Unique Blue! Resort and Villas Adults Only
Unique Blue Resort and Villas is a 105-room adults-only beachfront resort at Karteros, immediately east of Heraklion and close to the airport. Unique Blue scores 9.4 on Booking.com across 390 reviews and 4.8 on Tripadvisor across 379, ranking 2nd of the 4 hotels in Karteros. The proximity to the airport is both the main reason to book it and the source of its one recurring complaint.
We have no commercial relationship with this resort. Crete Locals earns a commission if you book through the availability links on this page, which costs you nothing and does not change what we write; both ratings were read on the date in the table.
Hotel information
| Hotel | Unique Blue! Resort and Villas Adults Only |
|---|---|
| Address | Karteros |
| Type | Adult only · Air conditioning |
| Style | Adults-only beachfront resort at Karteros, immediately east of Heraklion |
| Signature | About 6 km from the airport, with a bus into central Heraklion every 30 minutes |
| Keys | 105 rooms and villas; the sea-view doubles carry the most detailed feedback |
| Ranking | 2nd of the 4 hotels in Karteros on Tripadvisor |
| Review record | 332 of 379 Tripadvisor reviews at Excellent; 7 at Poor or Terrible |
| Watch for | Aircraft noise, and in-room fridges and air conditioning units guests call noisy |
| Standard | One experienced guest rates it a good four-star rather than a five-star |
| Airport | Heraklion (HER) about 6 km west |
| Booking.com rating | 9.4/10 (390 reviews) |
| Tripadvisor rating | 4.8/5 (379 reviews) |
| CreteLocals score | 8.7/10 · read the verdict |
Booking.com and Tripadvisor scores checked on September 28, 2026.
Location
Unique Blue! Resort and Villas Adults Only is located at Karteros. The map below shows the exact spot; Google Maps and Waze give turn-by-turn directions.
Who Unique Blue suits, and who should skip it
Unique Blue suits couples on a short break who want a beachfront adults-only hotel minutes from the airport and a bus ride from Heraklion. It suits guests who will use the spa, which draws the warmest praise in the record. Light sleepers should request a room away from the flight path, and families cannot book at all.
Advantages
- 332 of 379 Tripadvisor reviews rate the stay Excellent, with 7 at Poor or Terrible
- Beachfront position with the airport and Heraklion both minutes away
- A bus stop outside the hotel, with services into central Heraklion every 30 minutes
- Spa service singled out as warm and professional
- High cleanliness standards, raised by guests before anything else
- Effective double glazing in the sea-view rooms
Disadvantages
- Aircraft noise reported by some guests, given the airport is nearby
- In-room fridges and air conditioning units described as noisy
- Sunbed availability limited at busy times
- Extra costs mentioned in several reviews
- One guest rates the standard as a good four-star rather than a five-star
- Room size and internal noise raised by a minority of reviewers
The rooms: 105 keys, and the glazing works
Unique Blue runs 105 rooms and villas, all adults only, and the sea-view doubles carry the most detailed feedback. One guest reports that the view was excellent and the double glazing efficient at keeping external noise out, then adds that it did nothing about the fridge and the air conditioning unit inside the room.
That distinction is worth carrying into your booking. External noise appears to be solved by the building; internal noise is a hardware question, so ask for a recently refurbished room if you sleep lightly, and test the fridge on arrival rather than at 2am.
Twenty minutes from a flight, and a bus into a city
Karteros solves a problem most Cretan resorts create. The airport sits minutes away, so a late arrival or an early departure costs no transfer time, and a bus stop outside the hotel runs into central Heraklion every 30 minutes, which puts the Archaeological Museum, the Venetian harbour and the market within reach without a hire car.
The same geography brings aircraft over the resort, and guests mention it. Weigh the two honestly: for a 3 or 4 night break, being 10 minutes from the terminal is worth more than perfect silence, and for a fortnight it may not be. Guests who booked a short stay describe the location as the reason they chose well.
How to get there
Fly into Heraklion airport (HER), about 6 km west, which is among the shortest transfers to any hotel on this site. Karteros lies on the coast immediately east of the airport.
Take a taxi for the short run from the terminal, or pre-book a transfer using the operators in our guide to taxi and transfer services in Crete. Hire a car only if you plan to reach Knossos, the Lasithi plateau or the south coast, and read the deposit and insurance terms in our car hire guide for Crete. The public bus outside the hotel covers Heraklion itself.
The Crete Locals review
Unique Blue earns 8.7 from us. Both platforms agree closely, at 9.4 and 4.8 on samples of 390 and 379, and the Tripadvisor distribution is clean: 332 reviews at Excellent against 7 at Poor or Terrible. A hotel with that shape is consistent rather than lucky.
The value here is situational and unusually clear. Most people fly into Heraklion and then drive 45 minutes or more to a resort, losing an afternoon at each end of the holiday. Staying 6 km from the terminal, on a beach, in an adults-only hotel with a spa and a bus into the city, converts those lost afternoons into usable ones. For a short break that is a better trade than a prettier bay an hour away.
Set against that, this is a four-star property by the assessment of at least one experienced guest, and the complaints that recur are ordinary hotel-hardware ones: noisy fridges and air conditioning, limited sunbeds when full, and extras that appear on the bill. None of them is severe, and all of them are worth asking about in advance rather than discovering.
Book Unique Blue for a short adults-only break where airport proximity and a city bus matter, and request a quiet room away from the flight path. Book further east or west if you want a fortnight in silence, because the aircraft are a fact of this location rather than a fault of the hotel.
