We are going to the Blue Bay Hotel in Elounda for a week commencing 06 June. I have had quite a bit of useful info on the hotel from this site but would also be pleased if anyone is going there between now and then (only four weeks away!) could post their opinions.
Many thanks
Regards
Andrea
only seen the hotel from out side. looks fab to me and have heard really good comments about it.
Brand new hotel build a few years ago in a good location (view of Spinalonga).
thats all i can say. sorry i cant help more
Brand new hotel build a few years ago in a good location (view of Spinalonga).
thats all i can say. sorry i cant help more
Hi Hope someone can help, trying to find some information on this hotel, just wondering if anyone been recently. I am going on Friday 7th July only just booked the weekend. Details of the food on offer any information would helpful good or bad 
Thanks
Thanks
there is one report from sept last year in the hotel report forum under http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/reviews/greece/crete/elounda/elounda-blue-bay-hotel/ Blue Bay
wizard
wizard
The journey to the Hotel from Herakion Airport is about an hour to an hour and a half.
The Hotel is a series of varying size apartments set on a rather steep hillside. (If you get a room number above 200 then take your hiking boots, cramp-ons and spare rope - alternatively hire a car just to get you up the hill)!
We arrived at 2am and the guy at check in helped us with our bags to our room (116- phew).
The Hotel itself is very clean and well looked after and the staff are always willing to help.
The Hotel is visited by couples and families although there is not much to entertain the kids other than the pool, a table tennis table and a snooker table.
Fortunately, there is not much to entertain the slightly older 'children' either that you will doubtless travel over with on the plane - don't worry they are heading for Malia.
There is a small mini-mart/shop linked to the Hotel where you can get basic provisions (bottled water/sun lotion/papers etc) from 0830 to 1630 during the week and a bit later at the weekends. The lady that runs the shop is from Finland and is very pleasant.
The pool is salt water and impossible to sink in. (The new floor around the pool is very slippery).
There is a small 'beach' at the bottom of the drive to the Hotel which costs a couple of Euros for the day to hire the sunbeds and umbrellas.
The view from the Hotel into Elounda Bay is spectacular.
Breakfast in the restaurant is mainly fruit, toast, cheese etc - typical European. Don't expect eggs, bacon, sausages etc every day!
Evening meals are pretty good - lots of salads (Greek of course) and varying pork/fish dishes. The restaurant seems to be run by a guy called Manolis - nice guy.
Entertainment in the Hotel is limited - you will have one evening of visiting Cretan dancers and a Sunday visit from 'Theo Spartakus' (He will start with a cover version of Eric Claptons' Wonderful Tonight' which builds expectations and it will go downhill from there! (I guess you'll have to watch him once).
The bar is run by Nikos, who is a nice guy too(sic), unless you are an attractive woman and he takes a shine to you!!!
We hired a car for a couple of days (120 Euros) from the Hotel lobby (you can get it cheaper in town) and explored the NW mountains and onwards to Vai. This is about a two hour drive and you end up at a small picturesque, but rather commercialised beach where you have to pay for parking, toilets, sunbeds etc. It is apparently the only beach on the island with palm trees.
We also travelled south to Ierapetra and found some delightful small bays along the southern coast.
The walk into Elounda town takes about 20 mins along the coast road. It's an easy flat and pleasant walk in the evening although not well lit on the way back in the dark.
The town is a very typical Cretan harbour town - small fishing boats only.
You can get boat trips to the island of Spinalonga (an old leper colony in the middle of the bay), we didn't bother!
You can also arrange trips via the rep who visits the Hotel once or twice a week - for instance you could go to Santorini - if you are willing to get up about 4am, catch a coach to Agios Nikolios (15 mins) then come back past where you started to Heraklion, catch the cruise ship (with about 300 others - few of which will be British), spend 4 hours at sea, arrive at the beautiful island, get on a donkey to go up the steep hill, stay for two or three hours and then do all the above in reverse, arriving back at the Hotel about 11pm. We bought a postcard instead!
I really couldn't fault the whole place really and can recommend it if your intention is to get away from it all in extremely pleasant surroundings.
If you have any questions about anything specific, please drop a line here and I would be glad to help if I can.
Happy days.
Simon
The Hotel is a series of varying size apartments set on a rather steep hillside. (If you get a room number above 200 then take your hiking boots, cramp-ons and spare rope - alternatively hire a car just to get you up the hill)!
We arrived at 2am and the guy at check in helped us with our bags to our room (116- phew).
The Hotel itself is very clean and well looked after and the staff are always willing to help.
The Hotel is visited by couples and families although there is not much to entertain the kids other than the pool, a table tennis table and a snooker table.
Fortunately, there is not much to entertain the slightly older 'children' either that you will doubtless travel over with on the plane - don't worry they are heading for Malia.
There is a small mini-mart/shop linked to the Hotel where you can get basic provisions (bottled water/sun lotion/papers etc) from 0830 to 1630 during the week and a bit later at the weekends. The lady that runs the shop is from Finland and is very pleasant.
The pool is salt water and impossible to sink in. (The new floor around the pool is very slippery).
There is a small 'beach' at the bottom of the drive to the Hotel which costs a couple of Euros for the day to hire the sunbeds and umbrellas.
The view from the Hotel into Elounda Bay is spectacular.
Breakfast in the restaurant is mainly fruit, toast, cheese etc - typical European. Don't expect eggs, bacon, sausages etc every day!
Evening meals are pretty good - lots of salads (Greek of course) and varying pork/fish dishes. The restaurant seems to be run by a guy called Manolis - nice guy.
Entertainment in the Hotel is limited - you will have one evening of visiting Cretan dancers and a Sunday visit from 'Theo Spartakus' (He will start with a cover version of Eric Claptons' Wonderful Tonight' which builds expectations and it will go downhill from there! (I guess you'll have to watch him once).
The bar is run by Nikos, who is a nice guy too(sic), unless you are an attractive woman and he takes a shine to you!!!
We hired a car for a couple of days (120 Euros) from the Hotel lobby (you can get it cheaper in town) and explored the NW mountains and onwards to Vai. This is about a two hour drive and you end up at a small picturesque, but rather commercialised beach where you have to pay for parking, toilets, sunbeds etc. It is apparently the only beach on the island with palm trees.
We also travelled south to Ierapetra and found some delightful small bays along the southern coast.
The walk into Elounda town takes about 20 mins along the coast road. It's an easy flat and pleasant walk in the evening although not well lit on the way back in the dark.
The town is a very typical Cretan harbour town - small fishing boats only.
You can get boat trips to the island of Spinalonga (an old leper colony in the middle of the bay), we didn't bother!
You can also arrange trips via the rep who visits the Hotel once or twice a week - for instance you could go to Santorini - if you are willing to get up about 4am, catch a coach to Agios Nikolios (15 mins) then come back past where you started to Heraklion, catch the cruise ship (with about 300 others - few of which will be British), spend 4 hours at sea, arrive at the beautiful island, get on a donkey to go up the steep hill, stay for two or three hours and then do all the above in reverse, arriving back at the Hotel about 11pm. We bought a postcard instead!
I really couldn't fault the whole place really and can recommend it if your intention is to get away from it all in extremely pleasant surroundings.
If you have any questions about anything specific, please drop a line here and I would be glad to help if I can.
Happy days.
Simon
hi simon welcom to HT if you havent done so please post a review on the link in the post above
thanks
wizard
thanks
wizard
Wow, one of the best and more details replies i have seen the last year or so 
I feel now a bit like usless to post a reply but i just want to make two comments.
1) the hotel is brand new (max 5years old)
2) just because i love that little island i do recoment spinalonga
with the rest of the info provided by simonj i will agree 100%
I feel now a bit like usless to post a reply but i just want to make two comments.
1) the hotel is brand new (max 5years old)
2) just because i love that little island i do recoment spinalonga
with the rest of the info provided by simonj i will agree 100%
Just about to post this in the hotel reviews section:
My husband and I have recently returned from a week's stay at the Elounda Blue Bay Hotel - 06 June to 13 June 2006. Overall, we had a very enjoyable and restful holiday that fitted the bill for us - we really just wanted to 'chill' for a week and enjoy some R and R in pleasant surroundings .
I hope the following will be helpful to anyone considering staying at the Blue Bay.
We booked with MyTravel and I would describe their service as 'fair'. The coach transfer from the airport was APPALLING - two and a half hours rather than the one and a half quoted in the brochure, with about 8 stops en route and a coach driver who seemed to have a constant need for directions from the travel rep.
Elounda was the last stop for the coach so we were not best pleased by the time we arrived to check in at the hotel. As has been previously mentioned, the hotel is up a steep slope (which we did not find too bad, but don't try walking it in flip-flops) and the rooms are laid out on steep-to-access terraces with a number of steps. It was a bit of a haul up to our room but worth it for the splendid views across the bay. Hard luck if you were allocated a room number beginning with a '5' - you would need an oxygen mask by the time you got up there! Although we had asked for a room in the main hotel building, having been forewarned about all the steps, this was not allocated, but I realised later that these rooms were given to the infirm or parents with pushchair age children, which is fair enough.
We stayed on a half board basis and found the food to be perfectly acceptable. Some evenings the dishes on offer were more appealing than others, but this is a personal observation, and we could always find something to keep the wolf from the door. Breakfast was excellent, particularly the lovely Greek yogurt and fruit.
There was a good mix of nationalities staying at the hotel, French, Belgian, Italian and German as well as Brits, and (bliss) very few young children - to be fair the hotel is not marketing itself as a family hotel and there are few facilities geared for the youngsters. The atmosphere was very friendly with no 'sunbed bagging' around the pool. The pool was very clean - but cold, being sea water. There is an oddity about the hotel, in that the only public toilets are situated in the hotel basement, and it is a bit of a pain if you are by the pool to have to trek through reception in your swimmies "¦
The beach below the hotel is small but a pleasant enough place to while away the time. We were a little peeved to be charged for sunbed and umbrella hire - after all, it is the hotel's beach. There's a little kiosk on the beach for cold drinks and snacks, but no toilets. The sea was lovely for swimming and snorkelling.
We would definitely agree that the hotel standards are nowhere near four star though, more like just about a three. However, the cleanliness is good and the linen change exceptional - sheets and towels were changed every two days.
Elounda itself is around a 25 minute walk - on the flat once you come down the hotel drive, and is a pretty town, obviously touristy but pleasant. It is a bonus that it is still a working harbour, so people are also resident in the town, rather than it being a purpose built holiday resort. There is a variety of restaurants, you can literally take your pick according to your fancy.
The only trip we took was a visit to Spinalonga by boat. It's a poignant place with a chequered history, and very interesting; well worth a visit.
Our return journey to the airport by taxi was cost 55 Euros and was worse than the coach! The taxi driver, rather worryingly, kept crossing himself "¦ and he was driving at 140 km/hour in a 70 limit! To top it all, when we reached the airport we discovered our flight was delayed by 4 hours due to a technical fault We were transferred to a Thomas Cook airbus which was only half full and infinitely better than the cramped Mytravel outward flight.
Sadly, our luggage, which was a wedding present last year and far superior to what we would normally buy! - did not fare well (despite having returned from Singapore and Bali last year completely unmarked). One of our cases is damaged beyond repair, it looks as though it was crushed and has a hole in it. Claim in progress
All in all, we were pleased with the holiday on a 'you get what you pay for' basis. Crete is not particularly cheap for food and drink - a factor to bear in mind if you are taking children.
Regards
Andrea
My husband and I have recently returned from a week's stay at the Elounda Blue Bay Hotel - 06 June to 13 June 2006. Overall, we had a very enjoyable and restful holiday that fitted the bill for us - we really just wanted to 'chill' for a week and enjoy some R and R in pleasant surroundings .
I hope the following will be helpful to anyone considering staying at the Blue Bay.
We booked with MyTravel and I would describe their service as 'fair'. The coach transfer from the airport was APPALLING - two and a half hours rather than the one and a half quoted in the brochure, with about 8 stops en route and a coach driver who seemed to have a constant need for directions from the travel rep.
Elounda was the last stop for the coach so we were not best pleased by the time we arrived to check in at the hotel. As has been previously mentioned, the hotel is up a steep slope (which we did not find too bad, but don't try walking it in flip-flops) and the rooms are laid out on steep-to-access terraces with a number of steps. It was a bit of a haul up to our room but worth it for the splendid views across the bay. Hard luck if you were allocated a room number beginning with a '5' - you would need an oxygen mask by the time you got up there! Although we had asked for a room in the main hotel building, having been forewarned about all the steps, this was not allocated, but I realised later that these rooms were given to the infirm or parents with pushchair age children, which is fair enough.
We stayed on a half board basis and found the food to be perfectly acceptable. Some evenings the dishes on offer were more appealing than others, but this is a personal observation, and we could always find something to keep the wolf from the door. Breakfast was excellent, particularly the lovely Greek yogurt and fruit.
There was a good mix of nationalities staying at the hotel, French, Belgian, Italian and German as well as Brits, and (bliss) very few young children - to be fair the hotel is not marketing itself as a family hotel and there are few facilities geared for the youngsters. The atmosphere was very friendly with no 'sunbed bagging' around the pool. The pool was very clean - but cold, being sea water. There is an oddity about the hotel, in that the only public toilets are situated in the hotel basement, and it is a bit of a pain if you are by the pool to have to trek through reception in your swimmies "¦
The beach below the hotel is small but a pleasant enough place to while away the time. We were a little peeved to be charged for sunbed and umbrella hire - after all, it is the hotel's beach. There's a little kiosk on the beach for cold drinks and snacks, but no toilets. The sea was lovely for swimming and snorkelling.
We would definitely agree that the hotel standards are nowhere near four star though, more like just about a three. However, the cleanliness is good and the linen change exceptional - sheets and towels were changed every two days.
Elounda itself is around a 25 minute walk - on the flat once you come down the hotel drive, and is a pretty town, obviously touristy but pleasant. It is a bonus that it is still a working harbour, so people are also resident in the town, rather than it being a purpose built holiday resort. There is a variety of restaurants, you can literally take your pick according to your fancy.
The only trip we took was a visit to Spinalonga by boat. It's a poignant place with a chequered history, and very interesting; well worth a visit.
Our return journey to the airport by taxi was cost 55 Euros and was worse than the coach! The taxi driver, rather worryingly, kept crossing himself "¦ and he was driving at 140 km/hour in a 70 limit! To top it all, when we reached the airport we discovered our flight was delayed by 4 hours due to a technical fault We were transferred to a Thomas Cook airbus which was only half full and infinitely better than the cramped Mytravel outward flight.
Sadly, our luggage, which was a wedding present last year and far superior to what we would normally buy! - did not fare well (despite having returned from Singapore and Bali last year completely unmarked). One of our cases is damaged beyond repair, it looks as though it was crushed and has a hole in it. Claim in progress
All in all, we were pleased with the holiday on a 'you get what you pay for' basis. Crete is not particularly cheap for food and drink - a factor to bear in mind if you are taking children.
Regards
Andrea
small note for the greek taxi drivers as i have a couple of friends. the crossing is purelly a matter or religion. some greeks have the ''custom'' to cross themself everytime they go by a church big or small.
the 140klm/hour in comparison to the 70klm/hour is up to a point correct. the main roads have depending which part u are crossing 50,60,70,80 and 90 as max limits due to greeks driving fast (90 is the max limit in Crete dont know why). that though doesnt stop us from driving fast. especially the taxi drivers.
did u at any point felt like in danger? i ask as i have heard different comments about the greek taxi drivers.
the 140klm/hour in comparison to the 70klm/hour is up to a point correct. the main roads have depending which part u are crossing 50,60,70,80 and 90 as max limits due to greeks driving fast (90 is the max limit in Crete dont know why). that though doesnt stop us from driving fast. especially the taxi drivers.
did u at any point felt like in danger? i ask as i have heard different comments about the greek taxi drivers.
Hi all
We stayed at the Elounda Blue Bay Hotel in June and i posted a trip report. have now put together a gallery of photos also that you may like to see if you are planning a holiday there.
Regards
Andrea
http://www.pbase.com/andreac
We stayed at the Elounda Blue Bay Hotel in June and i posted a trip report. have now put together a gallery of photos also that you may like to see if you are planning a holiday there.
Regards
Andrea
http://www.pbase.com/andreac
Some nice photos there Andy. The one of the harbour reminds me that just opposite the church and the large palm in the centre is a cracking bakers shop where you can gain a pound by just looking in the window.
just caught up with this! Lovely photos Andrea- we found Spinalonga very moving. I hope your holiday was as good as it could be.
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