Lydia Maris Resort & Spa — Hotel in Municipality of Rhodes

We recently returned from a 10 day stay at Lydia Maris and the first time we have been to Rhodes too.|I want to start by saying do not expect a 5* internationally recognised hotel. Perhaps the Greek star rating system is different from other places we have visited.|Staff. All staff very friendly, welcoming, smiling and passing the time of day, especially Tsambika on reception. 10/10|Cleanliness. Room clean, grounds maintained. Pool clean, staff constantly clearing tables/glasses etc, reception welcoming. 10/10.|Food. Repetitive! Pork served every day in various guises! Salads nice and varied. Always have a pasta dish, and grilled meat/fish. Chips on the breakfast buffet was a first! Omelettes made to order for breakfast was nice. Fresh bread and rolls were fresh. Always a good choice of desserts, but all very similar. We got fed up of the food a few times so didn't eat in restaurant some days. Our teens enjoyed the pizza and gyros. Felt sorry for the gyros chef as she had long queues and she was doing everything on her own in searing heat. Afternoon cakes served were very good. Never had a problem getting a table. If eating outside, be prepared to have smokers and vapers at neighbouring tables.|Overall, 6/10 mainly due to repetitive nature. |Drinks. A bit hit and miss. Sometimes fizzy drinks were fine. Other times very weak/watery. Shame they don't serve proper orange juice in restaurant at breakfast. It's more like a strong cordial. Cocktails OK. Very syrupy. Self service soft drinks, hot drinks, beer and wine near entertainment was OK. The disappointment was the bar in the lobby. This was rarely open so in order to get a drink during the evening you had to walk to the pool bar. Not the end of the world, but a shame not to have it open as it was a nice area to sit and chill. 8/10.|Pool. Clean but soooooooo cold. Wouldn't have been surprised to see icicles! This put us off and we only went in once. Plenty of sun loungers, parasols table and chairs. I'd imagine it might be difficult getting loungers in peak season, but fine in October! We would have liked a bit more action around the pool like music, but that's our preference. 8/10.|Room. Where to start. We arrived at hotel at 11pm. Shown to room 115. We were concerned when taken across car park and down steps to a room that felt like it was half underground. It was dark the hand rail was wobbly and we immediately had reservations. On entering the room, we were disappointed. The view was through an insect net onto a patio that had a view of a maintenance building and a car park that was about 6 feet above the room. You had to look up to it. See photos. Rooms were generally clean apart from one bed that had bugs and hair. Immediately went to reception to ask for a different room. Told non available till the next day. We were offered a better room (705) overlooking car park and main road, and still not the one we had booked or what is shown on website. On our check in paperwork, it stated room 318. We were never offered this room, which is odd. We are assuming that we were to have room 318, then maybe other guests had 115, complained and were given the better room 318, which we saw from the outside and looked nice with a large terrace, table chairs sunloungers and overlooking olives groves. We arrived late so had to have what was left perhaps. Beds were extremely hard, be prepared! Do not accept your room if you are not happy with it and avoid rooms on the ground floor in block 1. Also, for a pool or garden view. 4/10.|Resort. Close to Eucalyptus Street for shops and restaurants. 10 minute walk to beach, which was pebbly and dark-ish sand. Water clear and warmer than swimming pool! Not good for anyone with mobility problems as paths very uneven and parts missing in some places, or just stops and turns into holes and gravel! You can see around resort some abandoned land and half built properties. 6/10.||We suggest hiring a car from the lovely guy who has a desk in the hotels reception, they were far cheaper than other companies. Car was very new and clean 10/10.||Highly recommend a trip to Tsambiki beach about 10 minutes from the hotel. Lovely golden sand, aqua sea, about 1kms long with bear restaurants, shop, water sports, bed hire. Large free car park. Think a bus operated there too. Beware of the nudist section at the far end of the beach! 10/10.||Bus stop opposite hotel. Costs €4 per person one way to Rhodes Town or Lindos. Be aware that you can pay cash when you enter bus in resort but on the return you have to buy a ticket at the ticket office (cans or card OK), which is a bit confusing, but seems to work. Bus gets busy, so sometimes standing room only. 8/10.||We didn't have any interaction with the entertainment team, so cannot comment. ||Guests seemed to be a high percentage of Germans and maybe some of the food was for their liking perhaps. ||We would very likely return to Rhodes to explore more of the island.||With regards the hotel, not sure. We would stay for the staff, but food and room allocations would need to improve and pool heating!||Once final note. On departure at Rhodes airport, make sure you allow enough time to get through passport control, which is upstairs in the departures area. It is confusing as on the first floor you see and walk pas tall the departure gates, so assume you are ready to board when your flight is called, but no, down the far end of departures, is a sign for passport control. We (along with most of the people in the queue) we not aware we had to go through this process or that the queue was so long. It took us an hour to get through. It was hot as no air con. Must have been 500 people in the queue and at times 2 members of staff stamping passports and 2 on queue control. There were a lot of near misses with passengers stuck in the queue when their flight was...

Location is perfect few minutes walk up road to main eucalyptus road where there is an abundance of beautiful shops tavernas bars amusement etc. 15 minutes walk to 2 different beaches at opposite sides I have to say the Kolympia harbour beach was stunning horseshoe bay crystal water and a fantastic Verano beach bar which I will review separately. We asked for a family room and a room upstairs which we were accommodated with and still close to each other . You would never go hungry here after breakfast has finished the Pizza Hut started as did the gyros and chips both serving excellent food from 11am-6pm daily. Lunchtime was 11.30-2.30 then afternoon cakes pastries biscuits and finally dinner from 7pm we arrived very late and was shown to the restaurant straight away for cold meats cheese salads and bread along with a drink of our choice which was a lovely touch as we set off early morning from home. Whilst I am on with the food it was delicious and being a buffet there is always something for everyone very tasty as was breakfast. The kids loved being able to get their own drinks around the pool bar and with a lovely little shop on site they were toddling round to buy their Pringles despite the abundance of food bless them. The hotel facilities are excellent even provided little bikes for the kids to ride round on, a spa on site which we used, they were in the pool every day though it was a little cool towards end of the day. But October and 24-28 degrees is amazing. There is also a car hire site in the hotel lobby which we used and I have to say we got an unbelievable rate very satisfied and a lovely man to deal with so don’t go anywhere else if you are planning on hiring a car there we’re 7 in our party including baby a VW Caddy was perfect for us for a few days. All staff are wonderful and cannot do enough for you. On reception we were met by Maria we had a problem with our door key card but sorted quickly by giving us a key till maintenance came next day as it was after midnight then we met Tsambika who was also above and beyond like Maria thank you both. The restaurant - all staff were wonderful but we seem to bond with Evgenia Fey Sarah and Micaela who worked tirelessly for long days and after baby had been at table there was plenty of sweeping up to do so thank you all for your kindness shown to our family. The chefs also need a big thank you as we loved our food Can I also thank you for making our great granddaughter 5th birthday celebration very special you trimmed up the table beautiful sang happy birthday she loved the cake and then got her on stage at night and everyone sang happy birthday again so kind of you all .Its always the little touches that stick in your heart and memories.Our thanks also to our domestic goddess for keeping our room clean again work so hard. My final thank you goes to your entertainment staff who never stop and are super fit there is Alex Gustavo Evelina and Luca our kids were hooked daily from craft club making pizza and masks jointing in the kids dancing nightly it was a joy our granddaughter got involved as well and played the part of a mama so adults were not left out she also won the bingo with fantastic prizes we didn’t expect much being October but it was full on and was loved by us all. A bus in to Rhodes town was only €4 adults and free for littles ones so it’s a win win bus stop straight opposite hotel . Overall the Lydia Maris has everything you need for a perfect holiday and it was for us we had two amazing weeks her I would definitely recommend it and we will definitely be back next year it was perfect our room was 633 which was above the spa perfect location near all amenities and our granddaughter had family room 624 straight opposite the pizza bar which was perfect for her family as well. We had a late flight home so we paid and extra €70 for our family room from 11-6 which was perfect and well needed for us all so we didn’t feel hot and sticky for the journey home. I would like to thank all staff at the hotel for an excellent holiday communication throughout has been exceptional it was lovely to meet you all you have an amazing team of people and I don’t think I came across one that didn’t smile well done we will return. The...

Lydia Maris is a very well-maintained resort, we had two rooms – one recently refurbished, the other with older – but still presentable - décor. The site has the feel of a development probably originally built during the 70s or 80s, which has been tastefully updated. The reception, bar and dining areas are particularly comfortable and well presented. ||Be prepared for the tourist tax of €105 per room, €210 for us as two rooms required for five... This doesn’t seem to fit with the online rates suggesting a few Euros per night for Greece, but as it’s not open for discussion the point is moot.||There are lots of staff keeping things ticking over nicely, and it’s noticeable how hard some of them work. We didn’t really have any issues in terms of service, no queuing for drinks or food. The entertainment team / house keepers / kitchen and bar staff are all excellent.||Some of the rooms with swim up pools are in shade all day – would not have been pleased about that if we had booked them.||There’s a lot of chat on here about the food, as though a la carte should somehow be the minimum expectation on an all inclusive holiday. We were generally happy enough with it, and I don’t think we’re too easily pleased compared to some – more than happy with all the olives, feta, salads you can eat plus whatever the day’s speciality was. Of course there’s some menu repetition: that is generally what you get with a package holiday. The soft drinks selection is fine, there’s a good selection of teas, and the coffee is ok. The alcohol is typical of all inclusive quality (seemed good enough for those that like a lot of it…). I did wonder what the serving area experience would be like in high season, there’s only adequate space with the layout even eating a little later than most as we did. ||One thing that did baffle me: why would you go to the trouble of building such a lovely open air wood fired pizzeria only to then make them with frozen bases rather than freshly made / hand stretched etc? ||We’ve found before that some hotels struggle to seat a family of five for dinner, even late in the season as we usually are, but it wasn’t the case here.||In October we had to dodge a couple of short downpours, but generally the temps were mid to high twenties (warm enough for us). Speaking with locals it’s not uncommon to see mid forties during the summer, so be sure to understand that beforehand.||The pool area is adequately sized, more the legacy of the original development as compared to modern resort standards. Overall is it a true five stars rating when you compare a couple of other nearby options, and other holidays that we’ve had…? I’m not sure.||Another observation is that the evening entertainment area may need a rethink. The stage seems much too small and there’s not enough seating or tables. This at the end of the season too - what must it be like in August?||If you only want to go to Lindos or Rhodes there doesn’t seem much point in hiring a car when parking is so hard in the popular spots and getting the bus is so easy – ask at reception, there’s a handy timetable / you catch it literally right outside the hotel. Note: although you pay getting on the bus when leaving the hotel, for return journeys you can’t and must instead pay at the ticket office before getting on the bus back with your tickets. For further explorations that would involve car rental the guy in reception is recommended. If you want to go into the fort at the top of Lindos it was €20/adult in 2025. Expect a bit of a queue. ||We were surprised how cheap the nearby mini markets are, given that they are in tourist trap locations. ||A tip for a really nice couple of beaches is to find the big “I Love Kolymbia” sign, then walk a short way up the road to the right – there’s an amazing quiet sandy cove there beyond the boat yard also with a very good beach cafe, or if you go a little further along past Limanake restaurant and down the steps there's another option there if you prefer pebbles and big waves. The sea is all sorts of heart warming shades of blue. ||A general tip for Greece: take some decent walking shoes, the standard of the pavements is pretty poor. There's an uneven slab waiting to try and trip you over at...