Archipelagos Hotel

An excellent hotel with very spacious rooms. The hotel is situated on a hillside with 3 separate lifts. The hotel has a small beach directly in front over the road which is really nice.

We stayed here for a week and really enjoyed it, but it's far from perfect.

The hotel is built on a hill slope, making it a bit of a maze, as you have to go horizontally while climbing up to the higher floors. This means there are quite a few elevators and you'll have to get out of one, walk to the next, then go up a couple of floors, walk to the next, and so on. We got used to it and eventually just used the stairs, but it's definitely not something we've experienced before.

The rooms are fairly modern, but there's an obvious lack of attention to details. Many things are modern and well kept, but then you have rusty taps and toilet brushes, mouldy showers and wonky bathroom door handles. Another annoying thing was that the safe was on the very bottom shelf, so we had to get on our bellies to use it - awkward for us, impossible for others. These things are unacceptable for a 4 star hotel. Details matter!

Breakfast was great and had the largest variety I've experienced. Furthermore, they switched some of the items every day and there was a chef right there cooking on the spot, so you could ask for some things made to your liking (e.g. eggs). The coffee however was terrible, even for a hotel breakfast.

There is a pool that you can use, with a good few sunbeds and it was never busy. There's a pool bar as well, with a friendly professional bartender there all the time. They serve really good food too, so you don't even need to go anywhere for lunch. We were disappointed that the pool bar closes very early (7PM) as we would have wanted to have a relaxed dinner or even just drinks later there.

The hotel has a "fitness room" as well, which is an absolute joke - one threadmill, one stationary bike and 2 yoga mats in a bathroom-size room by the reception. It's by far the worst I've seen anywhere so we didn't use it at all.

Across the street there's a small beach with no amenities. We enjoyed it a couple of times and just came back to the hotel to use the shower and toilet. There is also a 24/7 kiosk nearby where you could get some drinks and snacks for the beach.

Rethymno centre is about a 20 minute walk away which is just right - close enough to walk, far enough to be quiet. There's a large supermarket about 10 minutes walk away towards Rethymno.

The staff at the reception were always friendly and helpful.

If you're driving in, there are a lot of free public parking spots nearby. Lots of them across the street, but they get filled in the evening. Luckily there are some up the hill on the right as you get out of the hotel, and parking was never an issue. There's also a petrol station right next door which is convenient.

Overall a great stay, but they should really pay attention to details. As it stands, I'd say this is more of a 3 star hotel than a 4 star, and would probably stay here again.

We enjoyed our Rethymno holiday on Archipelagos Hotel.
Location: 10-15 minutes walk from Rethymno Old Town (main area to hang around in Rethymno. Sea view with medium balcony.
Room: quite modern, spacious and cleaned every day. We had a medium fridge, good enough to keep some food to eat in the room and few bottles of water. They even have an electric stove, one frying pan and medium saucepan, but we never used. They have a kettle and a coffee filter - here, maybe they can upgrade to a more modern coffee machine (like the ones with pods), cutlery and plates. So if you want to cook small dishes, maybe is enough. Beds were very comfortable and quite large.
Service: staff and management were very nice and attentive. Maybe 2-3 bottles with water in the room on arrival will be nice for a 4* hotel.
Pool: spacious enough and clean.
Breakfast: fresh food and quite limited options. They usually alternate a bit the options on 2 days rotation.
So, overall was a good hotel to stay in. Maybe they can work on small bits, especially because they said they're a 4* hotel: water in the rooms (on arrival and maybe during the stay), a bit more breakfast options, more diverse TV channels, coffee machines upgrades.
We rated 5 stars and not 4 because they were very nice and staff very friendly and hard working.

stayed at this hotel for 10 nightsand found it one of the best hotels we have stayed in .The hotel is perfectly located , 10 minute walk into rethymno .The hotel is very clean and all of the staff are lovely and very helpful. I would recomend staying in one of the rooms from 6th floor upward as the views are fabulous from the balconys . The breakfast is very good with lots of choice .Would definitely stay here again if we returned to the area .

Near to the beach, every staff is really friendly and helpful . The breakfast is excellent and diverse. The room is big and nice and the location is good near the centre of city . You can even borrow books from the hotel during your stay. I would definitely come here again :)

It's a truly exquisite hotel to stay in the Superior Studio Sea View Room with a private pool.

As soon as we had checked in, we had every moment with a blast. The private pool is one of the highlights of our stay. Nothing can beat the beautiful sunset sea view from the balcony while drinking and relaxing.

The property was well equipped, great facilities and the room was very clean and comfortable. Handy location within a few minutes walking to Rethymnon old town.

The communication with the Hotel staff were splendid, communication interactions was brilliant especially the owner Stelios, very friendly and helpful with the local tips. Do not miss him if you stay in this exquisite family run hotel. You will not regret it.

Our 23-year-old son and his girlfriend came here recently and recommended it to us. He had the best time here and I have to say so did we!!
We cannot fault this hotel at all . The rooms are all sea view , kept spotlessly clean daily, there is a beautiful pool and bar overlooking the sea with Andreas the top barman !! The owner is a wonderful chap and delights in telling you an awful lot about the area , where to go , where to eat and he shows everybody their room if he is on site at the time. The receptionist Carmen was just amazing and so kind and conscientious and tried to deal with certain things we needed support with eg transfers , thought I’d lost my phone etc .. in a kind caring way and we did not feel as they were being a nuisance!!
Breakfast every morning was 2nd to none, it wasn’t till 10:30 am so meant you could have you’re very needed lie in whilst away if you wanted to ! Location was absolutely perfect! Not only did we have a wonderful little beach opposite the hotel but it was very close to the old town and harbour, about a 17 minute walk. There is a fort which we never got to see this time and there were beaches on the other side of the fort where we booked a Sun lounger , had a beer and even a cheeky back massage on the beach!! we went on a wonderful little boat ride, Spiridon tours , where we swam from the boat, had a wonderful lunch and went to a very lovely bay , lots of fun on the boat all for €55 each! Most definitely returning to this hotel and will certainly be spreading the word to all , it was perfection!!

I stayed 2 nights here in early September. I found the hotel very clean and comfortable. The staff was very attentive to the guests needs. The breakfast was very good and offered a lot of variety. Our room on the 9th floor had spectacular views of the sea. There is a pool and pool bar with sea views. The pool staff was very pleasant and accommodating. There is a protected shallow beach across a busy road. On a calm sea day you can get beyond the break into the sea. It is about a 15 minute walk into the old town which did not disappoint. The staff was very helpful in making recommendations and dinner reservations for us. The hotel does sit on a busy road however. I would stay here again.

Lovely hotel, staff very friendly and helpful, giving advice and recommendations for our stay! Our room was a bit tight for 4 adults and they were happy to give us a bigger one. Overall brilliant stay

Such nice owners and such a beautiful property.

Das Hotel ist schön, die Menschen, die dort arbeiten sehr nett und hilfsbereit. Besonders genossen habe ich den Sonnenuntergang auf der großen Terrasse mit Blick aufs Meer.
Nicht gefallen hat mir, dass es direkt an einer Straße liegt die man auch überqueren muss, um an den Strand zu kommen.
Am Strand gibt es zwei Nichtschwimmerbecken, die von frischem Meerwasser gespeist sind. Ideal für Kinder.

Wonderful friendly hotel situated in a perfect location not far from Rethmyno with incredible views overlooking the sea. Staff were friendly and helpful and he rooms were kept clean. The breakfasts were great-so much variety. We would definitely recommend and visit again in the future.

I'm not getting paid here by anyone, make no mistake about it. It was our first time visiting Crete, we've been to Greece before. I can honestly tell you the Archipelagos Hotel is by heart and with heart the best vacation we've had in Greece for sure. Why ... let me explain. There was a mistake made with rooms by the travel agency, NOT by Archipelagos Hotel, since we have two kids (12&15) and separate rooms were reserved. On our arrival, that was not the case because of Agency ( I'm not gonna name it out of courtasy) declaring single room with backup beds only. The General Manager and the Owner (he designed this Archipelagos Hotel layout) took ALL his efforts for us to feel like nothing happened, while they were fully booked-no switch rooms left. His POSITIVE ENERGY & ATTITUDE made me and all of us feel welcomed a lot. He's a work horse with human approach of an educated person (professor), intelligent manners and no diplomatic BS. He even suggested us to accommodate us within his villas he also manages and are app. 30 minutes away. Sir, we have no car yet (first day at 22.00), I will take you my self; with all seriousness. You got to like the guy, an experienced older man (writing this respectfully), where all the arriving guests he takes arround the hotel are wearing a big smile because of his presence and business/managing approach! He found the solution for us as well with top rated separate rooms, no words can describe our happiness and gratitude to Him and his Team.

Food is delicious and portions are huge, pool cocktails top rated and made by Andres (Pool bar Manager), super clean rooms, big shower bathrooms, fridge, AC, TV, lots of separate pools, you name it! The view is spectacular and you cannot ask for more. We would recommend it deeply and with all our heart and soul ... just like it is being run by an outstanding person, the General Manager and his Team at the reception. Everybody are talking respectfully about him and I had the privilege and honor meeting him in person while he was providing the best service for us to feel like home and the best time off at Archipelagos Hotel we"ve ever had!!!
Top A+, 5 star accomodation with atmosphere like no other place! Very much recommended in all aspects. Thank you so much.

Property looks nice from the outside but cleanliness is horrible. The towels are old and worn out. Even though they said they were washed, we found different disgusting marks on many of them. Parking is on the street for free. Swimming pool had lots of mold.

Väldigt trevligt och familjärt hotell där alla i personalen var väldigt trevliga och hjälpsamma. Vårt rum var på 6:e våningen med fantastisk utsikt, dock behövde vi ta tre hissar för att komma upp. Lugnt på hotellet, nästan inga barnfamiljer utan mest yngre/medelålders par. Ca 15 minuter promenad till Gamla stan med en stor mängd restauranger. Nedanför hotellet finns en mindre publik strand som var helt ok. Mellan hotell och strand en trafikerad gata. Väldigt bra frukost. Liten pentry på rummet. Vi är sammantaget väldigt nöjda med vår vistelse.

Everything was absolutely perfect! The staff were incredibly friendly and welcoming, always ready to help with a smile. The room was clean and comfortable, and the breakfast was simply amazing – fresh, delicious, and with a great variety. We truly enjoyed our stay and would highly recommend this hotel to anyone looking for a great experience. Thank you for making our trip so enjoyable!

We enjoyed this hotel immensely and highly recommend it! This hotel has a wonderful breakfast with a wide selection of food options to suit everyone's tastes and with a beautiful view of the beachfront. Free parking was across the hotel entrance with a huge area to park. We did daily day trips to explore Crete, and there were always parking spots available when we returned at the end of the day. We chose this hotel due to the beautiful views from the balconies, the cleanliness, and the parking. We easily would walk for a leisurely walk into Old Town in 15 minutes. Even taking a taxi was very cheap which we did on way back one evening. The rooms were modern, clean and towels changed every day. The front desk staff were so polite and catered to all of our needs. The owner Mr, Stelios also greeted us and took us to our rooms and explained how the air conditioner worked, where all the amenities were. We enjoyed seeing him everyday! Their pool is amazing, and the pool deck with a beautiful beachfront view had an amazing bar for drinks and food. The bar person is very nice and works hard getting drinks and food ready for your order. Loved the pool area with the sun loungers and perfect views! This hotel will not disappoint at all. We had our two sons and their girlfriends with us, so we had 3 rooms in total and everybody enjoyed Archipelogos hotel. We surely would stay here when we go back to Rethymnon. We had an awesome stay! Thank you from your fellow Canadians!

I’ve never felt so welcomed by a hotel manager! We were given a personal tour upon arrival, and nothing was too much of an ask. The room was lovely, beautiful sea view, only a ten minute walk into town. The breakfast was fantastic and changed everyday. The place was absolutely spotless! Was a shame to leave!

Ive been in 4 hotels in Crete , from all the others ive had an heart's welcome with gifts (Olive oil, honey, wine) . Archipelagos ( the most expensive) gifted me with a broken air conditioning system... no offer of another room (i was a 1 night guest...so...) no refund ...just a portable air conditioning system brought to the room ... it worked with the window open and was so noisy that i was obliged to turn it off after 2 hours of torture....What else...no restaurant...just a beverage machine out of order at the entrance, cheap furniture in the room and a public beach in front of the hotel that is very small and sad considering the graffitis over the concrete wall around that is the base of the noisy street just upstairs (the same street u could hear from the room if you stay with the hotels windows open)....far away from the city center and more far from the sandy beach of Rethymno ....find something more cozy or more luxurious...Archipelagos isnt both

We knew this would be a great stay because we were treated to a wonderful friendly greeting from the manager Stelios, who gave us a walkthrough of the hotel. We could tell he is very proud to be from Crete because on the swimming pool level you get a breath-taking view of Rethymnon and he gave us a brief history lesson, which is a nice personal touch. The key to this hotel's success is that every room has a view of the sea, built into the mountain and you get to your room via numerous lifts on different levels (Don't worry it will become 2nd nature during your stay). The room was fresh, modern and had a lovely balcony view (used a lot). The swimming pool is a nice size, clean and perfect for a calm swim. The breakfast every morning was ideal and had a good selection that changed daily. The location is a good distance from the historic town centre and is very walkable. Overall the perfect stay and they made us feel very welcome, even when checking out Stelios put our cases in a safe room, so that we could have one last walk around the town before our flight home. If we come back to Crete, this will be our choice of hotel for sure.