Aqua Deluxe
Aqua Deluxe is a self-catering apartment complex in Planos, the quiet northern end of the Tsilivi resort strip on Zante, one of the Greek Ionian islands. It reopened in the summer of 2025 after a refurbishment, having spent years as the Planos Bay Hotel, and it shares its pools, restaurants and evening shows with two sister hotels next door. The draw for families is the Tsilivi Waterpark a few minutes' walk away, which every room booking includes free, and a shallow Blue Flag beach the same short walk in the other direction.
On this page
Is it worth it?
The quick read before the detail: who it suits, what a booking includes and where to set your expectations.
Aqua Deluxe is an affordable, self-catering base, not the five-star stay some booking sites call it. A few channels market it as five-star and 2026 guest reviews push back on that firmly, so it's best read as a comfortable mid-market apartment complex. Families mostly pick it for what's next door: free, unlimited entry to the Tsilivi Waterpark, which has a shallow toddler zone as well as bigger slides for older children. Every apartment has a kitchenette, useful if you'd rather make a toddler's breakfast or snacks than work around buffet times. The gripe that comes up in review after review is traffic noise from the main road, so it suits families who'll spend the day at the pool or the beach more than anyone after a hushed retreat.
Best for
You want an affordable, self-catering base with free unlimited entry to a waterpark a few minutes' walk away, a shallow Blue Flag beach and a lively family entertainment programme.
Maybe not for
You're expecting a genuine five-star finish, you want quiet evenings or you need step-free access you can't confirm in advance.
Best ages
Babies upwards. The waterpark has a shallow toddler zone, and there's a mini club and evening children's shows for older ones.
What stands out
The entertainment and kids' club staff, praised by name in guest reviews across many years.
What to check
Cots, a step-free room and the kids' club ages, so ask about each before you book.
Where is it?
Planos, the quiet northern end of the Tsilivi strip on Zante, in the Greek Ionian islands, a short walk from the beach.
Quick facts for families
Part of the three-hotel Aqua Complex
The refurbishment and old name, the shared complex and how easy it is to get around with a pram.
Aqua Deluxe reopened in the summer of 2025 after a refurbishment. For years before that it traded as the Planos Bay Hotel, and some booking sites still carry the old name, so if that's what you booked, this is the same building, carrying the same Greek tourism registry number, MH.T.E. 1121346, as before the rebrand. It's run by Xenos Hotels, a family firm that has worked on Zakynthos for more than thirty years, and it sits in the group's Premium Hotels tier, above the Value tier and below the Luxury tier, alongside two sister hotels next door, Aqua Bay Hotel and Aqua Bay Suites. The three are marketed together as the Aqua Complex and share their pools, dining and evening shows, so although you book one hotel you can use the facilities of all three.
The apartments, all one-bedroom and self-catering, sit in low-rise three-storey blocks around the pool area. Planos is the northern, quieter end of the Tsilivi strip, about 4 miles (6 km) north of Zakynthos Town, roughly 500m from the centre of Tsilivi and a short walk from the resort's shops and tavernas. Tsilivi is one of the flattest, most pram-friendly parts of the island, with a promenade and even local pushchair hire, so you can manage most days on foot. A hire car opens up the rest of Zakynthos for day trips; the local buses run only six or seven times a day and not at all on Sundays, so they're a top-up rather than a way to get around. For the wider island, its beaches and when to go, see our Zante guide.
Every restaurant and bar
The buffet, the à la carte restaurants, the bars and how the bookings work.
Meals are run across the whole Aqua Complex rather than as separate restaurants for this one hotel, so you eat at the same venues as guests of the two sister hotels. The main room is the Helios Restaurant, an indoor international buffet and the hub of the all-inclusive board. Breakfast runs from 8am to 10am, lunch from 1pm to 2.30pm and dinner from 7pm to 9pm.
Alongside the buffet are several à la carte restaurants. Elia is an à la carte restaurant that takes bookings. Over at the waterpark there's the Garden restaurant, a buffet that puts on themed nights through the week, Greek, Mexican, a Far Eastern night and a barbecue, plus separate Italian and international à la carte restaurants that open for dinner. All of the à la carte restaurants and the Garden's themed nights need a reservation.
For drinks there's the indoor Helios bar, an outdoor pool bar, an indoor lounge bar and the Relax cocktail bar over at the waterpark, with snack points at the pool and the waterpark for something between meals.
There's no set kids' menu, high-chair or early-dining arrangement to rely on. One family travelling with a 14-month-old in 2026 found plenty their toddler could eat at the buffet and used the crepe stand for snacks, so with a fussy eater the walk-in buffet is the easier bet than the à la carte nights.
How the restaurant booking works
The Helios buffet is walk-in for every meal. The à la carte restaurants, Elia and the Italian and international rooms at the waterpark, and the Garden restaurant's themed nights all need a reservation, so book the evenings you want once you arrive.
The rooms
The three family layouts, what's in them, then the pools and the beach.
Every room is an apartment with its own kitchenette, which is the practical heart of a self-catering stay: you can make up a bottle, warm a toddler's breakfast or keep snacks in without working to the buffet clock. The refurbished hotel has three family layouts.
| Room | Sleeps | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Family Room | Up to 4 | A king-size bed in the bedroom and a separate lounge with two sofa-beds, so a baby or toddler can settle away from the main bed. |
| Swim-up Room | Up to 4 | The same layout as the Family Room, with steps from the terrace into a shared pool. |
| 2-Bedroom Family Suite | Up to 6 | Two double or twin bedrooms and two sofa-beds in the lounge, the one for a bigger family or two sets of children. |
For a family with a baby or toddler, the Family Room's separate lounge is the useful part, giving you somewhere to settle a child for an early night away from where you'll be sitting up. Some family rooms come with a small private pool, handy for keeping an eye on a napping child from the terrace. It isn't a listed room type, so ask your operator if you want one.
Each apartment comes with a kitchenette, a satellite flat-screen TV, Wi-Fi, individually controlled air conditioning, a walk-in shower, a hairdryer, a mini-fridge, tea and coffee making and a safe. The air conditioning, Wi-Fi and safe are all on the current official list at no charge. Some pre-refurbishment reviews mentioned a charge for the air conditioning or the safe, so if it matters to your budget, ask your operator when you book.
Pools and water features
The Aqua Complex shares eight outdoor pools between its three hotels, along with a dedicated children's pool and an outdoor jacuzzi. You have the run of all of them as a guest. Before the refurbishment this block had a large adult pool and a smaller children's pool overlooked by the balconies. There's a sauna and a small fitness centre at complex level too.
The real water play for little ones isn't in the hotel grounds. It's at the Tsilivi Waterpark a few minutes' walk away, which every booking includes free and which has a shallow toddler zone, covered in the babies section below. Around the hotel pools it's the standard resort mix rather than a splash park, so bring what a young child needs for an ordinary pool.
The beach
Tsilivi Beach is a five-minute walk from the hotel, a stretch of golden sand with some pebbles at the waterline. It shelves in gently with no sudden drops, which is what you want with a toddler paddling, and it held a Blue Flag in 2026. There are three lifeguards through the summer, from June to September, showers and toilets, plus sunbeds and umbrellas to hire for around €8 to €10 a set (2025 prices). Watersports like jet skis and banana boats run from the beach through independent operators rather than the hotel.
Babies and toddlers
The free waterpark toddler zone, the kids' club, cots and what fills a family day.
The single biggest thing Aqua Deluxe offers a family with young children is free, unlimited entry to the Tsilivi Waterpark, a few minutes' walk from the blocks. It isn't in the hotel grounds, so you make the short walk over each time rather than stepping straight out, but there are no tickets to buy and no cap on visits. Its toddler area is a shallow pool with water-spouting toys shaped as an octopus, dolphins, elephants and mushrooms, a small pirate ship and a Water Jungle of little slides sized for smaller children, with a playground, lifeguards, changing rooms, showers, toilets and a first-aid centre on site.
Back at the hotel there's a Mini Club run by professional children's animators. The ages it takes, the hours and the cost aren't set out, and one recent guest describes it running at the waterpark rather than in the hotel, so confirm the details when you book if a club matters to your week. The daily programme also includes a mini disco and, according to one UK family specialist, parent-and-toddler activity sessions. There's no crèche at Aqua Deluxe or its sister hotels, so don't count on one.
Cots and babysitting are available across the wider Aqua Complex, so ask for them to be arranged before you travel. There's no dedicated baby-food or weaning service, though the buffet and the crepe stand gave one family with a 14-month-old plenty to work with in 2026. Beyond the à la carte dinners and any trips off the complex, there isn't much that costs extra for a young child.
On the complex and next doorThings to do
There's a full activity programme across the complex. Days bring yoga, aerobics, water polo, swimming competitions, volleyball and pool games. This hotel is the complex's entertainment venue, so the evening shows happen here: a seven-day programme with Greek nights, live cabaret, karaoke, live bands, bingo, quizzes, disco nights, talent competitions and children's parties and games. Mini golf, a bowling centre, horse riding, bicycle hire and watersports are among the complex facilities, though it's worth checking at the desk whether each is included or costs extra.
The Tsilivi Waterpark next door has plenty for older children and adults as well as the toddler zone. Its biggest slide is the Turbolance, and there's a four-lane Multislide, the enclosed Blackhole and Spacehole, open-air and rafting slides and a lazy river. There's a Pirate Bar for children's snacks, and the park has its own medical centre, an accessible toilet, lockers, a photo shop, a roof garden and a small museum. Sunbeds and umbrellas there are free, which is worth knowing if the hotel's own loungers are busy. The park has run every season since 2010 and is open in 2026, with peak-season hours usually running from late morning to early evening.
Beyond the resortThe area and days out
Tsilivi is the island's most family-geared resort, flat and walkable, with playgrounds, a Fantasy Mini Golf, the Luna Fun Park (a play area with laser tag and paintball, the paintball too rough even for teens), family tavernas and pushchair hire. The commercial road runs about 200m inland of the seafront, which keeps the beach itself calmer than the resort sounds.
Zakynthos Town is about 4 miles (6 km) away, ten to fifteen minutes by car. Solomos Square is flat, pedestrianised and easy with a pram, the Strata Marina promenade runs along the water, and the church of Agios Dionysios is the town's landmark. Above the town, the Bohali viewpoint and the ruined Venetian castle sit in a shaded pine wood, a rare bit of proper shade with a baby, though the castle keeps museum hours and closes on Tuesdays.
It's worth not muddling two waterparks. The Zante Water Village at Sarakinado, about 2.5 miles (4 km) from Zakynthos Town, is a separate, larger waterpark that isn't included with your stay. It opens for the 2026 season on 25 May, with entry running about €25 for an adult and €20 for a child, and under-4s go free. The Tsilivi Waterpark on your doorstep is the one that comes included, with no entry charge at all.
Further out, Gerakas Beach (about 25 minutes) is the best toddler-swimming beach on the island, sandy and knee-deep a long way out, though it sits inside a protected marine zone with restricted hours and no toilets. Alykes and Alykanas, about 30 minutes north, are the flattest, most pram-friendly resorts if you fancy a change of beach. Askos Stone Park near Volimes lets toddlers hand-feed fallow deer, a good slow morning. The Blue Caves at Cape Skinari are worth a small boat trip. Navagio, the famous Shipwreck Beach, is closed to all landings until at least the end of October 2026 after a cliff collapse, so in 2026 it's a view from a boat offshore or from the clifftop platform rather than a beach to visit.
For practical bits, there's a Kritikos supermarket in Tsilivi for a walkable top-up shop, while the bigger Lidl and AB Vassilopoulos sit out near the airport and need a car. The island's general hospital, Agios Dionysios, is in Gaitani, about 4 miles (6 km) away, and takes a UK GHIC, the Global Health Insurance Card that replaced the EHIC.
Loves and gripes
What families come back praising and what frustrates them, how it compares, the journey and the weather.
What families love
- Free, unlimited entry to the Tsilivi Waterpark, the reason most families book.
- The entertainment and kids' club staff, praised by name across many years of reviews.
- The quiet northern spot, close to Tsilivi's bars, beach and tavernas but away from the busiest nightlife.
- Clean apartments, kept spotless even by guests who find the decor plain.
- Good buffet food, called some of the best all-inclusive food guests had eaten.
- A current, positive stay from a family with a 14-month-old, who called the week thoroughly pleasant, found the buffet full of things their toddler could eat and a private pool handy at nap time.
- A calmer stay outside peak summer, with children enjoying the waterpark and club without the crowds.
Common gripes
- Traffic noise from the main road, the most persistent complaint right up to 2026, not helped by doors that aren't soundproofed.
- Evening noise strong enough, in one June 2026 review, to stop guests with young children settling them for bed, alongside gripes about bar staff and the air conditioning.
- The five-star billing, which guests dispute, alongside rooms some call small and cramped for the price.
- Too few sunbeds around the hotel pool at busy times, and at the waterpark next door, mouldy sunbeds, slippery poolside tiles and loose wooden walkways reported in June 2026, with the hotel saying the lounger issues are being sorted.
- A dirty pool, reported by two families in June 2026.
- Storage that's tight for a bigger family sharing one room, with one family of five finding too little wardrobe and case space.
- A lively, child-heavy crowd, which suits most families but not everyone. One September reviewer hoping for a quiet break admitted as much themselves, pointing to the hotel's many positive family reviews rather than treating the crowd as a fault with the hotel.
Across its 78 TripAdvisor reviews the hotel sits mid-table for Tsilivi, around 45th of 86 hotels, with roughly a fifth of guests rating it poor or terrible and about two-thirds rating it very good or excellent. It's a hotel families are mostly happy with, as long as they book it for what it is.
Against the alternativesHow it compares
Its two sisters in the Aqua Complex share the same pools, dining and entertainment, so the choice between them is really about the room. Aqua Bay Hotel is hotel-style, with Superior Rooms from 30 m² and Family Suites from 35 m², plus daily housekeeping. Aqua Bay Suites, known locally as "New Aqua", is the design-led, five-star-branded one. Aqua Deluxe is the self-catering, more affordable option, and since the on-site experience is largely shared, the kitchenette and the lower price are the reasons to pick it.
Against Zante's upmarket family resorts it's a different tier. Domes Aulus Zante is a purpose-built beachfront luxury resort with a Montessori-style kids' club; Lesante Cape and Lesante Classic are proper luxury, well above Aqua Deluxe on both price and finish. If you want a high-spec stay, look there. If you want an affordable base and the free waterpark, this is the one. Worth noting against a resort like Caretta Beach, whose waterpark sits inside its own grounds, that Aqua Deluxe's free waterpark is next door rather than on-site, a few minutes' walk to a separately run attraction.
The journey and the seasonGetting there and when to go
Zakynthos airport (ZTH) is close: a taxi or private transfer takes around 20 minutes, while a shared holiday coach with other hotel drop-offs can take up to 45. Zakynthos is a summer-only airport, with UK flights from around early May to late October on Jet2, TUI and First Choice, easyJet, British Airways and Ryanair. The flight takes roughly three and a half hours. The airport bans take-offs and landings overnight to protect the island's turtle beaches, so there are no red-eye arrivals or pre-dawn departures. Planos sits under the departure flight path, so you may notice the odd plane during the day, though the overnight curfew keeps the small hours quiet and how much you hear depends on your room and the day.
Aqua Deluxe is open and taking bookings for the 2026 season, with guest reviews dated as recently as June 2026 confirming it's trading normally. The hotel opens roughly from May to late October, in line with the flight season. Check-in is from midday and check-out is at 3pm. For anything you need to sort before booking, such as a cot, a step-free room or how your room is set up, the hotel is on +30 26950 24351.
When to goWeather
July and August are reliably hot, into the low thirties by day, with the warmest sea of the year, and they're also the busiest and priciest weeks. June and September give you almost the same sea temperature with fewer people about, which is the easiest window with little ones. May is pleasant but the sea, at around 19°C, is really only for paddling. October is a noticeably wetter month as the season winds down.
| Month | Daytime high | Overnight low | Rain | Wet days | Sea temp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May | 25° | 14.5° | 14 mm | 3 | 19° |
| June | 30° | 18.5° | 14 mm | 1 | 23° |
| July | 33.5° | 21° | 3 mm | 0 | 26° |
| August | 33.5° | 21.5° | 5 mm | 1 | 27° |
| September | 29° | 18.5° | 58 mm | 4 | 26° |
| October | 24.5° | 15° | 95 mm | 6 | 24° |
Typical monthly averages from weather-station records. Sea temperature is the open-water figure, so a sheltered bay can feel a degree or two warmer.
Questions
The things families ask most, the official pages worth a look and when this guide was last updated.
Is Aqua Deluxe the same as the Planos Bay Hotel?
Yes. It is the same building, refurbished and renamed in the summer of 2025. If you booked it under the old name, or you still see the old name on some sites, you are looking at the same hotel.
Is it really a five-star hotel?
The tour operators that sell it, First Choice and Holiday Hypermarket, both show it as having no official rating, even though a few other channels badge it five-star. Read it as a comfortable, affordable apartment complex with a free waterpark next door and it makes sense; expect a luxury finish and it won't.
Can we get a cot?
Cots are available across the Aqua Complex, so ask for one when you book rather than assuming it's already in the room. Email or call the hotel on +30 26950 24351 to arrange one before you travel.
Is the waterpark really free, and is it on site?
Yes. It's included with every room booking and there's no limit on how often you go. The one catch is the location: it sits just outside the hotel, a five-minute walk away, rather than inside the grounds.
Is the Zante Water Village included too?
No. That is a separate, larger waterpark near Zakynthos Town that charges for entry. Only the Tsilivi Waterpark next to the hotel is free with your stay.
Can we get a step-free or ground-floor room?
The apartments sit in low-rise, three-storey blocks, and step-free or ground-floor rooms aren't guaranteed. If you'll rely on a pram or need step-free access, ask the hotel directly before you book.
Do air conditioning, Wi-Fi and the safe cost extra?
The hotel's current facilities list includes all three at no charge. Some pre-refurbishment reviews mentioned paying for the air conditioning or the safe, so if it matters to your budget, ask your operator to confirm when you book.
See more Aqua Deluxe photos
Open the Aqua Deluxe photo gallery →Useful links
- Aqua Deluxe: the hotel's own site for the latest on rooms and facilities.
- Tsilivi Waterpark: the free waterpark next door, with its full list of slides and facilities.
- GOV.UK Greece travel advice: entry rules and safety updates before you travel.
- Zante with little ones: our guide to the wider island, its beaches and when to go.
Last updated 12 July 2026.
