Insula Alba Resort & Spa

We came to the Insula Alba Resort hotel for a few relaxing days. We E-Mailed the hotel before our arrival that we are newly weds, and they fixed up our room in a lovely way, offered complimentary massages and a bottle of wine to the room. This was a very pleasant beginning to our stay. As we were not sure where to go and what to see, we spoke to the front desk team quite a lot, and they were very helpful and friendly. I would like to point out Vera, Irina & Eva that gave us great tips and visiting places which we went to and had a great time. The breakfast was great, dinner was OK. Since there's not a lot of non-touristic restaurants in walking distance, I would still recommend to try the dinner for one night. The hotel itself has a large parking space (free), offers room service which is fantastic and fresh. The hotel is clean, has a nice scent in the lobby and offered a high quality stay.
One thing I would change is that the quality of the towels should be higher. I imagine that with a hotel that has so many rooms with private\semi private swimming pools it's hard to keep a good level of towels but I would still expect it, at least for the bath robes and the towels in the shower. Wi-Fi is also quite poor.

Amazing staff , friendly , helping and guiding.
The service was perfect, keeping high standards
The pool and the bar providing good entertainment
The spa was excellent
Each night after dinner there was different singer in the pool area
The breakfast and dinners were excellent diverse food.

I have just returned from a 12 day break at this hotel and can highly recommend to anyone that is looking for a very peaceful, easy, relaxing holiday. The hotel is extremely presentable, clean, smart, minimalistic, WHITE and smells gorgeous when you enter the reception. The spa is beautiful with a gym. The pool area is gorgeous, well kept, lovely view overlooking the sea and very serene.
The staff at the hotel are professional, friendly and hardworking, the service is very good indeed. One particular person stood out a mile and that is Manos who runs the bar during the day, he literally is the hotel star, extremely professional, friendly, engaging, very warm and welcoming and a real asset to the hotel, he is so lovely to all the guests and makes a huge effort to be very personable with everyone. WELL DONE MANOS.
The chaps who run the bar in the evening are also lovely Costas and Georgiou, again both are friendly and hard working and great fun with the guests.

The staff at breakfast and dinner are also very friendly in particular Louisa and Monika, thank you ladies for your services and being so lovely.

The room was in the PERFECT location and only one of 4 that walk out onto the main pool area so my daughter and I were absolutely delighted with the this and we enjoyed having the best view in the house along with being able to retreat to our room or patio area next to the pool on over-sized very comfortable bean bags!! The pool area did become full most days and people definitely do reserve beds, I was up early everyday to take advantage of a beautiful walk along the beach every morning before breakfast which was a real treat to start the day, there were already people swimming early and some had put towels on beds but I suspect these are guests that don’t have the swim up pools to their rooms.
Overall there are plenty of beds, double beds and bean bags around the pool and it’s wasn’t overcrowded, some days were quieter than others.

The rooms are clean, minimal furniture and smart washrooms, the bed was extremely comfortable with decent pillows which makes all the difference! Spacious room with everything you need including iron!!

The dining area is big and there is another smaller restaurant by the sea however we used the main one which served a buffet every evening of good quality food which a good selection.
I would say the food is nearly the same every night with a little variation but plenty of choice and all fresh and tasty.
The desserts are very well presented and the restaurant staff are all very pleasant and polite, breakfast is the same and the selection is good, plenty of fresh fruit etc..
One small observation I would like to make is the chap that makes the omelettes (which I highly recommend they are delicious ) needs either another person to help and extra space as sometimes you can be waiting up to 20 minutes for an omelette which is excessive! I would recommend the waffle/pancake man swaps places and install an extra hob! I had an omelette most days and had to pretty much queue nearly every day after 9am!! Sometimes 7/8 people are waiting at a time.

The last thing that is a negative for me personally are the reception staff, they are all smiles and polite but not very well trained in my opinion, when you travel to a place for a break and spend nearly two weeks somewhere at the very least when your guests are checking out I would expect at least a thank you for your stay and to make sure we enjoyed our holiday and have a safe journey home... this is just basic manners really, the chaps that take you to your room with your cases and collect you are better than the reception staff because they actually speak to you and ask questions etc... strange that the reception don’t!

Finally the location is probably not the best place to stay on the island however the hotel makes up for it and you can hire a car which is what we did and this gives you the freedom to enjoy other beaches and sites further away. I would recommend using Speed the car hire company next door... they are much cheaper than Tui’s prices which start at €81 for the day, the Hire place next door charge from €30 per day, including everything, insurance and no excess! I paid 50 Euros and had the cabriolet for the day which was fun and they are really quick in there and get you going in a matter of minutes. I put €15 of fuel and this lasted the whole day and went back with more fuel than when we started.

The drinks at the hotel are expensive so I bought bottled water next door in the supermarket which is just outside the hotel to the right when you come out the pool way by the beach, 50cents for a bottle and the hotel charge €3!

I hope I have covered everything but please do ask questions if you have any.

The room is clean and big enough
The food, both breakfast and dinner are more then great.
The staff are very nice and helpfully.
I recommend this hotel if you're looking for some quality time with your partner. It's romantic and quiet.
The only problems I can think about are the cool water of the swimming pool and the beach, which its rocky and not that clean (not a private beach).

We really enjoyed our stay at Insula Alba. From the moment we arrived the staff was more than accommodating. Every need was taken care of immediately with a smile. Our room was excellent, spacious with a bedroom loft, an upstairs and downstairs stairs bathroom, (which my wife loved).

The hotel is centrally located and you can walk across the street from hotel to catch the bus for any excursion.

The restaurants were very good, the buffet changed the menu every night, and if you get back late, the Azure Restaurant, that looks directly onto the beach is open late nights till 11.

Crete was too big to see in this one week visit,, so we'll return and we'll definitely be staying at Insula Alba.

I have just returned from a 7 night stay in the Insula Alba Hotel in Crete, what can I say it was the most relaxing and beautiful hotel. We were upgraded to a swim up room which was fabulous The rooms are beautifully decorated and very spacious and cleaned thoroughly every day.. The staff are all so friendly and helpful and nothing was to much bother for them. The beach is situated right across the road from the hotel. If you are looking for a lovely relaxing holiday I would recommend you stay here I would give it 10/10.