Grand Blue Beach Hotel

A 5 star 🌟 experience ! Just returned after a wonderful 8 days at the Grand Blue Beach Hotel, as a family of four. Any worries we had from negative reviews were unfounded-our stay was amazing! The location and setting is stunning, with breathtaking sea views. Our room was clean, spacious, and modern, with fantastic air conditioning and a comfortable balcony. We had daily water replenished by a lovely maid, who worked hard and was super friendly. We mainly used the top pool, which was peaceful, and relaxing. I would suggest more loungers and umbrellas are added , as there is the space available. Restaurant and bar staff were all attentive, friendly and hardworking, and the all-inclusive buffet exceeded expectations with varied dishes, including Greek specialties, plus snacks and drinks all day. The much-mentioned hill is manageable, a sloped 5 minute walk with great views, or you can take a buggy. Other pools looked beautiful and well kept. The gym was well equipped , and the reception area was a a lovely calm space, again with very helpful staff. There is a shop at the bottom of the complex which is well stocked. The local area was lovely. A gentle 10 -15 minute walk to Kardamina brings you to shops, bars and lovely restaurants. And some nice beaches along the way. Overall we were delighted with our recent stay and will definitely be returning.

From the moment we arrived for our 2-week stay we felt very well looked after. Reviews we had read before hand had made us apprehensive but we needn't have been. The room (standard twin & double) was beautifully clean, newly refurbished and very comfortable with a safe, kettle, tea, coffee, local hand cream, liquid soap and daily room service by the lovely Ava. Unlike our TUI Blue adults only hotel last year, water bottles were left in the mini fridge in the room and you were never charged for water which was readily available from hot/cold water dispensers. Other family members had deluxe room & family room that had slightly bigger floor space and a coffee machine, but otherwise very similar. The restaurant staff worked so hard, in particular for us Yannis and Eleni who made us feel very welcome. Yes, it got busy, and sometimes they may have run out of plates, cutlery or a certain dish, but within minutes these were replenished. The food was surprisingly good, there was something for everyone, the quality and variation of the food impressed us. We stayed half board - breakfast and then either lunch or dinner. The entertainment team (Maureen and Caryn) were around from morning pool games to aqua aerobics & afternoon water polo. The evening entertainment was small but varied. The bar pool staff - Tom and Marvin stood out - were friendly and lively. Lots of people mention the hill, it is a long slope, but worth it for the lovely views from the restaurant. Golf-carts were available to take me up or back on the days I couldn't manage the walk (I have mobility issues) - the only time the wait was longer was if it was checkout / check-in time as they were busy delivering people & luggage. The pools are all clean and tidied every day. The pool lounger situation varied, the first week we were able to find loungers at 10:30, but the second week most were already in use by 7:30am. The Azure pool says it is the adult corner, but as it is not signposted it was full of children. We ended up using the Sea Breeze Bar pool - it was lively during aqua aerobics and water polo, but pretty chilled the rest of the time (although there were a couple of days when the music was playing at a very high volume which meant it was hard to relax). What we found were that any requests were met with kindness and efficiency. Eva, the reception manager, and the reception were reassuring and efficient at answering any questions & doing their best to sort out any issues (like when the pipe popped off under our sink - it was quickly cleaned and towels we had to put down replaced with clean ones). Entertainment didn't appear on the app we were told to download, but reception staff have a hard copy - so definitely ask for this when you arrive. If you are half board the supermarket on the boundary of the hotel stocks most things you need and prices are similar to those in the village. The walk to the village is flat along the sea front and only a 20 minute walk. The beach is small, there are some rocks, but the water is clear with fish and you can find easy entry points Overall - we feel it deserves it's 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐.

We have just returned from a fantastic week at the grand blue! I did lots of research and read lots of reviews on here before booking. As our holiday date got closer I kept checking for new reviews and started to worry as there were negative reviews coming through. However I am so happy I chose this hotel. From start to finish we have had the best time. We are a family of 4 ( 2 year old and 9 year old). We arrived at the hotel late at night, was only a 15 minute transfer from the airport. Reception was helpful and gave us lunch boxes that had sandwiches and fruit. The sandwiches were good, if a tad dry. The fruit was very soft and wrinkly and we did not eat any of them which was a shame (apples and oranges) We were given 2 room cards and provided with a secret code to access the WiFi - please note the WiFi is awful, it comes and goes. Sometimes connects and sometimes does not. Not the end of the world but when you need it for the little ones it's a pain. A buggy took us to our room (210). Our junior suite was perfect. Very clean and spacious. Sofas that were beds for the kids, a large bathroom that had a bath which was essential with young kids. A separate bedroom, spacious balcony and then lots of wardrobe space/drawers/shelves and a mini fridge. Water bottles were in our room, it would be beneficial if these were placed in the fridge so cold . The chain lock on our room was broken which was not ideal with a 2 year old who can open doors, but a visit to reception quickly resolved this as a handyman sorted it immediately. Very impressed with how quickly this was fixed. We were very happy with the location of our room - near to the sea breeze bar and pool. This is where we spent majority of our days and evenings. Also close to the mini market and road that leads to kardamena and the beach. This meant we had to walk up the very steep hill to the restaurant which is located at the top of the hill. I knew from reviews we would have this steep incline and although hard in the heat, it only took us 5 mins and we didn't mind, even with the pushchair. On days we did not want to walk we rang reception and requested a buggy, which always arrived within 5-10 mins. Food was fantastic in my opinion! Not a massive variety in comparison to previous all inclusive hotels we have been to, but this was better as you didn't overfill your plate, and the quality of the food was brilliant. Fresh hot Snacks at the seabreeze bar were limited to either burgers on some days, or wraps on other days. And ice cream was available all day which the kids made the most of!! There were also hot snacks kept in a hot counter that you could help yourself to - the pastries/pies were lovely! One thing I will say that I think needed improvement was the animation team for entertainment. It seemed there were only 2 ladies running this throughout the day, at kids club and for evening mini disco. Perhaps a larger team would be beneficial. When we went to kids club one day, there were no kids. And the lady seemed surprised we were there. Evening entertainment was good with external performers. I would have loved daily bingo though. Quizzes, karaoke etc. These would have been fun and added to our holiday! One thing I will also add, is the hotels beach is very small and rocky, and entering the sea is difficult due to varying levels of rocks within the sea. Not ideal with kids. Water shoes are a must. We ventured further down the road to find a sandier stretch, and were kicked off as apparently this was private belonging to next doors hotel (no signage to state this). You can go into kardamena and use the sandy beach there as a customer at one of the bars - we did not do this in the end but the option was there. I definitely recommend walking into kardamena. (Left at the bottom of the hotel past the mini market). There is so much choice of restaurants and bars. We went to Melissa on the beach and the seafood was beautiful. We also went to the stone roses bar further in the square. Also the fish spa is great fun and inexpensive. There are several souvenir/clothes/market stalls too and the marina is lovely to walk around. The pool areas are good for the kids and so is the park area. Shallow kids pools are great. Sea breeze has the better one in my opinion as it is slightly deeper for us parents getting in with them too, the top pool by the restaurant is a great size, the kids pool at the top is very very shallow. You can reserve beds no problem as long as you will actually use the beds. Please don't be those people who reserve beds and then not turn up until the afternoon as this can be frustrating. On days we came later to the pool and there were no beds, we just headed to the bar and had a table in the shade which was OK, but seeing the beds unoccupied for hours is annoying. The free unlimited access to the lido waterpark is great. You need to reserve the spaces on the free bus by the night before, and then you are picked up from reception at 9am. It is roughly 20 mins to lido, and the park opens at 10am, so there is a wait on arrival fyi (we did not know this beforehand). You are collected at 2.30pm which is plenty of time to experience everything on offer. On our final day we checked out by 11am, and used the luggage room and shower facilities near the fitness centre. Please note there is only 1 shower in the ladies and 1 shower in the mens, i would suggest removing one of the toilets (3 in each room) to add an additional shower to each. Overall, I would highly recommend this hotel to anyone. The staff are friendly, the facilities are great. The food is delicious. The unlimited ice cream is a godsend with the kids. 10/10 for me!!

A lovely peaceful holiday. Beautiful setting, good sized, clean pools (3), spacious room (junior suite), nice food (AI but good choice/ variety), friendly, helpful staff especially lady on reception, nice bars, easy walk to Kardamena which has plenty of souvenir type shops, restuarants, bars and a harbour. Having read the reviews in advance, I was a bit concerned about the hotel but was pleasantly surprised. It was lovely, everything was clean and peaceful, staff were helpful and food, whilst perhaps not the best I've ever had, was still good. The restuarants had great views with plenty of staff on hand to provide drinks, clear plates etc. One benefit of the hotel was free access to the waterpark which was a fun morning out unlike the trip to the volcano which was disappointing and far longer than it needed to be. However the hotel was fab. We loved the pools, enjoyed the stunning scenery and had a great week. 2 possible areas for improvement. 1. The late breakfast was v slow at the a la carte restuarant (tasty but slow) and 2. The hotel is as steep as everyone says. A little train or a constant run of buggys during meal times would be welcome! You can call them and they do come quickly but a serviced buggy stop might minimise the hill comments! All in all a fab holiday. Thank you Grand Blue!