Elounda Beach Hotel & Villas
Elounda Beach Hotel & Villas is the resort that created luxury Elounda: 219 rooms, bungalows, and waterfront villas on Mirabello Bay, open since 1971 as Greece’s first fully fledged five-star. Elounda Beach remains a Leading Hotels of the World member with the Espace Vitalite Chenot spa and about 9 restaurants, and guests score it 8.8 out of 10 on Booking.com and 4.5 out of 5 on Tripadvisor across 853 reviews. Our verdict lands at 8.3 out of 10: history, setting, and service the newcomers cannot buy, with tired corners and value at 4.1 the honest counterweight.
Hotel information
| Hotel | Elounda Beach Hotel & Villas |
|---|---|
| Address | E Beach Hotel Street, Elounda 720 53 |
| Type | Resorts |
| Style | Classic grand resort, Leading Hotels of the World |
| Signature | Waterfront villas with sea steps; Espace Vitalite Chenot spa |
| Keys | 219 rooms, suites, bungalows, and villas |
| Dining | About 9 restaurants, led by Dionysos and the Blue Lagoon sushi bar |
| History | Opened 1971 as Greece's first full five-star resort |
| Nearest airport | Heraklion (HER), about 64 km by road |
| Booking.com rating | 8.8/10 (96 reviews) |
| Tripadvisor rating | 4.5/5 (853 reviews) |
| CreteLocals score | 8.3/10 · read the verdict |
Booking.com and Tripadvisor scores checked on September 19, 2026.
Location
Elounda Beach Hotel & Villas is located at E Beach Hotel Street, Elounda 720 53, in Elounda town. The map below shows the exact spot; Google Maps and Waze give turn-by-turn directions.
Who Elounda Beach suits, and who should skip it
Elounda Beach suits travellers who want the classic grand-resort ritual, named waiters, a spa with a method, dinner as an event, and it suits them best in the villa categories where the property has kept investing. The lists below come from recurring themes in the resort’s 853 Tripadvisor reviews and 96 Booking.com reviews.
Advantages
- Location scored 4.7, private coves and lawns running the length of the bayfront
- Waterfront villas with steps straight into the sea, the island’s original power move
- Chenot spa, the method-driven wellness name few resorts anywhere carry
- Dining range across about 9 venues, from Dionysos fine dining to the Blue Lagoon sushi bar
- Service at 4.6 with staff-without-exception praise in the review chips
- Watersports centre with everything from ski boats to jet-ski rental
Disadvantages
- Value scores 4.1, with five-star rates not always matched by five-star delivery
- Dated corners are a named review chip, from the pool surroundings to the gym
- Room stock runs inconsistent, with the gap between new villas and old standards wide
- Transfer of about 64 km by road from Heraklion airport
The rooms: villas first, standards with eyes open
Elounda Beach splits 219 keys between 123 rooms and 96 suites and villas, and the split is the review record in miniature: the waterfront and newer villa stock collects the love letters, the older standard rooms collect the makeover requests.
Book accordingly. The waterfront villas with sea steps are the property’s immortal category and worth their reputation; the Ambassador suites carry the classic grandeur; and the deluxe rooms are fine at the right rate. What we would not do is pay peak-season villa money for an unrenovated standard, the exact mismatch the 4.1 value score keeps recording.
The bay, the Chenot spa and the nine tables
The bayfront is the asset half a century of competitors have not matched: private coves, lawns to the water, and swimming off the rocks or sand as you choose. The watersports centre keeps the afternoon options open.
The Chenot spa building runs the wellness programme with the Chenot Method’s medical seriousness, a different league from a hotel spa menu. Dinner rotates roughly 9 venues, with Dionysos the fine-dining flag, the Blue Lagoon crossing Japanese and Peruvian over the water, and the Argonaut carrying the waterfront Mediterranean table; half board converts well because the internal choice is real.
How to get there
Elounda Beach is about 64 km from Heraklion airport (HER) by road, roughly 1 hour via Agios Nikolaos, on the coast just south of Elounda village. The village square and boat quay are minutes away.
Three transport options cover the trip, and each fits a different stay. A pre-booked transfer is the house style; our guide to taxi and airport transfer services in Crete lists the operators and typical prices. A hire car adds Agios Nikolaos, Plaka, and the east, and our car rental in Crete page compares local rates. The Elounda bus plus a short taxi is the budget route.
The Crete Locals review
Elounda Beach is the review where history does real work, because this is not a hotel with a heritage angle, it is the origin of the whole Elounda phenomenon: the 1971 bet that international five-star luxury could live on a Cretan bay, decades before Domes, Daios, or Phaea existed to compete. The service culture built over those decades still shows, staff-without-exception is a review chip, and the bayfront acreage is something no later arrival could assemble.
The Chenot partnership keeps the resort relevant at the top end, and the villa stock, especially the waterfront rows with their private sea steps, competes with anything on the island today. Dining breadth is the other survivor’s advantage: 9 venues means a fortnight without repetition, which the newer boutiques cannot say.
The honest account is that the grande dame is renovating slower than she is charging. The bit-dated chip, the tired pool surroundings, the gym awaiting attention, and the gulf between villa and standard stock all point the same way, and value at 4.1 is the guests’ verdict on paying tomorrow’s rates for yesterday’s corners. None of this touches the location or the people; all of it belongs in the booking decision.
Book Elounda Beach for the category, not the brand: a waterfront villa or renovated suite in June or September is still one of Greece’s great stays, and the Chenot programme gives the trip a spine beyond the sunbed. Standard rooms belong on discounted shoulder-season rates until their turn under the drill comes.
