Help MN holiday fairies! Where in Crete?

[AndIFeedEmGunpowder]

Thought I had booked a brilliant hotel for our holiday in July. Well, I haven't. At the moment looks like we will be staying at Chania airport. DH is not convinced.

Can anyone recommend a nice hotel/apartment? Even a village? We'd love to be able to walk to a taverna or two so we can drink and a sandy beach would be fab as we have a toddler.

Thank you, thank you [raises glass of retsina]

Can you change your flight to Heraklion? Hersonnisos and Gouves are both nice and have lots of accommodation. Not too loud but not too quiet either!

Or have a look at the owners direct website for apartments etc which would avoid that awkward sitting-in-the-dark-in-the-hotel-room thing that you do after toddler bedtime

We stayed pretty near to Chania airport a year ago with 4mo DD - resort was called Stavros and we loved it! We had a massive apt in beautiful landscaped gardens with a pool, and it was as cheap as chips, being early in the season. It was the first stop-off on a driving tour of Western Crete so we were only there 3 nights or so. Can thoroughly recommend little village of Sougia if you want a peaceful non-resort location, but it's a reasonably long drive from Chania.

Fireball no! I booked Easyjet dammit. I will look at heronnisos and gouves anyway. Will check out owners direct too. Thank you

Thank you Eagle. Love that it's called stavros
We don't mind a bit of a drive from the airport, prob not more than 2 hours though.

Chania town is lovely, cobbled back streets and a lovely harbour.

If you are renting a car you could look for places on booking.com driving around western Crete.

I thought Hersonissos is one of those teenage party towns

Bah ha! We are usually tucked up in bed by 9 o'clock these days as DD likes to rise at about 5.

Sadly our teenage party days are long behind us. I can see is getting stuck into ouzo and playing backgammon on our balcony however

Chania old town sounds promising Ifly. Thank you.

Obvs DD won't be getting stuck into ouzo just the grown ups.

We liked Bali. Quite small, a few tavernas, a couple of beaches. Thats it.

Hi Gunpowder - I've checked details of our trip to Crete and we stayed at the Nanakis Beach apartments in Stavros via Booking.com - paid about £28 per night and it was lovely. Short walk to a couple of nearby beaches and had the pool at the apartments to ourselves most of the time. We also did a couple of trips into Chania town in the evening.

From there, we drove up into the mountains and stayed at Omalos overnight, then hiked the Samiri Gorge the following day (massive exertion not long after giving birth!) then we drove to Sougia and had a relaxing few days sitting on the beach and eating in beachside tavernas. From there, you can also do a lovely hike into neighbouring ancient city of Lisos.

After Sougia, we then went to Paleohora and spent the day on the beaches east of the town, then the following day we went to Elafonisi v early then legged it when the hordes of 10,000 day trippers arrived!

For our final night, we went to a town not far from Chania then flew home.

It was a fairly bonkers road trip, but great fun as DP used to live on Crete for several years and so it was a trip down memory lane for him.

I really recommend heading to Sougia (it would be about 2 hours from Chania) and relaxing - it's fairly central to all of the places mentioned above and so you would have plenty of day trips/hikes if you wanted it!

Thanks Mary will check out Bali too. So many gorgeous places, I am feeling less worried about the fact we have nowhere booked now.

Thank you so much for digging out the name for me Eagle, £28 is bargainous! I am that you went hiking so quickly after giving birth, I am afraid I am a bit too lazy on holiday, even now DD is older. Your trip sounds incredible, what lovely memories to have.

I've just checked the July prices for that accommodation and it's a fair bit more, but then we're terrible cheapskates and try to go on holiday during the 'slump' weeks where prices nosedive.

We do have great holiday memories (taken DD away twice again since Crete) but each time we always vow to have a relaxing holiday next time...

We're going in June! Hence my massive panic. We swing between deciding we want to stay somewhere that costs 10e a night and deciding to blow most of the budget on somewhere swish. So excited.

Oh gosh it's June tomorrow or something like that isn't it?

Worry not - it's not peak season so still plenty of accom to choose from. Why not split your time between basic and luxury? Your best bets for independent places to stay are booking.com, airbnb and owners direct

Oh I am so jealous! I love, love, love Crete and you are lucky you are flying to Chania not Heraklion. We have lots of Greek extended family and have been travelling all over Greece and Southern Crete is one of my favorite places.

Greece is my speciality subject :)

Ok. First of all you will need a car as Greek public transport is as useful as a chocolate teapot.

My favorite place is a tiny village called Sougia, they have their own website. About 1.5 hr drive from Chania. It's not whitewashed houses Greece, just a tiny village community! It's kind of isolated, near a national park, spectacular mountain scenery. Not crowded. This is very laid back Greece, has a sort of hippy relaxed vibe. Leftist Greek students camp there on weekends so it gets a bit messy and the beach looks like Glastonbury but if you can overlook that the place is worth a visit. It's where Chania Greeks go for seafood and a break by the beach. Long beach with sand and some pebbles, never crowded. The village has lovely tavernas (Anchorage stands out), lots of rooms to rent, right on the waterfront. Also a lovely guesthouse available via Airbnb.

Nothing to do there though - but DH and I loved it - no noisy tourists, hawkers etc. Close to some great day trips and hikes.

It's close to Elafonissi, a truly spectacular beach (pink sand - looks like the Caribbean) with really shallow water. Elafonissi is protected by the EU, gets crowded and nowhere nearby to stay.

This part of Crete is mountainous, a little wild, not built up and very quiet. Oh it makes me want to go there again!

We nearly booked this when we were there but went for something closer to the coast in the end.

Ooh I see poster above has recommended Sougia too! Another thing - it's super cheap. Most rooms are around 30 eur per night in high season. The place we booked via airbnb (a whole house five min drive away up in the hills) was £28 per night.

Food and drinks were cheaper than elsewhere we have been in Greece. DH and I had a full dinner with wine, some starters etc for around 20 -25 eur every night. Most places you can rent also have some kind of a kitchenette.

Let us know where you go!

Omg EagleRay! That's where we stayed!!! Was different 3 years ago, I think the owner has redecorated but it's definitely the place. Despite it being away from the village it's great, provided you don't mind the 5 min drive up hill in complete darkness.

It was cooler than in the village, tons of space, great host. Loved it!

I think you two have sold me on Sougia it sounds gorgeous!

The place you linked to looks gorgeous Eagles! I think we would like to be able to walk to the beach so will look on those sites you guys linked to. Thank you!

Of course I will let you know where we and up going.

*end

Kalives is lovely, I stayed there a couple of times, really nice resort.

We're going to Gerani this year...no sandy beach though.

Nutella LOVE the sound of a pink beach.
I have heard good things about Gerani and Kalives Ony and Sootica I will look!

Thank you all v. much. You are saving me from a hotel with giant screens showing the World Cup which is what DH would choose if left to his own devices.

Some of the waterfront houses where you can rent rooms are lovely, with big gardens etc (actual rooms are pretty much the same everywhere).

If you do stay in Sougia, don't forget to take cash and stock up on groceries in Chania. There is no cash machine and no one takes cards. There are two tiny supermarkets. There is a tiny clinic but the nearest hospital is in Chania. Don't attempt to drive Chania-Sougia in the dark though - no street lights, and poor signage.

We're staying at the Matzi apartments, but also liked the look of Androulakis and Elena apartments as they all had good pools and outside space.