Giannoulis Grand Bay Beach Resort

We stayed 14 nights in August 2026 as a couple from Norway. What makes this hotel and the stay perfect is the staff. We want to give a special thanks to them for making it so amazing. George, the masseur, was very good. Sarantos at breakfast, with his Greek-and-English word game, gave us a fun intro to some short Greek words. Anne at reception was lovely and always helpful. Zoe in the restaurant learned our names very fast. She was very helpful and explained everything. Andreas and Kostas at the bar – we always ended up there. They were always smiling, we always had a little chat, and they always cheered us up. These are just a few of them. There were so many good people, and some names I've forgotten – like the cheerful, always positive waiter up at the rooftop restaurant. Thank you all. A few tips for other guests: Book a room with the shared pool. It was very nice. The pool is shared with just a few rooms, and you get your own sunbeds. There were plenty of sunbeds around the hotel too, so no rushing in the morning to get one. We had the Premium All Inclusive and I would say it's worth it. The mini bar in the room is refilled every day, you don't pay extra at the à la carte restaurants, and you can pick other beers and bottled wines instead of just the house ones. A really nice feature. The rooftop restaurant (Azzurro) was a great place to eat. A nice break from the all-inclusive buffet. The rooms are very, very nice. We had two rooms. The AC in the first one wasn't the best, but it did the job. On the last day we got a temporary room for our late checkout. That one was refurbished, with a good TV and great AC. Worth asking for a refurbished room if you can. The beach is nice and mostly sand. There are some small stones in the first half metre when you walk in, then it's just soft sand. The hotel also has great excursions you can book at reception. A few I would recommend: the tasting tour, where you visit a winery and taste olive oil and honey. And one of the most enjoyable things we did was the jeep safari to the White Mountains (Lefka Ori) with Crete Royal. It felt almost like a private tour – not a lot of people, and it's a bit cooler up in the mountains. Kolymbari is a quiet place to relax, and the hotel is adults only, so it's very calm. It's not a buzzing town – a few shops, and some nice tavernas down by the harbour. If you want more action, stay closer to Chania, like Platanias. The bus stops right outside the hotel and it's one of the first stops, so you can easily find a seat. It's cheap and they take card. We would happily come back.

The holiday was beautiful. Location, hotel facilities, beach, services, everything corresponded to the description and everything met the requirements for an honest 4 star. The staff is absolutely amazing, Andreas, Mateo, Anastazia and everyone else thank you very much, you are great!!! Given the size of the hotel (approx. 75 rooms) we all knew each other. Very quiet environment (adults only), no loud music at the beach and pool bar, I think there are live performances at the lounge bar 2 evenings a week (violin, saxophone), great. The room was clean, tidy after reconstruction (part of the hotel is awaiting reconstruction), with a sea view and direct access to a private pool for approx. 6 rooms. The hotel ala carte restaurant corresponds to 4 stars. Nearby (200-500m) are several restaurants (6-10), where we spent beautiful evenings in the Marina. We did not use any other services or trips. Beach with coarse sand and stones (it wasn't super clean, but it was okay) with gradual entry into the sea (water shoes are useful, but not a requirement). Sometimes waves (2-3 days) otherwise calm. The sea is clean and beautiful with exceptions. There are only 30 umbrellas on the beach, which is not enough for a hotel. Sometimes after ten o'clock it was very difficult to find free free sunbeds. We solved it by renting a specific umbrella with sunbeds for the entire 14 days. It costs 25 euros/day, but it was worth it. There were about 20% Czechs in the hotel, a lot of Poles, Swedes, English, a few Italians, Slovaks, Greeks and other nationalities. Only one Russian couple and fortunately they disappeared after a few days. We were probably the only ones in the hotel who didn't have all inclusive, so we went elsewhere for lunch and dinner. According to what others said, the food was all inclusive, I didn't hear any complaints. The quality of the all inclusive drinks was not as high as in classic bars, it was just all inclusive😊.

Overall this holiday was one of our best, we enjoyed it a lot and we plan to return in the same type of room, just pay extra for all inclusive