Elounda Water Park Residence Hotel

From the hotel, the view is stunning, and the hotel staff I met were perfect—very kind.
At the restaurant, the meals are decent: some products are very good, while others are very bad. Be aware that the all-inclusive drinks are really poor quality—everything, even the sodas, is extremely low-end.
Getting around the hotel is physically demanding because everything is uphill. Access to the beach is really difficult. Yes, there are shuttles, but they are very poorly organized. Personally, I recommend renting a car for all travel needs, even just to go from your room to the hotel restaurant.
Obviously, don’t rent a car through the hotel—go directly through rental companies in town, the prices are better. Don’t forget to take the full insurance with zero excess so you can enjoy your holiday stress-free.

I strongly advise against the Santorini excursion—it’s overcrowded, the time on the island is extremely limited, and it really feels like a tourist scam.
The hotel rooms are very clean.

This hotel offers relatively low prices, so be aware that the clientele may not always be the best—except in June and in September/October (outside school holidays).

When you arrive at the airport, the shuttle to the hotel stops at many other hotels to drop off guests, so the journey is extremely long. You might want to consider booking a private transfer—more expensive, yes, but far more comfortable.

I don’t usually leave reviews, but I feel a responsibility to warn other families after our shocking experience at this resort. We paid nearly £2,000 for a 5-day stay expecting a relaxing, all-inclusive family holiday — what we got was stress, unsafe conditions, and blatant mistreatment. From the moment we arrived, our room was filthy: black mould on the walls, visible stains soaked through the mattress, dirt everywhere, and even our baby’s travel cot and pillow were stained and disgusting. It was genuinely unhygienic and unacceptable. When we asked to change rooms, we were told it wasn’t possible until the next day — instead, they sent a housekeeper to try and “clean” a room that needed to be condemned. The next day, they reluctantly moved us with no apology, barely handed us the new keys, and told us to get on with it. Unfortunately, the second room was just as bad — broken electrical sockets hanging off the walls (incredibly unsafe for our two-year-old) and more general dirt and neglect. At that point, we felt stuck. We’d already paid, and getting a refund or new accommodation was simply not an option. On top of the accommodation issues, we experienced aggressive, unsafe behaviour from two of the resort’s drivers. One particularly angry man with glasses drove off with me alone in the buggy, leaving my partner and baby behind. When I explained he’d left them — and they had the room key — he shouted at me, tutted, and called me “stupid” (which I later had translated from Greek). It was genuinely frightening — so much so that a guest on a nearby balcony asked if I was okay. Another driver (with a slight limp) physically pushed my partner off a shuttle bus while he was holding our baby, simply because she was slightly wet from the pool. Again, this was accompanied by shouting and aggressive tuts. After multiple uncomfortable and frankly scary experiences, we chose to walk up and down the steep hill to our room instead of using the resort transport. And speaking of hills: don’t be fooled by promises of access to Elounda. You’ll be dumped at the top of a steep, winding road with no proper explanation. I witnessed a heavily pregnant woman in tears because they did the same to her — “it’s tough, deal with it” seems to be the attitude. The pool area and water park are dated, poorly maintained, and dangerous. My daughter injured her foot on a broken drainage grid near the pool. No one cared. A side gate, which leads to a dangerous, rubbish-filled rocky drop, is constantly left open — it’s a death trap for children. The kids club? A disaster. While I understand it's for ages 4+, the staff were openly rude. French entertainers tutted when we entered, ignored my daughter entirely, and left us alone in the hut well before their shift ended. She left feeling sad and excluded. This matched the nightly “entertainment” — all exclusively in French, with no effort to include non-French families. As a teacher who works with both French and Greek students,

This place was a huge disappointment. The rooms are modern but tiny for a family of four and the beds were uncomfortably hard. Pools are so salty our kids wouldn’t go in after the second day and the water slides are only really suitable for very small children. The food was poor – nothing to suit Irish or UK tastes – and the dining areas were swarming with flies. We didn’t have these issue at any of the local restaurants. In the end we ate most breakfasts and dinners in the village, which makes a joke of paying for ‘all-inclusive’ . Entertainment is entirely in French, so if you’re not French-speaking you and your kids will be left out. The play area is falling apart and in need of serious maintenance (see photos). We were not given, nor could be find, information about the hotel/resort layout, in-resort restaurants, or shuttle bus, which made finding our way around unnecessarily difficult during the first week of our stay. We also saw unsupervised kids using the gym, which has equipment badly in need of repair. To top it off, we asked about a late check-out or even just somewhere to shower/change before leaving and were told nothing was available – only to overhear a French couple being offered storage and showering facilities freely. One of the few positives were the excellent cleaners, who were always friendly and did a fantastic job, and the helpful lady in the mini-mart. We would highly recommend any of the restaurants in the village where you’ll find good food options with friendly and welcoming staff - the exact opposite to our experience of the hotel. For what it costs, this place is nowhere near good enough. Spend your money elsewhere!