Hotel Review: Elounda Mare, Crete - Fabulous!

After a brief two-night pitstop in Athens, my new hubby and I headed to Crete to really begin our honeymoon at the lovely Elounda Mare in Elounda, Crete. Set on a calm bay in the Cretan sea, Elounda is in north-eastern Crete near the small city of Agios Nikolaos. The Mare is part of the Relais & Chateaux hotel network, and is connected to its sister properties, the Elounda Beach and Porto Elounda.

We lost four hours of our time on Crete thanks to a transportation strike in Athens that delayed our flight, so the glasses of champagne we received at reception were quite welcomed. I was thoroughly annoyed to learn that our travel agent neglected to inform the hotel that we were on our honeymoon, but the very observant desk clerk noticed how clean and shiny my ring was and in twenty minutes a staff member gave us a tour of the immaculately landscaped property and explained the restaurants as we walked to our room. We were booked in the main hotel, but thanks to the very kind and clever desk clerk we were upgraded to a bungalow with private pool and sea view, where a rose-petal covered bed, candles, wine, and fruit awaited us. Score!

The room featured a couch, coffee table, and small tv (which seemed to be a theme in Greece, even at luxury properties), good-sized armoire, slippers (they even noticed that I'm a foot shorter than my husband and provided a pair of small-size slippers!), and robes. The bathroom was huge, with side-by-side sinks, separate toilet room with a sink, and very large jacuzzi bathtub. Deluxe toiletries were replenished daily.

All of this was wonderful, but the main drawback was that the room appeared to be designed for Hobbits. My 6' husband was always dangerously close to hitting his head on the ceiling and door frames. Also, there wasn't a separate shower stall and the shower hose was too short to properly stand up in the tob - attempting to do so would spray water all over the bathroom. Rather awkward.

Compared to the large beach of its neighbor, the Elounda Beach, the Mare has quite a small beach in a private little cove with crystal clear waters and hot sand dotted with white umbrellas and yellow chairs. There is a beach bar where overpriced cocktails can be ordered but won't arrive for another twenty minutes (I'm convinced the bartender was actually out in the field picking the strawberries for my daquiri). Jet skis, snorkeling and scuba equipment and paddle boats can be rented at the beach. We rented a paddle boat for an hour, and it was a great way to explore the area and take in the amazing view of Crete's mountains surouding us on every side - the water is incredibly calm and there was no boat traffic.

The Mare has very helpful staff who seem to get to knoew their customers. At breakfast on our third morning, I wasn't even asked for our room number since the same matre d' seated us every day.

During our four-night stay we discovered two downsides. First, we seemed to be the youngest people there by a long shot. There were bridge games happening every night, and only once at breakfast did I notice another couple that appeared to be around our age (late twenties, early thirties). The rest of the clientele were clearly eligible for AARP or the French/German/British equivalent (there were very few Americans).

Second, eating at the Mare was extremely expensive and often required "elegant" dress at the resort's three restaurants. Walk a mile down the road into the village of Elounda to find many restaurants at significantly cheaper prices. Case in point: my seafood risotto for dinner at the Mare was around 26EUR. At Zorba's Place in the village, we ate spanikopita, pizza, soda, beer, and chocolate-banana crepes (amazing!) for 22EUR. Although the quality wasn't nearly as good as the Mare's, if your jet-setting doesn't include a celebrity-sized meal budget the village offers plenty of options.

While at the Mare we visited its sister property, the Porto Elounda, for golf and a massage. Mr. TravelSpark wasn't impressed with the 9-hole course (he rated it only "fair"). Our massage at the new, award-winning Six-Senses Spa, was great and the spa itself is quite impressive. If you pay for a service, you can stay and use the other spa facilities such as the hammam, sauna, and indoor/outdoor pool. Note that on the Mare's website it seems that the spa is at the Mare, but it's not. The spa is indeed at the Porto Elounda and is a ten-minute walk away.

In May, Greece - particularly the islands - are still in the off-season, so the village as well as the resort were incredibly peaceful and quiet. Many restaurants were empty or nearly so each night and waiters were begging us to come and eat. The weather was sunny and warm (but not hot), but the ocean was still cool.

Overall rating: Fabulous!

All photos were taken by TravelSpark. Please credit accordingly.