This is our third visit to this hotel; though we're newcomers compared to some of the people we spoke to.

The hotel is in an excellent location, next to the old town, the harbour and the Fortezza. Breakfast is a very nice spread, including some lovely yoghurt and honey, and always a couple of hot items.

The rooms have plenty of storage space, and an air conditioning unit with remote control.

Reception staff are always helpful, and have excellent English.

My parents first went to this hotel back in the early-mid 90's and loved it so much they went back a further 5 times.

Based on this (and their rave reviews) I decided to book this holiday for me and my wife (my first ever holiday abroad and first time flight).

The hotel's location is absolutely perfect, the harbour and beach a few metres away to the front of the hotel, and behind the hotel is the very traditional Rethymnon with local stalls and markets mixed in with the touristy type jewellery and trinket shops.

The rooms were clean and after complaining that our first room overlooked the beach and we asked for a pool-view room, we got a bigger room with a Balcony, TV and fridge (the first room had none of these).

The hotel staff were a bit random in their friendliness and not sure why, for example some mornings at breakfast they were all happy and smiling and saying 'good morning' in Greek, and us replying in Greek. And then some mornings, hardly any eye contact and no 'good morning'??? Was it us? Not sure. Breakfast consisted of a buffet style menu with eggs, beans, bacon, bread, serial, hot cold drinks... (you get the idea) and was very nice.

We also found the pool a little cold but not a major problem, my main concern was that the pool was a little 'cloudy' even though it was cleaned every day. My parents said it was always crystal clear when they went???

Obviously prices for refreshments and food are a little higher in the hotel (where else is different?). But there is an endless chain of restaurants along the sea front which are cheaper and all the meals we had were fantastic (we also ate in the hotel one night and this was excellent too).

All in all a very nice hotel, would I go back? - well yes, but only if the price was a little cheaper, It's also a long way from both airports so expect the transfer times to be around the 2 hour mark (in a very hot coach).