Filion Suites Resort & Spa

The hotel is in the sticks abit however the views are magnificent. The hotel puts on a minibus to take guests to mythos beach. Food was ok, drinks really good. We had a room at the bottom of the hill of the hotel which was a trek but can't grumble. Try get a room nearer the pool bar. No evening snacks but shop onsite will be open. All in all good place but not a 5star so lower expectations are required. I would return.

Firstly, you can say a lot about this hotel, but not that this is a 5 star hotel, perhaps a 3-4. The problem with having a 5 star rating is the tourist tax is quite high, €10 per room per night. Probably the biggest downside is location. Hotel is very isolated. You can’t go for a walk outside the complex. Nothing around, Bali beach is around 3km away downhill. Our room was ok, but the bathroom was rather tired, the shower and the screen needed a good scrub or ideally a renovation. We had a room with a mountain view, it was spacious with a good sized balcony overlooking the pool area, so we were able to watch all the evening shows from the balcony. Wifi was quite weak, it only worked fine when in the bar / pool area or by the reception. It wasn’t working too well in the room or in the restaurant. All staff were wonderful. Friendly, helpful and hardworking. Great views from the restaurant. Good choice for meals (buffet only), we didn’t struggle finding something good to eat. The fresh orange juice machine was excellent for breakfast! More signage would be beneficial to indicate what all the dishes being offered actually were… BBQ nights with freshly prepared “souvlaki” were great and a pizza (which was only twice in our nearly 2 weeks stay) was very tasty. Also, great tzatziki which were our favourite side for lunch & dinner! The pool bar food during the day wasn’t too good.No music at the pool, sometimes they turn something on but for a moment only. If you like the quiet atmosphere – then you will be happy in this hotel as no animation during the day or anything, you can just read a book in silence. We’ve never had a problem with finding a sun-bed by the pool. Evening entertainment was mixed. Musicians were generally ok, with Greek songs, a magician and dancers who invited guests to join. Once a week there was an animator for kids. The hotel has 2 x shuttle minibuses (8 seats) service to the beach, unfortunately cannot cope with the volume of people – sometimes you need to wait an hour to get onto one. Buses don’t run every half hour in each direction - there's a gap of 1.5 hours after lunch and then they run hourly. If you ask the hotel to get a taxi, they will charge €20 each way. The local companies only charge €10 each way and we used them a few times as the last minibus to the hotel was going back around 5pm which was too early for us. We were told there are no taxis in Bali, however we called a local company which operates in the Bali / Rethymno area and we arranged a transport for us. At the small beach at the minibus drop-of point, Filion hotel guests had free beds & parasols to use all day. The beach was very nice, the sea was very warm & clean! We recommend going to the main Livadi beach area which is a half hour walk from the usual minibus drop off (however if you ask a driver, he can stop earlier and drop you off – we did this and had no issues) On the Livadi beach there are the main bars & restaurants on the promenade.

Very welcoming, Angel and Joseph on reception were very helpful and spoke excellent English. The hotel is 3-4 miles up the mountain from the beach, so a bit isolated. There is a bus down to the beach, but the beach was in a bay which had been claimed by various hotels so was very crowded, the sunbed were very close to each other, we only went once. Room was good. Food was good, plentiful and varied, restaurant staff were very helpful. There were a lot of stray cats hanging around the restauant and bar areas which we didn't like but a lot of other guest loved them. Pools were very good. The entertainment was hit and miss (mostly miss). We stayed at the end of the season when there were not many children around however there was still a children's entertainer who instisted on doing the same act with adults, which was a bit cringy.