Ariadne Beach

The food was good, and the hotel was very clean. Staff were extremely friendly, apart from the head waiter. One waiter, George, was quite unfriendly and didn’t treat guests well. We enjoyed our stay, though you do have to pay for the pool sun loungers.

The all-inclusive plan came with plenty of catches. Many alcoholic drinks cost extra, and after 11 PM, drinks at the bar weren’t included at all. Once we checked out on departure day, we also lost access to the all-inclusive services. I’ve never encountered that in more than 30 years of traveling in Greece. The food tasted okay, but there wasn’t much variety, so anyone with dietary restrictions or wanting more choice was out of luck. The beach wasn’t the “beachfront bliss” advertised online, either. It was public and very rocky, with paid sunbeds. Large stones made getting into the sea uncomfortable and even painful. By the pool, there were far too few sunbeds for the number of guests, and the area was too small. People were competing for loungers every morning, which hardly made for a peaceful break. We booked two rooms, with three of us in one. The third person was meant to sleep on a sofa instead of a proper bed, and it hadn’t even been made up. Reception only prepared it with bedding after we called. Housekeeping was unreliable too. Toilet paper wasn’t replenished regularly, and one day we ran out completely. Used toilet paper had to go in a small bathroom bin, which wasn’t emptied daily and became extremely unhygienic. The glasses in our room weren’t cleaned or replaced during our whole week. One room also had cockroaches, enough on its own to warrant a formal complaint. We were very disappointed with our recent stay at Ariadne Beach in Agios Nikolaos, especially after seeing how the hotel promotes itself online. It presents itself as a peaceful adults-only beachfront oasis with a high-quality all-inclusive experience, but our stay didn’t match those promises. For the price, the value was extremely poor. The hygiene, misleading all-inclusive offering, uncomfortable beach, and inadequate facilities left us unable to recommend Ariadne Beach.

The place is very old and in very bad shape. The treatment was terrible, and the staff weren’t cooperative or understanding.

We had a great week on beautiful Crete, and Ariadne deserves thanks for it. The hotel was right by the sea, the location was fantastic, the food was good, and our room was cleaned every day. Everything was great.