Fantastic hotel which we have now visited 3 times. The entertainment team are very accommodating, especially Raphael and Kamil who have made our holiday special every year. Andy the manager is really good and ensures everyones needs are met.

The hotel is very clean and the food varied, with two lovely restaurants (Italian and Greek which can be booked separately) overlooking the sea. Sisi is absolutely beautiful, a small but unspoilt fishing village. A car is a must to explore Crete. Highly recommend this hotel and Sisi.

The hotel I would honestly describe as a good standard 4 star hotel with 5 star staff.

The rooms are impeccably cleaned by the housekeeping team, they clean everywhere, and I suspect they would have polished me if I stood still. The mini bar was stocked with soft drinks and there was a kettle (loudest I have ever heard) with coffee and tea, bring you own if you like tea or use multiple tea bags. Our two bed roomed suite overlooked the pool but I have to say I did not find the noise an issue.

The food in the main restaurant was fabulous; no need to use the specialty restaurants on site and plenty of variety provided to suit fussy palettes. Chefs cooked several dishes freshly whilst you waited including whatever variety of egg you required.

We attended all of the theme nights and it was clearly evident how much effort the chefs had put into preparing the food every day. The head chef regularly checked the quality and variety of food available, but if needed he helped his staff in the restaurant area. All the waiting staff worked hard when not cleaning tables and providing drinks they worked in the bars and pool bars on site.

The only complaint I would make about the drink is that it keeps its head better in plastic glasses by the pool probably due to whatever is used to clean the glasses.

The only way this hotel would improve would be if they operated a courtesy mini bus between hotels in the chain or even transport guest to and from the bus stop.

This hotel is very clean and the staff are very friendly. The rooms are well maintained and modern with access to many TV channels including some English, free wifi access through a room based PC, coffee making facilities, modern a/c and a two showers/1 bath.

There are four pools in total including a heated pool although due to the time of year and the volcano problem the pool wasn't always heated.

The food is very good and they offer a continental and full english option.

The gym facilities are excellent although the opening times aren't excellent (10:00 - 18:00).

For those that like to watch sport the Greek channels show all the premiership matches.

The only downside is the lack of entertainment but in Sissi which is minutes away on foot there are plenty of bars etc.

Myself and my daughter stayed in the Vasia Beach Hotel and Spa. We got back home last night. The hotel was absolutely lovely - food was great with a very good choice. The staff were great. Whilst we had intended to take advantage of the spa and hence the reason for choosing this hotel it was cost prohibitive as a massage was 150 to 200 euro lasting up to two hours. The pools were lovely and only critisism the pool areas could have been cleaner. The sun loungers were excellent.

However, Sissi itself was poor and not worth a visit and without question the majority of the greek staff (not the hotel staff) were rude and beligerent. Beware of the airport staff who were unbeliveably unhelpful and it was 3euro 30 for a black coffee. Having spoken to other holiday makers they all had very similar experiences although for us the actual hotel was lovely and we would go again. Beware also of excess luggage charges! only 3 kilos allowed on board everything else is charged at 15 euros per kilo.

We are a mid 40's couple who stayed in the Vasia Beach hotel on an all inclusive basis during the first week in July 2009. Hotel was very clean, food excellent with a wide variety of choice. Our superior double room was clean and everything we wanted. We came for a relaxing week away and that is exactly what we got. Sissi, a five/ten minute walk is a lovely pretty harbour consisting of shops bars & restaurants, only small but lovely to walk around after an evening meal. Any groups of lads or lasses looking to holiday here dont: it will be boring for you, go to Malia where the life & noise is. All inclusive facilities are worked out using a hotel credit card/room key not those annoying wrist bands.

A La Carte restaurants
Chinese - tables by the pool (didn't use)
Med - nice position food OK
Italian - best, nice position great food

The only disappointment with this hotel is that the spa treatments and facilities are far too expensive, gym is part of all inclusive but that is it.

Top Tips
1. On arrival ask for a second credit card so if your partner decides to go back to the room or takes a little longer to get ready than you, you can still have a beer in the bar.
2. Dress code states long trousers for evening meal, not everyone abides by these rules. Wear them and on entry to dinner ask to dine upstairs, it is the same food but well dressed couples only. No kids. very quiet & relaxing, well worth it at no extra cost.

This Hotel gets my vote, reading some reviews I believe that some people will pick fault with anything. Why do they bother going anywhere?

I have just read through but a few of the reviews for this hotel. This was our second visit the first being in 2006. It was much better this year because they have expanded and put in more pools. I cannot believe that some people are saying the food was poor - do you usually frequent places that offer such a wide variety of foods. The Vasia do their best to cater for everyone - there is no need for anyone to go hungry. The staff were brilliant. I would only agree with one complaint and that was the drinks - the beers and spirits were disgusting but the rose wine wasn't bad. We had to go out in the evenings if we wanted a drink which, as has been mentioned, you don't expect to do on an all inclusive.

For entertainment go to the Sissi Arms Pub just around the corner - Karen will greet you with a smile and her dad Kenny Cortez will, serenade you on a Sunday evening - he is a crooner but can also sing from Duffy to Robbie to Queen all extremely well - his voice knows no bounds. Karen if you read this - Hi - I will be back one day!

Had Jnr Suite with sea view, nice but not as nice as expected, the living room was dark with no windows so we never sat in it, the bathroom was lovely and the bedroom was spacious. Our balcony was narrow and never had any sun so we were a little disapointed however we had a good time.
Entertainment was ok but did not start till 10pm for the adults so mostly everyone sat drinking after evening dinner ( which was much the same every time) so you got to know plenty of people if you wanted to.
The pools were nice and you didn't have to rush to get a sun bed, we always got one easily.
Sissi was very small and quiet with not alot of beach near the hotel.
Many people return year after year but most of the people we spoke to would not go back, the problem being we have been to much nicer places and hotels but that is only our opinion plus I think our expectation was too high.

We travelled in June 2007. We booked through Broadway Travel on behalf of Med Hotels. We booked our flight with My Travel and our own taxi transfer with A2B taxis. My mother who is a smoker travelled with us and as I am asthmatic I was very particular to check with Broadway Travel that my mother would have her own room, balcony etc. and emailed Broadway constantly to this end. Broadway travel were very careful with their wording in email replies which made me constantly suspicious. When I checked with the Med Hotels rep on arrival though she told me that I had booked and paid for two rooms.

However when we arrived we found that the hotel had decided to put us into one suite which was exactly what we did not want and being regular travellers knew from experience that this could well happen. We did not unpack for three days while we went through the usual routine as at most hotels of "come back at tea time; come back tomorrow after breakfast; come back tomorrow about 11 am; I will have suitable rooms for you for sure" This went on for three days to try and wear us down but it was all lies and we never got our two rooms.The Med Hotel's rep could not have cared less and was probably the worst we have ever encountered. The head receptionist was very plausible in giving us false hope but they are all trained in the same way. Quite calculating. I am sure many of you will have had this experience.

On a positive note the hotel was very clean and the variety of food better than average though sometimes cold on the plate by the time you waited in the queue for them to replace finished trays of one thing or another.Nothing was special enough to justify their claimed 5 star rating though.

Entertainment and an additional all inclusive bar were in another part of the complex. Neither was very good. All inclusive drinks were served in small plastic see through tubs throughout the complex. In the evenings there was one small all inclusive bar area inside the hotel reception which was always full and the queue for drinks was long. There were ouside bar areas which were not ever opened due to lack of staff day and night. This would have improved service all round. On the outside barbecue night there were huge queues for food and the food was cold. Lack of staff was very obvious. The only daytime all inclusive bar was at one of the poolsides, very noisy and not near to other poolsides if you did not choose to sit at the noisy pool with daytime entertainment program.

My Travel's idea of preboarding for my lame mother left much to be desired also, as she was called forward with all the small children travelling. No-one had the sense to see that this was exactly what we wanted to avoid.

However we must compliment and commend A2B taxis. The service was excellent and the cars immaculate.

Just had a week at the Vasia Beach and had a great chill out time.

Due to the isolated position of Sissi village this hotel is perfect for All Inclusive pool lounging type holiday. If you feel the urge to explore, a car is a must, the local buses run frequently to all parts of the island but the road you catch them on is a long way from the hotel. A bus picks up outside the hotel once a day around 9.15am and returns around 4.30, always check with the driver though. We visited Knossos and Aghios using this 9.15 bus having seen the roads and deciding not to hire a car.
Hotel was spotlessly clean and the staff very poilte and friendly.

We had a standard double room with gorgeous marble bathroom and view overlooking the pools and the deep blue Aegean Sea ..wonderful! The hotel was still surprisingly full although everyone managed to have a sunlounger.

The areas around the pool were quite busy, we prefered to face the sea on the walkway behind the pool bar...lovely sea breezes.

The food was very tasty and plenty of choice, there was even a microwave to heat up anything you wanted.Wine and beer on tap in dining room of acceptable quality too.The entertainment was ok ...not brilliant and the drinks from the tropical bar were not pub standard here but not gruesome by any means. The lager was fine. We often had late dinner then drank free till the 11pm cut off point then decamped to the brit bar The Sissi Arms...good fun in there and great music.

Sissi village is so pretty down by the harbour and we ate out there at Mama Mias just for a change ...huge portions!Couples love Sissi...Teens loathe the place I would guess just too quiet.

All in all we had a wonderful laid back holiday with great weather and good food...BLISS!

Just returned from Vasia Beach. We booked this holiday last Christmas and were lucky enough to be able to book a VIP maisonette with private pool.

We are so glad we did so, at least we were able to have some kind of space around us, but private pool is stretching the truth a little , they were so close together, if you did not get on with your neighbours you were in trouble!!

Would have absolutely hated to have been herded together on the sun beds around the main pools, no space whatsoever, and no where to be able to have any kind of privacy. Would never go back because of that reason.

We thought the food was really good, they tried very hard to please everyone, but a week was long enough, think we too have done to death the AI. What we thought was absolutely disgusting was the quality of drinks on offer, beer, coffee etc was fine, but what the rest was, was really open to debate.

For a supposed 5 star AI this was totally unacceptable. Having said that, maybe that was what they wanted, we must have been perfect AI guests, we ate our meal (with a beer) and then headed off down into Sissi which is what a lot of folks seemed to do also.

Understand that they are going to double prices next year, because of it being a new hotel, all prices this year were half price. Good luck to them because unless they improve the quality of drinks etc they will get some headaches from guests.

The little village and harbour area was beautiful, and would return any time again but on a BB or SC basis. We got so sick of the hotel, that we would go to the Maritimo hotel next door to the Vasia and have a couple of drinks around the pool and use their facilities, it was a haven of peace and tranquility, pools beautiful, people lovely and a lovely quaint hotel, which we thought much superior because of this than the Vasia.

Would we go again? No, because of the Butlins atmosphere, quality of drinks, and no space whatsoever around the pools. The rooms are lovely though, high quality but unless you can get a maisonette think twice, at least with those rooms you do get some space outside. Would rate it 3 star at best because of this.

Hope this helps.