Used this forum for our last trip to Italy and the information and advice was extremely helpful. So here I go again....

We will be visiting Chania, Crete next June and I am having a difficult time deciding on hotels. Would love to find a hotel on a beach with pool. Doesn't have to be a "resort" type of hotel, but something nice. Have looked at Ammos Hotel - and they have two studios for the dates of June 6-11, 2006. They also have rooms at Porto Platanias (but it doesn't look as nice as Ammos). Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

We will also be visiting Santorini and Mykonos and I have been jotting down all the information from other Fodorites on those two islands. For Santorini I am thinking Anastasis, Aressana or Imerovigli Palace; and for Mykonos I have rooms as the Pelican Bay Art Hotel. Any feedback/advice would be greatly appreciated again. (I would like to budget around 150-180 Euro per night).

I've read good things here about
http://www.casadelfino.com/introduction.htm
in Chania, and am looking at it myself for June 2006.

TO:AP6380

Thanks for your response. I have also looked at Casa Delfino - looks beautiful, but doesn't have a pool and it's not located on a beach - which I would like. I'll keep looking and waiting for responses from fellow fodorites.

Chania is a small city so you will not find a beachside resort. Do however recommend the Casa
Delfino as a terrific choice to stay while in Chania.

We also enjoyed our stay at Casa Delfino. But I'm curious why you're going to Chania if it's mainly the beach and pool you want. There are some gorgeous beaches in Crete, particularly on the south coast. I guess there was a beach just to the west of Chania, but we never saw it.

Helen, as mentioned in slightly less detail, Chania is a small city, and its hotels are city hotels. There is a huge long suburby bit out to the west along a 15 mile beach, and there are one or tow otehr hotels round the bay to the north west where the Akrotiri sticks out. To get beach-side or a pool, you'll have to go out of the city limits.

Now, there are some really nice places in the town; and some fairly resorty places outside. I can recommend twon places, but not resorty places.

How long will you be there?

We will be in Chania for 5/6 days. Plan on renting a car and doing some day trips to the south of Chania where I have read there are some beautiful beaches. Hotel doesn't have to be right in Chania - could be in the outskirts, and if not on the beach - at least I would like to have a pool. Thank you again.

Hello. We have been to Crete twice and enjoyed it very much. The first time we stayed in Platanias, the beach suburb right outside Chania. We stayed at a typical beach hotel. It was nice. The area is filled with Europeans on beach holiday, pretty touristy, but fun. The next time we stayed at the Elia Traditional Inn, about 30 minutes from Chania. Beautiful restored farmhouse , situated in olive groves and fruit orchards, on top of a hill overlooking the countryside. They have a lovely pool overlooking the area, wonderful hostess, Maria, good breakfast, we enjoyed our stay very much. If you want to explore Crete, I would recommend staying outside of Chania town, because otherwise you will spend precious time driving through town when you want to explore the island.

I can't recommend anywhere from personal experience but I was going to mention Elia; and doing I quick search I found this, which looked interesting:-
http://www.crete-hotels-rooms.com/Re...mas_Villas.htm

We have stayed here, and liked it very much:-
http://www.amazingcrete.com/apartment_alianthos.htm

We have stayed at the Hotel Ammos, about 1 year ago and can highly recommend it. I may sound like a shill, but it has every thing you want, a pool, a great beach and extremely helpful people. There is a supermarket very close by.

Thank you all for your input. I did look at the websites mentioned by Sheila and thank you Alex for yourinput for Elia Traditional Inn (looks very nice) and for the confirmation for Ammos Hotel by Mr. Miglia. That's what I love about this forum - all this first hand information. Keep it coming!! I'll be researching the above information in the meantime.

Patrick: Where on the south coast would you recommend?

We drove down to Paleochora one day from Chania. It was a rather pretty town with a nice harbor and a beautiful beach. Lots of little tavernas and seafood restaurants.

Sheila, are you still checking in here? I think it was one of your posts that sent us to Paleochora. Have any recommendations there?

I would strongly recommend Paleochora, but it's better to saty there than to visit. I think the beach is OK, but less than stunning.

For stunning I'd suggest you go to Elafonissi right on the south west tip or Falassarna on the western edge.

Elafonissi is absolutely amazing- warm blue crystal clear water; and heaps of tourists. Falassarna is miles of open beach and no-one on it.

From research and photos we too will be visiting Elafonissi and probably driving to Paleochora. I am leaning toward staying at Ammos Hotel, but will keep on looking and reading this forum.

Any suggestions for Santorini and Mykonos?

I'm not sure if you are a vigorous outdoors type - but if you would like to experience one of the most beautiful places and challenge yourself you can hike the Samaria Gorge as a day trip from Chania. It is Europes longest gorge and is a national park. At 16km long it took us 6 hours to hike. It was a challenge but the awesome beauty of the park were well worth it.http://www.explorecrete.com/hiking/samaria.html

Another day trip we did was to the Balos Lagoon. You take a boat from Kastelli Kissamos. http://www.explorecrete.com/gallery/album23

Matrexx:

I would love to hike the Samaria Gorge. I think I can do it; it's just a matter of talking my husband into doing it. It may be something that I do alone or with a tour group. Is it a whole day adventure? I would imagine that I can sign up for a tour once we arrive in Chania. I'll go on the sites that you recommended and find out more info. Thank you.

Matrexx

It does take a whole day to get from Chania to Samaria. YOu get up and go either with the service bus or an organised tour to the top of the gorge at Samaria and then walk down to Agia Roumeli, where you sit in a cafe, or on the beach, and wait for the boat, which then takes you to Sougia where you get the bus back to Chania.

Hi Helen, I just read this very informative thread. I used this board for fantastic information for our trip to Italy too. We have much in common. We will be visiting Athens (4 days), Santorini (7days), and Crete (6 days), in May 2006, so here I am again reading these messages. I haven’t posted anything, yet but I read EVERY DAY!

Hi Akin:

Doing pretty much the same trip, but we'll be squeezing in Naxos for a couple of days (on the way back to Athens).

Nothing beats this forum for gathering good information and advice and I also read every day. When I get back from my trip, I will post information that hopefully some other travellers will find helpful.

Sheila:
Thank you for the information on the tour to Samaria Gorge. If he starts now, my husband can be in shape to do this with me.

Matrexx:
Thank you for the site for the Balos Lagoon - it is absolutely breathtaking - and I will be sure to visit it.

Have scratched Mykonos off the list in favor of Naxos. Have been to Mykonos before and have read all good things about Naxos - so we'll give it a try. I can't wait. Now, all I have to do is sit and watch for "inexpensive" plane fare.