Aquila Elounda Village Resort, Suites & Spa
Aquila Elounda Village Resort, Suites & Spa is an adults-only resort for guests 16 and over, set on the hillside above Mirabello Bay in Elounda. Aquila Elounda Village centres on a three-level infinity pool over the bay, runs about 237 rooms and suites down to its own beach, and guests score it 4.5 out of 5 on Tripadvisor and 8.5 out of 10 on Booking.com. Our verdict lands at 8.2 out of 10: the strongest adults-only option in Elounda’s price range, with all-inclusive limits and the steep site the honest caveats.
Hotel information
| Hotel | Aquila Elounda Village Resort, Suites & Spa |
|---|---|
| Address | Main Street |
| Type | Air conditioning · Airport shuttle |
| Style | Adults-only resort, guests 16 and over |
| Signature | Three-level infinity pool above Mirabello Bay |
| Keys | About 237 rooms and suites |
| Beach | Own hotel-managed beach below the hillside, reached by steps |
| Dining | A la carte restaurants including Mirabello and Symposium |
| Nearest airport | Heraklion (HER), about 66 km, roughly 1 hour |
| Booking.com rating | 8.5/10 (303 reviews) |
| Tripadvisor rating | 4.5/5 (4,039 reviews) |
| CreteLocals score | 8.2/10 · read the verdict |
Booking.com and Tripadvisor scores checked on September 19, 2026.
Location
Aquila Elounda Village Resort, Suites & Spa is located at Main Street, in Elounda town. The map below shows the exact spot; Google Maps and Waze give turn-by-turn directions.
Who Aquila Elounda Village suits, and who should skip it
Aquila Elounda Village suits couples who want Elounda’s bay without Elounda’s family bustle, and it suits them because the 16-plus policy keeps every pool, restaurant, and sunbed row adult by default. The lists below come from recurring themes in the resort’s 4,039 Tripadvisor reviews and 303 Booking.com reviews.
Advantages
- Adults-only calm across the whole resort, with guests 16 and over
- Three-level infinity pool with the Mirabello Bay view
- A la carte dining guests single out, with Mirabello and Symposium the named favourites
- Service scored 4.6 out of 5, matched by cleanliness at 4.6
- Own managed beach below the resort with sunbeds and bar service
- Greek nights and a lobby bar scene that reviewers treat as part of the stay
Disadvantages
- All-inclusive limits and extra charges are the recurring complaint, with top-shelf items chargeable
- Steep steps between the hillside rooms and the beach test knees and patience
- Rooms score 4.4, trailing the top Elounda properties, with the bungalow rooms the usual subject
- Location scores 4.4, because the resort is a drive from Elounda village nightlife
The rooms: bungalows and suites down the hillside
Aquila Elounda Village spreads about 237 rooms and suites in low bungalow-style buildings stepped down the hillside toward the bay. Sea views improve as you descend, and the suite categories add space and position rather than a different style.
Book with the slope in mind. A lower room shortens the beach walk but lengthens the climb to the lobby and main restaurant; a sea-view bungalow in the middle terraces is the practical compromise most returning guests choose. The 4.4 rooms score reflects solid rather than showpiece interiors, so set expectations at very good four-star-plus and the rooms deliver.
The infinity pool, the beach and the dining
The three-level infinity pool is the resort’s centrepiece, stacked terraces of water that visually pour into Mirabello Bay. Sun loungers around it go early in peak season, the fair warning reviews repeat, and the lobby bar above it runs the evening.
The beach below is the resort’s own managed strip, reached by the stepped pathways that the hillside makes unavoidable. Dining is the other pillar: the buffet covers half board, while the a la carte rooms, Mirabello and Symposium leading, are what guests upgrade their evenings for, and the Greek night remains the week’s fixture.
How to get there
Aquila Elounda Village is about 66 km from Heraklion airport (HER), a drive of roughly 1 hour via the north-coast highway and Agios Nikolaos. Elounda village sits below the resort, a few minutes away by car or hotel shuttle.
Three transport options cover the trip, and each fits a different stay. A pre-booked airport transfer or taxi is the usual arrival; our guide to taxi and airport transfer services in Crete lists the operators and typical prices. A hire car makes Elounda, Plaka, and Agios Nikolaos evenings easy, and our car rental in Crete page compares local rates. The Elounda public bus plus a short taxi covers the budget route.
The Crete Locals review
Aquila Elounda Village is the resort we suggest when a couple wants the Elounda bay view without paying Domes or Daios rates for it, because the 16-plus policy delivers the single thing that matters most to that guest: quiet. Aquila Elounda Village organises everything around it, the infinity pool terraces stay calm, dinners run long, and the entertainment stays at Greek-night scale rather than resort-show scale. Across 4,039 reviews the 4.5 average holds remarkably steady for a property this size.
The dining is the underrated strength. Reviewers rate the a la carte rooms, Mirabello for the setting and Symposium for the kitchen, above what the room rate suggests, and service at 4.6 comes with the named-staff warmth that Cretan resorts do at their most rewarding. The resort’s TUI-era operational polish shows in how smoothly half board and all-inclusive weeks actually run.
The friction sits in the fine print and the geography. All-inclusive here has real limits, with chargeable top-shelf drinks and restricted a la carte slots the recurring complaints, so read the package terms as written rather than as hoped. The hillside gives every room its view and every guest a staircase; the beach is a proper descent, and the return climb after lunch is the review line that repeats most.
Book Aquila Elounda Village on half board with a sea-view bungalow and treat the a la carte rooms as the week’s occasions; that combination sidesteps most of the all-inclusive grumbles and plays to what the resort does well. June and September give the pool terraces their calmest weeks, and the bay is the same view at a gentler rate.
