I travel extensively and only stay in 5* resorts and by experience I would rate the Candia Maris Resort 3* max. This hotel very recently changed hands and most of the reviews on here reflect the standards of the previous owners. Although the room rates are not unreasonable; the hotel is clearly understaffed, the food is appalling with a severe lack of local cuisine and everything is grossly over priced.
Per person, one week cost £1,350 (£664 for 7 nights with breakfast + a daily average of £100 for 2 coffees, 2 small bottle of water, 1 small fruit juice, a 2 course dinner and 2 alcoholic beverages), compared to £1,350 for 2 weeks at a true 5* resort in Cancun with all the luxurious trimmings you could dream of.

The value was extremely expensive with more emphasis on quantity than quality, e.g. 3 for a small bottle of Coca-Cola brand water, 4.50 for a coffee, 7 for a small fruit juice and the cheapest meal is 30 for a sloppy buffet saturated in dill. Great if you plan on killing yourself with substandard food, not so good if you expect 5*, as that is what you are paying for, nor if you enjoy sampling the culinary delights of the country you are visiting (if you are not prepared to even try it then stay at home with your fish and chips).

Tidy and comfortable but the housekeeping is atrocious, basically folding the towels and straightening the bed covers. During the entire week, the floors were cleaned once, only the sink area in the bathroom was cleaned and the bed sheets were not changed at all. Room service trays were left sitting outside the room for almost 24hrs and I had a ridiculous collection of dirty glasses on the desk by the end of the week.

Amoudara is central on the northern coast of the island and is perfect if you are planning on sight-seeing. However, it is not the kind of area I would feel safe or comfortable strolling around alone. The Cretan Sea is lovely and the beach was okay.

Excluding the rooms, the hotel is generally well maintained and clean – don’t sit on the sofas on the lobby bar balcony though unless you enjoy being eaten alive!

The staff are absolutely fantastic; friendly, very helpful and they work really hard. The facilities are reasonably good but it is predominantly self-service, no pampering, no luxury, not 5* at all.

The beds are quite hard, but not uncomfortable. Unfortunately the room doors are not sound-proof - so don’t count on a relaxing lie-in.

We stayed at the Candia Maris in July of 2004 and loved it.

Our holiday package was all inclusive and included local wines, beer, fizzy drinks, etc, as well as snacks and all meals.

The hotel has a wonderful on site Spa, and my husband benefitted from their Spa package (6 days of 4 hours worth of treatments for around 400 euros).

The buffet food was absolutely superb, so we never made it to the other 2 a la carte restaurants on site.

The hotel was very clean, and we had a standard family room with a queen as well as a twin bed.

The hotel is located very close to downtown and a bus stops right in front of the hotel every half hour or so. The hotel has numerous amenities: car hire on site at the concierge desk daily, daily excursion packages, 4 pools (one of which is indoor, and this does not include the spa pools), as well as hammam (steam room), sauna, and weight room. Among the various daily activities on site: water slides (open 9 a.m.-6 p.m.), twice daily water aerobics, darts, beach volley, water polo games, and nightly shows appear in the outdoor theatre. There is a variety of childrens outdoor play equipment and there is a mini-club open mornings and afternoons, if you can pry your child away from the pool/water slides.

The hotel has an international clientelle, with various Germans, Austrians, British, French, Belgians, and Dutch. Once a week a special Greek dance themed dinner is given in the main restaurant.