Eftalia Aqua Resort

We have just returned from a fantastic 10-night stay at Eftalia Aqua as a party of 7, and overall we had an amazing holiday. We’ve stayed at Splash twice before, so we already knew we loved the Eftalia concept, but Aqua certainly didn’t disappoint.

We arrived around 3:30am by private transfer. A quick tip for anyone travelling from Scotland – take English pound notes, as our transfer driver wasn’t keen to accept Scottish notes. The reception staff were absolutely brilliant and helped explain that we genuinely had nothing else. They couldn’t have been more helpful. We were offered a room upgrade, but we were perfectly happy with our double room and declined. Even at that time of the morning, Burgerland was open and we were encouraged to grab some food and drinks while our luggage was taken to our rooms, which was a lovely welcome after travelling.

The hotel itself is spotless and every member of staff we encountered was friendly and welcoming. One of our children was supposed to be sharing with adults in another room but completely refused! The hotel arranged an extra pull-out bed in our room without any fuss whatsoever, which we really appreciated.

Food was another highlight. We have a few fussy children and still managed to find something for everyone every single day. Although some meals looked different, many had similar flavours, but everything we tried was delicious. Even when the main restaurant was closed, there were always snack bars and Burgerland available, so there was never a shortage of places to eat.

We spent most of our holiday around the hotel pools. The children absolutely loved the slides, and there was plenty of space to swim around them as well. Our only slight downside was that the large adults’ pool is on the opposite side of the hotel from the children’s area, so we couldn’t really leave the kids while we enjoyed a proper swim because, according to them, “that side is boring!” That’s purely a layout issue rather than a complaint. I would highly recommend bringing or buying swim shoes, as the pool surrounds can be very slippery. We did witness a few falls, but the lifeguards and staff responded incredibly quickly every time. The pool water was lovely and refreshing, although it could get quite warm later in the day.

We also spent some time over at Eftalia Island. Personally, we preferred lunch at the Island food court over the hotel for lunchtime options. The pools there just weren’t quite as suited to our children’s ages, as they were more spread out, much deeper and felt almost like getting into a warm bath! That is entirely personal preference though and certainly wouldn’t put us off visiting the Island.

The entertainment throughout the holiday was excellent. We split our evenings between the hotel and the Island, and all of the dance shows were fantastic. Our favourite was definitely the magician, who had our youngest completely mesmerised and trying to work out how every trick was done!

Although our children chose to spend virtually all of their time in the pool, the Kids Club staff were brilliant. They made a real effort to involve them, remembered who they were and always stopped to chat whenever they saw them around the hotel or in the evenings. Our children are naturally quite shy, so the fact they actually wanted to join in says everything about how approachable and friendly the team are.

The spa was another standout experience. We ladies booked a therapy massage package and the children joined us for bubble massages and chocolate face masks. Our 8-year-old was so relaxed she nearly fell asleep! It was such a lovely experience for all of us.

If you’re staying here, do yourself a favour and book the Steakhouse. We visited for my 40th birthday and it was honestly one of the highlights of our holiday. Sam couldn’t have been more helpful. We were even able to have four family members staying at Marin join us, despite them booking later and not being able to get into Aqua. My husband arranged the birthday package, and everything was perfect. At €28 per adult and €10 per child, we enjoyed seven courses with unlimited drinks, and I can honestly say it was the best steak I’ve ever eaten.

The beach is also lovely. I’d recommend walking a little further towards the Aqua underpass rather than entering directly opposite the pools, as it’s much sandier and quieter. The section nearest the pools has quite a lot of rocks and pebbles, whereas further along it’s much nicer for swimming.

The only area that could be improved was housekeeping. The rooms themselves were always cleaned well and the beds made nicely, but service wasn’t particularly consistent. After leaving a €5 tip on our first day, we received extra Coke, Fanta, water and a lovely towel display. On the following days it was just the basics, and towards the end of our stay we weren’t even left fresh towels one day and had to ask reception to bring some. Unfortunately, our son’s phone also disappeared during our stay, and the room telephone had somehow been pulled out of the socket, meaning we couldn’t call reception. While this was disappointing, it didn’t overshadow what was otherwise an incredible holiday.

Overall, we absolutely love the Eftalia resorts, and Aqua was another fantastic stay. The staff, facilities, food, entertainment and atmosphere made for a brilliant family holiday. Would we return? Absolutely! Although we’re also curious to try some of the other Eftalia hotels in the future. Thank you to everyone at Eftalia Aqua for helping us make some amazing family memories.

We are a family off 11 ranging from 75yrs old to 6yrs old. The Entertainment staff are amazing and special mention to Rita who has constantly checked in on us, included us in all fun pool activities and has spent a lot of time getting to know us, she is amazing and such an asset to the resort, she works very hard and we love her aqua aerobics, Zumba and yoga classes. We would all definitely return just to see Rita