Royal & Imperial Belvedere Resort

Located in the heart of Hersonissos, the accommodation offers excellent cleanliness standards and convenient amenities, providing a pleasant stay in a charming village setting.

This was our first visit to the Royal and Imperial, and given some of the reviews on here we were a bit worried. Instead we were very positively surprised by the resort. To break it down a bit, the biggest negative we found was the amount of smoking. I know it’s not the UK (even if most of the smokers were British), but it would be good if there were designated smoking areas rather than having smoking all over the hotel. It was a smaller thing, because the hotel do say that they don’t have lifeguards on staff for the pools, but then they do have staff members wearing lifeguard vests by each pool. And these people are sitting at seat level (so they can’t see all the pool), mostly at the shallow end, and mostly playing on their phones. It’s not great. What was great starts with the size of the place - the wide range of pools and activities, the multiple kids playgrounds, the range of entertainment for the kids (and adults). Equally the ability to walk out of the resort down the hill to a vibrant beachfront, or up the hill to an equally vibrant set of higher end villages. Lastly, the kindness of the staff - both the management and the kids entertainers - was truly lovely. A few other things that stood out as good (maybe not great, but at least good) starts with the the buffet. I was really worried with some of the other comments on here (e.g. “local slop”) when the local food in the buffet was the best bit! The freshly grilled meats and fish were superb, the kids food had a decent range to it. Where the food was less good is mostly where you’d imagine - non-European regional cuisine - their chicken goreng was not recommended. The salads were more variable, some were excellent, some were weird. Also, yes, the gyros were also really good if you had a hangover. Other good points - the room design, with the adults room between the front door and the kids room. The range of all inclusive drinks, most obviously having G&T part of the all inclusive package, which a lot of hotels skip. The range of shops was also good - cheaper stuff and pricier stuff, toys, clothes, food, etc. Lastly, for a 50 year old hotel, this is a very well maintained place. We’d love to go back.