The Island Hotel

We nearly decided to change hotels due to some feedback on TripAdvisor. But we are glad we didn’t as the hotel was of a very high standard. The room seemed newly decorated and modern. It had a balcony with a view over the sea. The hotel areas and grounds are well maintained. The facilities were very good. The staff service was excellent in all areas of the hotel. Everyone was friendly and helpful. The location of the restaurant overlooking the sea, was more like a ‘real’ restaurant than a self service canteen that you sometimes get with buffet style service. Breakfast selection was excellent. For dinner there was a good selection of food, with a different theme every night. The staff kept the serveries well stocked with fresh food. We never felt that we needed to eat out elsewhere. The Hotel is just over a small road to the beach, which is no inconvenience at all. Hotel beach towels are used to show that you are staying at the hotel and so no need to pay for sunbeds. Few areas for improvement; Stop allowing the practice of reserving sunbeds with towels by the pools. Some people kept them there even when they only came back to remove them. We didn’t use the larger pool as music was playing all the time. We booked the Taverna for one meal but found it disappointing, the food and location was not as good as the main restaurant. The gym is in need of refurbishment. Finally the welcome meal pack on arrival, due to arriving too late for the restaurant, was poor, small and disappointing. Despite these concerns we would recommend the hotel and would return if visiting Crete again.

The Island Hotel Gouves is across a small road from a lovely sandy beach. It has pleasant surroundings with tropical plants, and three swimming pools. Gouves is a small unspoilt village with few tourist shops and a good supermarket. We prefer our resort to be Greek, free of hordes of car hire and souvenir shops. Round the corner from The Island Hotel is Andrea's, serving excellent home cooked food and the delightful 'Cretan shop' selling interesting traditional products and serving delicious snacks. The food in the hotel is not 5 ☆ but is acceptable. The buffet restaurant can be very crowded, particularly in bad weather but there are usually attractive areas available for eating outside. The choice of food at breakfast was very good. The hotel staff were almost all very helpful and friendly. We were moved from a small room with a shower in the bath to a much nicer bigger one with a walk in shower. The bedrooms are not 5 ☆ but are attractive. The sea was often rough in early October and the pools were chilly. The main pool often had intrusive disco music which you could avoid at the other pools. There were plenty of loungers. Overall though it was an enjoyable week's holiday. Our thanks to those staff who made our stay much better.

Wonderful friendly welcoming Hotel House staff are wonderful, bar staff are really nice as are the reception staff. Restaurant staff are generally really nice apart from one young lady welcoming in at the entrance who was a bit harsh and rude. Food isnt the best for breakfast - glad we didnt book for Half

Stayed here 12-19 Oct 2025. Not sure how it has got its 5 star rating because from my past experience of 5 star hotels this is definitely not on a par with any I have stayed at. Front desk staff and porter helpful and friendly, supermarket lady very friendly. Restaurant staff miserable. Rooms .. clean and updated bedrooms, bathrooms are another story. Most are bathtubs with shower and in need of re furbishment. Extractor fans don’t work. After suffering a fall whilst getting into the bath due to how slippery it was we were upgraded to a walk in shower. Only two power points in our room. Location.. on the beach a good 30 min walk to the centre of Gouves, with one main street of shops and tavernas. The area is very run down. Opp the hotel entrance there are a few restaurants worth visiting Paradise, great food hot and fresh, Medusa and Milos( better to book as the food is great, very welcoming staff and very popular. You will also find a couple of bars. We hired a car for 3 days £120 fully insured for two drivers, automatic and got to see some lovely villages Sissi/Koutoulafari/Plaki/Elounda/MilatosBeach and Milatos Cave, Mochos, highly recommend all these places. Koutoulafari is in Hersonnisos, up the hill and is only about 8 km (15 mins by car) from the hotel. This could be done by bus and it is a world apart from Gouves. Would not return to this hotel or the area.

We’ve had an excellent week here! We went with half board and that was plenty - the breakfast and dinner were both pretty good with plenty of choices. Dinner had a different theme each night so it was great to mix it up. We quite often sat out at the Thonos bar after dinner for some drinks with the music - DJ Theo was brilliant all week and we really enjoyed his week, both in the evening and by the pool during the day. We wandered out to the Island Restaurant for drinks one evening (not owned by hotel) and watched the sunset - a must do whilst here as the views were amazing. The beach is brilliant as the hotel has its own sunbeds with parasols and there was always plenty there so never had to rush. Same with the pool sunbeds - there was never a rush to get a sunbed (possibly because we went at a quieter time) and it made our lives easier and more relaxed not having to rush down to the pool. Some days we spent by the beach and then headed to the pool mid afternoon and were still able to get a bed! Drinks by the pool - most people, including us, usually went to the shop to buy drinks and brought them by the pool as it was cheaper and as the shop is so close to the pool it made it very convenient. Activities - we hired the tennis court a few times which was great, easily bookable via the reception at no fee. We did the Agios Nickalous day trip with a boat trip to Spinalonga, again a must do as this trip was brilliant and the island was beautiful. Also a visit to Heraklion was easy as you can just get the bus from the top of the road for €2.40 and they are pretty regular buses which are only a 20-25 minute journey. This is a lovely hotel and we would definitely stay again - the staff are brilliant and so friendly, they really do work hard to give guests a good holiday.