Aquila Porto Rethymno

Centrally located in the heart of Rethymno town. The food is excellent, the cocktails are amazing, and the service is outstanding! The hotel room is spacious ( side sea view room), and the all-inclusive package is of a very high standard. Be sure to book the à la carte restaurant as well, it's highly recommended! We will definitely be back! We also enjoyed the VIP evening (all in package). Party of 3 grown ups.

We have just returned from a week at this hotel and cannot fault it. We had a perfect stay. The hotel is in the perfect location for a short walk to the old town. The staff are friendly and helpful. We had a slight issue with our key card/door lock but it was rectified very promptly. The rooms are clean and comfortable. We had a balcony looking out onto other apartments/the street which could, at times, be a little noisy, but with the balcony door shut at night we had no issues with noise.
The food on offer for breakfast, lunch and dinner is delicious and there is so much on offer. There is a good range of drinks on offer in the bar and often live music too. We didn’t find it difficult to get a space by either of the pools and the atmosphere around these was relaxing and friendly. We very much enjoyed our stay and would absolutely recommend this hotel.

Here is my review of our stay at the Aquila Porto Rethymnon Hotel.

This is a five-star hotel close to the beautiful city of Rethymnon, which is within easy walking distance, and located right by the beach. We always book a room with a full sea view. The hotel only has a limited number of rooms with a direct, frontal sea view, and these are also among the most expensive rooms.

Upon arrival, we were told that we had booked a room in the Mythica Class, which comes with some additional perks, such as a small fruit platter and two bottles of wine.

The pros:

• The room was exceptionally spacious, which we really appreciated. It had a relaxing atmosphere and also included a comfortable sofa.
• The breakfast and dinner buffets were both very good. We stayed on a half-board basis, and personally, I found the breakfast buffet even better than the dinner buffet.
• The hotel has two very nice swimming pools. One is located near the dining area and has a lovely jacuzzi. The other is on the “deck” and has nice umbrellas and comfortable sun loungers.
• The hotel as a whole has a pleasant and relaxing atmosphere.

The cons:

• Minor con: The swimming pool near the dining area lacks atmosphere, and the sun loungers are not very comfortable. They are quite hard and awkward to sit or lie on. We didn’t really enjoy spending time by this pool, although I did like the jacuzzi! ;-)

• Minor con: Another awkward aspect was the way the hotel handled our booking. As a woman, I am always the one who books and organises our holidays. However, upon arrival, it quickly became clear that most of the attention and information was directed towards my partner rather than me.

Everything was automatically put in his name, even things such as the Wi-Fi login. I was also repeatedly addressed as “Mrs [my partner’s surname]”, even though we are not married. As an independent and emancipated woman, I am simply not used to being treated this way. It felt rather old-fashioned and, at times, I found it genuinely annoying.

• Major con: The bathroom in our room was disappointing. It was relatively small and had a shower-over-bathtub combination (see photo). I never understand why five-star hotels still use this setup. It can be slippery and potentially dangerous, and a proper walk-in shower would be much more comfortable and safer. On top of that, after taking a shower, almost the entire bathroom floor became wet, which was very unpleasant.

Overall, we enjoyed our stay. The spacious room, good food, location and pleasant atmosphere are definite strengths. However, considering the price and the hotel’s five-star rating, I would expect a better and more modern bathroom.

For that reason, my rating is 4 out of 5 stars.