Toplou Monastery

Stayed as a family of 4 for 9 days in mid August 2025, 2 adults and 2 children. Positives: Remote hill top location in Old Town Malia (10/10). Villas with private 10m to 15m length pools (10/10). Overall the teams were very helpful and did their best to support. Amazing views of Malia from your balcony from the hill top location (10/10). Notable mentions; Alexia at the front desk, New lady in the restaurant from Romania, Male supervisor / manager who helped us after we got locked out of the villa with 2 keys at night. Private pool chemical level being checked. Met the new owner at dinner whilst the teams were stressfully trying to work out our bill for a new menu and he said he his aware of what they need to improve on and service is not were he wants it to be. Negatives: Attention to detail I.e. 1 bed was missing its top cover for the first 3 nights. Very easy to lock yourself out of the villa because of the safety feature on the doors. Service in the restaurant needs to be improved / missed opportunity from the hotel due to isolated location. Catering options are very limited / Menu cards are confusing / Not clear what you have ordered and what you are paying for. Nightly disturbances from staffing quarters into the early morning (stayed in villa 407). No locks on the bathroom or toilet doors. Hot water in the tap & shower is extremely boiling hot. Toilet / Shower room on the lower floor in the 2 bedroom villas should have a solid divider as water gets everywhere.

Super place, great staff

The hotel looks very nice from the outside and also in the pictures. The view is simply stunning and truly impressive. Unfortunately, the location is a bit inconvenient – there are no tavernas or attractions around. Although it is presented as a five-star hotel, in our opinion it is more like a 3.5-star standard. The food was often cold, very monotonous, and with little variety. There was no live cooking, not even at breakfast. The all-inclusive drinks were quite average, as expected, but the paid drinks at the bar were excellent – some of the best I have ever had. This hotel is not the right choice for people who want to explore Crete. It is rather for those who just want to pay for an all-inclusive stay, relax at the hotel, and do nothing else. The cleaning service was poor, and the sunbeds on the beach were dirty – something unacceptable for a five-star hotel. Everything seems like more as quantity rather then quality. On a positive note, Irina at the reception was absolutely fantastic and made our stay really enjoyable in terms of entertainment. Also, Maria at breakfast was very friendly and left us with a great impression. Overall, the hotel left us with a disappointing impression, and we definitely would not book it again.