Minos Beach offers peace, calm and luxury. Ideally located within walking distance from the town centre, the hotel boasts individual well equipped bungalows sparingly sparkled around a secluded seaside area.

The swimming pool is very well built and fully tiled – not at all the cheapest version some hotels now prefer – and is delightful. Although the dark tiling was not to our taste, the area was charming and well attended with enough space for everybody to sit comfortably. The only area of improvement would be to provide better sun bed mattresses.

The restaurant offers superb views over the bay and mountains surrounding and is a real treat to the eyes. The food served in the evening managed the difficult balance of catering for different people with different tastes yet was varied and had a local Mediterranean feel. The service could not be faulted, thanks to the attention to detail of the Maitre de Service Miltos.

The only negative comment would be for the lunch menu that we found too expensive and not very varied, but there are plenty of local restaurants nearby.

My partner and I stayed here at the begining of September for 12 nights. We had a superior water front bungalow (75) which we found to be spacious and clean. The bed was 2 large singles pushed together with a matress topper. We both found the bed to be very comfy and very large. There was also a spacious terrace outside, perfect for an early evening G&T.

The bathroom was also quite large, though I thought it could have done with a bit more storage or shelf space. I take quite a lot of potions and lotions with me. The shower was ok. Not overly powerful but perfectly adequate. There was also a dressing area, with plenty of storage space and a large mirror and dressing table with hairdrier.

Our room also had 2 sunbeds allocated to it for private use only. Which I thought was a fantastic idea. They were situated right on the sea front just in front of our bungalow, on a paved area with swimming pool steps that lead straight in to the sea. It completly took away any problems with other people reserving sunbeds with towels etc.

The food at the hotel is of a good quality. The buffet breakfast had a very varied choice and was situated in the main restaurant. We did have to wait for a table a few days as the hotel was at full occupancy, but never more than 5 mins. Our evening meal was taken in the smaller restaurant next to the main buffet restaurant. The food was plentyful, perhaps to plentyful.....5 courses is a lot to eat. The staff were friendly and professional.

I would say that on average the clientle are of a more mature age group. But that may have been because we travelled in September, as apposed to the main holiday months. Whilst the hotel is not 'adults only' it does not cater for children. No special pool or clubs. So it was very peaceful. Which is no bad thing.

Ag Nik itself is a nice town, and well worth the walk.

We did take the boat trip that was offered by Soverign Holidays, but we both thought that it was a bit of a waste of time. The boat is pretty small and rather crowded and at 75 euros each was overpriced for what you got.

I would happily recommend this hotel to future travellers.

We saw this hotel several years ago on a previous visit to Agios Nikolaos. We knew that it was an easy walk into town in the evening and having read the reviews and all the blurb about choice of restaurants etc we decided to book up. Arriving at Gatwick at 5am we were looking forward to a lovely late lunch in the hotel's taverna. When we arrived at 2.20pm we were met by a sullen receptionist who immediately thrust a registration card at both my husband and myself. I told her that we were ready for a drink and something to eat and asked where we should go? She said that Sovereign had left a bottle of wine in our room and suggested we have that! I said that obviously with all the restaurants/bars the hotel had to offer we would rather drop our things in our room and then eat and drink in the hotel. We explained that if we were late for lunch a snack would do. Much to our amazement nothing was open although she pointed us to a bar having given us what the hotel called a 'passport' - a card with our room number written on it with much of the catering facilities crossed out and giving the times the main Bacchus buffet restaurant was open. As we were staying in one of the superior seafront bungalows I had read that we would have access to the better Ambrosia restaurant for dinner but were told we couldn't use it although that was later changed and it was open for a couple of nights. I asked if she could direct us to the Terpsis taverna which seved lunch. No, it was closed as was the pool bar and the award winning Bouillabaisse restaurant. We went to the bar desperate for a coffee but there was no-one there! We went back to the reception desk where a man had replaced the woman. He was even more dismissive. I complained, surprised, at how many restaurants were closed. His answer was to tell us to look at our 'passport'! We said we would call Sovereign as we felt we had paid too much money to stay somewhere with so few facilities. We've stayed at lots of other hotels in the area - none were like this. I told him there were no bar staff and he said that someone would be along in a few minutes. We were disgusted but went to the bar to call the Sovereign rep but were told we would probably have to pay a cancellation fee and it might be difficult to find somewhere else. Having been at the hotel for at least half an hour someone came to the bar and we ordered coffees and wine. Eventually the coffee came - two empty cups, two sachets of Nescafe and a jug of hot water!!!! We were then told by a porter that the General Manager would see us in his office. I said he had to be joking we'd been travelling for nearly 12 hours and had just got a drink and suggested the manager come to us. He begrudgingly did and explained that he always closes the restaurants towards the end of September and that it would be stupid to have them open when it was raining (it was raining on the day we arrived but then we had a dry week of very hot sun). I said this was unnacceptable for a 5 star hotel and said that we had only booked the hotel a couple of weeks before coming and were not told that more than half the facilities would be closed. He was very dismissive of this and not at all bothered saying the brochure mentioned this. (I have just checked the Sovereign website and see that the only mention is of the Bouillabaisse restaurant being 'open seasonally'. We looked at our room which was dark, dingy and in desperate need of a facelift. They let us look at two others and we moved to one - still dark and gloomy even on sunny days - which was close to one of the beaches. The area close to the beach is very overgrown which makes the rooms very dark and you need to sit outside to put makeup on for instance. Having looked at previous reviews on this site we knew that we might need a mattress topper and boy did we!!!! Not sure how anyone would sleep on these old hard beds without one although the general manager said he didn't usually supply them. It made it bearable but lumpy and certainly not comfortable and with blankets which were not long enough to tuck in either side it was very cold a couple of nights. The shower was a soft trickle so difficult if you have medium length hair to wash. We felt the only five star thing was that the sheets and towels were changed every day although the other good hotels we've stayed in in the area changed towels often twice a day and beds and rooms were much much nicer. The hotel had a general air of being run down and in need of a facelift. Grounds needed attention - weeds in pots, plants dying and the 'art' all looked in need of a spruce up. We spoke to other guests - one couple who had been there two weeks but would never stay again said that as bits of the hotel closed during their stay they had been convinced that they would end up eating in the kitchen. We had a lovely waitress - Eleni - but they had a really difficult one who was even aggressive 'offering' them bread, so much so that they avoided her where possible. You needed to wait an age for a second coffee at breakfast - except on the last day - and although the food was okay it was nothing special. Looking at some of the comments in the guest book it was hard not to think that we were staying in a completely different hotel. It is only a 20 minute walk from the town and if you decide to go there just make sure it isn't towards the end of September and certainly not in October. If (and we suspect it is a big if) it feels more like a good hotel in peak season it certainly doesn't as it nears closing. We - and others - felt that we were in the way and they were just waiting for us to leave. There clearly was a skeleton staff but that wasn't our fault and it just isn't acceptable for it to offer anything other than full service for the whole period it advertises as being open for. So glad to be home and have a comfortable bed and luxurious bathroom that works.

We stayed at the minos beach art hotel for our honeymoon this year. We wanted to do something special, and so we got a package holiday including half board at the minos beach art hotel for 10 days. It was the best decision we could have made! The hotel is absolutely amazing! I would LOVE to go back!!! (in fact there are people who have been going back there every year for over 30 years!)
Some of the best things about the hotel are
- the incredible SERVICE: ALL the staff in the hotel are so kind and friendly and are always willing to help in any way they can. For example, I left my cardigan at a church I had visited and only realised on the day we were leaving. The man at reception that day called the church and arranged for someone from the hotel to go to the church to collect it, so I had it in time to take back home.
- the DELICIOUS food: breakfast is a 5* buffet with anything you could want or imagine, from fresh fruit and freshly squeezed orange juice, to full english breakfast if you wish, or even freshly made pancakes! Dinners were either 4 or 5 course meals, including starters, then a selection from a hot and cold buffet (which would actually be enough for a full meal on its own!), followed by a main course (always with a choice of 2 or 3 different options) and finally a buffet with a huge selection of desserts
- the SEA: the hotel is right on the sea front and not just any sea – it is a blue-flag beach! The water is gorgeous and it is easy to spend a full day on the sun loungers relaxing by the water.
- the ATMOSPHERE of the hotel: although a hugely popular hotel with a lot of guests, it is always peaceful and never feels over-crowded or too busy. The bungalows are very cleverly designed so that each balcony has its own privacy and is not overlooked by anyone else
- the LOCATION: it is an easy 10min walk from Agios Nikolaos which is a lovely place with a lot of character. And because it is not right in the centre of the town it is always very peaceful.
If you want to stay at Agios Nikolaos then look no further than Minos Beach Art Hotel!! You won't regret it!