Cayo Exclusive Resort & Spa
Cayo Exclusive Resort & Spa is a contemporary luxury resort of about 70 stone-built keys stacked on 6 terraces in the hillside directly above Plaka, facing Spinalonga across the strait. Cayo opened in October 2019, moves its guests between levels on 2 funicular cable railways, and holds the strongest scores in the Elounda area: 4.8 out of 5 on Tripadvisor and 9.5 out of 10 on Booking.com. Our verdict lands at 8.9 out of 10: the new generation’s best argument, with the hillside-not-beachfront reality the one expectation to set.
Hotel information
| Hotel | Cayo Exclusive Resort & Spa |
|---|---|
| Address | Plaka |
| Type | Air conditioning · Airport shuttle |
| Style | Contemporary hillside luxury resort |
| Signature | 2 funicular cable railways linking 6 stone terraces; Spinalonga views |
| Keys | About 70 to 74 rooms, suites, and villas, most with private pools |
| Beach | Not beachfront; Plaka beach 400 metres down, with the Stone Beach club |
| History | Opened October 2019 |
| Nearest airport | Heraklion (HER), about 60 km by road |
| Booking.com rating | 9.5/10 (257 reviews) |
| Tripadvisor rating | 4.8/5 (424 reviews) |
| CreteLocals score | 8.9/10 · read the verdict |
Booking.com and Tripadvisor scores checked on September 19, 2026.
Location
Cayo Exclusive Resort & Spa is located at Plaka, in Elounda town. The map below shows the exact spot; Google Maps and Waze give turn-by-turn directions.
Who Cayo suits, and who should skip it
Cayo suits couples and families who want modern rooms, private pools, and the Spinalonga view at rates below the legacy palaces, and it suits them because the 2019 build delivers what the elders renovate toward: rooms scored 4.9, cleanliness 4.9, and value at 4.7, the best value number in the bay. The lists below come from recurring themes in the resort’s 424 Tripadvisor reviews and 257 Booking.com reviews.
Advantages
- Rooms scored 4.9, new stone-built stock with private pools through most categories
- Funicular railways between the terraces, a signature guests treat as an attraction
- Spinalonga view from essentially everywhere, with sun on the terraces all day
- Value scored 4.7, the strongest in the Elounda area
- Spa treatments singled out, with the deep-tissue massage a named favourite
- Plaka village at the bottom of the hill, with its tavernas and Spinalonga boats
Disadvantages
- Not a beachfront, since Plaka beach is a 400-metre walk down and the return is uphill
- The shore at the Stone Beach club is stony rather than sandy
- Extras metered eagerly, with a 5-euro ice-tray delivery the review example
- Steep site depends on the funiculars and shuttle, work for limited mobility
The rooms: private pools up the terraces
Cayo stacks its rooms, executive suites, and villas up the 6 terraces, with private pools running through most of the ladder and the stone-and-glass build photographing like architecture rather than accommodation.
Choose by level. Upper terraces buy the widest Spinalonga panorama and the quietest nights; lower levels shorten the walk to breakfast and the village. The executive rooms are the category reviewers name, the walk-in showers get their own mentions, and every option shares the same 2019 interior generation, so the spend buys position and size rather than condition.
The funiculars, the pools and the Stone Beach club
The funiculars are the resort’s signature: 2 cable railways climbing the cliffside terraces, ferrying guests between room, pool, and lobby, and reviews treat the ride as part of the holiday. Infinity pools hang off the terraces, and the marble open-air amphitheatre stages the evening events.
The sea programme works differently from a beachfront resort, and honestly. Plaka beach sits 400 metres down the hill, 4 minutes there and a climb back, with the hotel shuttle covering the lazy hours, and Cayo’s Stone Beach club dresses the stony shore with loungers and service. The freshly squeezed orange-juice machine at breakfast has, improbably, become the resort’s most-quoted amenity, and the baklava follows it.
How to get there
Cayo sits on the Agios Nikolaos-Vrouchas road directly above Plaka, about 60 km from Heraklion airport (HER) by road, roughly 1 hour and 15 minutes via Agios Nikolaos and Elounda. Plaka village and its Spinalonga boats are at the bottom of the hill.
Three transport options cover the trip, and each fits a different stay. A pre-booked transfer or taxi is the standard arrival; our guide to taxi and airport transfer services in Crete lists the operators and typical prices. A hire car makes Elounda, Agios Nikolaos, and the Vrouchas windmills easy, and our car rental in Crete page compares local rates. Without one, the hotel shuttle and Plaka’s taxis cover the gaps.
The Crete Locals review
Cayo is the resort we point to as proof that the Elounda area still has ideas, because it took the location’s last unclaimed asset, the hillside everyone else built below, and turned the slope itself into the product: terraces, funiculars, and a Spinalonga view that beachfront hotels crane for while Cayo simply looks down. Opening in 2019 meant designing for how guests actually live now, and the scoreboard, 4.9 rooms, 4.9 cleanliness, 4.8 overall, reads like the reward.
The value story is what should worry the palaces. At 4.7, Cayo posts the best value subrating in the bay while charging materially less than the legacy names, and the 9.5 on Booking.com across 257 reviews says the promise survives contact with August. Plaka below completes the offer, since a working village with waterfront tavernas beats any resort’s third restaurant.
The caveats are exactly 2. First, geography: this is a hillside resort, the beach is a downhill walk with an uphill bill, the shore is stones not sand, and anyone whose holiday is measured in barefoot beach metres should buy beachfront instead. Second, the extras meter: charging suite guests 5 euros to deliver ice is the kind of small print that costs more goodwill than it earns revenue, and the thin seam of critical reviews nearly all starts there.
Book Cayo for the modern-Elounda week: an upper-terrace suite with its pool, the massage booked early, Spinalonga by the first boat from Plaka, and dinners split between the resort and the village below. May, June, and September give the terraces their longest light, and the funicular down to breakfast never gets old.
