A week of just lying lazily on the beach, enjoying good food, soaking up the sun and being pampered to the hilt. That was the motto of our trip to Greece.
Backpacking, road tripping and the like is all well and good, but it wasn't what we needed this year. As a couple who are constantly "on the go" and far too rarely allow themselves a break, it was high time to get away from it all for a week.
For our project, we chose the Mitsis Laguna Resort & Spa in Anissaras on the island of Crete. It wasn't quite PURE relaxation, because we came with half the family - a total of five adults, divided between three rooms (which was a real life saver). We booked the trip for one week at the beginning of September, which, after some initial scepticism, was perfectly adequate. For our economy room (more on that later), my partner and I spent 1,032 euros each on flights and hotel (all-inclusive, meaning all the food and beverages were included). By our standards, that's a lot of money for a week's holiday, but in the end it was worth every penny.
The Laguna Resort & Spa is a beautiful beach resort with 5 stars on Crete and a member of the Mitsis Premium Collection.
Already the first impression is convincing. The houses are kept in a beautiful, appealing Greek style, with the colours spreading a real Mediterranean feeling with lots of white and turquoise blue.
The lobby is kept in chic and inviting golden tones. The colour concept - as we will find out later - runs throughout the hotel. The resort has 351 luxurious rooms, 7 restaurants and 5 bars, including the new Champagne, Wine & Sushi Bar and a state-of-the-art spa.
The biggest plus point for us: the beautiful division between the main building and the bungalows makes the resort feel much more like a small village than an uncomfortable hotel bunker. It is very spacious and the large number of visitors is spread out very pleasantly. This is particularly noticeable in the pool landscape. There are several pools available, and every need is catered for. Do you prefer it quiet and cosy? Do you have children with you? Or can it get louder with real "party vibes"? There is a suitable corner for everyone.
The beach was just right for us, not too big and not too small and with a clear, turquoise sea. You won't find a very fine sandy beach here, but that didn't bother us either. Those who attach great importance to being able to swim in the sea without any problems are somewhat more limited here. The beach is relatively rocky and only has a small section where you can really go into the water without any issues. However, since we are more the "just-get-your-feet-in" types, that was no problem for us either. I don't need a sandy beach like in the Maldives to sunbathe 😊 The absolute highlights were definitely the breathtaking sunrises, for which we crawled out of bed extra early every morning.
The style and colour concepts were also evident in the rooms, right down to the smallest corner of the hotel. All of them are furnished in vintage style and have high ceilings including cosy wooden beams, wooden or slab floors, colourful accents such as a large turquoise chest of drawers and elegant lamps as eye-catchers.
The bathroom with a separate toilet and shower is built in stone tones and has a good size for what it is. What we particularly liked here was the dim blue floor light, which we always left on overnight so that we could find our way to the toilet.
Each room has a balcony or terrace. Since we booked an economy room, we didn't exactly have an outstanding view. Our balcony was built directly against the dome of the spa area, so we could look directly down into the indoor pool. For the good price, however, this didn't bother us as there were many better places to spend time in the hotel anyway. My mother and my aunt, on the other hand, looked a little deeper into their wallets and booked a bungalow room, which had a very nice terrace with a garden view. Again, there was something to suit every need.
Let's get to the best part of the holiday by far: the service. The staff was incredibly friendly and read our every wish from our eyes - literally. My mother-in-law didn't have to actively order her coffee after the second breakfast, they remembered her choice and brought the hot drink straight to the table.
The staff were all always up for a friendly chat - no matter where or in which area. The cleaner who was in charge of our room was particularly accommodating and put a smile on our faces every morning with her upbeat manner. It's worth coming back just for the people.
Good food is one of the most important criteria on a holiday trip. Here, too, we had absolutely nothing to complain about. The various restaurants (the main restaurant as well as the individual theme restaurants) offer a very large selection.
Good to know: For theme restaurants you need to book in advance. Unfortunately, the places are booked up very quickly, but you can avoid this by reserving one (or more) table(s) before you start your trip. In the end, we only ate at the Greek restaurant, as the available time slots for the other restaurants were too late for us ("we're-going-to-be-ready-for-sleep-at-nine-o'clock-crew" says hello).
Anyway, every menu was super tasty, warm and varied. A purely plant-based diet would be possible, but then a very large part of the selection would be omitted. Vegetarianism, on the other hand, is no problem at all.
What I personally particularly liked foodwise:
Our culinary highlight, however, was to be found far away from the stylish restaurants. For the small hunger at lunchtime, we can highly recommend the gyros at the beach bar. The pita speciality fills your belly until the evening and tastes simply fabulous (available with chicken or - for the vegetarian version - with grilled vegetables).
As a counterpart to fine dining, some might enjoy some exercising. The hotel offers, besides a gym, numerous activities every day. The adventurous can have fun all day with the animation programme, which is available for the whole week on a notice board by the pool bar. If you feel like exploring the island a little further, there is a rental car service directly in the hotel.
We only attended one salsa lesson in the middle of our stay. However, as we have been dancing for a while, we were a bit underwhelmed. Otherwise, we preferred the peace and relaxation.
This leads me straight to our personal recommendation: the spa treatments. Normally, my partner and I are rather tight-fisted, but here we thought we could treat ourselves to a little something extra. On the second to last day, we all booked a massage, or – in the case of my mum and aunt – a facial. It was really wonderful, very relaxing and professional and has prompted us to budget for it in our lives away from vacation now as well.
In summary, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay. The other guests were also very friendly and - with a very few exceptions - very decent.
The resort is suitable for any age group, whether singles, couples or families (with children). We definitely give it 5 out of 5 stars and we hope to go back very soon.