Arina Beach Resort

This four-star all-inclusive resort is in Kokkino Hani, a village on the north shore of Crete, just a 5-minute drive east of the capital, Heraklion, and its airport. Arina Beach has a Blue Flag beach, and offers 313 recently renovated rooms in its 5-storey main building as well as well as additional rooms in its annex, and bungalows, some with private pools.

Its 40-some acres include 3 restaurants, 3 pools, a spa and wellness center, fitness center, and specially tailored activities for kids.

Guests liked the reasonable pricing, the kids activities, the excellent customer service, and free use of the sauna, steam room, gym, and indoor pool.

Rooms

Rooms are clean, cozy, and well-designed. Décor in many rooms accentuate various shades of pastel blue (blue is considered a calming color). Ceilings have build-outs at their margins to house inset light fixtures, providing pleasant indirect lighting. Some higher-end rooms have interesting natural pine shiplap-style vertical wall planks serving as wainscoting, giving it a nice sort of rustic touch.

Room styles vary, from comfortable Double Rooms to the more roomy Penthouse and Seafront Bungalows with private pool. Family Apartments are ideal for larger gatherings such as larger groups of friends or family reunions in the Family Apartments or Family Maisonette, some of the latter having their own pools.

Amenities include walk-in shower in the bathroom, bath amenities, coffee maker, kettle with tea bags replenished daily, drying rack, safe deposit box, magnifying makeup mirror, hairdryer, mini fridge with daily replenishment of complimentary bottled water, soundproof windows, 49” flat screen satellite TV, weight scale, free WI-Fi, and writing desk, amongst others.

Double Room | Annex

Situated in a 3-storey annex building 70 meters from the main building, and bit closer to the beach, these 32 Double Rooms, being set apart from the main high rise, provide a little more seclusion and quiet without skimping on the standard amenities. Floor to ceiling glass sliding door gives a great view of the sea. Double or twin beds. This is an adults-only room.

Double Rooms Sea View

Despite having the name “Double Room,” the Double Room Sea View at 28-32m² is considerable larger than the standard Double Room (22m²), plus, as the name implies, you get a nice view of the sea. They also can accommodate 3 guests instead of 2. Comes with a double bed or twin beds, and a sofa bed for that third guest. Furnished balcony with glass half wall instead of railings give you a wider view of the sea and hills in the distance. All standard amenities apply.

Superior Double Sea View

These rooms are on the first or second floor of the grouping of buildings parallel to the sea, to the west of the main building. These buildings have the advantage of being a bit more isolated from the rest of the resort and therefore will give you privacy, peace, and quiet. Rooms have 1 bedroom with double bed, a sofa bed, bathroom with shower and large free-standing bowl sink, and furnished balcony or terrace with great proximity to the sea and very nice panoramas of the Sea of Crete.

Double Penthouse Main Building Sea View

You’ll find these penthouses on the 5^th and 6^th storeys of the main building. The layout is one bedroom with a double or twin beds, a sofa bed, and a furnished balcony with a spectacular panorama of the sea and the two islets just offshore to the northwest. Unbelievable views, unforgettable luxury.

Bungalow Beach Front with Private Pool

Bungalows are in the annex building to the east of the main building and have the advantage of both greater privacy and easier access to the sea. Private pool provides the options of fresh vs seawater, and the convenience of taking a couple steps off your private terrace and plunging right in. Furnishings include a double bed or twin beds, sofa bed for a third guest, and furnished balcony so close to the sea that you can smell its waters.

Superior Beach Front Bungalow

These beach front bungalows have a double bed, a sofa bed, bathroom with shower, and furnished balcony providing a view of the sea just a few meters away. Included is a daily breakfast at the Avra a la carte restaurant, along with the option of dining at the other a la carte restaurants at the resort.

Family 4 Bedded Garden View/Sea View

These Family Rooms consist of a master bedroom with a double bed (plus 1 single bed in 5 Bedded Rooms) and 1 bedroom with 2 single beds. Bedrooms are divided with sliding doors.

Family 5 Bedded Sea View

Two bedrooms are divided by a standard-sized door. One bedroom has a double bed, whilst the other has twin beds. Furnished balcony gives you a nice view of the Sea of Crete.

Family Room Swim Up

These rooms in the closest separate building from the main building allow you to take a direct plunge into the resort’s unique heart-shaped pool from your terrace. Layout includes a master bedroom with a double bed, and a second bedroom with twin beds.

Grand Suite

This home-sized suite gives you plenty of room to spread out and is found in the resort’s main building. It has a master bedroom with a double bed, a second bedroom with two twins, bathroom and shower, a complete living room, and a fully equipped kitchen for the gourmand in the family, as well as a fully furnished dining area.

Family Maisonette Apartment 5 Bedded Private Pool

This two-level maisonette has a double bed on the ground floor, and three single beds in the upper floor, with complete bathroom and shower facilities on both levels. Balcony on the upper floor overlooks the resort’s pool, and in the further distance, the Sea of Crete.

Food and Drink

With 3 restaurants and 3 bars to choose from, there are a myriad of ways for you to kept well-fed and well-imbibed.

The Ariadne Main Buffet Restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, buffet style. They do theme nights and have live cooking stations, as well as tasty local dishes. Restaurant is pleasantly located at the side of the main pool and you have a choice of indoor or al fresco seating. Menu substitutions are available for people with special dietary needs. There is a gluten/lactose-free corner.

Beautifully sited on a roofed seaside and poolside terrace, the Avra A La Carte Thematic Restaurant is a large rectangular sun-washed open space with arched roof beams and sturdy wooden furniture. A la carte meals are prepared while you watch, with Mediterranean and local delicacies predominating the menu. The main meal is ordered from a menu, whilst desserts are served buffet style.

East meets West at the Sunset Asian Restaurant, which specializes in a blend of eastern and western cuisine. This buffet-style dining spot has both indoor and outdoor seating, with nice views of the sea to relax you and aid your digestion.

Bars

The Exclusive Bar is right at seaside at Ariana Beach. Its comfortable wicker loveseats and chairs are arranged on a beautiful outdoor terrace where you can inhale the oxygen-rich sea air as you imbibe your favorite drink.

Whether it’s a cocktail, a beer, a soft drink, or a coffee, this is the place to be when the sun goes down and the refreshing, cooling sea breeze rises.

The Kalypso Bar also overlooks the sea, and the resort’s pools and bungalows. Relax on the bar’s terrace, which provides glass walls as a windbreak when the breezes get to be a bit too much, and indulge in your favorite liquid beverage.

Spa and Wellness

Arina Beach Resort partners with the well-known Aegeo Spas, a leading spa management company serving dozens of hotels and resorts throughout the Aegean region. Aego has a stellar reputation for top on the line products, therapies, and therapists.

Arina Beach’s Spa is the place to come to when the stresses of life, which affect us physically, emotionally, and psychologically, need to be neutralized and replaced with a sense of physical well-being and rest which affect the entire person. Therapists will consul you on just the treatment for you in order to bring balance and harmony back to your body and your life.

Therapies include Golden Hour, a bronzing therapy which prepares you for long hours on the beach soaking up all that vitamin D. Golden hour makes liberal use of Cretan olive oil, herbs, and aloe vera. The Bond is a facial treatment which will bring your complexion back to radiant life. The Bond is one of many facial treatments available. Massage therapies available include the well-known Cretan Massage, the full body Energy Boost, and the deep body, red grape extract Shape Me Up, which will slim and firm you.

These are just a few of the many treatments available, in addition to the sauna, and the relaxing, warm waters of the resort’s indoor pool.

There is a fully-equipped Fitness Center which will help you stay in shape during your holiday. The free of charge Fitness Center has a full range of exercise machines, as well as free weights.

Fun for Kids

Arina beach has its own water park. This is family fun at its finest. Trained staff members oversee the park and insure safety for all. The park includes 4 water slides, 3 high speed water slides for kids, a free water toy for toddlers 3 and under, a lounging pool for adults, and a pool bar offering free refreshments like coffee and soft drinks.

There is an on-site kids club and playground to keep the young ones busy and happy. They provide all kinds of activities for play and creativity just next door to the water park. Supervised play is on offer so mum and dad can get away for a little time together. Activities include cooking lessons, hand crafts, painting, karaoke and group participation games all will keep you kids busy and engaged.

There’s a lot going on with the resort’s animation team. The team entertains both kids and adults, including a mini club for kids 4-12 years old, an electronics games room and billiards (at extra cost). In addition, there are games on offer such as darts, two tennis courts (with tennis lessons at extra cost), table tennis, beach volley, live music in the evening 6 nights a week, and entertainment shows.

In the Area

There are lots of places to go in the vicinity of Arina Beach Resort, thanks to its location near Crete’s capital, Heraklion, just a few minutes away to the west. Heraklion is a hub of activity for the entire island. Whether it’s night clubs or historical sites, Heraklion has it all.

Hersonissos, about 20 minutes to the west, was originally settled by the Minoans some 4,600 years ago, making it one of the oldest continually settled regions in the world. There are a lot of archeological sites in this area, if this is a point of interest for you. Lyttos, for example was a nearby inland city, and one of Crete’s most important settlements during Roman times. There are lots of really nice beaches in the area as well, if you’d like a different look to the resort’s beach.

Aquaworld Aquarium, in Hersonissos 300 m inland from the New York Beach club, just east of the harbor, a natural history museum, was founded in 1995, is an aquarium and reptile rescue center. It features snakes, lizards, and tortoises which can be safely fed and handled by visitors and children. It is one of only 3 aquariums in Greece. It also displays a variety of local marine life in aquariums.

There are a lot of day trips and boat cruises you can take to see the wider area of Crete, and, of course there is the must-see ancient city of Knossos, just inland a few kilometers from Heraklion. There are all kinds of other things to see in Crete, depending on your schedule, most of which take the better part of a day.

All in all, Arina Beach Resorts makes for an ideal, cost-effective vacation location, and the resort itself will give you a memory-making holiday.

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