Domes of Elounda
Domes of Elounda is a luxury resort of suites and villas on the north-east coast of Crete, built down a hillside above Mirabello Bay with the Venetian island fortress of Spinalonga in view. It's part of Marriott's Autograph Collection, run on bed and breakfast rather than all-inclusive, and every suite and villa has its own private pool or outdoor Jacuzzi. Most families stay up the hill in an area called CORE, which has the family pools, the kids' club and a food-truck plaza of its own. Families come for the private pools, the setting and a childcare team of Ofsted-qualified staff.
On this page
Is it worth it?
Who Domes of Elounda suits, how the cost is split and the facts to skim before the detail.
Domes of Elounda is one of the more expensive family resorts in Greece, and it works differently from the big all-inclusives. You book a suite or villa with its own private pool or Jacuzzi on bed and breakfast, then pay as you go for the à la carte restaurants, the crèche and other extras, so more of the cost sits outside the room rate. Children under 12 stay free, and the free kids' club, the setting and the spacious rooms are what families rate most. The main thing to weigh is the terrain: the resort is built down a steep hillside in two halves, the main area by the sea and the CORE family area up the hill, and you move between them by golf buggy rather than on foot with a pushchair. You'll get the most from it if you want space, a private pool and a quieter kind of luxury than a big waterpark resort, and you don't mind paying for dinners on top.
Best for
You want a private pool of your own, plenty of space, an à la carte dinner scene and a strong crèche and kids' club, and you're happy to pay for meals and childcare on top of the room.
Maybe not for
You'd struggle moving a pushchair around a steep site, you want everything in one all-inclusive price, or you're on a tight budget.
Best ages
Babies upwards. A crèche from around 4 months, a free club from 4 to 12, plus babysitting for an adult evening.
What stands out
Every suite and villa has its own private pool or Jacuzzi, and the CORE plaza gives families their own pools, kids' club and food trucks up the hill.
What to check
Which suite gives you a separate bedroom for naps, and that you're happy relying on golf buggies to reach the beach.
Where is it?
On Mirabello Bay in north-east Crete, facing Spinalonga, about 44 miles (71 km) from Heraklion airport.
Quick facts for families
What the resort is like
How the site is laid out over two levels, the terrain underfoot and how you get around it.
Domes of Elounda sits on the north-east coast of Crete, between the villages of Elounda and Plaka, on a hillside that drops toward Mirabello Bay. Low stone and whitewashed buildings with domed roofs step down the slope through gardens of olive trees and herbs, and most of them look out across the water to Spinalonga, the Venetian fortress on its own small island. For the wider island, its beaches and when to go, see our Crete guide.
The resort splits into two areas joined by its golf-buggy service. The main area, down by the sea, holds reception, the Grand Domes Bar, the Thólos buffet, the Soma Spa, the beach and the adults-only pool, along with a new adults-only village called Chora. The CORE area, higher up the hill, is where most families stay: the family and children's pools, the KiEPOS kids' club, Antonino's restaurant and the CORE plaza with its food trucks and entertainment are all up there. Between the two the ground is steep.
That terrain is the thing to understand before you book. The slopes and steps between the areas are not a flat push with a pushchair, so the resort runs golf buggies, its own electric carts, to carry guests around. You call reception for one, and in peak weeks guests report waits of up to about ten minutes. There's lift access to some facilities, and an Accessible Domes Luxury Residence with flat floors, a walk-in shower and no steps for guests who need it, though the beach still involves steps.
Every restaurant and bar
Each place to eat and drink, which welcome children and how the booking works.
The resort runs on bed and breakfast, so beyond the buffet the restaurants are à la carte and paid as you go. Half board adds dinner at Thólos; full board uses a Dine Around allowance to spend at the à la carte restaurants, as does the Haute Living tier on stays of seven nights or more. There are five restaurants and four bars.
Thólos is the buffet, open for breakfast and dinner in the main area near reception, with sea views toward Spinalonga. It has a separate children's buffet section and high chairs, and the dinner spread changes each night. It's the most practical room with a young child, since there's no booking and you eat when their appetite arrives. Opinion on it divides, though: some families rate it, others find it a step below the à la carte restaurants, and it can feel stretched when it's busy. It sits in the main building, so from the CORE family area you take a golf buggy down to it.
Antonino's is the family à la carte option, an Italian restaurant in the CORE area right by the family pool, with pizza, handmade gnocchi and tiramisu. It's set up for children, and for guests staying up at CORE it doubles as the breakfast venue. Like all the à la carte restaurants it needs booking.
Vilebrequin La Plage is the beach restaurant, on a pier that runs out into the bay, serving Provençal-Greek seafood for lunch and dinner. You can order to your sunbed on the sand, and there's a children's menu. It's an open-air setting on the water, though the pier can catch the wind in the evening. Booking is recommended.
CORE is the casual option, a food-truck plaza up in the family area serving burgers, souvlaki, vegan dishes and handmade ice cream, roughly from half six to half ten in the evening. It's informal and geared to families, with entertainment on event nights, and children take to it. Two things to know: it still needs a booking despite the casual feel, and it doesn't open every night. In quieter shoulder-season weeks it may run only a couple of evenings, and it's busiest in peak summer.
Makris is the fine-dining restaurant, in the adults-only Chora village, so it isn't open to families with young children. Its chef patron, Petros Dimas, holds a Michelin star, but that star belongs to his separate Makris restaurant in Athens, not to the one here, which shares the name and style without the star itself.
A children's menu runs across the à la carte restaurants, with the usual pizza, pasta, fish fingers, meatballs and chicken. Vegetarian and gluten-free menus are available for an extra charge.
How restaurant booking works
Every à la carte restaurant needs a reservation, CORE included, even though it feels casual. You can book online before you arrive, and there's a restaurant concierge at reception to help once you're there. The Thólos buffet and the daytime beach service are the walk-in fallbacks on nights you haven't booked.
There are four bars. The Grand Domes Bar is the main lobby bar, open from morning to midnight, with Spinalonga views and the pre-dinner crowd. The Vilebrequin La Plage Beach Bar handles drinks down on the sand. The Neema Pool Bar, by the Luxury Residences, is the quieter one. The Makris Pool Bar serves the Chora adults-only zone.
Rooms and suites
Every suite, residence and villa with its size and who it sleeps, then the pools and the beach below.
There are no standard hotel rooms here. Everything is a suite, residence or villa, and every one has either its own private pool or an outdoor Jacuzzi. The table lists each category with its size and how many it sleeps; the guidance after it is which suit a family with a baby or toddler.
| Suite, residence or villa | Size | Sleeps | Private outdoor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core Open Plan Suite, inland view | 58 m² | 2 adults, or 1 adult with a child under 12 | Outdoor Jacuzzi |
| Core Open Plan Suite, sea view | 58 m² | 2 adults, or 1 adult with a child under 12 | Outdoor Jacuzzi |
| Family Suite with Outdoor Jacuzzi | 90 m² | 2 adults and up to 2 children | Outdoor Jacuzzi |
| Family Suite Sea View with Private Pool | 90 m² | 2 adults and up to 2 children | Private pool |
| Luxury 2 Bedroom Family Suite, sea view | 100 to 120 m² | 2 adults and 3 children, or 4 adults and 1 child under 12 | Outdoor Jacuzzi |
| Core 1-Bedroom Residence | About 90 m² | 2 adults, plus a sofa bed | Private pool |
| Core 2-Bedroom Residence | About 148 m² | Up to 4 or 5 guests | Private pool and Jacuzzi |
| Luxury 1-Bedroom Residence | About 90 m² | 2 to 3 adults | Private pool |
| Luxury 2-Bedroom Residence | 200 m² | 2 adults and 3 children, or 4 adults and 1 child under 12 | Private pool |
| Luxury 4-Bedroom Residence | About 400 m² | 6 adults and up to 3 children | Private pool |
| Luxury Villa, 3 or 4 bedroom | About 300 to 450 m² | Larger families and groups | Private pool |
| Private Residence, 2 or 3 bedroom | 152 m² (3-bed) | Larger parties | Private pool |
| Chora Suite or Retreat (adults only) | Not published | 2 adults, 16 and over | Jacuzzi or plunge pool |
Sizes marked "About" are approximate; the rest come from the resort's own room pages.
For a couple with one or two young children, the natural choice is a Family Suite. Both the 90 m² versions have a separate bedroom you can close on a sleeping baby, which matters far more than any view once naps and bedtimes rule the day; one comes with an outdoor Jacuzzi, the other with a private pool and a sea view. The Luxury 2 Bedroom Family Suite, a sea-view suite with an outdoor Jacuzzi, adds a second bedroom and bathroom for a larger family at 100 to 120 m², sleeping up to three children, or four adults and one child under 12 in another layout.
The Core Open Plan Suites at 58 m² are the entry level. They're open-plan, so there's no separate bedroom, and they take two adults, or one adult with a child under 12, rather than a couple with a child as well; you choose between an inland or a sea view, and each has an outdoor Jacuzzi.
If you'd rather self-cater around a baby's routine, the Core Residences come with a private pool and a fully equipped outdoor kitchen, from a one-bedroom with a sofa bed up to a two-bedroom for four or five. The Luxury Residences and freestanding Villas run larger again, up to a four-bedroom residence and three and four-bedroom villas, and come with the Haute Living tier described further down. The eight Private Residences are the top rung.
The private pools in the residences and villas can be heated on request in the cooler shoulder weeks, from late March to mid-May and through October, to a maximum of 26°C. One tier to steer past with young children is Chora: its suites and retreats are adults-only, from 16, so they aren't for families with little ones.
Pools and water features
There are five outdoor pools and an indoor one at the spa. The family pool in the CORE area is the main one for children, a large pool by the plaza and the kids' club, with Liewood sand and water tables set up nearby. A shallow children's pool sits right beside it for babies and early walkers to stand and splash in.
The other pools lean adult. There's an adults-only pool, from 16, in the main area near reception, with around twenty loungers, and the Kooreloo Adults Pool up in the Chora zone, which has cabana beds, a pool bar and the closest views of Spinalonga. Chora has its own pool too. Inside the Soma Spa there's a heated indoor saltwater pool, also adults-only.
The family outdoor pools are heated in the cooler shoulder weeks, from late March to mid-May and through October, up to 26°C, and left unheated in high summer when they don't need it; the indoor spa pool is heated all season. There's a swimming academy on site with a qualified instructor, taking children and adults, and families have booked lessons for children as young as three at the family pool. There are no waterslides or splash pads, so the children's pool is a shallow wading pool rather than a water-park feature.
The beach
The resort's beach is Driros, a private stretch of natural sand lined with olive trees, long and narrow rather than a broad bay, with light sand and shallow water that shelves in gently and suits young children who want to paddle. Sunbeds, umbrellas and beach towels are laid on for guests, and part of the beach is set aside for adults. For 2026 the beach has been styled as Vilebrequin La Plage, a French Riviera beach-club look of striped loungers, pastel parasols and cabanas. Driros has held Blue Flag status, the international mark for clean, well-run beaches.
Water sports run from the sand, with sailing, speedboats, canoeing, wakeboarding and diving, and boat trips out to Spinalonga can be arranged by email. Getting down to the beach from the CORE family area isn't a flat pushchair walk: it's a short golf-buggy ride of a few minutes, or a walk down steps and a slope. One thing worth knowing for an early-season trip is that the sea can still be cold in May, cold enough to put some small children off a swim; it's comfortable from June and warmest in August and September.
Babies and toddlers
The childcare, the kit for a baby, everything that fills a family day, the spa and the area beyond the gate.
Childcare here carries the KiEPOS name, meaning "Greek Garden", the group's own nature-led, Montessori-influenced brand, staffed by Ofsted-qualified carers, which is the sort of detail that reassures UK parents.
The crèche takes babies and toddlers from around 4 months up to 4 years. It runs two sessions a day, from 10 to 1 and 3 to 6, closed Sundays, and it's charged per session; you book it online before you travel, since places are limited. Care is in a KiEPOS eco-garden where children plant herbs and flowers. The session price is confirmed when you book.
The kids' club for 4 to 12 year olds is free, part of the offer that lets children under 12 stay and join the activities at no charge. It runs a morning and an afternoon session, each about three hours, plus a family slot from 1 to 3 when you can use the facilities alongside your children, six days a week and closed Sundays. It's up in the CORE area, with a wide programme from treasure hunts and cooking to yoga and stargazing, and there's a supervised CORE playground with a VR zone, bubble shows and face painting on event nights. Older children get a teen zone with a pool table and table football, and teen activities within the KiEPOS programme.
For an adult evening, in-room babysitting is available with trained staff for an extra hourly fee, on advance notice.
The baby kit is there for the asking: cots as standard, plus strollers, bouncers, bottle sterilisers, stair gates and pool safety gates, along with children's robes and slippers. A deli and shop in the CORE area sells the essentials, nappies, wipes and formula, as well as groceries, pool inflatables and buckets and spades, and there's a children's boutique stocking toy brands like Djeco, Kaloo and Little Dutch. A separate Neema boutique on the beach sells swimwear and resort wear, a different spot from the Neema Pool Bar up near the Luxury Residences. On food for a weaning baby, the resort doesn't set out a specific purée menu, but the breakfast buffet is broad enough to cover most weaning stages, and it's worth emailing ahead with any particular needs.
Things to do
Beyond the pools and beach there's plenty on site. On the water there are the sailing, speedboats, canoeing, wakeboarding and diving from the beach, and the swimming academy. On dry land there's a floodlit tennis court with lessons, a five-a-side football pitch, beach volleyball and a zip-line. For grown-ups there's an open-air fitness pavilion with Technogym equipment and personal training, plus yoga, Pilates, meditation and aqua yoga, and guided treks and mountain biking into the villages and hills around the resort.
The CORE plaza is where the evenings happen: an outdoor cinema under the stars, live music, food trucks, murals and art, fashion shows, ballet, bubble shows and stilt walkers, on select nights rather than every one. There are barbecue evenings, Cretan cooking and pastry classes, olive-oil tasting and a coffee history session, and an August Photography studio by reception for family photoshoots.
The Soma Spa
The Soma Spa, styled "The Refined", is built around Minoan-Cretan wellness traditions and uses ELEMIS and Codage Paris products for its massages, facials, scrubs and wraps, with microcurrent and light-therapy treatments too. It has the heated indoor saltwater pool, an outdoor Jacuzzi, a sauna, a steam room, a tepidarium of heated loungers and a frigidarium, and a beauty salon for nails, hair and make-up. There are pregnancy and couples treatments, and a spa service that can come to your villa. The spa is for adults, from 16.
Haute Living Selection
Book a Luxury Residence, Private Residence or Villa and you're in the Haute Living Selection, a hotel-within-a-hotel. It comes with a private lounge open from 10 in the morning to 11 at night, serving food and drinks through the day, a private check-in, a dedicated villa manager, an open bar on your first day and, for stays of seven nights or more, a Half Board Dine Around allowance to use at the à la carte restaurants. Haute Living guests can also book an enhanced crèche service, at extra cost, and helicopter transfers. Villa and residence bookings can come with an offer of a discount, a resort credit and private transfers, so it’s worth asking what’s attached when you book.
The area and days out
The resort isn't sealed off from Crete. Plaka, the nearest village, is a 10 to 20 minute walk downhill, with traditional tavernas and quiet rocky coves, and it's where the public boats to Spinalonga leave from. Elounda, a cosmopolitan fishing village with waterfront restaurants and shops, is about 8 minutes' drive. Agios Nikolaos, roughly 20 minutes away, is the nearest proper town, with supermarkets, a pharmacy, hospital services, a farmers' market and Lake Voulismeni; it's also where the nearest significant medical care is, since there's none on site.
The headline day out is Spinalonga itself, the UNESCO-protected Venetian fortress and former leper colony that inspired Victoria Hislop's novel The Island. The resort runs a private speedboat, booked by email, or you can take a public boat from Plaka. Further afield, the Minoan palace of Knossos is under an hour's drive, the Acqua Plus water park is under an hour from Elounda, the mountain village of Kritsa runs Cretan cooking and pastry classes, and the Samaria Gorge is a big walking day out. Golf and horse riding can both be arranged off site.
Loves and gripes
What families rate and what frustrates them, how it compares, the journey in and the weather by month.
What families love
- The staff warmth and service, the most consistent praise across reviews.
- The private pools, which guests treat as the centrepiece of the stay.
- The setting, with Spinalonga and the bay in view.
- The crèche and kids' club, and the Ofsted-qualified staffing.
- The CORE plaza, its cinema nights and its entertainment.
- The baby and toddler provisions, from the deli to the equipment on request.
Common gripes
- The steep site, hard work with a pushchair, and golf-buggy waits at busy times.
- The cost of extras on top of an already high room rate.
- The Thólos buffet, which divides opinion against the à la carte restaurants.
- The distance between the two areas, buggy-dependent late in the evening.
- CORE not always fully open in the shoulder season.
- The narrow beach, and a sea that's cold early in the season.
Across the review platforms the picture is consistently high, and the resort was named World's Leading Luxury Family Resort at the World Travel Awards in 2024 and 2025. It’s also listed in the Michelin Guide’s hotel directory, which is a hotel listing rather than a restaurant star.
Against the alternativesHow it compares
Within the Domes group, Domes of Elounda is the family flagship. Its sister on the same bay, Domes Aulus, is ultra-all-inclusive and adults-focused with no traditional kids' club, so for a family with young children this is the one to pick of the two. Nearby Daios Cove is the closest rival in the Elounda area: it runs a Worldwide Kids crèche from 4 months and leans more towards villas and a cove reached by funicular, while Domes has more on-site infrastructure, five restaurants, the CORE plaza and more pools. Domes Zeen near Chania is smaller and more design-led, with the advantage of Chania airport just 15 minutes away against the 70-odd minutes here. If you'd rather have everything in one price, Ikos Kissamos is all-inclusive and much larger, where Domes is boutique at around 120 to 130 suites and villas and you pay for extras.
The journey inGetting there and when to go
The airport is Heraklion, about 44 miles (71 km) away and roughly 60 to 80 minutes by road. There are direct flights from several UK airports, around four hours, on airlines like TUI, Jet2, easyJet and British Airways. Transfers to the resort are paid and don't come as standard, so arrange a private transfer ahead of time when you book; there's free parking on site if you hire a car. There's also a Greek government Climate Resilience Tax charged locally at check-in, per unit per night: €15 from April to October and €4 from November to March, on top of the room rate (last checked June 2026). The resort opens on 27 March 2026 and closes in late October or early November. For a family that wants shade and cooler afternoons, late May, June and September into early October stay warm without the peak heat and crowds; July and August are the hottest, at around 31°C, which is fine for pool and beach days but harder for walking about with little ones.
Month by monthWeather
The figures below are long-term averages for this part of north-east Crete, across the resort's season. The warm, dry stretch runs from June to September, and the sea is at its most comfortable from June, warmest in August and September. April and May are milder shoulders with a sea still on the cold side for small children.
| Month | Daytime high | Overnight low | Rain | Wet days | Sea temp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March | 17.5° | 9.5° | 52 mm | 6 | 16° |
| April | 20.5° | 12° | 22 mm | 3 | 17° |
| May | 24° | 15.5° | 11 mm | 2 | 20° |
| June | 27.5° | 19.5° | 4 mm | 0 | 23° |
| July | 29.5° | 22.5° | 1 mm | 0 | 26° |
| August | 29.5° | 22.5° | 2 mm | 0 | 27° |
| September | 27° | 20° | 13 mm | 1 | 26° |
| October | 24° | 17° | 54 mm | 4 | 23° |
| November | 20.5° | 13.5° | 63 mm | 6 | 21° |
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. Domes of Elounda is open from late March to late October or early November.
Questions
The things families ask most, the official pages worth a bookmark and when this guide was last refreshed.
Is Domes of Elounda all-inclusive?
No. Rooms come on bed and breakfast, and the à la carte restaurants, the crèche and most extras are paid on top, so budget for meals and childcare separately. Half board adds dinner at the buffet, and full board gives you a Dine Around allowance to spend at the à la carte restaurants.
Are airport transfers included?
No, they are paid and must be arranged before you travel rather than laid on automatically. Book a private transfer through the resort or your operator when you book the room, and ask for child seats at the same time. It is roughly 60 to 80 minutes from Heraklion.
How hard is the resort with a pushchair?
Hard enough that most families rely on the golf buggies rather than push between the two areas. If flat ground is a priority this steep site will count against it, and something like Daios Cove or a flatter Crete resort may suit you better. If you do book, a lightweight fold-flat pushchair travels better in a golf buggy than a bulky travel system.
Can we get down to the beach easily?
There is no flat pushchair route from the family area to the sand, so you take a golf buggy down, a few minutes, or walk down steps and a slope. Allow for a short buggy wait at busy times when you plan beach mornings, and consider booking a suite in the lower main area if a level walk to the sea matters to you.
How young does the crèche take a baby, and is it included?
It takes babies from around 4 months up to 4 years and is charged per session, unlike the free club for 4 to 12s. Places are limited, so book online early, and the session price is confirmed when you book.
Do we need to book restaurants in advance?
Yes, all of them, and that catches families out at CORE, the food-truck plaza, because it looks like somewhere you would just wander into. In summer the early sittings that suit small children get taken first, so book your main nights online before you fly. On any evening you have not reserved, the Thólos buffet takes walk-ins.
When is the best time to go with young children?
Late May, June or September into early October, when it is warm enough to swim but short of the July and August heat and crowds. Skip the very start and end of the season if beach swimming matters, since the sea is cold in spring and the resort winds down in late October or early November.
Is there anything new for UK travellers at the airport?
Crete is a standard trip for UK passport holders. The change to plan for is the EU’s Entry and Exit System, rolling out in 2026, which takes fingerprints and a photo the first time you enter the Schengen area, so allow a little extra time at passport control when you arrive.
See more Domes of Elounda photos
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Useful links
- Domes of Elounda: the resort's own site for rooms, dining and the children's clubs.
- GOV.UK Greece travel advice: entry rules and safety updates before you travel.
- Crete with little ones: our guide to the wider island, its beaches and when to go.
Last updated 13 July 2026.
