We are looking to bring our extended family of 12 to Crete for a week next summer to celebrate our 40th. We want to rent a large villa with views of the sea. We want to be close to Chania. So far most of the large ones I have found are on the Akrotiri Penisula. Is that too far out of the way? We want beautiful beaches and a charming town to hang out in. I cant seem to find much on the area.

Big villas are hard to find in Greece that are both on/near a beach AND a "charming town" ... unlike Northern Italy. That's for historic reasons -- Italy had a period where there was affluence and large villas were created; Greece was struggling financially for centuries under foreign occupation or rule. Then, when tourism emerged long after WW II, it was more a "budget market" -- so lodgings on beaches and in "charming" areas were more moderate size & price. Thus, when upscale tourism finally developed, so that villas were built for that market ... they had to be built where property was still open, often inland or away from town, not walkable to attractions.

(Pardon for the aside, I know you didn't ask for history) so, not surprising u haven't located many large-size rentals. Akrotiri will be fine as long as you are OK with renting a number of vehicles, so that your group can go exploring together, not just be stuck in one place even tho it's attractive.

@travelerjan the history was interesting. I have found a good number of nice villas with pretty views but I’m just so unsure about areas. Funny you mentioned Italy. That is usually where we rent a villa most years. We have rented them all over the country. We have enjoyed the ones close to a town the most. Are there some other towns on the northwest side I should look into?

Although Akrotiri is nice and close to Chania, with some nice beaches, i would avoid it, as there is noise from nearby airport airport and flying planes ( military planes too among them)

You may want to try the west side of Chania with places like Agia Marina and Maleme.

Or outside of Chania to the east in Vamos or Douliana. They have built a lot of vacation homes there.

AHA! I KNEW, TNT, that you had been to Italy -- almost all the people who talk about "bases" are working off their experiences with Italy. Italy is different not only in size of villas but also in transport ... being mostly a mainland visit, you have ample train AND bus networks to nearby places. Thus u can have a villa, and drive/train/bus North for 20 miles, next day East ditto, next day S, -- and each day return quickly and conveniently to your villa "base" for dinner. In Greece that doesn't work at all, especially in isles but also to a degree on mainland, for a number of reasons:
• Virtually NO trains
• On Mainlands (and Crete), Mountains everywhere, to complicate the road network -- u can only go in valleys, often a very circuitous route
• On isles, if you go 20 miles in 1 direction -- you will drown!
... therefore, on isles the procedure is not to "base" but to stay in a place awhile, then "hop" via ferry to another place.... that's why they call it Island-hopping, not island-basing.
--- In Crete there IS an excellent modern E-W highway on north coast, enabling visits to 3 main areas W - Central - East. But only 3-4 roads can go to south coast... and there is NO road e-w along the south coast. Why? See a map! Large mt. ranges & their gorges run right into the sea. You need to strategize to visit highlights of both N. & S.