Albatros Spa & Resort Hotel
Albatros Spa and Resort Hotel is a 202-room family-owned resort on Dedalou Street in Hersonissos, a short walk from the beach and from the town’s bars and shops. Albatros scores 8.8 on Booking.com across 123 reviews and 4.4 on Tripadvisor across 2,021, where it ranks 39th of 182 hotels in Hersonissos. The review record is unusually consistent about two things: the hotel is spotless, and some of the rooms need updating. Both are true, and which one decides your week depends on the room category you book.
Crete Locals has no commercial relationship with this hotel. We earn a commission if you book through the availability links on this page, which costs you nothing and does not change what we write; both ratings were read from the platforms on the date in the table.
Hotel information
| Hotel | Albatros Spa & Resort Hotel |
|---|---|
| Address | Dedalou street 1 |
| Type | Air conditioning · Airport shuttle |
| Style | Family-owned resort hotel inside Hersonissos, a short walk from the beach |
| Signature | Cleanliness, and a pool deck where guests report no sunbed-hogging |
| Keys | 202 rooms, from the Cozy Room to heated swim-up rooms and Urban Junior Suites with a plunge pool |
| Address | Dedalou Street 1, Hersonissos |
| Ranking | 39th of 182 hotels in Hersonissos on Tripadvisor |
| Booking note | Ask in writing for a refurbished room; the older stock reads as dated |
| Watch for | Housekeeping noise morning and afternoon, and costs guests report as unexpected |
| Airport | Heraklion (HER) about 25 km west, roughly 30 minutes |
| Booking.com rating | 8.8/10 (123 reviews) |
| Tripadvisor rating | 4.4/5 (2,021 reviews) |
| CreteLocals score | 7.9/10 · read the verdict |
Booking.com and Tripadvisor scores checked on September 25, 2026.
Location
Albatros Spa & Resort Hotel is located at Dedalou street 1, in Hersonissos. The map below shows the exact spot; Google Maps and Waze give turn-by-turn directions.
Who Albatros suits, and who should skip it
Albatros suits families who want Hersonissos on foot, a clean and well-run hotel, and no fight for a sunbed. It suits repeat visitors, who make up a visible share of the reviews and return across years rather than seasons. Guests who want a large modern resort with several restaurants should book one of the bigger properties along the coast road.
Advantages
- Cleanliness is the most repeated praise in the record, for rooms and public areas alike
- Sunbeds are plentiful, and guests report no sunbed-hogging at the pools
- Walking distance to the beach, the bars, the supermarket and the bus stops
- Family owned and run, which guests feel in the service rather than read in a brochure
- Renovated rooms include a coffee machine with pods and a ceiling fan
- Junior suites and rooms with plunge or heated swim-up pools sit above the standard tier
Disadvantages
- Room amenities in the older stock read as dated, a point guests raise repeatedly
- Housekeeping works loudly in the morning and again in the afternoon, which wakes nappers
- Value opinions are mixed, with several guests reporting costs they had not expected
- Tripadvisor’s 4.4 across 2,021 reviews places it 39th of 182 in Hersonissos, mid-table
- Only 123 Booking.com reviews, so the 8.8 there rests on a thin sample
- Hersonissos nightlife is close, which is a benefit or a problem depending on your party
The rooms: 202 keys, and the tier gap is wide
Albatros runs 202 rooms from the entry Cozy Room up through Cozy Rooms with a heated swim-up pool and Urban Junior Suites with a plunge pool. Guests in the renovated categories describe rooms that feel new, with a coffee machine and pods included and a ceiling fan alongside the air conditioning. Guests in the older stock describe clean rooms that could do with updating, and both groups are writing about the same hotel.
Book a renovated or swim-up category if the budget allows, and ask in writing that the room has been refurbished. Ask also for a room away from the service routes, because the loudest complaint in the recent record is not about the rooms at all but about trolleys and chairs being moved outside them.
A family-run hotel at the edge of a loud town
The thing that separates Albatros from the coast-road resorts is that it is family owned and run, and that comes through in the reviews as staff who are named and remembered. Guests mention George and the restaurant manager; several describe stays spread over a decade, including one family returning three times across 11 years with children, parents and siblings in tow. Hotels that people bring their parents back to are doing something the star rating does not capture.
The setting is the other half of the proposition. Hersonissos is one of the busiest resort towns in Crete, and Albatros sits close enough to walk to the beach, the shops and the bus links, while guests still describe the hotel itself as quiet. Evening entertainment runs by the large pool, at a level reviewers call good without being overbearing.
How to get there
Fly into Heraklion airport (HER), about 25 km west along the national road, roughly a 30-minute drive. Hersonissos is signposted from the main road and the hotel sits inside the town.
Pre-book a transfer if you land at night, since the Hersonissos exits are busy in summer; the operators and fares are in our guide to taxi and transfer services in Crete. Hire a car only for day trips to the Lasithi plateau, Knossos or the eastern beaches, and check the deposit and insurance terms in our car hire guide for Crete. Inside Hersonissos you will walk, and the bus along the coast road handles the rest.
The Crete Locals review
Albatros earns 7.9 from us. The hotel’s strengths are real and they are the unglamorous kind: it is clean, it is well staffed, there are enough sunbeds, and it is a two-minute walk from everything Hersonissos has. Guests write about cleanliness more than any other subject, and they write about the same staff by name across different years, which is the signature of a property run by people rather than by a chain.
The ceiling on the score comes from the room stock. Tripadvisor’s own summary of the record puts it plainly, that some guests feel the room amenities could be updated, and the 4.4 average across 2,021 reviews reflects a hotel that is good rather than exceptional. There is a visible gap between the refurbished categories, where guests mention coffee machines and new fittings, and the older rooms, where they mention cleanliness and little else. At 202 keys that gap is going to catch a share of bookings, so it belongs in the decision.
Two practical notes. Housekeeping noise is the most specific recent complaint, with chairs dragged and trolleys worked both in the morning and in the afternoon, which matters if you have a small child napping. And several guests mention costs they had not expected, so confirm at booking exactly what the rate includes, particularly around the spa and any all-inclusive extras.
Book Albatros for a family week in Hersonissos where being able to walk to the beach and the town matters more than a new bathroom, and pay up for a renovated or swim-up room. Choose a coast-road resort instead if you want several restaurants and a large pool complex, and accept the transfer that comes with it.
