Phaea Blue
Phaea Blue is the boutique hotel that now occupies a wing of the former Blue Palace resort, on the waterfront between Elounda and Plaka facing Spinalonga. Phaea Resorts runs it as a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, guests score the current hotel 9.5 out of 10 on Booking.com, and the Tripadvisor listing, which carries the legacy Blue Palace reviews, sits at 4.5 out of 5 across 2,501 reviews. Our verdict lands at 8.1 out of 10: the same extraordinary setting at intimate scale, with the rebrand confusion and the island’s lowest value score the honest caveats.
Hotel information
| Hotel | Phaea Blue |
|---|---|
| Address | Plaka, Elounda 720 53 |
| Type | Hotels |
| Style | Boutique waterfront hotel, Small Luxury Hotels of the World |
| Signature | Spinalonga view from the water's edge; ex Blue Palace wing |
| Status | Main resort closed; reopens as Rosewood Blue Palace in 2026 |
| Beach | Own beach area, pebbles rather than sand |
| Setting | Between Elounda and Plaka village, a 5-minute walk to Plaka |
| Nearest airport | Heraklion (HER), about 64 to 72 km, roughly 1 hour |
| Booking.com rating | 9.5/10 (107 reviews) |
| Tripadvisor rating | 4.5/5 (2,501 reviews) |
| CreteLocals score | 8.1/10 · read the verdict |
Booking.com and Tripadvisor scores checked on September 19, 2026.
Location
Phaea Blue is located at Plaka, Elounda 720 53, in Elounda town. The map below shows the exact spot; Google Maps and Waze give turn-by-turn directions.
Who Phaea Blue suits, and who should skip it
Phaea Blue suits couples who want the Elounda-Plaka waterfront without a big-resort machine around it, and it suits them because the boutique format keeps the Spinalonga view, the spa culture, and the village walk while dropping the crowds. The lists below come from recurring themes in the listing’s 2,501 Tripadvisor reviews and the current hotel’s Booking.com reviews.
Advantages
- Waterfront position facing Spinalonga, among the defining views of Crete
- Booking.com score of 9.5 for the current boutique operation
- Plaka village and its tavernas a 5-minute walk away
- Housekeeping scored 4.7 out of 5 for cleanliness on the listing
- Bungalow and villa stock, many units with private pools
- Spa treatments guests single out in reviews
Disadvantages
- Value scores 3.9, the lowest subrating we have recorded on Crete, a price-versus-delivery complaint that predates and survives the rebrand
- Rebrand confusion, since guests booking the old Blue Palace find a smaller, different hotel
- Beach is pebbles rather than sand, a recurring review mention
- Main resort building sits closed for the Rosewood conversion, so the grounds are not the full old estate
The rooms: bungalows and villas at the water’s edge
Phaea Blue keeps the bungalow and villa stock of the former resort wing, terraced down the slope toward the water, with private pools through the upper categories. The whitewashed, stone-and-timber look that made Blue Palace famous survives intact.
Choose by proximity to the water. The waterfront rows put Spinalonga directly across from the terrace, the private-pool units add the seclusion the rates imply, and the upper terraces trade steps for wider panoramas. Ask the hotel directly about current room maps, because the estate’s layout is mid-transition while the Rosewood works proceed next door.
The waterfront, the spa and the Plaka walk
The waterfront is the reason this address has drawn guests for 2 decades: open water to Spinalonga, swimming off the pebble beach, and sunset light the reviews never stop describing. Boats to the islet leave from Plaka, 5 minutes along the shore on foot.
The boutique format concentrates the rest. Spa treatments carry the strongest specific praise in recent reviews, the restaurants work at hotel scale rather than resort scale, and Plaka’s carob-shaded tavernas function as the second dining room. Elounda town, with more restaurants and the boat quay, is a few minutes by car.
How to get there
Phaea Blue is about 64 to 72 km from Heraklion airport (HER) depending on route, a drive of roughly 1 hour via Agios Nikolaos and Elounda. The hotel sits on the coast road between Elounda and Plaka.
Three transport options cover the trip, and each fits a different stay. A pre-booked airport transfer is the standard arrival at this level; 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 Lasithi east easy, and our car rental in Crete page compares local rates. The public bus reaches Elounda, with a taxi covering the last stretch to Plaka.
The Crete Locals review
Phaea Blue is the review we write with the most caveats, because the hotel itself is in the middle of the biggest identity change on the Elounda coast. The original Blue Palace, a Luxury Collection grand resort, was split: one wing reopened as this boutique hotel under Greek operator Phaea Resorts, and the main resort closed for a full conversion into Rosewood Blue Palace, the brand’s Greece debut, announced for 2026. Anyone comparing old photographs, old reviews, and current rates is comparing 3 different hotels, and the recurring review theme titled some version of Blue Palace no longer exists comes from exactly that collision.
Judged as what it is now, a boutique waterfront hotel, the case is strong. The 9.5 Booking.com score for the current operation is earned by the things a smaller hotel does better: recognised guests, unhurried service, spa appointments that start on time. And the setting never changed hands, because the water, the islet, and the Plaka walk belong to the address rather than the brand.
The value question is the one to answer honestly. At 3.9, value is the lowest subrating we have recorded on the island, and the complaint holds a simple shape: the rates still say grand resort while the footprint says boutique, the beach is pebble, and the construction era next door is real. Guests who arrive knowing the deal report the 9.5-score version of the stay; guests expecting 2019’s Blue Palace report the disappointed one.
Book Phaea Blue for the setting, the spa, and the intimacy, ideally in June or September when the light is at its best and the rates step back. Confirm what is open before booking, given the transition next door. And if what you actually want is the grand Blue Palace experience, the honest advice is patience: Rosewood reopens the main estate in 2026, and this coast will have 2 very different hotels on one legendary site.
