St. Nicolas Bay Resort Hotel & Villas

Our first time to Crete and this wonderful resort. From arrival to check out , the management teams and their staff could not do enough for us. Junior suit with a sea view, just the ticket . This is what ‘good’ looks like, professional, friendly and authentic staff who go out there way to ‘check in with you’ every-time they see you. Great food, great location ( 5 mins taxi ride down to the harbour). Well done and Thankyou. Please keep doing what you are doing …

This hotel is one of the best we have ever stayed in. Check in is smooth, friendly and efficient and we were offered a tour of the hotel. The hotel is only on 2 floors and spread out over a large area but still has a warm cosy feel to it. This is without doubt due to the incredible service of all the staff who cannot do enough to make your stay wonderful. Always a friendly smile when you arrive at breakfast or dinner. Breakfast is served outside by the pool with the most wonderful views over the bay and at dinner we always opted to sit upstairs on the balcony which had incredible sunset views and was a little quieter. There are plenty of places to sit during the day and although it was the height of summer there was never an issue finding a sun bed at any time of day. The main pool is salt water but don’t be put off by this, it was still very refreshing. We opted to sit on the rocks a few times, my husband preferred this as he likes to snorkel and he said the marine line was excellent. The food was of a high standard and we enjoyed the à la carte choices at dinner. Always plenty of fresh fish options which we appreciated. We had booked a classic double and were then upgraded to a junior suite on arrival. We felt the room was a little small but after a couple of days of an issue with the shower, the hotel kindly moved us to a Club Suite … wow! We loved this room and appreciated how quickly the hotel dealt with the issue and moved us. We would definitely try to book this room again. Also if you can stretch to a sea view, do it! It makes a huge difference to wake up to that view every morning! One point to note, there are quite a lot of steps around the hotel so if mobility is an issue please bear this in mind. We did note though that there was the use of a buggy and driver who would happily drive you around the grounds. All in all, a wonderful peaceful hotel set in a beautiful bay with incredible views and exceptional staff. We will definitely be back!

This is a family friendly, large yet secluded resort that offers a diverse set of activities, beach and pool areas, exceptional reception staff and seamless service. Larger than most Small Luxury Hotels we have stayed at, the villas are spacious, beds exceedingly comfortable and housekeeping very good, albeit not always timely. Breakfast options are excellent with buffet and menu service, wonderful staff like Soleiana and Vagelis who remember your choices. It was heartwarming to see staff embrace babies and in our opinion, truly make families feel at home. Following dinner at the themed Greek Night, we had a wine tasting with Vasilos which was not only excellent and informative but the concierge wrote to us after we had left with a listing of the wines we tasted so that we could buy the ones we liked at home. That is superb service! Hiring a car was simple, done through the terrific concierge service of Tatiana. The grounds were impeccable, the pools spotless and the views marvellous. Like the breakfast, the half board option was very good, great service, menu changing on the few nights we chose to stay in. It was an excellent experience and we highly recommend this resort as a luxury option! A couple of points for consideration: 1. Perhaps consider a few additional adult only theme nights or areas. 2. The fitness centre needs ventilation; management should consider a fan or two to augment air flow. 3. As previously mentioned, rooms were lovely but had limited drawer space. Simply adding an armoire along the wall or nightstands with drawers would aid with unpacking. These were all minor issues (easily solved) and in no way did they take away from an excellent stay at a lovely resort.

Resort is beautifully designed & spotlessly maintained. Staff are very attentive, professional & friendly. We were on HB plus which allowed us to dine at all 3 restaurants - each of which was excellent. We booked junior suite with seaview & were allocated room 118 . Room was nothing like the JS illustrated on website & seaview was only achieved by doing a 45 degree turn to look over neighbours balcony. Issue was rectified after 8 days & our contacting Jet2 when we were reallocated room 400 which was superb. ( unfortunate that we had to go thru'the hassle ). One other issue was that for 5 days the resort hosted a corporate event for 80 British people who were clearly intent on having a good, noisy time. This is not in my opinion a good fit with a 5 Star resort offering, peace, tranquility & restfulness. Nonetheless we had a great holiday.

The design and location of this hotel are truly exceptional. The property itself is of a very high standard—spotlessly clean, peaceful, and incredibly relaxing. We cannot praise the staff highly enough; they are a real asset to the hotel. A special mention goes to Anila, who looked after us so well at breakfast in the beautiful garden setting and again during our evening meals. The service throughout was consistently warm and attentive. I also have to highlight one of the best Negronis I’ve ever had—many thanks to the bartender! In terms of improvements, at times the hotel felt more like an events venue than a holiday destination. A bit more focus on leisure guests would enhance the overall experience. Additionally, for guests on a half-board basis, it would be great to have the option to dine in one of the alternative restaurants at no extra cost, rather than receiving a 25% discount. Especially when entertainment is taking place, it would be nice not to feel like you have to pay extra to fully enjoy those facilities.