I found the hotel on line. i read the reviews and i found it ok. Ive been there. Everything it was absolutely fantastic. Mr Vaggelis was friendly and very good guy. He help us many times. Mrs Despoina the chef of the hotel absolutely perfect. Same with Anna who help Despoina in the kitchen. Renos one young lad was friendly and very good in his Job. Mantheos was double face. He scream to the employments for stupid things front of the customers. That is not nice for one business. He have to calm down and thing if he want to continue that business. The rooms was fine and the pool very good... I recommended to the others but everyone careful of Mantheos.

For the money you pay you cannot really have too many complaints with the hotel overall. I wanted a cheap week to explore Crete before heading to Santorini where most of my budget was spent.

On arrival we were advised there had been an overbooking so were moved for the first night to the Arhodiko Hotel across the road. This was a smaller, family run hotel and the owners were very welcoming. The owner advised we were welcome to use his hotel facilities at any point during our stay which we did most days due to the pool being much quieter (we had this to ourselves most days) and getting more sun than the Castro.

When we got into our rooms at the Castro they were very clean and could have no complaints. We were aware of the 5 Euro charge a night for Air-Con which we did use for a few nights due to the heat. Reports of the noisy boy-racers on the main-road seemed overhyped - yes they were about but did not cause any sleepness nights. Breakfast was o.k, the typical continental bread, ham, cheese, cereal, coffee etc. Breakfast was only really spoilt by a few rude guests who you'd think hadn't eaten for 2 weeks as they had the urge to push infront of you for everything!

The hotel location was brilliant however, bus stop right outside for trips to & from Heraklion at 1.30 Euro each way, many bars and restaurants on the main road and close to the beach. We took advantage of many excursions to see as much of Crete as we could within a week including Knossos, Spinalonga & Heraklion - all very accessible from Amoudara.

Overall, with relatively low expectations given the price, the hotel did surpass expectations. The only downsides were the pool area which didn't get much sun and was abit crowded at times and the other guests at breakfast. I would certainly recommend the Arhodiko Hotel as an alternative due to the family nature, better breakfast, more pleasant appearance, nicer pool with more sun, lovely owners and free air-con!"

Within Amoudara please visit Uncle Georges restaurant, about 5 minutes from the Castro. Kostas the owner is the great, he provided us with the best service, gave us free food to sample and made us feel like family. For drinks the Stella Cafe across the road from Uncle George's was superb. A litre of beer for 5 Euros and many many cocktails to sample at very reasonable prices and the staff are also great."

It was actually 2008 that I stayed in this hotel but felt I should write in the Hotel's defence! I stayed at the hotel for two nights and found the staff all delightful, the room was comfortable and simply furnished in Cretan style and the breakfast was quite adequate. What I liked most about the hotel was the quiet garden area with lovely pool for pre-breakfast swims and lively area surrounding. The area is ideal for close proximity to the airport, so I would recommend staying there at the beginning of a touring holiday as we did. We actually made a point of going back on our last night for an evening meal there before catching our flight to say good-bye to the lovely staff in the restaurant.

I have recently returned from a 5 night break at the Castro Hotel in the Amoudra region of Crete quite near Heraklion airport. After a disappointing taxi ride from the airport with views of a very run down area we arrived at the hotel. The lady at the desk seemed pleasant but had limited english (fortunately my friend who I stayed with is from Cyprus and can speak greek!) I enquired whether we would have air condittioning in the room and we were told its an extrea 5 euros a night. We were given a key and pointed in the direction of some stairs. After climbing up two flights without help we went into our room. What can I say otherthan the room was tiny and very basic but not unlike what I was expecting for the money it was perfectly clean, I was dissapointed that we were facing an ugly dusty carpark instead of the pool view we had requested but never mind, The first morning however we were awoken at 9am by the maid and we were still in bed my friend said in greek come back in 10 minutes but she just burst in and started stripping the bed when I was still in it! It was the ruddest thing I have ever seen we were both too shocked to do anything she acted really pissed off that we wanted to go into the bathroom to get dressed in was unbelieveable! After that we made sure we got up early and left the do not disturb sigh on the door when we were in. They also didnt gie us enough towels and it was like pulling teeth to get some more.

We had also made the mistake of going half board and on our first night we went to the buffet dining room that was full of russian and german tourists and the food was disgusting dried fish or chicken with potatos and tinned vegetables and it was cold! The breakfast was even worse very basic contenential with the cheapest spread that made me feel sick. Needless to say we didnt eat at the hotel again.
One saving grace was that there is an independant restaurant on the hetel site called Maxim and the food there was ok and got a 7 euro discount per person because we didnt eat the hetels food we ate there every evening. We also went to another hotel down the road every morning but had to pay 10 euros for a decent breakfast elsewhere!

Now getting onto the area the hotel is in. It is situated on a busy main road that you risk your life to cross every day and there is very little to do. After having spent the first day at the hotels basic pool with all the rude european guests we went to explore and it is the most disappointing area Ive ever been to dirty streets and a few bad gift shops. There are hardly any bars and restaurants and they were all really expensive.
On our 2nd day we went to the beach which was windier than cornwall but near the beach is the thalassa club our saving grace, its off the beach with huge windbreaks and a gorgeous outdoor pool and a bar we went there everyday and it had good sunbeds for only 5euros for 2 not too bad. There is also a cinema that shows english films that we went to twice as there was nothing else to do!
I can honestly say we didnt see another english person all holiday mostly russians and germans you have to be able to speak greek to get anything understood.

I just hope that people take this review onboard and dont make the mistake we did and because of this experience we wont be going to Crete again. Cyprus where we usually go is miles ahead in comparason in food and cleaniness and social pride.