Out of the Blue Resort & Spa
Out of the Blue Resort & Spa is a 465-room family resort occupying its own private peninsula at Agia Pelagia, 100 metres from the village centre, on the coast west of Heraklion. Out of the Blue, formerly the Capsis Elite Resort, pairs 2 sheltered beaches and botanical gardens with 7 pools and 7 restaurants, and guests score it 8.5 out of 10 on Booking.com and 4.0 out of 5 on Tripadvisor. Our verdict lands at 7.5 out of 10: the best setting on this stretch of coast attached to a product that needs renewal, and the gap between those two facts defines the stay.
Hotel information
| Hotel | Out of the Blue Resort & Spa |
|---|---|
| Address | 2 Eleftherios Venizelos, Agia Pelagia 715 00 |
| Type | Resorts |
| Style | Family resort on its own private peninsula |
| Signature | 2 sheltered beaches, botanical gardens, Minoan Amusement Park |
| Keys | 465 bungalows, suites, and 3 private-pool villas |
| Dining | 7 restaurants, with beachside Red Pepper the review favourite |
| History | Formerly Out of the Blue, Capsis Elite Resort |
| Nearest airport | Heraklion (HER), about 26 km by road |
| Booking.com rating | 8.5/10 (777 reviews) |
| Tripadvisor rating | 4.0/5 (2,200 reviews) |
| CreteLocals score | 7.5/10 · read the verdict |
Booking.com and Tripadvisor scores checked on September 19, 2026.
Location
Out of the Blue Resort & Spa is located at 2 Eleftherios Venizelos, Agia Pelagia 715 00, in Agia Pelagia Village. The map below shows the exact spot; Google Maps and Waze give turn-by-turn directions.
Who Out of the Blue suits, and who should skip it
Out of the Blue suits families who rank setting and space above room spec, and it suits them because the peninsula delivers what no new-build can: 2 calm, kid-safe bays, gardens to disappear into, and a village with tavernas a short walk away. The lists below come from recurring themes in the resort’s 2,200 Tripadvisor reviews and 777 Booking.com reviews.
Advantages
- Private peninsula with 2 sheltered beaches and calm, shallow bay water
- Location scored 4.5 on Tripadvisor and 9.3 on Booking.com, the resort’s undisputed strengths
- Dining spread over 7 restaurants, with beachside Red Pepper the constant mention
- Kitchen ingredients grown in the resort’s own 3 greenhouses
- Minoan Amusement Park and kids club carrying the family programme
- Agia Pelagia village 100 metres away, rare walkability for a resort this size
Disadvantages
- Value scores 3.8, the lowest we have recorded in this programme after Phaea Blue
- Rooms score 4.0, with furniture from another era and a major-renovation need named in recent reviews
- Cleanliness at 4.1 and service at 4.1 trail the five-star class
- Consistency varies, with warmly named individual staff beside slow-service reports
The rooms: book the category, expect the era
Out of the Blue spreads 465 keys across family bungalows, suites, and 3 private-pool villas in a village-style layout over the peninsula. The stock is the review battleground: spacious and well positioned, and dated enough that the 4.0 rooms score reads generous to some guests.
Choose position over spec, because position is what this resort sells. A bungalow near the beaches puts the bays at the door, the suites buy space rather than modernity, and the villas exist for families wanting the pool without the crowd. Ask directly which sections have been refreshed most recently when booking.
The peninsula, the beaches and the seven restaurants
The peninsula is the whole argument: a private headland with botanical gardens, 2 beaches in sheltered coves, and water calm enough for toddlers on the leeward side. Seven pools thread through the grounds for the days the meltemi stirs the bays.
The food story is better than the rooms story. Seven restaurants run from Greek and Cretan through Italian, fusion, and French gourmet, with Red Pepper on the beach the venue reviewers return to, and the 3 on-site greenhouses supply the kitchens. The spa with its hydrotherapy pool and the Minoan Amusement Park close the loop for both ends of the family.
How to get there
Out of the Blue is about 26 km from Heraklion airport (HER) by road, a drive of roughly 30 minutes west along the coast to Agia Pelagia. The village centre is 100 metres from the resort gate.
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 Heraklion, Knossos, and the west-coast beaches, and our car rental in Crete page compares local rates. The Agia Pelagia bus connects to Heraklion for the budget route.
The Crete Locals review
Out of the Blue is the hardest kind of resort to score honestly, because its 2 halves belong to different decades. The setting half is close to perfect: Capsis built on a private peninsula when such land could still be had, and the result, 2 sheltered beaches, mature botanical gardens, a village at the gate, cannot be replicated at any budget today. Guests agree, holding location at 9.3 on Booking.com even while scoring everything else lower.
The product half is where the 4.0 average comes from. Value at 3.8 and rooms at 4.0 are the numbers of a resort charging five-star rates on stock that reviewers describe, in one recent line, as needing a major renovation, and cleanliness at 4.1 says the wear reaches housekeeping’s limits. The staff earn genuine praise by name, which makes the slow-service reports read like thin staffing rather than indifference.
What keeps Out of the Blue on our list is that the equation can still work. Booked at the right rate, especially outside peak weeks, the peninsula buys what money elsewhere cannot: safe bays for small children, morning swims off private coves, dinner at Red Pepper with the water at the table, and Agia Pelagia’s tavernas when the buffet palls. Booked at rack rate against the coast’s newer five-stars, the comparison loses.
Book Out of the Blue for the setting with your eyes open on the rooms: a beach-side bungalow, a negotiated or early-bird rate, and May, June, or September timing give the peninsula its best case. And if a renovation is announced, revisit this review, because renewed rooms on this land would re-rank the whole coast.
