Blue Bay Lifestyle - ex Bali Blue Bay

We selected this small hotel because of it's excellent reviews on TripAdvisor. However, we still cannot understand why the Hotel only has only a 3 star rating? We have stayed in many 5 star hotels all over the world and the Hotel was easily in this class. Our room (duplex) sea view, balcony and breakfast (included in the price) was superb! The view from our room (and also the Hotel bar) over the stunning bay of Bali was exceptional and reminded me of the view from our 5 star Hotel in Guadeloupe in February 2024. Breakfast was all prepared inhouse by their chef and was delicious, a medley of Greek dishes both savoury and sweet. There is a roof top pool, with sunbeds etc, jacuzzi and a private beach on the rocks, which you enter down steps from the hotel. Bar service including light meals is available all day. The Staff are wonderful, very welcoming and helpful; nothing is too much trouble! Be aware, if you are parking that the Hotel has its own car park, a short distance away and it is reached by a short steep slope. However, on request the staff can help you park your car. We highly recommend this Hotel and if we return to Crete will definitely return!

Amazing stay with the Bali Blue team! Hadas and the team were so helpful and attentive during a celebration with friends. They made sure the whole group was happy at all times and made a cake for our children’s birthday which was very kind!! We had a lovely room which included a separate floor for our two children - our balcony view was great! We can’t thank them enough and thoroughly recommend!

Beautiful hotel in a stunning location. The staff were very friendly, attentive and accommodating - they simply can’t do enough for you. The rooms are very modern and comfortable and cleaned everyday. The breakfast is plentiful and I loved the fact that I could make my own freshly squeezed orange juice every morning. As the hotel only has 21 rooms, it never seemed too busy. You can always get a sunbed as they aren’t allowed to be reserved. The roof top pool was warm and very pleasant. We could walk down the cliff and straight into the sea from the hotel - on our way were plenty of sunbeds. We borrowed the hotel’s kayak and paddle board on a few occasions to travel around to the next beach - a few of us swam as the sea was so inviting. The drinks in the hotel were spot on, particularly the cocktails! There were lots of shops and good restaurants nearby - ask the hotel for recommendations. We would definitely return. Felt like we were in a parallel universe.

Excellent location, between Heraklion and Rethimno. The Bali village has many shops and restaurants, easy to travel in the area. Very friendly staff. Beautiful vue at the sea both from the room as from the large lobby. Clean. Very comfortable beds. Copious and tasty breakfast.

This hotel was the best stay we have had in a long time. 1. The Staff, absolutely felt like I was being greeted by my family. They did everything to make us comfortable. So kind and genuine, always ready to help. Our little one had a crush on RIA who was super sweet. I had a favourite (potato salad) on the breakfast menu and they made it especially for me on my last day. Amazing! 2) The hotel and the location are amazing ! It has a private rocky area for loungers and beds just for the hotel (every beach around us looked like cans of sardines) The views are unbelievable. 3) The pool was amazing and the water was so warm. The pool was almost always empty as most people preferred to lounge on the daybeds and the best part , the hotel actually enforced the "no saving beds" rule! We ate lunch most days at the hotel as there was beautiful salads and pitas and dips, perfect fare during the heatwave. There was an honour system for drinks so we didn't have to bother anyone when we wanted a drink or ice cream! There was live music on one of the nights and it was a local singer, who brought in all the locals that we could mingle with. Excellent night. The breakfasts were mostly greek food and so delicious, almost always had a seat outside overlooking the ocean! We had a kayak and paddle board for hotel use only and never any issues on being booked. The decor was perfect, airy and very clean and well decorated. Our son asked to add they are very bad at having anything bad! Bali was great so many little shops and restaurants and everyone is so kind and everyone speaks english! Only place to stay!

+ perfect location with a private rock + good breakfast, you can see that they put lots of effort in. Items change daily, which can be good or bad (if you really liked something on day 1, you might not get to try it again :)) + friendly and smiley staff, happy to help you out with recommendations in Bali + nice rooftop pool & jacuzzi + welcome drink, a bottle of water in the room at arrival & one offered upon checkout - tried to book directly through the hotel, which turned out to be more expensive than through *********** (with the discount/cashback) & ended up with side sea view while I asked for sea view… super disappointing and ruined my stay. When I spoke to reception they first promised a solution, but no follow-up. At check-out I was harshly told that I should have read my e-mail better. Okay. - the side sea view room is generally overpriced, bad value for money compared to similar (even adult only & boutique) hotels in Crete - room 201 is awful, it has a sad view of the bay (no sea view) and is incredibly noisy, both through the ceiling (early morning breakfast preps) and through the door, so you hear everyone talking and passing through the corridor or walking up and down the stairs until late evening - the curtains do not fully close, so light comes in from the bay and from sunrise onwards - no elevator to go to the rooms (so more traffic on the stairs) - unfortunately smoking is allowed, which is particularly unpleasant during breakfast or while relaxing at the pool - pool snacks are unfortunately very standard (pizza, sandwich etc), would have been nice to have Greek/Cretan options such as gyros, Tzaziki, pita etc. - the sun loungers area on the rock is quite basic and could have done with some plants and decoration - parking is tricky and limited, so everyone parks in the tiny street of the hotel. Do not try to enter this street with a bigger car. The remote car park was completely full and the entrance is very narrow and steep, works best with a small automatic car - bathroom could have been cleaner and there were some hairs and dirt from the previous guest in the shower - room cleaning was only supposed to happen every 2 days, but somehow someone made the bed already on the first day. No fresh towels or cleaning though, just moved around some of my belongings, which I didn’t really appreciate in Covid times… All in all my high expectations were not met and my excitement about this stay quickly changed into disappointment. The staff really works hard and does their best, but there’s still loads to improve unfortunately…