Mitsis Alila Resort and Spa

The hotel is nice, clean. The staff at the reception are very nice and friendly. The hotel offers a tasty variety of food. I enjoyed the spa a lot, they have excellent therapists especially Romiana, she’s professionnel.

We recently stayed here for a family holiday to celebrate my 30th birthday, travelling with family and children aged between 1 and 5. Overall, we had a lovely holiday and the hotel has a lot going for it, but there were also a few things that stopped it feeling like the 5-star experience we’ve had at other family resorts.

The positives: The hotel is very clean, in a beautiful location, and the views from the rooms are gorgeous. We particularly enjoyed the à la carte restaurants, and the lunch options were excellent, with plenty of choice for everyone — including our fussy young children.

The evening entertainment was a real highlight. There was live music every night and the quality was genuinely very good. There were also children’s shows every other night, which the kids loved. The live music on the beach during the day was another lovely touch and created a really nice atmosphere.

The hotel also made my birthday special by bringing a cake, balloons, fresh lemonade and champagne to our room, which was a lovely surprise and very much appreciated.

The negatives: Unfortunately, our first room was directly underneath the evening bar. We stayed there for three nights and the noise was constant until around 2am, before starting again at around 6am when staff began setting up for the day. With young children, this was particularly difficult. Thankfully, we were eventually moved to another room.

The rooms themselves also felt quite small for a family of four, especially with the extra bed being a leather-style sofa. The rooms could also do with some updating to bring them more in line with what you would expect from a 5-star resort.

We found the buffet quite disappointing in terms of choice. There was a lot of repetition and not much specifically suitable for children, which is something we’ve experienced much better at other family-friendly 5-star resorts.

Drink service around the pool was practically non-existent, and service in the evening bar was very infrequent. We also found the soft drinks tasted quite watered down and flat. In addition, if you wanted a drink at the pool you were often met with queues, which made it quite frustrating at busy times.

Another issue was the lack of sun loungers. By around 9am, it was difficult to find loungers near either pool, so if you wanted a good spot, you really needed to get up early and put towels down.

The blue slide was fun for the younger children, although it was very slow and the children often had to push themselves along to reach the bottom.

Although it is advertised online, there was also no mini disco in the evening, which was disappointing for the children as this is something we were expecting and is usually a highlight at other family resorts.

Overall: We did have a lovely holiday and the hotel is beautiful, with a fantastic location, gorgeous views and some really strong positives, particularly the entertainment, cleanliness, à la carte restaurants and lunch options.

However, considering the price, I have stayed at other 5-star family resorts that I felt offered a better overall experience. That said, we travelled during the height of the summer holidays, when prices are naturally much higher, so this is worth taking into consideration.

Overall, a lovely hotel with plenty of potential, but for us it didn’t quite reach the level of a true 5-star family experience.

Wonderful experience! The facilities were excellent, and the staff were very friendly and helpful. We came for a bachelorette party, and from the very beginning, they were always there to help with anything we needed.

A special mention to George, our waiter at Ouzeri and brunch, who was fantastic and made our experience even better. The food at all the restaurants was excellent, with great variety and quality. We would definitely choose this hotel again!