Lyttos Beach resort or Stella Palace

[MinnieMountain]

We’re going to take DS (11) to an all inclusive resort with an aqua park in May 2025 half term.

We’ve never been somewhere like that before so I’m overwhelmed with choice. I’ve narrowed it down to Crete and either Lyttos Beach resort or Stella Palace aqua park resort.

Does anyone have experience of both?

Or can anyone recommend a not massive all inclusive with a decent water park in Europe? (Pretty please. The 2 above I think DS will love but I will be overwhelmed by the size of the hotel).

Hi! I’m looking at both of these too! But for September! Which did you go with? X

We are very similar but put off by size of Stella palace

We did Stella Palace last year and my friend did Lyttos Beach ! We both really liked the hotels and they seemed quite similar in terms of food , water park and activities. I know LB has an Olympic sized pool in case that is of interest ?

We had rooms with direct pool access in Stella Palace and without that I would not have like it as much . A la carte options very good and buffet very nice . Wine poor .

SP is not that big ?? Referring to poster who found the size off putting . Also beach not nice at all.

We went to LB last summer. Really enjoyed it, although it was during the heatwave and it was super hot. We had a small private pool which my kids absolutely loved. The waterpark was good, food excellent, I'd definitely recommend it. The hotel didn't feel too big, there are a lot of pools so you can always walk round and find one that's less busy. We often had the one by our room to ourselves (and we were there peak time), possibly as it was slightly tucked away. Only downside was the beach wasn't great but my kids prefer the pool anyway, nice promenade for an evening walk

We've actually just booked SP for our next holiday so I can't directly compare but looking at reviews I think they both seem on par with each other, although we could only book for a shared pool room rather than a private pool as we had a LB. That could be better for you if you have an only child though, if they wanted to make friends?

Booked LB through Jet2, no complaints. Have been away with them a fair bit and never any issues.

We have just booked Stella palace for next may half term, looks brilliant

The shared pool rooms seem to be the nicest in the hotel .

@FoodieToo what do you think of stella palace for early teens? nice beach?

Hi , yes very good for that age as the water park is amazing ! Beach awful though . One reason I’m not going back ! Stony and grubby .

oh no!!!! ok so stella beach well and truly off the list

beach is SO important to us

Ah well then I wouldn’t go there. We only went to the beach once . Didn’t even seem clean .

Only been to Stella Palace so can’t directly compare but I don’t think it’s too big really. Rooms were lovely, food good, al la cartes really good. Water park is amazing for the kids. Drinks did let it down a bit.

The beach isn’t amazing but if you come out of the hotel and turn left there was a lovely sandy beach. The snorkelling is good though as it’s in a little coved area.

We stayed at SP , our friends stayed at LB .

No we didn't visit each other or compare notes ! She had a good holiday and so had we. We are also very different with different age kids , likes etc .

We have just been to Stella Palace and went past LB whilst we were there.
SP is in beautiful grounds and we really liked the low rise style of the buildings - it's a lovely resort. The A La Carte restaurants made it for us as they were excellent quality and we also had a swim up room that was heaven - the normal rooms didn't look very private.
Lyttos Beach looked a bit more 'flashy/shiny' in terms of design, I preferred the feel of Stella Palace - but I might be wrong as we only drove around the edge of it. SP beach was fine for us and the sea was nice and calm because of the shape of it. The waterpark is the biggest on the island. We would definitely go back in a swim up room.

@upgradeyourvetting they are pretty close to each other, I wasn't impressed with LB beach. Not awful, just not great. From what I could see most LB residents tended to stay by the pools as there were plenty of sunbeds down on the beach available. It's not enough to put me offer returning as I'm not so bothered by the beach.

I've only been to LB, although I have booked SP for later his year.