Lyttos Beach
Lyttos Beach is a 647-room all-inclusive sports resort on about 150 acres of gardens at Anissaras, ending on a 350-metre organised stretch of the Blue Flag beach, 5 km from Hersonissos. Lyttos Beach runs the largest sports offer on the island, from an 18-court tennis academy to Olympic-dimension pools, and guests score it 4.7 out of 5 on Tripadvisor across 3,193 reviews and 9.0 out of 10 on Booking.com across 1,457 reviews. Our verdict lands at 8.6 out of 10: the widest facilities offer on the island for active holidays, with bar-service queues and some dated rooms the honest caveats.
Hotel information
| Hotel | Lyttos Beach |
|---|---|
| Address | Anissaras, Hersonissos 700 14 |
| Type | Resorts |
| Style | Family all-inclusive sports resort |
| Signature | LBTA tennis academy: 18 courts plus 4 padel courts; Olympic pools |
| Keys | 647 rooms, doubles to family suites, some with pools |
| Waterpark | 9 large slides plus children's aqua parks and a lazy river |
| Grounds | About 150 acres of gardens ending on the Blue Flag Anissaras beach |
| Nearest airport | Heraklion (HER), about 19 km by road |
| Booking.com rating | 9.0/10 (1,457 reviews) |
| Tripadvisor rating | 4.7/5 (3,193 reviews) |
| CreteLocals score | 8.6/10 · read the verdict |
Booking.com and Tripadvisor scores checked on September 19, 2026.
Location
Lyttos Beach is located at Anissaras, Hersonissos 700 14. The map below shows the exact spot; Google Maps and Waze give turn-by-turn directions.
Who Lyttos Beach suits, and who should skip it
Lyttos Beach suits families and sporty travellers who will actually use the facilities, and it suits them because everything is inside the plan: the tennis and padel courts, the waterpark’s 9 slides, the Olympic pools, and drinks on tap in the restaurants. The lists below come from recurring themes in the resort’s 3,193 Tripadvisor reviews and 1,457 Booking.com reviews.
Advantages
- Sports depth without rival on Crete, with 18 tennis courts, 4 padel courts, football pitches, and a 3-par golf course
- Pool network of 8, including a heated 10-lane Olympic adults pool and an indoor pool
- Waterpark with 9 large slides plus children’s and babies’ aqua parks and a lazy river
- Blue Flag sandy beach at the end of the gardens, organised for the resort
- Service scored 4.7 and location 4.7, the resort’s twin headline numbers
- Dining across 5 restaurants, with the seaside Taverna Kalypso and the Asian room the named favourites
Disadvantages
- Bar queues at peak hours, with drink strength varying by bartender
- Some rooms show dated elements despite renovation claims
- Noise around the main pools and evening shows reaches nearby blocks
- A recurring more-like-4-star sentiment on polish, with WiFi at 7.6 the weakest Booking score
The rooms: 647 keys across the gardens
Lyttos Beach spreads 647 rooms from doubles and quads to family rooms and suites, some with private or shared pools, through low buildings in the gardens. Sea-view and garden-view categories price the same layouts differently.
Ask for a renovated room when booking, since the stock varies and the dated-room reviews cluster in specific blocks. Families should weigh distance: a room near the waterpark saves small legs, while the quieter garden blocks toward the beach suit couples using the adult Olympic pool. At 150 acres, the golf-buggy shuttle is worth learning on day 1.
The sports, the waterpark and the beach
The sports centre is the reason Lyttos Beach exists in its own category: an 18-court tennis academy with hard and clay courts, 4 padel courts, 2 football pitches, basketball, and a 3-par golf course. Serious players book coaching at the academy; everyone else discovers table tennis tournaments they did not plan.
The wet side matches it. Eight pools run from the heated 10-lane Olympic adults pool to the indoor pool, and the waterpark stacks 9 big slides over children’s aqua parks and a lazy river. The gardens end on the Blue Flag beach with its beach bar, and the evening machine, 5 restaurants, 5 bars, shows, and a disco, runs as late as the guests do.
How to get there
Lyttos Beach is about 19 km from Heraklion airport (HER) by road, a drive of roughly 20 minutes, at Anissaras between Analipsi and Hersonissos. Crete’s 18-hole golf course sits a short drive inland.
Three transport options cover the trip, and each fits a different stay. A pre-booked transfer or taxi handles the arrival; our guide to taxi and airport transfer services in Crete lists the operators and typical prices. A hire car adds Knossos and Heraklion to the week, and our car rental in Crete page compares local rates. The north-coast bus passes on the main road for cheap Hersonissos runs.
The Crete Locals review
Lyttos Beach is the resort we name when someone asks where an active family should go on Crete, because no other property answers the question at this scale. Lyttos Beach treats sport as the product rather than an amenity: a real tennis academy with 18 courts, padel before padel was fashionable, Olympic water for actual swimmers, and a waterpark that would headline a lesser resort. The 4.7 Tripadvisor average across 3,193 reviews, with service and location both at 4.7, says the scale does not swamp the operation.
The all-inclusive is generous where guests notice: drinks on tap in the restaurants, the seaside Taverna Kalypso inside the plan, and children’s programming that runs from mini club to teen club without extra tickets. At 1,457 Booking.com reviews the 9.0 holds, which for 647 rooms is a statistical achievement in itself.
The honest caveats are the big-resort classics plus one specific. Bars queue at peak hours and pour unevenly, some room blocks lag the renovated stock, and the evening shows carry across the nearer gardens. The specific: polish is a step below the top five-stars, the recurring more-like-4-star line in reviews, and the 7.6 WiFi score is the measurable version of it. Guests come for the programme, not the marble.
Book Lyttos Beach when the week’s plan involves rackets, laps, or slides rather than spa silence, and book a renovated block by name. May, June, and September pair the full sports offer with bookable courts and calmer bars, and the 20-minute transfer starts the first set the day you land.
