Plakalona Holidays from AU$1,386

Pros / overall experience : A very warm, welcoming and accommodating team running the place under George; spacious and clean rooms with very comfortable bed; generous and varied breakfast buffet and good food and drinks available throughout the day . Location works well if you have a car and want to use the hotel as a base to explore - right between chania and the west coast where there are some incredible turqouise water beaches. Some short hikes to monasteries / caves and wineries in the interior are also accessible so you can appreciate the mountainous scenery. Many guests also stay at the hotel all day and enjoy the pool and bar facilities , in which case would probably recommend upgrading to a room with a private plunge pool and lounger. Con - wouldn’t go there for the beach in front - it’s nice for the view from the hotel but there are much better beaches within an hours drive that are worth making the effort to go to. Area around the hotel at night can feel a bit desolate (at least in late September) so wouldn’t necessarily recommend venturing too far on foot for dinner .

5 stars out of 5 is not enough bacause of the great people working there ! And the hotel food was one of the best we had in the entire trip. Would come here again every year if I could

fan in the room did not work, despite notifying staff (it was not a very hot period though) foul odour from the drain pipe, they fixed it after a few days and in fairness fixed that sooner than I got to complain about it overall wear-and-tear of furniture and surfaces like in 3-star hotel breakfast like in 3-star hotel (no good dried sausage slices or cheeses, no juices) family complained that pool is not heated - it was the temperature for serious swimming, not casual splashing