Lyttos Mare
Lyttos Mare is the newer, calmer half of the Lyttos estate at Anissaras: a 397-room all-inclusive opened in summer 2021, designed around the element of water, with saltwater pools running to its own private beachfront. From 2026 it runs adults-friendly, welcoming guests 12 and over, and holds 4.8 out of 5 across 1,741 Tripadvisor reviews with 8.8 out of 10 on Booking.com. Our verdict lands at 8.7 out of 10: the estate’s polished half, with thin corridor doors and the off-site waterpark the honest small print.
Hotel information
| Hotel | Lyttos Mare |
|---|---|
| Address | Anissaras |
| Type | Air conditioning · Babysitting/child services |
| Style | All-inclusive resort, adults-friendly 12 and over from 2026 |
| Signature | Saltwater pools and swim-up rooms; water-themed architecture |
| Keys | 397 rooms and suites, opened summer 2021 |
| Dining | 4 restaurants: main, Asian, Greek taverna, Argentinian grill |
| Sister | Free use of the waterpark at Lyttos Beach next door |
| Nearest airport | Heraklion (HER), about 16 km |
| Booking.com rating | 8.8/10 (625 reviews) |
| Tripadvisor rating | 4.8/5 (1,741 reviews) |
| CreteLocals score | 8.7/10 · read the verdict |
Booking.com and Tripadvisor scores checked on September 19, 2026.
Location
Lyttos Mare is located at Anissaras, in Hersonissos. The map below shows the exact spot; Google Maps and Waze give turn-by-turn directions.
Who Lyttos Mare suits, and who should skip it
Lyttos Mare suits couples and families with teens who want the big-resort machine at lower volume, and from 2026 the 12-plus door makes that promise structural. Households with younger children belong next door at Lyttos Beach, whose waterpark Mare guests use free either way. The lists below come from recurring themes in the resort’s 1,741 Tripadvisor reviews and 625 Booking.com reviews.
Advantages
- Cleanliness scored 4.8 with rooms and location at 4.7, a 2021 build wearing its youth
- Saltwater pools and swim-up categories carrying the water-first architecture
- Beachfront position with a private beach area on the Anissaras shore
- Dining across 4 rooms, with the Argentinian grill and Asian buffet the guest favourites
- Two-floor spa whose massages fill the review chips
- Waterpark rights at Lyttos Beach next door without hosting its noise
Disadvantages
- Corridor sound passes thin room doors into the late evening
- The slides are at the sister hotel, a walk or shuttle away, not on site
- Value and sleep quality at 4.6 are the lowest of an otherwise high board
- Season runs late March to end of October, so winter plans look elsewhere
The rooms: swim-up first among 397 keys
Lyttos Mare spreads 397 rooms and suites through low water-threaded buildings, with swim-up and private-pool categories the signature and garden-view rooms holding the entry point.
The swim-up rooms are the format the resort was drawn around and the ones to book first. Light sleepers should ask for a room away from the corridor junctions, the file’s one recurring practical note, and sea-facing upper floors take the sunrise over the saltwater lagoons.
The saltwater pools, the four tables and the sister’s slides
The pools are the architecture: saltwater sheets stepping through the grounds to the private beach, gentler on eyes and skin than chlorine and the resort’s stated design creed.
Dinner rotates 4 rooms, the main restaurant for volume, the Asian buffet and Greek taverna for register, the Argentinian grill for the week’s occasion, and the 2-floor spa with sauna and hammam runs the mornings. The waterpark’s 9 slides wait at Lyttos Beach next door, free to Mare guests, with the walk or shuttle the small price of sleeping away from them; tennis and padel courts finish the estate map.
How to get there
Lyttos Mare sits at Anissaras beside Lyttos Beach, about 16 km from Heraklion airport (HER), a drive of roughly 20 minutes, with Hersonissos town 5 minutes east.
Three transport options cover the trip, and each fits a different stay. A pre-booked transfer or taxi is the easy arrival; our guide to taxi and airport transfer services in Crete lists the operators and typical prices. A hire car adds Knossos and Heraklion, and our car rental in Crete page compares local rates. The north-coast bus stops on the road above the estate.
The Crete Locals review
Lyttos Mare is the estate’s answer to its own success: Lyttos Beach perfected the everything-resort and inherited the volume that comes with it, so the 2021 sister was drawn as the exhale, water instead of sport as the organizing idea, saltwater instead of chlorine, and now a 12-plus door instead of the mini-disco. The 4.8 across 1,741 reviews, with its own guests applauding the child-policy change, says the positioning found its audience precisely.
The estate trick is having it both ways. Mare guests keep free rights to the sister’s waterpark, tennis academy, and evening shows, then walk home to saltwater quiet, an arrangement that outperforms owning the facilities for anyone past the mini-club years. Note for older readers of our pages: this is not the 80-room boutique some directories still describe, but a full 397-key resort wearing boutique manners.
The flaws are few and specific: doors that let the corridor into the room until the last guests settle, the value-and-sleep pair at 4.6 marking where scale still shows, and a season that closes with October. Nothing in the file argues with the resort’s own thesis.
Book Lyttos Mare as the estate’s grown-up wing: a swim-up room mid-resort, the Argentinian grill reserved early, one loud afternoon at the sister’s slides and every quiet evening back home. June and September suit its temperament best, and the 20-minute transfer starts the calm early.
