Blue Bay Lifestyle – ex Bali Blue Bay
Blue Bay Lifestyle is a 20-room hotel on a peninsula at Bali, the small resort village between Rethymno and Heraklion, and it trades under a new name after years as Bali Blue Bay. Blue Bay Lifestyle scores 9.8 on Booking.com across 409 reviews, the highest Booking figure in this batch, and 4.9 on Tripadvisor across 48. Guests return repeatedly, and what they describe first is the view from the room.
We have no commercial relationship with this hotel. Crete Locals earns 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 on the date in the table.
Hotel information
| Hotel | Blue Bay Lifestyle – ex Bali Blue Bay |
|---|---|
| Address | Bali |
| Type | Air conditioning · Airport shuttle |
| Style | Small hotel on a peninsula at Bali, between Rethymno and Heraklion |
| Signature | Rooms that look over water on more than one side; guests sit on the balcony for hours |
| Keys | 20 rooms; choose the category by outlook rather than by size |
| Names | Trades as Blue Bay Lifestyle, listed for years as Bali Blue Bay; search both |
| Evidence | 9.8 on Booking.com across 409 reviews, the highest in this batch; 48 on Tripadvisor |
| Village | Quieter than the big resorts, with lower restaurant prices and plenty of tavernas |
| Terrain | A peninsula on a slope, so expect steps down to the water |
| Airports | Heraklion (HER) about 55 km east, Chania (CHQ) about 95 km west |
| Booking.com rating | 9.8/10 (409 reviews) |
| Tripadvisor rating | 4.9/5 (48 reviews) |
| CreteLocals score | 8.8/10 · read the verdict |
Booking.com and Tripadvisor scores checked on September 25, 2026.
Location
Blue Bay Lifestyle – ex Bali Blue Bay is located at Bali, in Bali village. The map below shows the exact spot; Google Maps and Waze give turn-by-turn directions.
Who Blue Bay Lifestyle suits, and who should skip it
Blue Bay Lifestyle suits couples who want a small hotel with a sea view worth sitting still for, in a village quieter and cheaper than the big resort towns. It suits guests happy to eat out, since Bali has plenty of tavernas. Anyone wanting a large resort, or a long sandy beach, should book on the north coast strips instead.
Advantages
- 9.8 on Booking.com across 409 reviews, the highest score in this batch
- 45 of 48 Tripadvisor reviews rate the stay Excellent, with 1 at Poor
- Peninsula position, so rooms look out over the water on more than one side
- Bali is quieter than the big resorts, and food and drink cost less there
- Plenty of tavernas within walking distance, at a quality guests rate highly
- Guests return: reviewers describe third visits and plans for more
Disadvantages
- Only 48 Tripadvisor reviews, so that platform’s picture is thin
- 20 rooms, which means booking well ahead for summer
- Two names still circulate, Bali Blue Bay and Blue Bay Lifestyle
- Bali’s beaches are small coves rather than a long stretch of sand
- A peninsula setting means slopes and steps down to the water
- Limited facilities compared with a resort of the same price
The rooms: 20 keys, and the balcony is the product
Blue Bay Lifestyle has 20 rooms on a peninsula, and guests are unusually direct about what that buys: the views from the rooms are the reason to come, and one reviewer describes sitting on the balcony for hours doing nothing else. If you are choosing a category, choose by outlook rather than by size.
The rooms themselves are praised without detail, which at this rating means they are good and not the story. The story is where the hotel sits.
Bali, and why the village matters
Bali is a small resort built around a series of coves roughly halfway between Rethymno and Heraklion, and guests make a specific economic point about it: while it is a tourist village, it is quieter than the larger resorts and the prices in the local restaurants are lower. That combination, quiet plus cheaper, is unusual on the north coast and is a genuine reason to choose this stretch.
The choice of tavernas is wide and reviewers rate the quality, which matters at a 20-room hotel that is not trying to feed you every night. Between the village and the peninsula position, the hotel works as a base for doing very little, which is what its returning guests appear to want.
How to get there
Fly into Heraklion airport (HER), about 55 km east, or Chania airport (CHQ), about 95 km west. Bali sits just off the north coast national road, down a turning that drops to the sea.
Pre-book a transfer if you are not driving, since the descent into Bali is steep and winding; the operators are in our guide to taxi and transfer services in Crete. Hire a car if you want Rethymno, Arkadi, Margarites or the Melidoni cave, all of which are close, and check the terms in our car hire guide for Crete. Within Bali everything is walkable, though the village is built on a slope.
The Crete Locals review
Blue Bay Lifestyle earns 8.8 from us. A 9.8 on Booking.com across 409 reviews is the highest figure we have recorded in this programme, and it is not a small-sample artefact: 409 reviews for a 20-room hotel means a high share of guests are writing, and they are almost all writing the same thing.
What they write about is the view and the return. The hotel occupies a peninsula, so the rooms look over water rather than at a neighbouring block, and reviewers describe third visits and the hotel being the reason they keep coming back to Crete. For a property with 20 rooms and no resort facilities, that is the whole business model working as intended.
Two caveats. The Tripadvisor record is thin at 48 reviews, so weight the Booking.com figure. And the name change means older reviews sit under Bali Blue Bay, which makes research harder than it should be; if you are comparing this hotel against others, search both names.
Book Blue Bay Lifestyle for a quiet week at Bali with a sea view and tavernas on foot, and book early because 20 rooms at this rating do not linger. Book elsewhere if you want a long sandy beach, a resort programme, or a hotel that will feed you every night.
