Blue Lagoon Village

Some reviews gleam at this hotel and I just can’t - don’t get me wrong - it is lovely and if you’re coming here you’re in for a great time but there was just a few thing lacking for me that stop it being 5 stars and also a few things that if we’d have known in advance would have been a huge help.

Arrival Arrival is super easy - 15 mins from airport but you can’t tell at all once at the resort. Great for quick transfers - I thought would we need a private transfer but for our flight we were the only stop so absolutely no need.

We checked in late and this is where some marks were lost for me. They have a ham and cheese sandwich in a basket. No refrigeration so whilst we took them we decided not to risk it. We were given a room a letter but our rep welcome meeting wasn’t pointed out (not that it’s the hotels job too) but at 1am it would be nice. We were then told to wait outside for a little car to take us to our room. They were understandably busy but you know how many you’ve got coming in so was a shame we had to wait as long as we did. Check in I’d mark as 7/10. We were told to download the app but information about the hotel at check in could have been a lot better - especially arriving in the dark you’re really disorientated.

Rooms Again here bit of a marmite situation. My original room I would score 5/10. We were allocated a room in a block out of the way (which would have been lovely without a 5 year old) and yes the complex is that huge - if you think each block is like a normal hotel. Next morning and understandably we were having a lie in but hadn’t shut the curtains properly. To our shock here’s someone stood on their balcony looking straight into our room (yes at our 5 year old who by that point had crashed just in her underwear). Now I don’t think this person was doing it on purpose - their balcony looked directly into our bedroom so nothing they could do. Furthermore - the ‘sea view’ we’d paid to upgrade to was a concrete wall. Yes it you went out onto the balcony you could see the sea but certainly not from your window in the morning. Then our safe didn’t work, not did our plug in our bath. They hotel came and fixed both things they could do but we were then told that they don’t have irons But could pay extra to have our clothes ironed for us.

We contacted TUI that second night and the next day we were allocated another room. This room was 9/10 - it was much better and although I lost 1/2 holiday repacking and packing we felt it was worth it. The second room was exactly that same but the view was as we’d paid for and no one looking directly into our room. We were much more central and near to the stage. On a ground floor I wouldn’t have liked it but high up it gave you great space and meant you were in the thick of things without needing to walk too far!

Just a few things: Irons - I was told it was illegal for hotels in Greece to supply irons. If this has been explained second night that would have been much better. Also TUI - would be good for you to prompt your travellers to know this. My husband frequently doesn’t iron before he travels and could have been easily done before departure. They do have an ironing service but at €6 for a shirt this wasn’t something we were willing to pay for.

Rooms - I understand can be subjective on taste. We preferred centralised spot where for others our original room would have been perfect. I think the only none ‘subjective’ part here was the sea view. The original room in no way was a sea view but the hotel did respond really quickly. Another traveller note - the hairdryers were really weak - bring your own travel one for speed!

Beach towels - are provided but you have to pick up from the gym which is a ride away so make sure you factor in time to pick these up.

The Size It’s huge - and I mean huge, when they say village it is a village with mini transport all around. To start with we weren’t using but 100% use them. Our child got blisters day one! The bit we weren’t told is 5-10 mins before you want to leave your room just call them and they will come to your room and take you anywhere within village. Once we found this out on day three it was much easier.

Other Amenities There is two shops on site - one with gifts and the other like a general store that sells inflatables, some beachwear, sea shoes, sweets, crisps etc. I don’t have much to compare it too in the area but it seemed expensive to me. Some sweets €4.50 and grab bag of crisps €3. We also had to buy items like some new beach shoes etc and again they seemed quite expensive to home prices but there is nothing else around so either be prepared to pay or bring from home.

Restaurants and Food This was the biggest let down for me of the hotel. It wasn’t bad but I personally don’t think it was set up as well as others I’ve been to.

We visited all 3 buffets for lunch and dinner and whilst same food is served in all it was nice to have a change in scenery but… personally I found it to be very repetitive. I know you always get some repetition of food but it’s almost like they did too much of a selection everyday that you then felt it was samey. It would have been nice to have had ‘themes’ for buffet each night (we were spoilt by the food last year) but this would have helped. On our second to last day we saw that they did this but again this wasn’t pointed out to us and the difference was a carvery on one day.

Breakfast and Lunch - I’d definitely recommend going to the taverna. It’s super easy and the food is all in the same place so whilst smaller you’re not wandering around.

The main restaurant for buffet dinner and breakfast I personally struggled with the layout. The dessert was right down the bottom then you had two separate eating stations but they we in different rooms So quite difficult to navigate with a child.

That’s said the quality of the food was always nice and lots of fresh fruit always available which was lovely to have.

The ice cream and pancake parlour - was nice but don’t look at photos and think there will be lots of ice creams available - there is chocolate, banana, vanilla and pistachio and this is on repeat in every restaurant including the ‘special restaurants’. The only difference really being banana. Again last year there was about 12 different flavours and some nice adult variations too - maybe slightly spoilt by last year but we paid more for this holiday by over £1000 so would have expected more ice cream variations.

The restaurants - as with all all inclusive you got to go to a restaurant each week - they had Chinese, Italian and BBQ. We didn’t visit Chinese as I don’t like it but:

BBQ - lovely concept, you choose you uncooked food and place into BBQ. There’s separate grills for red meat, chicken, veg and fish. The lamb was lovely and staff super friendly. My only gripe was you’re cooking yourself and hadn’t a clue when things were cooked right so spent most of your night next to grills and then you ended up stinking of BBQ. With younger children it was quite hard to navigate but as long as you’re prepared and not wearing your best clothes it’s good fun and a bit different.

Piazza (Italian) - good pizza , only mains are served the rest is buffet so again not like other ‘all inclusive special restaurants’

Greek - we’d read good things about the Greek restaurant. It’s is paid for ( as well as the sushi restaurant which we decided not to visit). They must’ve had problems with people not paying because we were told so many times after booking it almost became a bit of a question mark over our booking. The food was lovely but they weren’t ready for us when we arrived (we booked an early slot and they were still setting up when we arrived). They had live music which was a lovely touch and of course great views of the sunset from the beach. However, you cannot see the beach directly from this restaurant just the pool that we sat in. If they had cut back some of the greenery you would’ve been able to have had a lovely beach and sunset view which seemed a bit of a shame but understandable. On entry to this, we saw two rat traps and droppings. I wouldn’t pay to go back.

The Spa One of the best massages I’ve ever had. I had an Indian head massage on day three which was so lovely. I’d been getting really bad neck pains and it stopped straight away.

My husband had a deep tissue massage which he said was the best he’d ever had and defined shifted some knots! The best has got to be my daughter’s chocolate massage - such a great intro to little ones and she absolutely loved it. She fell asleep it was that good!!

The thing for people to be aware of in this spa is its cash only - again we had enough with us and there is a cash point on site but think worth a mention. If you want to use the spa - bring extra cash!

This was by far the best hotel my family and I have ever stayed at. We have been coming here for the past four years, and we can honestly say that this has been our best year yet. The highlight of our holiday was undoubtedly the entertainment team and the fantastic shows. This year, they have an exceptional team who were incredibly professional, friendly, and hardworking throughout our entire stay. They went above and beyond every day to make sure that everyone felt welcomed, entertained, and included. Our children especially loved the Disney show, which was exceptionally well organised and thoroughly entertaining. The effort and enthusiasm from the entire entertainment team were truly outstanding, and they played a huge part in making this holiday so special and memorable for our family. After four years of visiting, we can confidently say that the entertainment team this year has been the best we have experienced. Their dedication, professionalism, and positive energy really made a difference, and we would like to thank them for making our holiday unforgettable.