Maddie with the waterskiing. ||||The food was great - an incredible selection, and the traditional Greek dishes were especially delicious (Greek salad, fish dishes, tzatziki, aubergine dishes, bbq meats and veg, svoulaki etc). We were delighted that allergies in our party were expertly catered for - special thanks to Sofia and Dimitris who were wonderful: for instance proactively preparing sushi straight from the kitchen to avoid cross-food contamination when they knew this was a well-loved food by our family member. The waiting staff were all attentive and in abundance. ||||Rooms were nicely air con, clean and spacious. We are very grateful to the two friendly Ukrainian cleaners who worked tirelessly in the extreme heat to keep it clean and comfortable. ||||Kids club was really fun and my children had a great time, doing a wide variety of activities on and off the water - eg swimming, sailing, windsurfing and tennis. We especially valued how attentive and caring Liv H and Emma C were to our child’s needs - massive thanks. ||||Handy onsite shop selling everything from inflatables to suncream.||||Small areas for potential improvement include: ||- it would be great if there could be a shaded area of the main pools for older children in kids club; it was hard for them not to burn in the Greek August heat ||- While there was a good variety and number of different boats, we had quite a few instances of gear failure, that could be prevented with more frequent checkups (eg checking / replacing cletes, etc). Similarly some boards had broken handles or missing grip etc ||- A small minority of some of the younger beach staff lacked a work ethic and an appreciation of how much money families are spending on such a holiday.||||But these are very small taints on an overall fantastic holiday - thank you club Neilson for some...

Our first time at Levante but our sixth Neilson Beach Club holiday:| The fact that the hotel is partly shared with Swedes doesn't detract at all. Indeed, watching them pummel their bodies daily was a source of mild amusement. Whatever floats your boat....| Our room overlooked the Padel courts so not only was it spacious and comfortable but we also had free entertainment.| How anyone can moan about the food is entirely beyond us. The quality and variety on a daily basis (whether breakfast, lunch or dinner) is, quite simply, excellent.| Our main focus was road cycling - all the guides were friendly and professional. Many thanks to Cat, Ross, Marc and the two Macks for helping us get the most from our stay.| Equally, when we headed to the beach, the staff were all knowledgeable and willing to help.| Many have mentioned that getting to play Padel isn't easy. True, but there are only two courts and demand hugely exceeds supply. If you're really keen to learn, invest a few euros in a private lesson with the excellent Emile. Very encouraging and helpful - our hour on court with him was well worth the cost.| The Greek staff are marvellous. They will bend over backwards to help. In the restaurant, Rafailia was ever smiling and efficient. If you want anything from reception, ask Anna. It WILL be done!| After the numerous compliments I have no hesitation in reiterating a pet gripe/complaint. We stayed for two weeks and would have been allowed four free tows water skiing each. Unfortunately my partner has had a serious knee injury and can no longer ski. However, Neilson flatly refuse to transfer her free ski tows to me. If she had been uninjured we would have had eight free tows at no extra cost so we are effectively penalised for her being injured. As I have said in previous reviews, to me, this is GROSSLY UNFAIR. Neilson, however, appear to have a policy of not commenting on reviews and will not enter into any dialogue regarding this.| Overall, the Neilson package/concept is very appealing but the issue with the free ski tows is SO...