I would like to pay special attention to the bar, here, of course, everything is at a high level. Alcohol is not bad, cocktails for every taste, cola fanta, etc. at any time, in any quantity. Between the main meals, you can take delicious toast, ice cream or french fries at the snack bar (until 17-00). There are 3 pools, one is quite large - for 20 people, the second is small for 1-2 and the third for children - 1-2. In principle, when the hotel was fully loaded, there were no problems in the pool area or in the pool.
Animation. A day later, a disco at the bar for adults.
For children. Swimming pool and children's room. They took the key, played with the little one, closed it and gave the key back. There are no children's animators.
Rooms. 4 stars very even. Cleanly. Of course, there were incidental cases, such as the fact that on the first day we were stuck to clean the room, or they accidentally took the child’s night T-shirt because it was white, mixed it up with a towel or something. Pay special attention that your windows do not face the road, otherwise you will be provided with sleepless nights due to the presence of a bunch of cafes that are noisy until 2-3 at night.
Sea. The sea is cold. Ours, in principle, bathe, but this one is more likely through force than in a buzz. For lovers of the warm sea - it is worth going from July. The entrances are mostly rocky, uncomfortable. For children, you need to carefully choose a resort. I would advise Georgopolis or Bali, there is a sandy entry.
Nature. Or rather, its absence. If you think that when you come to Crete you will see the most beautiful landscapes - throw it out of your head. Crete is at its most beautiful in late May and early June. And that's what they call beautiful - just dull and sad. Rocky terrain and lack of fertile land do their job. There is nothing to breathe, except for the sea, in Crete.
Souvenirs, oil, etc. Right in front of the hotel is quite reasonable prices. It will be cheaper in Chania or on the lake. Do not think that duty free will be cheaper. Compared prices for oil, soap and olives, more expensive by 20-30%. So take it straight to Greece.
What to watch.
Take a car for 3 days and you will be happy.
We took 3 days.
Day 1 - Sfendoni cave. There and back 3 hours. Entrance 4 euros. There is nothing to see in general.
the city of Chania, take a walk, ride a horse, drink coffee in Starbags. go to a local bakery and buy some snacks.
For everything about everything 50-60 euros.
The tour would have cost 120-150 for three, excluding horses, food and so on.
Day 2 - Georgipolis, Retinmo, Lake.
The costs are about the same, about 30 euros per car.
Day 3
Monastery of Preveli, Libyan Sea (several resorts including Matala). 4 hour round trip. We stopped, took a picture of the canyon, ate, went to the monastery, and went for a swim. Saved a lot of money : )
All excursions that are offered at the hotel can be safely (and most importantly cheaper) to make yourself. The only exception is Santorini.
The Palace of Knossos - an individual tour of 10 euros. Tales from a licensed guide are nonsense. You can always agree on the spot.
For those who need a relaxing holiday, the sea and the sun, you are here.
They feed excellent. Outwardly, it seems that the food is like in Egypt (also decomposed), but to taste - heaven and earth. Every day they gave fish (which I was very happy with my diet), there were squids, shrimps, mussels. Meat without problems, potatoes, pasta. The menu is very varied. They ate watermelons and melons. There were also cakes, mousses, jelly, but I am indifferent to this.
The rooms are spacious, clean and tidy. the bed was changed every day. The hotel is not stretched along the shore, but protrudes, as it were, inside. I thought every room had a sea view. everything is green - very beautiful.
I did not use the pool - I smelled that bleach was decent there. mostly foreigners were there. In general, there are few Russians in the hotel.
of the minuses - an unimportant entrance to the sea. The beach is small pebbles, the entrance is larger pebbles and in the sea itself the bottom is large posky stones. The entrance was a big inconvenience. Plus, the sea itself in the area of the hotel is quite muddy and there are very few swimmers.
The bar is open in the evening, sometimes there was live music.
We rented a car - we went to the beaches of Elafonisi, Matala, Bali. There is sand and a clear, calm sea.
Internet - paid, 30 euros per week. Internet quality is average.
Overall I would give the hotel 5 stars. I liked it very much - I recommend it.
They feed normally. In short, a very good hotel in all its services. We loved it, you won't regret it.
The hotel itself is also very well located. Not far from everything. Rethymno 6 km, bus stop nearby. There are also many shops and taverns in the village itself.
There is a lot to see in Crete, so we took excursions and rented a car. I liked it very much in the south, where the Libyan Sea is, there are not many hotels, the beaches are all paid, but the water is amazing turquoise.
I liked the whole holiday, we recommend the hotel rather for adults, for families with children, but not small ones, for them there is no special animation in the hotel!
Hotel: a good four, the only thing that spoiled the opinion about the staff was that the maid never put bath accessories in, but they didn’t make a problem, the benefit of olive soap and so on. everywhere in bulk) The rooms are standard, the furniture is good, nothing is broken anywhere, no complaints. The food is a buffet, and they chose it to have a lot of seafood, they were not mistaken: every day shrimp, mussels, octopus, cuttlefish, etc. ! My husband was delighted. I was pleased with the presence of Greek dishes and drinks, it is generally unrealistic to stay hungry! The beach is sandy, there is a strip of pebbles, but a small one, there are no problems with sunbeds, everyone always fit in and still remained free (there are a lot of them, and then people still drive around the island). The bar on the beach served drinks (carbonated, tea / coffee, there is also a choice for stronger lovers, Baileys was especially pleased), and you could also have a bite toast with cheese and ham, french fries and sausages - it really helped out a couple of times when we didn’t have time for lunch, climbing deep into the island : ) 2 pools, but we swam in them only a couple of times, why, when the sea is nearby? Nearby there is also a rental of sports equipment: water skiing, jet ski, parasailing, catamarans. .
After looking around and asking the hotel guide about car rental rates (minimum 140 euros for 2 days, the smallest car for 2 people), we rented a car from the local Greenways company: for 1 day Mercedes - 72 euros, 1 day Suzuki jeep - 52 euros , 3 days Hyundai Matrix - 52 euros / day. Everything went without incident, when returning the cars, they NEVER even went out to see if it was in order)) They just gave the keys and that's it. We traveled all over the western part of the island, in addition, they bought the only excursion from Teza on Santorini, for which they ripped off as much as 190 euros for one! saved in other sights with a car, then forked out . .
So by day:
1 day by car - Rethymnon, walked and examined Fortezza from the outside and from the inside: beautiful views of the city and the sea.
Day 2 - we went to Heraklion to see the famous Palace of Knossos. The road is extremely picturesque and interesting! Very interesting ruins, quite a large area, there is something to see! But by 12 o'clock it became very hot, it was simply impossible to walk under the sun, however, we managed to see everything and set off on the way back for lunch, and, having thoroughly refreshed ourselves, went to the Sfendoni cave. Gorges, cliffs and serpentines - all this caused a mixture of delight and adrenaline (I'm afraid of heights). I also really liked the villages that passed along the way. They go to the cave itself in organized groups with a guide, a ticket costs 4 euros per person. There are several halls in it, each with its own name, the guide tells interesting things, stalactites and stalagmites are highlighted in different colors, and because of the inclusions of quartz, some sparkle like snow in the sun! Impressed. On the way back, we turned at the wrong turn (we were led by a mobile GPS, which rarely, but failed) and instead of an asphalt road we drove onto a dirt road, and it looked abandoned . . it’s good that we had a jeep, because. we didn’t have a way back (we went down the hill and there were such steeps that there was nowhere to turn around and the car couldn’t climb up! ), And of course there were no slope fences either, the adrenaline was crazy, it was more only when traveling to Gramvousa. Everything ended well, and after this safari I stopped being afraid of serpentines in general, even Santorini ones!
The next day we had a break in our rally (we agreed on this at the office right away, and the payment was based on a 5-day rental, and not 1.1 and 3, i. e. any whim of the client for his own money; ) for it was necessary to sail to Santorini! A lot has already been said and written about this island, it really is something unusual and original, something that takes your breath away and blinds your eyes from beauty! Frankly, I thought that in real life Santorini is not as contrasting as in the photographs, and when everything turned out to be exactly the opposite, I could not tear myself away from this masterpiece. We walked around Oia, Fira, took simply magnificent photographs, admired, made a wish at the Black Stone of Lovers, bought on Kamari Beach in the Aegean Sea and tried Vinsanto, which seemed a little sugary, and the price of 30 euros for 0.5 is somehow too high (in Crete dessert wine, made like Vinsanto by natural fermentation without any technological interventions, costs 14 euros maximum! ) I was struck by the skill of the bus drivers in Santorini - how they fit into the turns. Santorini is certainly an unforgettable experience and for a lifetime!
Day 3 by car - we were so fascinated by the Sfendoni cave that we decided to see another one, this time Melidoni. It is located much closer to Sfendoni, has one hall, but a large one with beautiful stalactites. Known for the fact that in ancient times there was a sanctuary of various deities, and in modern history, Greek rebels suffocated here, who were locked in a cave by the Turks, and there is a monument-grave to them. The area around the cave is very beautiful - around the mountain and terraces of olive trees. And after lunch we went to the monastery of Arkadi, a well-known stronghold of resistance to the Turks and one of the most important monasteries in Greece. For some reason, the architecture there reminded me of Spain, I was especially impressed by the Greek bell towers - flat, and not like ours. A wonderful garden is laid out on the territory, heavy bunches of grapes hang on top of the pergolas in the gallery . . a fairy tale! There is also a small exposition - ancient church books, elements of the attire of clergy, and there are several items with a double-headed eagle - a connection with tsarist (and even today) Russia. And after the monastery we went to ride catamarans on the only freshwater lake in Crete - Kourno. We didn’t really see the turtles, but the lake is magnificent - the expanse of water, warm, mountainous shores . . The road to the lake is a bit deaf in places, but there are hand-made ceramics signs (also made by hand with a felt-tip pen), they also show the way to the lake, we are very grateful for this to the local craftsman After the lake, we barely made it to the end of dinner, since at the hotel you can come to the restaurant at least 2 minutes before the official end, all the food will be and you can eat slowly.
Day 4 - we walked around the Old Town of Rethymnon (on the first day we couldn’t park, everything is busy, but you can’t drive on it): Venetian facades are adjacent to Turkish ones, a very colorful combination! Then they decided to rush to Gramvousa, and at first they wanted to get to Kissamos, and then sail on a boat, but already on the go they decided to drive themselves along that very difficult dirt road . . if I knew what was ahead of me, I preferred the boat and again boat! The road is very narrow, there are no obstacles, and when you go THERE you have to go just from the side of the cliff - your heart stops in earnest, and goats jump on the rocks nearby. When you get to the parking lot, you still have to walk in order, and you have a view of Balos bay and the beach and the confluence of the seas! Beautiful and unrealistic! Since we were in the evening, we did not count many shades, but still the sight is amazing! And there is still a way back, which turned out to be easier, because. we were already driving from the side of the cliff and there were almost no cars in the opposite direction.
Day 5 - Chania. We went shopping, and looked into the Old Town and the embankment. The city is even bigger and more colorful than Rethymno, the former capital of Crete. The waterfront is charming, and so is the lighthouse.
The remaining 3 days we spent on the beach, the sea and the weather were super, well, and then, on the 12th day of our stay in Crete, we went to the airport. And here Tez showed himself in all his glory: he connected 2 flights on 1 bus (apparently they saved gasoline), and not from our flight we had only 8 people out of 40 on the bus. The guide asked to give way to them at check-in, because. their departure was in 1.5 hours. It would seem that there were no problems, BUT then another Teza bus drove up and there were already 32 out of 40 people from this early flight, and they also rushed to check in, it turned out to be a dump of 2 flights, people they could not figure out which of the queues they should get in, and the Tez representatives just stood on the sidelines (except for one who really tried to help) and chatted about something of their own. We chose this TO only because only he had this hotel for the required dates, and once again we were convinced that Tez should be contacted as a last resort. But in the end, everyone took their seats and flew safely to Moscow. And I fell in love with Crete and Greece recklessly for the rest of my life!