Aquila Porto Rethymno

Great food in the à la carte restaurant and an excellent service from the staff, espesially from Mr. Vassiallis! Thank you for givning us the best food and service during our week in Rethymnon. Have a great winter//

Recently returned from a week at the Aquila Porto. We booked a superior sea view room and on arrival were a little disappointed as our room did not have the full sea view as shown on the Tui website. We asked to move but there were no rooms available. We were offered to move two days later but once settled in the room didn't want to spend the time moving. Hotel is in a great location, so many restaurants in easy walking distance and the lovely old town about a 15 minute walk away. We went half board and chose to eat lunch at the hotel almost every day so we could eat dinner in town. If you swap to lunch you will eat at the hotels a la carte which is very nice, with outdoor seating over looking the sea. Food in there is very good. We did try to go to the buffet once as we wanted a quicker meal but were told half board guests can not eat lunch in the buffet. This is contrary to the Tui website which says half board can have dinner or buffet lunch. Breakfast in the buffet was ok with a fairly good selection. It was always very busy though, the staff seemed stressed and it was not a relaxing experience and we were often sat in the 'overflow' section downstairs. The hotel has two small swimming pools which we never used. The beach over the road is lovely though and the sunbeds are free, with the exception of the front two rows. Sea was pretty rough with a red flag most days so not great for swimming. Special thanks to Eva on reception who was always very friendly and helpful.

Was so looking forward to staying at the Aquila Porto Rethymno Crete after reading the fabulous reviews but unfortunately it didn't live up to them in our opinion. As it is classed as a five star hotel expected so much when shown to our room but wasn't what we thought we would get. The standard room shown on the TUI website is a really bright, modern room or so it looked, ours was dark and the bathroom was old and tired. Complained twice about the bath being dirty and after supposedly being cleaned Mum cleaned herself. Was shown another room but wasn't worth moving to. Food never hot in Restaurant only just warm. never a great selection for a 5* hotel. The hot plates were never hot. The waiting staff needed training in 5* presentation and also customer service. We were on an all inclusive basis but trying to get a second drink whilst eating was like asking for 'a million pounds', they made you feel very uncomfortable. The whole dining room needs bringing up to date and also not big enough for size of hotel. Yes the hotel is across the road from the beach but what it doesn't say is that the road is so busy with traffic that you need to take your life in your hands to cross the road. Also if you are on the sun deck above the cafe which is on the roadside be prepared to intake car fumes. The two pools are small and shallow - disappointing. One of them is right next to the restaurant so be prepared to be looked at whilst either swimming or sunbathing. To get a drink during the day you have to go to onsite cafe - a very strange set up as no poolbars and the bar doesn't open till 5pm. No fault of the hotel but the location on the main strip of loads of hotels is not what we like, we prefer a quieter location. Big shout out to the bar man who was so friendly and helpful. Needless to say we won't be returning to this hotel but would return to the country as that was beautiful.