Mythos Palace Resort & Spa at sunset
This story is about finding peaceful and carefree bliss at an epic resort in Georgioupolis in the North of Crete.
Life here on Crete is ardently simple. When friends ask me why I moved here, this is my best shot at conveying something everyone already knows. I never cease being amazed at how surprising this sliver of an island is. This past weekend I was even startled to re-learn what it is that happiness really is. Peace, you see, has a funny way of penetrating the busied electrons that surround and follow us through life. This story is about finding peaceful and carefree bliss at an epic resort in Georgioupolis in the North of Crete.
Before I tell the story, this quote from the incomparable Cretan, Nikos Kazantzakis will set the tone:
“I felt once more how simple and frugal a thing is happiness: a glass of wine, a roast chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea. Nothing else.”
Since moving here to Crete we’ve tried to experience a new adventure each weekend. With some success Mihaela, Paul, and I have hiked a few Eden-like gorges, we’ve swum in the Cretan Sea off untouched shores, and we’ve been adopted by whole villages too. So, when a friend gifted us a stay at one of the island’s most famous all-inclusive resorts, it’s fair to say our expectations fell into that “oh well” category you’d generally attached to “just passing through.” But what we experienced at Mythos Palace Resort & Spa was anything but a ho-hum weekend stay. The review you are about to read is highly positive, and for a good reason.
View from a Seafront Junior Suite
Situated along one of Crete’s best stretches of flawless “blue flag” beach, Mythos Palace is an all-inclusive five-star resort that’s included in almost every list of top Crete luxury stays. But what differentiates this resort is an indescribable carefree sense one gets during special life moments. Sure, I’ll admit the beach always puts me in the bliss zone, but the combination of welcoming staff and well thought out facilities at Mythos Palace just takes vacation peace that vital step farther. All the usual suspects reside at this beachfront hotel and spa. You can expect impeccable rooms and suites adorned with welcoming gifts and the fluffiest white towels on Earth. Our Sea View Junior Suite’s balcony was one of those places that make standing up and moving a defiant gesture. But I am not the only guest so impressed. TripAdvisor and Booking.com are adorned with “heaven on Earth” reviews of Mythos, but the prevailing sentiment matches my own – relaxing, relaxing, relaxing, and peaceful say hundreds of TripAdvisor guests.
Mythos Palace is located just 4km from the center of picturesque Georgioupolis and boasts of a list of inclusive and extras way too big to list here. Do you want horseback riding on the beach? Mythos’ staff will help saddle you right up. You say you’re interested in five Mythos beers while you stare out onto a sparkling Cretan Sea? Hey, “all-inclusive” stretches to the horizon on a sunny day here. But all the life at Mythos doesn’t revolve around food and drink. Living the Cretan lifestyle also involves activities including tennis, beach volley, water polo, kids activities, nightly entertainment, and a wide array of animation programs enacted by the best crews we’ve seen anywhere. A flawless Aegeo Spa, sparkling main pool, and my favorite hangout at the beach bar are just a few more exclamation points of the resort.
The award winning Aegeo Spas at Mythos
Our friends are staying at the resort at the same time we were there mirrored this sentiment I asked them if they were having a good time. Without revealing any names and positions, suffice it to say our friends’ Moscow lifestyle hits the top of the stress barometer. So, hearing that family’s comments on relaxing at Mythos only fortified what we felt. Any honest review must include negatives, but one bartender is having a bad day and being dive-bombed by some gentle swallows hardly seem worth mentioning. Yeah, we like this resort that much. The wait staff bending over backward to help my little boy, and the waiter running after a single raki for my wife more than made up for the testy bartender. And the lead animator dancing salsa with Mihaela made a melody of gentle nesting birds in a breezeway. But you’ll need more about the hotel to see the full picture.
Brand new for the 2018 season, the resort’s aesthetics reminded me of visually of a tuxedo jacketed, barefooted beach comber with Hang Ten swim trunks on. For those unfamiliar, “Hang Ten” is a brand of fashion made famous by the surfing set, and the iconic board moves that the two feet and ten toes logo signify. Tuxedos, of course, can be emblematic of either James Bond or the suave Cary Grant. However you choose your visual here, Mythos Palace’s management shows more than a touch of class. For a full mental preview, just superimpose unlimited and impeccable food offerings. All the restaurants of Mythos Palace shine when it comes to satisfying hungry guests.
The Agios Nikolaos Chapel in Georgioupolis
As it turns out, Mythos Palace is one of a group of hotels co-owned by a man named Eleftherios Vantarakis, whom we met briefly as he was conducting one of his frequent inspections. The other hotels in this group are Eliros Mare (right near Mythos Palace), and Anemos Luxury Grand Resort, which I previously reported on when Russian cosmonauts began recouping from space travel there. Crete is a small island in some respects and huge in others. Mythos Palace is appropriately named, but not necessarily because the name infers “Greek mythology.” The fact “mythos” can mean a narrative theme or a set of beliefs bears out what Vantarakis’ team has created. The twenty guests we met who’d returned from previous vacations at the resort were a testimony too. This is a great resort, a great resort.
Prices for all-inclusive this Summer start at €249 euro per night. Our Seafront Junior Suite goes for €303 on the website. And you can trust what the author or Zorba the Greek, Nikos Kazantzakis said to sum up the value here. Happiness for the three of us at €100 euro a piece was chicken feed, trust me.
Kavros Apokoronou – Georgioupolis, 73 007 Chania, Crete Greece
+30 28250 61713, 61791 www.mythos-palace.gr
Phil is a prolific technology, travel, and news journalist and editor. An engineer by trade, he is a partner in one of Europe’s leading PR and digital marketing firms, Pamil Visions PR.
He’s also a Huffington Post contributor on many topics, a travel and tech writer for The Epoch Times in print and online, and for several magazines including Luxurious.
Phil also contributes regularly to TravelDailyNews, The official Visit Greece Blog, and is an analyst for Russia Today and other media.
His firm has done all the content for Time Magazine’s top travel site Stay.com, as well as other online travel portals such as Vinivi out of France. He’s also a very influential evangelist of social media and new digital business, with a network of some of the most notable business people therein.
