We bought some very different souvenirs in one of the shops and on our return next year will definitely be looking for another excursion this time to either Mili Gorge or the Arkadi Monestry (or both!).

Also take the bus from the bus station to Chania, and perhaps, best of all, to the Monastery Arkadi in the hills - a beautiful, tranquil place. I hope to be back to this hotel next year- (if only Heraklion airport could get its act together!)

Went to Arkadi Monastery, 2EUR entry, well worth it.

We went on the train to Arkadi monastery and also went on a day trip to the South coast to see Preveli and Plakia.

Some of the restaurateurs were keen to relate the history of their buildings – we went inside a former Turkish bath, a monastery and a rich Venetian’s townhouse.

We hired a car with the help of Reception and enjoyed visiting Chania, Spinalonga and Arcadi Monastery and other places.

We spent a lovely 10 nights at The Porto Rethymno, and we had the Premium All Inclusive package.

Read the reviews prior to going and was a little worried.We stayed all inclusive.Beach is beautiful with free sunbeds.Pools are small at the hotel would say hotel more suited for couples not families.Food and drink was wonderful.A l a carte was fantastic again lovely food and drink.Service fantastic.Rooms were kept nice change towels and beds when you requst.In a great location.

This is by far the best all inclusive hotel we have stayed in.

We were upgraded to all inclusive for this  inconvenience.

but they upgraded us to all inclusive for the inconvenience.

Just returned from 11 nights stay all inclusive.

We choose to do HB (half board) rather than AI (all inclusive) so glad we did otherwise we wouldn't have found some amazing places.

We have travelled to many Greek islands and this hotel is up there with the best fabulous location for exploring Crete fantastic food in the restaurant always varied and plenty to eat nice rooms with super comfy beds and a choice of pillow types A kettle in the room with tea coffee and milk and a mini fridge which if you are all inclusive all the soft drinks and water are  free

The food and drinks (all inclusive) was very good and diverse.

As per many thousands TUI cancelled our Friday flight so we moved to the Sunday and got the 20% incentive meaning we could upgrade from HB to AI for just £5:18.

The all inclusive food and drinks package is excellent with varied courses and choices and attentive staff who ensure you have a lovely experience.

Restaurants:  we booked on an all-inclusive basis and consider this very good value for money.

I just returned home from an 11-night stay at the Aquila Porto Rethymno on an all-inclusive basis.

Very good alround hotel from reception to rooms to restaurant .across the road a wonderful beach ⛱ with ample sunbeds and umbrellas; staff continually taking orders for drinks etc The hotel caters for all inclusive if so desired.

There was a BBQ one night and we had a lovely Gala Dinner as part of our all inclusive.

but the standard of food was better than many all inclusive hotels.

While the hotel is ideally located and looks to be one of the better this close to the city, the only way I’d ever agree to come back here is if we were on a room only or bed and breakfast basis.

We have spent two nights at the Hotel, the location is the best you can ask for - directly by the beach (where you have your private umbrellas and sunbeds) and close to the city center (you cannot get closer if you want to stay by the beach).

The hotel is really close to the beach (across the street) and near the city center (~ 1 km).

The food and the drinks are great and its in the center of rethyimno very close to the old city most rooms have a view to the beach.

location is very good almost everything in the city is in walking distance.

The hotel is also near the city, with shops, old town and cafes.

Very good location , very close to the old city.

The staff were all great, so friendly and professional.

But best of all , the staff were all amazing, always smiling, always friendly.

The staff were extremely friendly and attentive and made you feel welcome.

The staff in the restaurant were excellent and were very friendly and efficient.

They are always very friendly with a ready smile, and are always willing to go the extra mile to ensure everyone has a good holiday.

Lovely room, the cleaner did an excellent job and was very friendly, we had various bits of towel art which are great to come back to.

Add to this his charming and friendly nature make him a superb host.

Pool area small with very few beds luckily the beach is good .Restaurant and reception staff all helpful and friendly.

All the staff were friendly,  courteous and helpful.

All staff were friendly and professional, the hotel was ideally located for both beach and a short walk to Rethymnon Centre which has plenty of bars and restaurants and the food was excellent.

Main Positives:
1. great staff - work ethic and friendly attitude eg two devoted waiters for the beach who worked all day without a break and were always efficient and friendly.

+Restaurant food and service is excellent great choice and friendly team 
+Reception Griggoris and Maria in guest services a credit to hotel 👍

Sadly would NOT return to hotel BUT would return to Rehymnon it is a stunning coastal town with great restaurants and bars my advice would be spend money in a 4 star boutique hotel not this one 👍

The staff at the hotel cannot do enough for you and are very friendly.

Very clean
Very welcoming
The staff all seemed to enjoy working there, everyone was very friendly.

The staff from the ones that do the cleaning to the receptionists waiters etc are very friendly and attentive.

Amazing food, very friendly staff and rooms spotless.

Massively overpriced here though- mini bar 😨, drinks !

Unfortunately as I was given a room at the back of the hotel (as I didn't want to pay the high price for a side or full sea view) I had to have a bath instead of a shower.

For a hotel that classed itself as a 5* we would have expected a choice of a glass of fizz or orange juice on arrival not just a cheap orange juice.

You can not bring with you o bottle of water in restaurant because is forbidden.They clean rooms when they want if you want a specific hour you need to tell them at the reception.About  signature on the payment note they said once it is not mine and after that I pay cash every time.Maybe they need a digital signature.

We were shocked to find there was no water or coffee with evening meal, if you wanted these you had to pay.

We paid a very high price for a hotel sold to us as 5 sort TUI platinum.

(Hotel price for this has increased +38% on last year upon query was told it was due to covid !

A bottle of water costs €6 

Overall I do not recommend this hotel to anyone and would urge people not to stay in this place.

But extremely Poor customer service, i would rate it with - 5.

On the whole, very disappointing, more so that this was a gift (an expensive one at that) to get all the family together, something which was very important to us.

though the cost of 5.10 euros for ¾ of a litre was breath-taking.

As with many other comments drinks were expensive

I come from Ireland which I thought was expensive

Sadly, from the AI perspective we were sadly disappointed and would have been even more so had we paid the full price of over £400 extra for AI when we first booked.

A lot of them are very reasonably priced (the more hidden ones), restaurants in full view tendered to be a little more expensive.

I drew this to the attention of a beach assistant who said they were entitled to be there if they had paid nine euros.

but however, felt very let down when we visited the a la carte restaurant instead of going to the main restaurant, there are only a few dishes included in the premium all-inclusive package - the Greek salad, 2 soups, risotto dish and a pork dish, all other dishes carry a significant supplement (some over 40 euros) paying all inclusive I do not expect to then pay more to eat at the hotel.

We were also given a joint room so this made our stay slightly uncomfortable as people could hear us and we could hear them.

So there is a stong band noise at each closing.

Some people would not like this as the view was uninspiring and there was considerable street noise,

but what it doesn't say is that the road is so busy with traffic that you need to take your life in your hands to cross the road.

Facing the sea also means facing a busy road so can be quite noisy.

Unfortunately they were noisy, disruptive and generally badly behaved.

It’s on the main road so noisy with the odd waft of bus/scooter exhaust fumes.

but the balcony facing onto the back road wasn't very appealing or relaxing & very noisy early morning.

Housekeeping didn’t arrive until around 2pm, by that time we didn’t want to be disturbed so we put a sign on the door.

However, this is an extremely busy road which means that if you have your balcony door open it is very very noisy and when you sit outside at the hotels cafe and bar.

however again, not the ambiance I would expect being quite cramped in the outside area by the pool with a noisy road at the side. I can't stress enough the willingness of the staff to rectify any question, concern or need throughout our stay (thank you so much!)

There is carpet in the corridors so its very quiet no people walking past your doors to wake you up.

They organize shows right under the rooms and we can't rest because of the noise!

We were on the 5th floor view from the balcony was roadworks and noisy.

but we did experience outside noise both during the night and early morning.

There is a little noise coming from entertainment in the evening, where it can be difficult to talk together.

The food in the main restaurant and the al a carte restaurant was really good quality and lots of choice, you will not go hungry.

The food and the recommended wines were first-class.

The breakfast was lovely with a good selection of food and was constantly being replenished.

The a la carte restaurant menu is excellent and well served,

In the excellent a la carte restaurant, Piazza di Porto, which is run very efficiently by the captain, Vassilis Vassilakis, the food and ambiance are excellent and memorable.

Restaurant food was very good and again the staff were lovely with the manager often around to greet you.

Talking about staff one has to mention the maitre d of the a la carte restaurant, Vasilis who's knowledge,and professionalism are second to none.

although half board we ate in evening three times .

The manager and his staff were always on hand to make sure all was running smoothly be it at breakfast, lunch, dinner and the special moonlight cocktail party which was absolutely amazing.

We had breakfast and dinner included , breakfast was good

We were half board and were really impressed with the food.

The food was delicious with plenty of choice with a decent branded alcohol menu.

Great location, good quality food and drinks.

The bar area is nice at sunset and chilled with music entertainment.

Evening entertainment every night with local bands/singers/groups.

Eleni, in charge of entertainment ( yoga, quizzes, etc), is one of the most wonderful people I have ever met.

Although the entertainment wasn't up to much, the greek singing duo on the Sunday evening were excellent.

Lastly there’s entertainment in the hotel every night, it’s about the only place we could see that actually had.

There is some gentle entertainment at night, and the bars proximity to the sea allows views for miles.

And, during the evening, is the venue for different entertainments (the Friday night singer and guitarist were superb) and the staff of Toula (who we had met in 2018), Yianni and Vasilis gave us great service at every visit.

The evening entertainment was varied and very enjoyable with local artists performing traditional and non-traditional shows.

Good entertainment at the bar directly outside the hotel every night.

The staff ( I would say Friends) are all superb 👌 
Entertainment each evening adjacent to the a la carte restaurant- this in itself is well worth a visit; any bad points??

There is some nightly entertainment of varying quality,

Evening entertainment is excellent and waiters bring your drinks to your table.

The entertainment was good, different every night, outside at the front.

The chef for meals is an artist and all employees are virtuous at reading people, they show care and humor in an excellent way.

the hotel put on a greek night of traditional dancers alot better than some i have seen in previous years elsewhere and my boyfriend thoughly enjoyed it.

The acts they have at night are very entertaining and the whole hotel is spotlessly clean.

Good and varied evening entertainment offered each evening.

Interesting evening entertainment made it a perfect destination for a stay in Rethymnon.

Entertainment: Something on every evening and some free offers on the beach.

Had the pleasure in stay here on a week
Very central right in the beach
Excellent staff could not do enough for you every dept exceptional and housekeeping  left a surprise each day 
Food in the hotel was buffet style for lunch and dinner something for all tastes
As part of the package we dined in the al a cartel which was excellent
The entertainment at night was not always to our taste

Maria was absolutely lovely, very professional and very attentive.

On the positive side, the hotel itself if excellent and the staff are very willing to help in any way they can.

We always look forward to coming to this hotel as all the staff make us feel very welcome and valued.

The most positive and standout feature of this hotel are the Staff.

But what impressed us the most was the staff .

The 2 young staff working the beach area worked incredibly hard in very hot weather
Other points.

We didn’t mind and just went with the slower/relaxed pace and if you wanted more and more quickly you would proactively catch the waiters rather than wait to be approached.

Having been critical I would like to give a big thank you to the excellent staff in the restaurant who were truly 5 star!

Aquila Porto Rethymno

quietness

price

city proximity

Monastery

Arkadi

staff

restaurant

friendly

show

all-inclusive

Lastly, we opted to visit the Arkadi Monastery which is only 25 minutes drive away as a closer option to see some historical buildings (rather than the Knossos Palace trip) which other guests said was good

Trips: we had a rental car for four days and it was easy to get around: Réthimno (7 km, bus station in front of the hotel in case you do not have a car), Chania, Knossos (near Heraklion), Monastery Arkadi, Meldóni Cave, … just to name a few highlights – it is worthwhile to hire a car and get around this beautiful island.

We did Arkadi Monastery which was very good

A trip to Arkadi onastery on the Yellow train is a bargain at 15 euros.

As well as touring the town, the bus loops out into the countryside and hills and it is possible to get of to visit Myli gorge, a military museum and monastery.

Rethymno is another nice place to visit with its old port, the old town and the ails and nice house fronts, shops and places to have a drink – walking from the hotel to Rethymno takes around 1:15 h, the first half along the road and the second half (turn right towards the sea where there is the big monastery and school yard to your left ahead) along the Sea Promenade.

All inclusive food just fabulous lots of choice especially for vegetarians.

even though we always have an all-inclusive.

Upgrading to all inclusive was a good decision.

We went all inclusive and glad we did as the quality of the food and drinks is exceptional.

Definitely recommend the all inclusive option as the food and drinks are amazing.

We were on the premium all-inclusive plan which was great, the food was excellent with a great variety of food to suit all tastes.

We were all inclusive and the food was lovely.

Family of 4 stayed for 12 nights all inclusive.

We found that the All Inclusive deal worked well for us and would just stroll over to grab a drink when we wished at pool of beach and in the evening.

All inclusive food is best we’ve had yet, all staff super friendly and always there to help if needed!

The all inclusive opportunity gave us a luxury-feeling.

It is well worth paying for All Inclusive  unless you intend to be out  every day and not around the hotel.

There’s also an Italian restaurant which is free to all inclusive  guests. Excellent.

If you are to spend most of your time at hotel grounds, pay for the premium all inclusive.

but we understand from other guests that the “all inclusive” option is far from being that, with extra charges for a lot of drinks and meal options.

A special mention to Andrea and Camila in the entertainment team, both super friendly, organised and extremely attentive and made the activities so much fun and inclusive, these 2 are absolutely fantastic!

That’s never been an issue for me, and I’ve always been happy with the selection and the full cocktail menu is available on all inclusive too.

Just spent a week all inclusive with the family including a 2 year old.

Only local spirits, beers were included in all inclusive.

Very close to the old city, full of tavernas, bars, clubs.

The hotel is located near to Rithymno, so in the evening you can go by taxi near to the city to the sight seeing, shopping or to caffeteria if you want.

A very good hotel, located on the beach , 
we had music and bands playing every night
very close to the city Rethymno 
with great attractions for the kids, with movies and theater, art working, painitng,with adorable staff
very recommended :)

It is situated close to the city (if you have a rented car. ).

The hotel is very close to the city of Rethymnon and we treated ourselves to come lobster by the marina on the last night and it was stunning - we also went in the day to look found the fortress

It is a nice 5 star hotel near the city of Rethymno in Crete, that i would recommend for families, with small kids.

We booked this vacation last minute and it was our best decision ever,everything was just so perfect!Loved all the restaurants,animations,baby club,just everything.The Hotel is super clean,staff is very well prepared and super organized and friendly so this made us feel like home.Loved seeing all the managers involved with the staff helping.Keep it going that way,we will definitely see you another time!Our best wishes.

After 14 years in a row this was again a wonderful 10 day holiday at the start of September.

Overall, we had a great holiday and thank you for making it so special.

We spent our family vacation here for the sixth time and enjoyed it once again very much.

* In summary: our family was very happy that we have chosen this hotel for our short (6 days) vacation!

Tip,air con not working at this time of year 
Special mention to Nancy and Marie around the pool bar,such lovely kind ladies,Antonia in restaurant 
Definitely recommend and will return, thankyou for a lovely relaxing holiday

The beach at the entrance to the sea is a disaster - someone has cleverly poured concrete strips there, with a long zigzag gap of about 30 cm (this gap is repeated several times after about 1.5 meters), so you always rub your feet or even break as soon as you want to go to greater depths.

However, THANK YOU very much for the amazing holiday and I really want to do some special thanks to the staff who really made my week awesome: Efaristo to Syllas and Stelios from the A la Kart restaurant ,so friendly and professional service .

Thank you for helping make it a special holiday.

If you're looking for an unforgettable vacation, this is the place to go.

If you are looking for an easy, relaxing holiday with great sea views and food and drink then I can really recommend this hotel.

There are so many more, this team is amazing & really made our holiday so special, thank you all.

Highly recommend for a family holiday and will defo be visiting again .

Was the best holiday I’ve ever been on.

In particular Katrina and Agatha from the entertainment team made my step daughter Lexies holiday.

His dedication and professionalism truly enhanced our vacation, and we are grateful for his outstanding assistance.

They go the extra mile to make your holiday special.

but also concerned we want to enjoy the holiday and get to the pool.

Only one very slight fault and that is the local beer which is quite poor,  the quality of every other drink is excellent.

The entertainment was a bit of a let down for a 5* hotel of this size, the outdoor amphitheatre was poor, I was expecting a much larger more professional looking stage (not a concrete base with a wooden shed).

The ramp next to Reception is very steep with poor handles/support.

The room could do with some modernization; the décor was a bit drab, the bathroom needs refurbishing with a modern shower (currently off bath tap); shower curtain was almost hanging off, the room safe needs to be digital as carrying a key around all holiday was a bind and the tea and coffee facilities were poor.

Entertainment was very poor .Most nights we had nothing at all.

We did miss a choice of nuts at breakfast (just walnuts now) 

The lighting in the bathroom continues to be very poor

Whilst the bathroom was functional it is so dated and in very poor condition.

but still poor for a hotel in this price range.

Also, very limited and poor beverage is included in all inclusive.

but if you want to sit on beach after lunch you're too late
3 there is no bar next to main pool - have to walk to taverna to collect drinks - long waits again - there is 1 poor soul trying to do service around pool but he/she is fighting a losing battle.

but maybe a policy of no shorts for women should be applicable to as there were some very poor standards shown by some female guests here.The pools have a no towel policy on reserving sun beds & this worked well as you could get a sunbed at any point throughout the day.

but the rooms and especially the gym are in poor condition and in need of a cell revamp.

Food in the buffet was always cold, very poor selection and the same most nights.

Our first room (306) we had to move from as shower was poor, kettle didn’t work & safe handle missing.

6 years ago the prices of drinks were very expensive

but the drinks were the drinks were over priced.

Even a basic necessity like water was priced at 5 euros, which was quite surprising and disappointing.

To upgrade from half board to all inclusive now costs 50Eu (45Eu in 2019) so not a huge change.

Also, if travelling to this hotel think about upgrading to 'All Inclusive', the soft drinks (including bottled water) and alcoholic beverages are very expensive.

Expensive drinks, both sodas and alcohol if you only pay half board.

Would recommend going all inclusive as the drinks are expensive if not.

If you go Half board beware drinks in the hotel Very expensive,they charge 7-8 euro for a large bottle of water, 1 euro in the shop.

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