The Island Hotel  

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Part of our Platinum range, The Island Hotel scores a double coup – a beachside setting and design-led interiors.

This beachfront hotel has a pared-back exterior of whitewashed walls and mosaic-stone pillars. But the style’s ramped right up inside. Think contemporary furniture, polished wood floors and spot-lit ceilings.

The dining scene is made up of a buffet restaurant, an Italian place, a taverna and a laid-back eatery by the pool. You’ve got a good tally of activities in the day, and there’s easy-going entertainment come sundown.

TripAdvisor Traveller Rating

Based On 2019 reviews

  • Official Rating
  • 31Buildings
  • 298Rooms

Platinum

Holidays in premium hotels

  • 4T and 5T hotels
  • Minimum 4/5 Trip Advisor score
  • Luxury properties
  • 20kg luggage allowance with TUI

Find out more about Platinum »

 

Fruit and Wine Offer

If you're a returning customer, you'll receive a bottle of wine and fruit basket in your room.

Birthday Offer

If you are celebrating your birthday during your holidays, you will receive a cake - either in your room or served with dinner.

Food & Drink

Dining options Breakfast Lunch Evening meal Drinks Snacks
Half Board ✔ ✔

Buffet breakfast and dinner, with 1 visit to the Taverna à la carte restaurant per stay.   

Facilities ► View all

3 outdoor pools

With showers, double daybeds, sunbeds, parasols and double hammocks.

The Kitchen buffet restaurant

This is the main restaurant serving Cretan buffet breakfast and dinner. Just so you know, there's a smart casual evening dress code here with long trousers for men.

The Stone*

This eatery is contemporary in style, with natural tones running throughout. It offers Mediterranean dishes all day with waiter service.

Rooms ► View all

Double Room with Garden View and Balcony or Terrace

Styled with modern furniture and warm tones, these stylish garden-view double rooms come with a balcony or terrace offering outside space. They feature air-conditioning, satellite TV, Wi-Fi, bathrobes and slippers. There's also 1 sofa-bed or armchair bed in the bedroom.

Double Room with Sea View and Balcony or Terrace

Styled with modern furniture and warm tones, these stylish sea-view double rooms come with a balcony or terrace offering outside space. They feature air-conditioning, satellite TV, Wi-Fi, bathrobes and slippers. There's also a sofa-bed or armchair in the bedroom.

Half Board From

£ 479pp

What is this price

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AT A GLANCE

  • Adults only
  • On the beach
  • 4 restaurants

LOCATION

  • On the beach
  • 19km to Heraklion city centre

See more about the location »

Map of The Island Hotel See places to go »

Weather

Average monthly temperature and rainfall for Gouves.

TEMPERATURE (°C)RAINFALL (mm)

MonthTemperatureRainfall
JAN 15.0 87.0
FEB 15.0 70.0
MAR 17.0 48.0
APR 20.0 25.0
MAY 24.0 12.0
JUN 27.0 1.0
JUL 29.0 0.0
AUG 29.0 1.0
SEP 27.0 11.0
OCT 24.0 46.0
NOV 20.0 66.0
DEC 17.0 97.0

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TripAdvisor Reviews Show more reviews »

Immaculate service and incredible staff.

To be fair, this review was for a 10 day period where the weather was not particularly good, some sunny days but an underlying cool north wind. Unfortunately I suffered with back spasms which required a Doctor and consequently medical aid and a stay in hospital. Throughout this period the Hotel management were in contact with me for updates. My wife remained at the Hotel and recieved first class consideration for the predicament we were in. Upon my return our room was changed so that I could use the elevators instead of stairs. Nothing was too much trouble for the staff in fact they seemed to revel in responsibilty due to our adversity. It is fair to say that they surpassed their mission statement! I will now comment on the Hotel in general. Their are 3 pools with ample sunbeds and also on the beach which is directly outside and over the road more sunbeds which are free and have a lifeguard on duty at all times. The gardens are well tended and attractive and compliment the style of the Hotels design. The resturant has indoor, outdoor and a secluded area for quiet intimate dinners. The service in the resturants was first class, a much varied menu of local and international food to satisfy all requirements. It is self service and therefore you have whatever you want to satisfy your appetite. Plates are removed and discreetly cleared immeadiately. We even had room service when I was immobile. You are greeted at the resturant by Julia who has friendliest manner and she quickly gets to know everyone's name and preference to where you like to be seated. All the resturant staff work with a smile on their faces and aim to please, nothing is too much trouble. It is fair to say that the quality of this Hotel is reflected by all of its staff, from the management to the porters to the chambermaids and of course the chefs, waiters and waitresses. Thank you all for making our stay, albeit a memorable one for the wrong reasons, comfortable, warm and friendly, and this was at the end of a long season for them, well done, you earn your stars!More

“”

Philip B,

friendly and welcoming

Attracted by the appeal of NO CHILDREN, we spent the first two weeks of October here on a half board basis and despite the reservations expressed herein, we would stay here again. There are quite a few restaurants nearby for those preferring just a bed and breakfast arrangement. No loud music so quite peaceful although it is directly under the flight path of planes departing from Heraklion airport. Transfer from the airport to the resort is about 20 minutes. The site covers quite a large area and was well maintained. The reception area is at one end of the site whilst the 293 rooms are spread out across the rest of the campus in two storey buildings. A contiguous construction site suggests the hotel could cover an even larger area in the future. The main restaurant - The Kitchen - where breakfast and dinner is served, is next to Reception and overlooks the sandy beach which is literally just across the road from the hotel. All the staff we encountered were very friendly, welcomimg and helpful. Our room seemed about 400 yards from Reception along a long and winding path and there were still a good number of rooms beyond us. We were fortunate it didn't rain during our stay. The route to and from the restaurant contained a quite lot of steps, but there was always a ramp beside each one. The path was washed down every day, so water must be cheaper here than in the UK. Our room was clean and comfortable but was not large. There was limited storage and limited places to hang towels, wet clothing, etc.. Queen size bed. The bathroom arrangement was rather bizarre - entry through an open doorway; the toilet was very small but did have a door; a bath / shower and a circular wash basin. What was bizarre was that the wash basin could also be accessed from the bedroom, i.e. you could see directly into the bedroom from the bathroom. The opening could be covered by a flimsy roller blind on the bedroom side. The room had aircon, wifi, TV, coffee making facilities, a hair dryer, a small fridge, a safe and about 4 plug sockets. The wifi was not great, often slow or just dropped out. The fridge struggled to keep its contents cold and emitted a good deal of heat in an enclosed space. A free bottle of water was provided every day. Thomson / Tui described our room as having a terrace with garden view. The terrace was 3' x 4', enough for two chairs, plus a table sat on the paving in front of them. It was always in the shade. There was just 20' between the exterior wall of our room and the building opposite - so that was our view. In between was the busy path to and from Reception and either side of that a row of shrubs. So something of a cave, hardly a terrace, hardly a garden view, and certainly not at all private. There are 3 outdoor swimming pools, all immaculately kept. Plenty of sun loungers, double beds (literally) and the odd hammock. The beds had mattresses and pillows covered with good quality leather and were cleaned most days. It was forbidden to leave towels on the loungers and beds to reserve them but this was not very well enforced. The water in the pools was much colder than the sea even in October. Beach towels were initially provided in the room could be changed as required at The Bathhouse. There is an indoor pool here (also cold water) but I think this is intended more for guests paying to use the sauna and steam room. There was a programme of activities plus a gym, tennis court, a volleyball / basketball court, a games room, darts, table tennis, a library and possibly the smallest church in the world. There is also a shop (non-food) that surprisingly sold current English newspapers. The Kitchen Restaurant offers a self service buffet with food plentiful. Breakfast was excellent; dinner was far from gourmet. The dinner menu was varied featuring a different central spread for each night of the week, namely Greek, Indian, Cretan, Italian, Mexican, Asian and French cuisine, but other dishes were always available. Most of these international dishes did not live up to expectations through a combination of appearance, taste, and quality of the meat. In the second week we concentrated more on the "other dishes", but some of these failed to meet expectations as well, for example, Yorkshire Pudding was served with poor quality roast pork as a substitute for beef. There was always a wide range of desserts. There are more outside tables than inside tables at the restaurant and this caused queues on the one occasion that outside tables were not in favour because of the weather conditions. Men must wear long trousers for dinner, but it seems that any old trousers will do and any old T-shirt! The Taverna Restaurant opens two nights each week for a Cretan Evening. Each guest is allowed one visit during their stay, booked through Reception. This is a fixed menu, four courses, with waiter service although there was a choice of meat, fish or vegetarian main course. Especially since this was a fixed menu, the time between courses was totally unacceptable, and the food didn't justify the wait. The less said about the main course the better. The delay in serving the dessert was then such that we eventually lost the will to live and just walked out, hotly persued by a distraught head waiter who couldn't understand how anyone could do such a thing. There are a number of supermarkets nearby, including one opposite the entrance to the hotel car park. There is also a van that positions itself close to the beach at lunchtime that sells fruit. Nothing to do with the hotel, but ... There is a travel shop close by that offers the same or similar excursions as the holiday rep and more besides. We went on one to Heraklion Museum and Knossos that was just about half the price of that offered by the holiday rep. This trip is where Minoan civilisation meets Greek Mythology. Artefacts from the palace at Knossos are displayed in the museum. Sun hat and sensible shoes are recommended for Knossos. There is a motorised train offering a 'classic tour of Gouves' that leaves from the beach road in front of the hotel. This is a circular tour lasting 75 minutes, costs €9, and runs several times a day. Not recommended. It is an underwhelming experience and is very uncomfortable. Heraklion Airport is not fit for purpose. Steer clear of the toilets.More

“”

Ron C, 186395

Chilled out holiday in the sun!

We visited in September 2016 and we had perfect weather. The food was incredible at the resort. Location is not ideal if you want to explore as there is literally nothing around you but if you want a chill out in the pool then its ideal. Would recommend for a chilled few days. We went for a week and that was too long really. Few days would have been perfect.More

“”

PCarterCornwall, 1012061

Awesome hotel with friendly staff

This is a really nice hotel for staying in the staff were very friendly and welcoming. The rooms were very tidy and clean and everywhere we went the staff looked after us. The food in the restaurant was very good we had to wait a bit for omelette but it didn’t matter. Overall a really comfortable stay the dj who played by the pool wasn’t really good we thought he played rock music .More

“”

Christopher M,

2nd Visit

Wonderful second visit to this lovely hotel. Great staff, couldn't be friendlier or more helpful. Dining experience was excellent, lots of varied hot & cold dishes. Beautiful surrounding, plenty of pool area's & all clean & tidy. My only complaint was the Wifi, intermittent signal in the bedrooms. Thoroughly enjoyed our time at The Island.More

“”

Trisha_sm, 187056

See all 2019 reviews »

Things To Do View all »

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The Island Hotel
Rated: 4.5 /5 based on 2019 customer reviews
from £ 479.40

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