Atlantica Mikri Poli Rhodes

Location Handily close to the little town and the beach. Within a ten‑minute stroll you’ve got shops, restaurants and car‑hire outlets. There’s a bus stop right by the hotel, with services to Rhodes Town, among other places. The airport transfer took around 40 minutes. Both Lindos and Rhodes Town sit roughly 30 km away. The (pebbly) beach is immediately adjacent to the hotel.

Room We opted for a suite in the beachside wing, which is separated from the main hotel complex by a road. That proved an excellent choice for anyone in pursuit of tranquility. There are markedly fewer guests there, you don’t hear loud music, and the pools are considerably less crowded. The sole drawback is that the snack and drinks bar shuts at 17:00 (from 18:00 it operates as a Greek à la carte restaurant). In the evenings there’s no organised entertainment – it’s quiet and restful. The room itself was more than spacious enough to feel comfortable in over a two‑week stay. What bothered us was the positioning of the air‑conditioning units – most of the airflow (whatever the setting) ended up blowing straight onto the beds. We’re not fond of sleeping directly beneath a vent. The wardrobes offered ample storage for our family, and the air‑con, safe, mini‑fridge and other appliances all functioned without a hitch (with the exception of a broken shelf‑support peg in the wardrobe, which took several days to fix after we reported it at reception). Once repaired, the wardrobe was fully serviceable.

Speed of repairs is a separate matter: in the last two days of our stay, in the men’s toilet by the main pool, 2 out of 2 urinals and 1 out of 2 cubicles were out of order. That left a single cubicle in use. I don’t know when they were mended, as we’d already departed, but that simply isn’t befitting of a four‑star hotel.

Food Decent. That’s the most apt description. The undoubted hit with the children was the very tasty waffles. Apart from that I can’t recall anything that stood out in a markedly positive light, yet equally, no dish left us with a negative impression. We viewed the food in the Italian à la carte restaurant favourably – it’s also available at lunchtime. The freshly prepared pastas and desserts were genuinely delicious. The other two à la carte restaurants, like the main restaurant, were perfectly respectable but without any “wow” factor. That said, I must commend the service across the board – they truly rose to the occasion.

Entertainment Kids’ club. It exists, and that’s about the sum of it. We used it once; our son swiftly concluded it was tedious – he was handed some crayons and a sheet of paper to draw on, and that was that. Animations: we mainly partook in the children’s activities – mini disco, which was splendid and the kids thoroughly enjoyed it; foam party – great fun, with the wet slide being a particular highlight; and mini disco in the pool, which was also a pleasant diversion. Overall, a definite plus. Hats off to the animation team – they knew how to make the evenings more enjoyable for the little ones. Water park. One of the hotel’s attractions we happily used. of. There were enough slides to ensure the children didn’t have to wait excessively for their turn. There’s a small splash park, with slides tailored to very young children, preschoolers and older kids. Everyone can find something to their taste – adults included. There’s also a drinks kiosk within the park where one can refill water or grab a soft drink.

Service Overall, a plus. Housekeeping: we were satisfied; daily cleaning was adequate. On occasion they removed our used towels but left too few fresh ones, so we were one short, though these were isolated incidents. Reception: I harbour mixed feelings here. On the one hand, there are helpful and competent individuals on duty; on the other, there were some peculiar slip‑ups – for instance, when booking a table at an à la carte restaurant. We had explicitly requested a large table for two families. Since we were staying in two separate rooms, there were to be two separate bookings with a note that the table should be suitably large. And, unsurprisingly, at the restaurant there was considerable surprise – the staff and the manager were unaware we wished to dine together. Fortunately, it was all resolved promptly, aided by the fact that the restaurant wasn’t at full capacity that evening, but a certain aftertaste remained. Bar staff, waiters and other employees were a definite plus. Everyone was helpful, smiling and performed their duties well.

Great hotel - animation team was first rate - really inclusive, cleanliness of resort notable - everyone seems focused on delivering their roles well. The pool down by the beach offers chic vibes with extra comfy loungers whilst the main pool is more upbeat - the kids loved the slides and lazy river too. Variety of à la carte and buffet restaurants meant this is hard to fault. Good evening entertainment including the more relaxed but live entertainment reception bar.

Let’s start right from our arrival. After getting to the hotel via airport transfer, the lobby made a very positive first impression with its fresh, modern look. Unfortunately, that’s where the problems began. Communication with the reception staff was quite difficult. Our room wasn't ready yet, which was understandable since we arrived early. We were directed to the dining area for the ongoing lunch, so we went. The buffet area was cramped, and the food selection was poor—missing basic dishes that most people would naturally look for. However, once we reluctantly picked a few things, the food actually turned out to be tasty. It’s just a shame there wasn’t enough variety for everyone to find something they liked. There were a lot of families with small children—after all, it’s a family-oriented hotel. On a few occasions, we were almost hit by food thrown by kids, though that’s more about a lack of parental supervision :-) Back in the lobby, we were called over to reception to get our key. The receptionist simply pointed out on a map which of the twenty buildings our room was in. Nobody offered to help us with our luggage, leaving us to figure out the way on our own. Walking past the crowded pools and buildings, we quickly realized that the lobby was the only part of the hotel that looked nice from the outside. The rest of the infrastructure was old, outdated, run-down, and honestly quite repulsive. The walk to our room was definitely longer than the 150-meter distance to the beach advertised by TUI. Checking Google Maps later showed it was around 300 meters from the lobby to the beach, so the official description is quite misleading. When we reached our room, the first impression was interesting—you enter directly from outside rather than from an indoor corridor, which felt unique. I inserted the key card into the slot and turned on the air conditioner. It was very old, yellowed, and dirty. Even set to the lowest temperature (18°C) and maximum power, it barely blew any air… We then opened the mini-fridge, which was also yellowed, dirty-looking, and hot on the inside with cracked plastic. It barely cooled anything throughout our entire stay. We soon noticed that removing the key card cuts power to everything in the room, including the fridge, which really ought to run continuously. Opening the balcony door also automatically shut off the AC, even though there were times we would have preferred to keep both open. The bathroom was off-putting and didn't look clean at all. The hairdryer was literally attached to the wall with silicone or glue, leaving a huge, messy streak of dried grey adhesive across half the wall. Regulating the water temperature was nearly impossible because the faucet barely responded—or did so with a one-minute delay. Housekeeping was virtually non-existent. All they did was empty the trash bins and make the bed. They never swept the floor or wiped down surfaces, which were already dusty when we arrived. Our towels weren't changed once during our entire week-long stay. The only positive was a 1.5L bottle of water dropped off every two days. The location itself isn't great. The nearest beach was stony, poorly maintained, and not really usable. The closest shops were about a kilometer away. The only real upside was the bus stop located directly outside the hotel :-). As a side note, a loud alarm went off in our building during the night. It blared for about an hour, waking up the entire neighborhood, yet no staff member came to check on us or address the situation promptly. We definitely do not recommend the Mikri Poli hotel. This wasn't our first trip to Greece, and frankly, even 3-star hotels we've stayed at before were much better than this one :-).