Nautilux Rethymno

The hotel should get 5/5 but sadly the lunch food and service lets this place down.

Let’s start at the beginning because there is so much that is good about this place. The staff at reception were helpful and friendly throughout the stay, ordering taxis and sorting out queries with no fuss whatsoever. Always polite, always calm and always friendly. The two ladies on the concierge desk were equally great, engaging and friendly.

The room was a good size, not enough hangers but a solution with additional hangers was provided within about 5 mins of entering the room. Bathroom area was big enough and everything worked well. Still can’t get over the paper in the bin thing but that’s Crete and not the hotels fault. I found the bed firm, felt like a memory foam mattress but that’s a personal thing, balcony was big and easily enough for two, and was great they had integrated drying rails into the design.

Breakfast was vast and very tasty, service at the tables was a bit hit and miss but improved through the holiday. I got the impression that the first couple of days some new people were being trained and it didn’t really affect the breakfast. Kudos to the chef/team who sorted the pots to keep food warm but the pancakes were pretty good considering they were cooked and kept warm, usually they are cold or hard but they managed to keep them moist and warm. There is pretty much everything u could want except strawberries. However really pleased with the breakfast.

Lunch was poor, we had three goes at it but each time it got steadily worse both in terms of service (in two out of three we had to go and get our own menus and inform the team we were sitting down) and food which op went from the ok to the ridiculous (the last one was the bao bun which cost €14 for one prawn and a bun that by the time it arrived the mayo had become as runny as water, the buns were sitting in this for so long that when u picked up the bun the fold underneath collapsed and most of the filling fell out. We were asked by two different servers if the food was ok, told them how poor it was and nothing happened.

Pools etc were great, clean and good temp. There were loads of sunbeds, plus the hotel has additional beds on the beach which is adjacent to the hotel. The sea was pretty warm but rough due to local winds.

The hotel location is 3k outside of the old town. This was not an issue for us as we used cabs, but unless u fancy a 45 min walk either way u need a way to get around.

I would happily go back as we would know to avoid the lunch mess and the rest of the experience was excellent.

What a fantastic hotel - both staff and food were incredible, the best we have encountered in years of travel (and I am fussy)

So why have I given 4 stars?

1. We on a few occasions were unable to use the balony due to the pungent smell coming from the road (beyond the hotels control I know) room 410 lowish level balcony facing the road

2. No hanging space for long garments (also no drawers) A hanging rail was promply supplied by the hotel ( think this may have been mentionded before)

But overall I would highly recommend staying at this hotel