Ella Helea
Ella Helea is a five-star all-inclusive resort on Kallithea Beach, on the sheltered north-east coast of Rhodes in Greece, roughly 6 to 10 km from Rhodes Old Town. It's the family half of a pair run by Ella Resorts, with an adults-only sister hotel next door, and it's built around an earthy, boutique design rather than a standard package-holiday look. Families come for the à la carte restaurants, the kids' club and water park, the several pools and a beach a short drive from both the airport and Rhodes Town.
On this page
Is it worth it?
Who Ella Helea suits, what the all-inclusive covers and the facts to skim before the detail.
Ella Helea is a large five-star all-inclusive, around 626 rooms and suites, run for families. The all-inclusive board covers the main buffet, the à la carte restaurants and the bars, and babies under two stay free, with the first and second child from two to eleven free when they share your room. Families tend to rate the look and feel most, an earthy, boutique style rather than a generic resort, along with the à la carte restaurants, the kids' club and the on-site water park. The location helps too, close to both Rhodes Old Town and the airport. The trade-off is that it gets busy: at peak times the buffet and pool bar draw queues and service can be stretched. You'll get the most from it if you want a design-led all-inclusive with plenty for children and you don't mind a livelier resort in high summer.
Best for
You want a design-led five-star all-inclusive with à la carte restaurants, a kids' club and a water park, on a short transfer from the airport and Rhodes Old Town.
Maybe not for
You want a calm, quiet resort in peak summer, or you're travelling with a baby and want childcare and catering aimed squarely at the youngest children.
Best ages
Babies upwards, though the clubs favour four and over. A paid crèche for the youngest, a free kids' club from four to twelve, and a teens' club.
What stands out
The boutique, earth-toned design, the à la carte restaurants overseen by well-known chefs, and a water park across from the hotel.
What to check
The crèche's exact age band and price, and whether reaching the water park still means a road crossing with a pushchair.
Where is it?
On Kallithea Beach on the north-east coast of Rhodes, about 12 miles (20 km) from the airport.
Quick facts for families
What the resort is like
Where it sits, how it looks and feels, the name changes to know about and the sister hotel next door.
Ella Helea sits on Kallithea Beach on the north-east coast of Rhodes, the sheltered side of the island in the lee of its mountain spine, a few kilometres south of the restored Kallithea Springs and roughly 6 to 10 km from Rhodes Old Town. Its postal address is Kallithea, Rhodes 85100, on the Reni/Koskinou stretch of coast. For the island as a whole, its beaches and when to go, see our Rhodes guide.
The resort trades the standard package-holiday look for an earthy, boutique style in tones and materials that guests single out in reviews. It's a large property of around 626 rooms and suites, so it has the scale of a big all-inclusive with a more designed feel than most. Check-in is from 3pm and check-out at 11am, WiFi is free throughout the rooms and public areas, and there's on-site parking, though space is limited.
One thing worth getting straight before you book is the name. The resort has changed names several times in a few years, so you'll meet older ones on blogs and booking sites: it was Aldemar Amilia Mare before a full renovation, reopened as Helea Family Beach Resort in 2023, became Helea Lifestyle Beach Resort in 2024, and is now Ella Helea. It's all the same hotel on the same beach. It's run by Ella Resorts, the hotel arm of the investment firm H.I.G., which brought the former Aldemar hotels on Rhodes under one brand and renovated them.
Next door, sharing the same stretch of Kallithea Beach, is Ella Elissa, the adults-only hotel in the pair. Ella Resorts runs Elissa for adults and Helea for families, so you'll see its adults-only neighbour along the beach, but the two are separate hotels.
By a first-hand account, the resort's water park sits across the road from the front of the hotel, so reaching it means a road crossing with a pushchair. If level access matters to your family, contact the resort to check the routes around the site before you book.
Every restaurant and bar
Each place to eat and drink, which suit children and how the à la carte booking works.
The all-inclusive board covers the food here, from the main buffet to the à la carte restaurants and the bars. The resort lists five restaurants and five bars, and its own 2026 guest information adds a couple of newer venues, covered below.
Lopia is the main buffet, Mediterranean and international, with a sea view and an open kitchen children can watch. It runs from an early breakfast through to a late dinner across several sittings, roughly 6am to 2am in all, so there's almost always something on, and there's a children's buffet corner. It's the easy option with a young child, since you walk in when their appetite arrives rather than booking a table.
Tsouka is the à la carte Greek restaurant, meze-style, with Aegean fish, meats and mountain herbs, open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Its menu is overseen by the chef Apostolos Trastelis. Like the other à la carte restaurants, dinner is by prebooking and subject to availability.
Matsi is the à la carte Italian-Rhodian restaurant near the main pool, open for lunch and dinner and also overseen by Trastelis. Families single out the pasta and the desserts.
Laerma is the à la carte Latin American restaurant, tapas and tacos, open for dinner only. Its chef, Thanos Stasinos, has a Peruvian-Japanese background, and the bao buns and tortilla rolls go down well with children.
The chef behind Tsouka and Matsi, Apostolos Trastelis, is the founder-chef of Spondi in Athens, which holds a Michelin star, having previously held two, and of the Michelin-starred Hytra. Those stars belong to his Athens restaurants; Tsouka and Matsi are overseen by him but aren't themselves starred.
Street Food Hub serves global street-food snacks and has a gelateria, and unlike the main restaurants it carries an extra charge. The resort's 2026 guest information also lists Satoumi, an Asian ramen house open for dinner, and The Canteen Co, an all-day snack and drinks point with spots at the beach and the water park. Both are newer additions, so check they're running when you book.
At the main restaurant there's a Kids' Corner, a mini-buffet of child-friendly meals for four to twelves at set times, with special meals for medical or dietary needs on request. Children's menus run across the à la carte restaurants too.
The bars
Three bars are named individually. Soroni is the lobby bar, with a sea view and drinks from 9am to 1am, and it makes a natural family meeting point. Souma is the pool bar on the main pool, open 10am to 6pm. Ammuda is the beach bar, open 10am to midnight, where the daily ice creams are a hit with children. The resort counts five bars in total. The other two are likely the Street Food Hub's drinks service and an evening stage bar by the entertainment area.
How the à la carte restaurants work
The buffet takes walk-ins all day. The à la carte restaurants are on the all-inclusive board too, but dinner is by prebooking, subject to availability. There isn't a documented app or a fixed nightly allowance, so book your à la carte dinners on site as early in your stay as you can, and fall back on the buffet on nights you haven't reserved.
Rooms and suites
Every room and suite with its official size, then the pools, the water park and the beach.
There are rooms, suites and a top-tier water bungalow, most facing either the gardens or the sea, and many with swim-up or shared-pool access. The table lists each category with its official size and how many it sleeps; the guidance after it is which suit a family with a baby or toddler.
| Room, suite or bungalow | Size | Sleeps | Outdoor and view |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deluxe Room | 22 to 26 m² | Up to 3 | Garden-view veranda; a fold-down third bed |
| Deluxe Room Sea View | 22 to 26 m² | Up to 3 | 10 m² sea-facing veranda |
| Deluxe Room Swim Up | 22 to 26 m² | Up to 3 | Shared-pool access from the veranda |
| Junior Suite | 32 m² | Up to 4 | Separate living area; sofa beds; courtyard view |
| Junior Suite Pool View | 32 m² | Up to 4 | 10 m² private veranda |
| Junior Suite Pool View & Sharing Pool | 32 m² | Up to 4 | Separate bedroom and living area; shared pool |
| Junior Suite Pool View & Swim Up | 32 m² | Up to 4 | Private swim-up pool connection |
| Junior Suite Sea View | 32 m² | Up to 4 | Separate bedroom and living room; sea view |
| Junior Suite Sea View & Swim Up | 32 m² | Up to 4 | Sea view with swim-up pool access |
| Helea Suite Swim Up | 38 m² | Up to 4 | Direct pool access |
| Helea Suite Sea View | 40 to 45 m² | Up to 4 | Sea-view veranda |
| Helea Suite Sea View & Private Sauna | 48 to 50 m² | Up to 4 | Sea view, veranda and an in-room sauna |
| Water Bungalow Sea View & Private Pool | Up to 65 m² | Up to 3 | Own pool, garden and furnished veranda |
Sizes and occupancy come from the resort's own room pages.
For a couple with a baby or toddler, the thing that matters most is a door you can close on a sleeping child. The Deluxe Rooms are one open space at 22 to 26 m², sleeping up to three with a fold-down third bed, so they work with one small child but get tight once a cot and an active toddler share the floor. The Junior Suites at 32 m² step up to a separate bedroom and living area in several of their variants, sleeping up to four, which is the point at which naps and bedtimes get easier. The Helea Suites run larger again, from 38 m² up to 48 to 50 m² for the sea-view version with its own in-room sauna. The 2026 brochure sets out the occupancy for both the Junior and Helea suites as two adults and two children up to twelve, or three adults and one child.
The Deluxe Rooms are also sold in a "Family" layout, a three-guest set-up with a fold-down bed and, in some rooms, a sliding partition between the double bed and the children's sleeping area, though there isn't a separate named family room with its own size. One family staying in 2023 described their children on sofa beds in an adjacent room joined by sliding doors, which is one way a family of four is put together here rather than a guaranteed feature. Several categories, across the Deluxe Rooms, Junior Suites and Helea Suites, come with swim-up or shared-pool access from the veranda, and the sea-view versions trade that for the view.
At the top is the Water Bungalow Sea View & Private Pool, with its own pool, garden and furnished veranda. It's up to 65 m² and sleeps three.
You may still see an "Open Plan Suites" category at 36 m² on older blog posts or listings. It was on the official site as recently as mid-2025 but has since gone from the booking pages, folded into the Junior Suite range, so it isn't a current option to book.
Pools and water features
The resort has several outdoor pools, at least half a dozen, spread around the grounds, including a main pool and a dedicated children's pool stocked with pool toys, though no official depth figures are published for either. Sun loungers around them are free. There's also a quieter indoor pool, separate from the spa's wet area. The resort's marketing puts the pool count much higher, but guests and booking sites describe a smaller number, so picture a main pool, a children's pool and a handful of others rather than a vast complex.
Ella Land Splash, also called the Aqua Splash Park or the Aquatower in the resort's own material, is the water park, with waterslides, aqua towers, tube rides and activity stations, plus a children's playground alongside. Lifeguards are a visible presence around the water, by first-hand accounts. If your child is small, check which parts of the water park suit them when you arrive. On the hottest peak-summer days the water park and playground can be too hot to use in the middle of the day, and they come into their own more in the cooler months, so aim for mornings and late afternoons in July and August.
The beach
The beach in front of the resort is officially a sand-and-pebble beach, so it's sand with pebblier patches rather than pure soft sand, which is worth knowing if you're bringing a paddling toddler; water shoes help. Sunbeds and umbrellas are free on the beach as well as by the pools.
Windsurfing, waterskiing and tubing are offered from the beach. Check whether they're included in your board or cost extra when you book. Scuba diving is a separate paid activity, booked as one of the resort's Signature Experiences rather than as part of the general water sports.
Babies and toddlers
The clubs and the crèche, the baby kit, everything that fills a family day and the days out beyond the gate.
Childcare runs under the name Ella Land Club, in partnership with Worldwide Kids, a childcare provider UK parents may recognise. The ages and hours below can vary between seasons, so confirm them when you book.
There's a crèche within Ella Land Club for the youngest children, from four months to four years, and it's a paid extra. Its exact age band, session times and price can change, so confirm them at booking. The staffed crèche is a fairly recent addition, so an older review may not mention it.
The kids' club for four to twelves is free, with themed workshops, sports, crafts, pool play and outdoor games, and the four-to-twelve age band is corroborated by two first-hand reviews as well as the brochure. Older children have a teens' club for twelve to eighteens, with VR games and a PlayStation 5. The gym is for over-sixteens. In the evenings there's a children's disco, described by one guest as a hit with the under-eights, followed by singing, magic and circus entertainment, and there's an outdoor playground next to the water park.
On the baby kit: a cot and a bottle warmer are available on request, as are baby monitors, which the resort calls Baby Phones, and baby sets, meaning potty and toilet adapters and baby bathtubs, subject to availability. Nappy-changing facilities are in the public toilets, and there's an on-site mini-market that stocks baby necessities. One thing not listed anywhere is a steriliser, so if you need one it's safest to bring your own or a cold-water kit. Beyond the children's menus and the kids' buffet there's no baby-food or weaning service mentioned either, so plan for that with a young baby. What costs extra for children is the crèche, the Street Food Hub and the games room.
Things to do
The Roée Wellness spa has nine treatment rooms, three of them for couples and one with its own steam room and sauna, plus a wet zone of sauna, herbal sauna, steam room, cold room, an experience shower and a hammam. The wet zone and treatments run 10am to 7pm, the fitness studio from 8am. There's also a family and kids' wellness menu, gentle age-appropriate treatments and parent-child sessions, so ask about any minimum age before booking a child in. The products are from Gaia Skincare, ROÉE Cosmetics and Ariadne Athens.
For sport there's tennis and padel run by the Sunball academy, with coaching for adults, children and groups, a fitness centre with cardio, strength and yoga, table tennis and guided or self-guided cycling routes, since it's set up as a bike-friendly hotel. Entertainment covers a 50-plus-seat cinema, which can be booked for private screenings, daytime and evening musical events and animation for all ages, daily live music, two themed escape rooms and twice-daily in-pool aqua gym and dance. The games room of arcade games and pool tables carries a small extra charge.
A set of paid Signature Experiences can be booked on top of the all-inclusive board: a children's drawing session, a Pirates of the Aegean boat and treasure hunt in the caves at Kallithea, a Melekuni Rhodian-dessert workshop, cooking in the fields with a local farmer, olive oil tasting, scuba diving, guided hiking, clay work and an excursion to the Acropolis of Lindos. Other services, all charged, include car rental, a private doctor on call around the clock, laundry and dry-cleaning, and a retail arcade of fashion, jewellery and gifts, separate from the baby-stocking mini-market.
The area and days out
Ella Helea isn't sealed off from Rhodes. Kallithea Springs, a restored 1929 spa complex of terraces and pools, is about 3 km away, with a small admission charge in summer; its steps make a carrier easier than a pushchair. Rhodes Old Town, a UNESCO-listed medieval walled city, is roughly 6 to 10 km away, good for a wander round the moat park, the Street of the Knights and an evening ice cream, and the paid palace interior is easy to skip with young children.
Further out, Lindos and its Acropolis are a hilltop climb best done in a carrier rather than a pushchair, though the village and beach at ground level are an easy alternative. The Valley of the Butterflies is free and open year-round, with a path over the top for anyone who finds the central tunnel too much for small children. Faliraki, up the coast, has one of Greece's largest water parks, with a dedicated under-three zone, within reasonable driving distance. For all of this, our Rhodes guide has the detail.
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 cleanliness and presentation, cited again and again.
- The friendly, attentive staff.
- The à la carte restaurants.
- The earthy, boutique design and atmosphere.
- The kids' club and the water park.
- The location, close to Rhodes Old Town and the airport.
Common gripes
- Crowding and queues at peak times, the buffet at breakfast and lunch and the pool bar.
- Service that can be inconsistent when it's busy.
- Sunbed disputes over reserved-then-abandoned loungers.
- The marketing's "15 pools" claim, which guests dispute.
- Limited catering aimed at babies specifically.
A reviewer from the resort's first 2023 season rated it as standing out but still ironing out teething issues around staffing, guest numbers and restaurant bookings; more recent accounts suggest it has matured since, though the peak-time crowding comes up in both. Across review sites it sits at around four out of five on TripAdvisor from roughly 2,300 reviews, ranking around 99th of the 499 hotels TripAdvisor lists for Rhodes, and about 8.4 out of 10 on Booking.com. On the Beach's listing also carries a sustainability score from Rating.Bio, an online-travel-agent scoring scheme rather than a certification the resort holds itself, such as Travelife or Green Key.
Against the other Rhodes resortsHow it compares
Against the other Rhodes resorts we've researched, among them Lindian Village, Atlantica Aegean Blue, Atlantica Holiday Village, Amada Colossos and Princess Andriana, Ella Helea stands out for its boutique, design-led look rather than a conventional resort style, and for a shorter transfer than Amada Colossos and the rest of the cluster down the south-east coast. Its unusual run of name changes is another quirk, worth knowing so an old "Helea Lifestyle" listing doesn't throw you. Where it's thinner than several of these peers is published detail: Princess Andriana and the two Atlantica hotels spell out slide heights, pool depths and childcare ages that Ella Helea's current site leaves off, so you may need to confirm a few of those specifics directly.
The journey inGetting there and when to go
The airport is Rhodes (Diagoras, sometimes called Paradisi), about 12 miles (20 km) away and roughly 25 to 30 minutes by road, since the drive crosses the island from the west-coast airport to this north-east coast. Transfers aren't included, so arrange and pay for one when you book rather than expecting it to be laid on. The resort is sold by most UK operators, among them easyJet holidays, Olympic Holidays, loveholidays, On the Beach and British Airways Holidays.
There's a Greek Climate Resilience Tax charged locally, €15 per room per night for five-star hotels (last checked July 2026), on top of the room rate. For UK passport holders no visa is needed for a normal holiday under the 90-days-in-180 Schengen rule; your passport needs to be under ten years old and valid for at least three months beyond your departure. The FCDO doesn't advise against travel to any part of Greece. A GHIC covers state healthcare, though island facilities are limited and travel insurance is essential. The resort is open from 10 April to 31 October, and the warm, dry stretch for a family is June to September, with June and September warm enough to swim but short of the peak-August heat and the fullest crowds.
Month by monthWeather
The figures below are long-term averages for this part of north-east Rhodes, across the resort's April-to-October season. The sea is comfortable for young children from June and warmest in August and September. One local note: the averages are just that, and individual peak-summer days can climb toward 39°C, so plan shade and water for the middle of the day in July and August.
| Month | Daytime high | Overnight low | Rain | Wet days | Sea temp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April | 20.5° | 14.5° | 29 mm | 8 | 18° |
| May | 24.5° | 18° | 16 mm | 5 | 20° |
| June | 28° | 22° | 2 mm | 1 | 23° |
| July | 30.5° | 24.5° | 0 mm | 0 | 26° |
| August | 31° | 25° | 0 mm | 0 | 28° |
| September | 29° | 23° | 6 mm | 2 | 27° |
| October | 25° | 19° | 57 mm | 7 | 25° |
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. Ella Helea is open from 10 April to 31 October.
Questions
The things families ask most, the official pages worth a bookmark and when this guide was last refreshed.
Why does the resort have so many different names?
It's one hotel that's been rebranded several times: Aldemar Amilia Mare, then Helea Family Beach Resort, then Helea Lifestyle Beach Resort, and now Ella Helea. If you're reading an older review under one of those names it's still the same place, though anything about the kids' club or the restaurants from the earliest years may be out of date.
Is there childcare for a baby or toddler?
There's a paid crèche within Ella Land Club for the youngest children, from four months, alongside the free kids' club that starts at four. Its exact age band, hours and price can change, so confirm them with the resort before you rely on it for your dates.
Can you just walk in to the restaurants?
The Lopia buffet is walk-in whenever it's open. The à la carte restaurants take a dinner booking only, and in the busy weeks they fill up, so put your reservations in during the first day or two rather than leaving it to the night.
Do you have to cross a road to reach the water park?
By a first-hand account, yes. It's over the road from the hotel, so allow for a crossing with a pushchair and check the exact layout when you arrive. On days you'd rather skip the trip, the resort's own pools and children's pool sit right by the rooms.
Does the beach suit a paddling toddler?
It's a sand-and-pebble beach, so pack water shoes for the pebblier patches. On a day when the sea's edge is stony, the pools, including a dedicated children's pool, are the softer option.
How far is the airport, and is a transfer included?
The drive from Rhodes airport is roughly 25 to 30 minutes. A transfer isn't part of the package, so add one through your operator or arrange a private taxi when you book, rather than expecting it at the resort.
Do children stay free?
Babies under two stay free, and the first and second child from two to eleven stay free sharing a room with you. How many children a room takes varies by type, so check the capacity of the room you're booking.
Can you get an accessible room?
If anyone in your party needs level access, contact the resort directly to check what's available before you book.
See more Ella Helea photos
Open the Ella Helea photo gallery →
Useful links
- Ella Helea: the resort's own site for rooms, dining and what's included.
- GOV.UK Greece travel advice: entry rules and safety updates before you travel.
- Rhodes with little ones: our guide to the wider island, its beaches and when to go.
Last updated 13 July 2026.
