Aquila Porto Rethymno

What a hotel! I can’t recommend it highly enough. Having been in the travel industry for the past 25 years, I’ve been fortunate to visit many destinations and stay at a wide range of hotels — but this one truly stands out. From the moment I arrived, the level of service was nothing short of exceptional. The entire team, including the General Manager, go above and beyond to ensure every guest receives a truly high-end experience. Their teamwork and dedication are evident in every detail — they work tirelessly to deliver excellence. The hotel is also ideally located in Rethymno, making it a perfect base for exploring the area. The restaurant offers a consistently high standard of food, and the à la carte menu is truly exceptional. I’d especially like to mention the lovely Toula, whose service was amazing. The bar staff, particularly Stella, are a real credit to the hotel — always friendly, attentive, and professional. If you're looking for a relaxing beach holiday, look no further. While the hotel is conveniently close to town, it also boasts direct access to a beautiful sandy beach. Free sunbeds with plenty of shade are always available — no need to rush down early in the morning to reserve one! The beach bar staff are always on hand to provide drinks and fruit on several days, adding to the laid-back, vibe, beautiful sandy beach and sea to swim. We stayed in a sea-view room, which was bright, airy, and very spacious. Traveling with our 20-year-old son, we had three beds in the room and still had plenty of space, along with a modern walk-in shower. What impressed us most, however, was how the hotel catered to our son’s dietary needs. He has PKU (a protein intolerance), and I’ve never stayed at a hotel before that took his dietary requirements so seriously. The chef went out of his way to ensure every meal was not only suitable but also varied and enjoyable. This level of care and attention meant the world to us. I truly cannot recommend this hotel highly enough. It offers the perfect combination of location, outstanding service, excellent food, and genuine hospitality. We can’t wait to return! If you're looking for quality, service, and a memorable stay, this hotel should be at the top of your list

We were very satisfied with the hotel. We also received an upgrade to the Penthouse, which was very good. In addition we had another room on the top floor directly to the beach. The hotel provided lots of complementary drinks, fruit and sweets in both rooms. Only negative was two of the staff in the breakfast room. They looked like they had very bad days at work, not friendly service at all.

This was a first visit to Crete. I was expecting a quiet, small town, but was pleasantly surprised by how interesting, buzzy, friendly and beautiful Rethymnon was. Our hotel has been fabulous. The staff are so friendly and helpful and our room cleaner was such a lovely lady, always ready to listen to our questions and answer if possible. The beds are very very comfortable and a choice of pillows. Aircon works well and was needed in the hour before sleep. Shower room was spacious and had lovely body wash and conditioner. Plenty of room for our luggage and clothes in the storage area. Free safe (which is unusual these days!). Good sized fridge and the kettle, although a little bit unusual in so far as it looks more like a coffee machine, did the job it was supposed yo. The food choices were varied and some beautiful dishes to choose from. The desserts were mini masterpieces and almost too good to eat. Chocolate fountain every evening and lots of cheese choices for a cheeseboard. There is only one complaint. Being teetotal, my husband and I find it more cost effective to go half board. In every hotel I have ever been in, you could order a carafe of water to drink with your meal and I have never been charged. The alternative is to take my own alcohol free drink into the restaurant with no complaints from the staff. Not so at this hotel. You either ordered a bottle of still water which was €5 for a litre bottle or went without. A pack of six 1.5 litre bottles of still water in the supermarket was €2.15 so the mark up is ridiculous. It was such a shame as this left a sour taste in the mouth after finding every other aspect of this hotel and Rethmno unforgettable for the right reasons. Even so, we have already decided to book another visit here next May and hope that the water situation is changes. All in all though this is a fabulous hotel and I agree with all of the other wonderful reviews.

Really enjoyed our week's holiday here. So much to see , hotel well located and plenty to explore around. We managed to have coffees & visit bars each day& night with only one repeat visit ! Likes Location / access to beach over road (& free sunbeds !) Location - easy walk to harbour and old town. Hotel is well appointed , nice restaurant & staff attitude throughout was excellent. As we arrived late for evening meal - Hotel provided voucher for use in their restaurant . Less - liked Hotel rooms a bit tired , but clean & comfortable. Over an hour from airport ..by taxi. Entertainment is very low key and may not suit those looking for more ' buzz'. Venetian Harbour - whilst lovely was only place we were constantly called in by staff/ owners ( so we avoided in the end) Having visited many Greece & Islands previously, this area was unknown to us and without doubt , overall the hotel & location had much to offer hence fully deserving of highest rating.

My partner and I have recently come back from this lovely hotel! The location is perfect, it's right on the beach front and only a 15-minute walk from the Old Town. All-inclusive is well worth it, as there are plenty of tasty options day and night to choose from. We ate at the à la carte restaurant one night, and the food was delicious! Drink options are pretty varied at the hotel too. There are two outdoor pools, and although sunbed space is quite limited around the pool, there is also a lovely, clean, and sandy beach over the road with free sunbeds and umbrellas. Thr rooms are also well equipped and cleaned/tidied daily. The most standout thing about this hotel though, is the staff. They are all so friendly, hard-working and attentive. Our interactions with staff from all departments - domestic, catering, bar, reception and management, was always positive, and they were always cheerful and accommodating. This holiday was really special to my partner and I as we got engaged whilst we were away. The general manager ever so kindly upgraded us, so that we had the opportunity to spend a day/night at their sister hotel which was also very nice. This was such a wonderful, unexpected gesture, which made our engagement and holiday even more memorable and enjoyable. We would definitely return to this hotel, and highly recommend it to others visiting Rethymno too!

Location, location, location you don’t need the all-inclusive option. There’s plenty of cheap restaurants and bars all around.

To some people, the pool was cold to me was fine

Just got back from a Wonderful Stay at this Gorgeous Hotel,we were 3 couples from Wales. The food was plentiful and varied, so many choices,pools not huge but a huge private beach opposite with free parasols and sunbeds more than made up for that,location is good,15 minute walk to old town and port. Stand out at this Hotel are the staff,I mean everyone including the managers make you feel so welcome,we loved Nikos at the cafe bar,looked after us so well,Eleni the activities young lady was so positive and energetic,also a special mention to lovely George on the beach who went above and beyond to bring a chair to me at the beach as I have back issues,so kind. We are home now fatter and probably still full of Metaxa and ouzo in our veins lol,Fabulous time.

Well been at this hotel for 10 days Half board where to start first day at breakfast we had to ask 5 times for some coffee, breakfast food was very salty, but the fruit selection was ok. Evening meal you helped yourself as it was buffet, the food was always cold and didn't taste to nice whateva we ate it was very oily rice and not much choice for vegetables, they did have bowl of cold peas in the salad bar each night tho, they did same meal s every day pasta tomato sauce bolognaise sauce. The only thing edible really was the salad as too much salt in the food. The same potato dish, sliced potato's cooked with onions, some nights chips, we had a Greek bbq night and some food was edible, we were charged 12.5 euros for small glass of merlot, drinks were so expensive. Some of the staff were rude and ignored you at times, the room cleaning staff were lovely and nice and polite they did excellent job cleaning room. The hotel is directly on main road so lots of traffic noise all day and night, we paid for sea view room with tui and our room had very limited sideways look sea view I asked for a better sea view and was told I would have to pay to upgrade view no way when already paid. The beach was lovely but across a very busy noisy main road so traffic noise all day on beach spoilt the beach and sunbathing too. We also got stuck in lift but no apologies or anything for that either. The transfer to and from hotel was well over 2 hours by time everyone was picked up and then dropped off we arrived at hotel at 4am. VERY disappointed in this hotel it's definitely not 5 star very expensive and definitely not worth the stay it's spoilt our first holiday in crete to be honest I don't think we will travel here again

Very friendly staff and Management all very good

Vue spectaculaire, personnel très agréable et toujours prêt à aider avec des informations et excellentes suggestions. Service très efficace. Le grand problème est pas de stationnement pour la voiture, très très difficile à trouver un parking.