Lyttos Mare

Had the pleasure of staying at the Lyttos Mare in Crete early April 2026 with my family! Firstly this resort gets five stars and I like to leave both positive feedback from a great stay and I have no hesitation in recommending this resort. I suspect we will be returning soon as the whole family gave it the thumbs up, not something that tends to happen every place we go as its difficult to please all age ranges and interests. The site team, amenities and ability to use the neighbouring water park at the sister Lyttos Beach hotel and tennis courts at the adjacent tennis academy was fantastic and gave us a nice verity of activates across the stay. Given it was only the second or third week of the season the place felt fully open, there might be a couple of evening entertainment programmed items that occur during the peak period in the amphitheatre however we were not really there for that aspect. There was daily activities for all ages, and live musicians each evening, and an on site arcade to use should it be raining etc. We used the waterpark a couple of days, our son loved this. My wife and daughter utilised the gym and spa on several occasions, the indoor pool within is heated as so was a great option for early mornings. The quality of the padded chairs and sun loungers across the outside areas including on the beach are a great quality and add to the premium feel of the site. The external areas look fantastic at night with the array of coloured lighting, water fountains and water features. It would be remiss of me to not single out some of the site team who helped us make the most of out stay. From check in to check out, to every meal experience we had the whole team made us feel welcome and were always friendly, informative and courteous. This is something that is difficult to achieve consistently across a large team and a number of days and shift patterns and so hats off to the team. In my line of work I do tent to people watch a bit and can tell there is a warm relationship with the hotel team and the interactions they have with each other also. In terms of the staff I must highlight the very attentive Mikel and also the outstanding Georgios who both covered the lobby bar during the day and evening shifts. This location became our base camp for certain times each day. I would just like to highlight you can never underestimate the power that someone who is super friendly and attentive across every day has on your overall stay experience. They both could not do enough for us, talked to us by name and really were both the cherry on top of our family's experience. I just wanted to highlight what an asset they both are to the resort management, however I suspect they are already aware! The lobby location did seem to be quite busy at peak periods as its the first and last location people interact with and so might benefit from having a second person flex across to support at key times to help keep the queue down however we were never in a rush, and the staff were always working as quickly as able. With it being early in the season this may already be something that happens as the number of guests increases. I would say this location is pretty heavily used for requesting cocktails, all of which are fantastic! We booked and utilised two superior rooms, one of which was for myself, wife and our teenage son. The lounge area in our room was converted to accommodate our son who is above the age threshold to stay at the complex. The other room was for our daughter and her partner who were thrilled with their room and views across the vista from the balcony. I used to work in hospitality in a former life and believe I have a keen eye for details although my wife would probably say otherwise! The accommodation and internal common areas were kept clean at all times, no noticeable noise was ever evident from outside at any point during our stay. I believe we had rooms 1301 and 1302 up on the top floor which are ideally situated near to a lift, and the main amenities. The bedrooms were in great condition, no noticeable wear and tear or scuffs on any case goods or walls. The rooms feel fresh and light and were well appointed with two large screen TVs, rain shower and plenty of storage. The room was well serviced daily throughout out stay and coffee pods and bottled water were replenished at this time. The bed was super comfy, the blackout curtains were great. A special shout out for you handwash product - the 'Olivia Thinks' handwash in the bathrooms was a lovely product, I plan to source some online to get shipped over to me! We arrived a day or two after the island had been engulfed and coated in a fine red dust on every surface externally. I would like to commend how quickly the site team over the course of a couple of days cleaned the expansive volume of glass on site, and vacuumed all pool and water features. This was no small undertaking and to see the lions share of this completed within two days was impressive to watch unfold. I am a fairly early riser each morning and so normally go for a walk around the site early morning each day with a coffee. Every day a squadron of people are on site early cleaning down all surfaces to keep the property looking its best. The variety of food available across the main restaurant (buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner), Greek restaurant (lunch and dinner), Pan Asian buffet (dinner), Steak restaurant (dinner) and snack bar daily were excellent in terms of food quality, variety, availability and temperature. As with most families there is always one fussy eater and ours is no different however they found plenty of things to eat and try at all meal occasions. Food was replenished frequently and the buffets were ascetically pleasing at all times even at peak periods of use. The Bar locations we tried all, service was always fast, efficient and accommodating. I tried to pick out a couple of negatives for the stay but have not got any and so I do have a couple of constructive feedback items for the site management as sometimes some things become like wallpaper and become less noticeable day to day. Not in any way criticisms, just a couple of low hanging fruit items that could be sharpened out to elevate the resort even higher: Plate warmers within the buffet restaurant either early during service, during peak or towards the end of service did not seem to be quite warm enough to support keeping the food you selected warm, most plates seemed to be under even the ambient room temperature. No big deal for me but I know some people like their plate to be fairly warm from the get go. A few high traffic entrance locations there is matting in place as you transition from outside to inside which is great when it has been raining however a few locations without have to have towels placed down in the interim to avoid slippages. A roll out mat tucked away discreetly in the area ready to put out when the need arises would upgrade this requirement when the weather transitions. One location springs to mind if where you enter and exit the lobby area towards the link bridge or to its sides. Opportunity to upgrade the outdoor signage board structure and information which were quite weathered when we visited. The use of branded colour laminated / printed signs in a few locations around the restaurants used on exits, lifts and common areas of the site could do with being branded or fresh printed to tie in with the rest of the excellent signage on site but that really is nit picking! I noticed in the main restaurant halfway through our stay that there was an easel with a sign depicting what the evenings buffet theme was going to be, however most people on this section would normally have their back to it as they work along the buffet choices and so this could be placed somewhere more prominent like where people tend to ingress and egress. Again, not exactly what you would call an issue and I guess that is they story of out stay, all great and I struggle to find any fault. Thank you Lyttos Mare, I am sure I will see you again soon! Kyle

It was great very relaxing and great for post tennis workouts

Great stay with kids, lots of entertainment

Whole week of shows were wonderful!

I specifically enjoyed the spa experience, the staff was very knowledgeable and welcoming, i had a great massage and face treatment with Albora. Definitely recommend!