Candia Park Village, Agios Nikolaos

Author's product rating:   

Value for Money	Excellent
Quality of Rooms	Good
Standard of Service	Good
Quality of Facilities	Excellent

Advantages:	Excellent facilities, good food
Disadvantages:	Isolated location

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Went to Candia Park Village in August 2006 for 2 weeks. I'm 42, my husband is 41 and we were accompanied by our 10 year old son.

We had booked a one bedroomed apartment on a self catering basis but when we arrived, found that we had been upgraded to a one bedroomed suite. This was apparently bigger and more spacious than our original accomodation, so no complaints there. It was very clean and reasonably well equipped and contained all the necessary items like pots, cutlery, crockery, etc and a hairdrier and shower gel. There was a small TV which we watched a couple of times when we came back to the apartment to get ready to go out.......not a great deal to choose from channel wise but then it's not something I place a great deal of importance on when I go on holiday but others might.

The location of the rooms can be a little awkward. We were near the main road and quite a trek away from the supermarket, pool and restaurant. We didn't mind it because we went to the pool quite well prepared each day but you wouldn't want to be traipsing backwards and forwards a lot.....mind you, it'd keep you fit. The apartments were well spaced out though and quite private...we had our own little garden and we never heard any noise.

The amenities are absolutely fantastic. There is a reasonable sized pool with plenty of loungers and then steps down to a small beach area where they do some watersports.....banana boats, pedaloes, etc. There are also loungers on the beach but these are quite limited as it is only a small area.....nice to pop down to though for an hour or so.....we bought a transparent lie-lo and went on the sea with it and you could see the fish swimming underneath you.....our 10 year old loved it! There is also a taverna near the pool which provides lunch and dinner for a very reasonable price......about £4-£5 per head.

The restaurant we found to be excellent and ended up eating there most nights because it was quite varied and very tasty. You had a choice of the buffet which was great for choice and good value, or a la carte. We had a la carte a couple of evenings but found the buffet more than adequate and varied enough not to become boring. The entertainment during the meal was a bit iffy but I think most hotel entertainment is the same. Greek dancers, magician, Jazz evening.

Next to the restaurant there is a bar and outside drinking area which was quite pleasant and can also be used during the day. For the teenagers, upstairs near the supermarket there is another bar that played music videos on a large flat screen TV and was equipped with a couple of pool tables, table football and darts. Quite dark, loud and great for the young uns! Above this, there is a further small restaurant selling traditional Greek food (similar to the Taverna) and also does barbeques during the week. Has lovely views out to the sea.

The supermarket was pretty well stocked but ran out of bread a couple of times in the afternoon so it probably pays to get bread early on. It was reasonably priced but I think you should always expect to pay a little more because of the convenience. There was also a laundry next to the supermarket which had a couple of washers and dryers and irons and ironing board but I never used it so couldn't comment on it really.

The Reception staff were always very helpful and would call a taxi for you if you needed it or give directions or advice. They also had stocks of used books a board games which was quite handy for out by the pool.

The only gripe we had really was the location.....it's not near anywhere else in walking distance. If you want to go to the small town of Elounda or the larger Agios Nikolaos then you had to get a taxi which would cost you around 5 euros each way. We weren't at all impressed with Agios Nikolaos....it was really busy, full of shops and bars and awful restaurants. Elounda was a little bit nicer and we ended up having to go to the local doctors there as our son got an ear infection. The service was free although we did have to wait over an hour to be seen but excellent otherwise.

One other thing that gets our thumbs up was the fantastic Kids Club. It was hotel run and the staff were absolutely brilliant. They had the kids baking biscuits, cooking taramasalata, they had treasure hunts on the beach, disco nights......our sone thoroughly enjoyed it and they could just drop in when they wanted to.....very relaxed with a lovely atmosphere.

The weather was fantastic....very very hot and all in all it was a truly excellent holiday. I would recommend it although it made us quite lazy as we didn't feel the need to go to many other places!!!