Wander around the Giounoulis Grand Bay Resort, Kolymbari, Crete May 2024

Hi and welcome back to the channel.
Our annual Summer holiday has come and gone and as always, I bring you a quick look around our hotel / resort.
This year we changed to visiting a Greek island - Crete. Now, this was really interesting as I have not done a Greek holiday in nearly 30 years - has much changed? (No! not really.)
Our holiday was booked online with TUI. 9 nights, all inclusive, in a seaview Junior suite with balcony at the Giounoulis Grand Bay resort & spa, Kolymbari. The hotel is rated at 4 stars. I had tried to book a suite with a swim up, private pool, but just missed out - the room I booked was the next best thing, imho.
We flew from Gatwick Airport with EasyJet. The reason for this being the flight times were very acceptable - I dont do red-eyes if i can avoid it and I dont do evening return flights.
There are seemingly few TUI customers who pick this hotel and resort - we shared a hotel transfer, by people carrier, with 2 other couples, who went to other hotels on route.
Kolymbari is about 1 hour by road, from Chania airport, where we flew to.
The town / village of Kolymbari is quite small and quiet. There is a centre, which was less than 10 minutes walk away - similarly, the harbour is a similar distance away. There is also the Gonia monastery, which is well worth a visit, for the small 3 euros entrance fee.
The hotel itself is arranged in 2 story blocks. Some are along the beach, some in behind - these are beside the roadway. Our suite was light and airy. It was in a good state of repair. The bathroom was clean, tidy and well serviced by the maids. It looked a little dated, compared to what we have been used to in Spanish hotels. And used toilet roll still needs to go in a separate waste bin!
The communal areas of the hotel are well cleaned and kept.
The main restaurant area has indoors and outdoors areas. The food servery area is a little small for the number of guests - a similar story to the evening bar area, which is actually tiny.
Food was great quality, if sometimes not as hot as it should be.
There is an a la carte restaurant on the roof top, which requires pre booking and incurs an additional 12 euros per person minimum drinks charge. We didnt use this restaurant, as neither my Wife or I drink enough to justfiy the additional charges. This seating is effectively outside, so you wouldve had to wrap up well when we there, as it got a bit chilly in the evenings.
During the day drinks are served from a bar on the beachfront - this also has a swim up in one of the shared pools. Talking of pools - there are a number, but be aware, some are wholly or partially private, for the people who have swim up terraces.
The Spa. Again, not as good as a Spanish hotel. There is a small gym and the spa offers a small number of massages, pedicures and manicures. There was only one member of staff, so we had to have our massages separately.
The hotel has sporadic evening entertainment, approx 3 / 4 times a week, so you will need to find your own entertainment the rest of the week.
The staff are (by and large) so helpful and friendly - nothing is too much trouble and they work really hard.
The hotel has a bus stop right outside. For 15 euros return you can go into Chania City - again, well worth a day out, to visit the harbours and historical sights.
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay. It was quiet and relaxed.
Anyway, enough of my waffling on. I hope you enjoy the film and it gives you a fair representation of the hotel. I havent gone pointing my camera into food at mealtimes and have tried to be very unintrusive to other guests.
best wishes, Iain