Crete, Greece

We love Crete, just recently was our 3rd visit. We’ve stayed in Elounda twice before which is where we got married, it’s a lovely small fishing village, with plenty are restaurants and hotels with stunning views. 

This time we stayed in Rethymno - when it comes to booking holidays, I am my own worst customer, I am very thorough but also very fussy. My criteria for our family holiday was; 

• A nice boutique style hotel 
• Kids club
• Rooms with separate sleeping area/room for our son. 
• On the beach 
• Walking distance or close to outside restaurants 
• Not a majorly touristy area 
• Good flight times

So where to start, a lot of the nicer hotels only have double rooms or no kids club or kids facilities which can be frustrating. Working in the travel industry, I have access to many different suppliers & hotel chains so it was a search that took a while but we found the perfect holiday. 

We flew into Chania airport from Manchester and stayed at Grecotel Caramel Boutique Resort and it ticked all the boxes for us, we booked a family suite main house room and were upgraded to a luxury bungalow suite, both rooms types offer a separate living/sleeping area. 

Children upto 12yrs stay free in parents room depending on room type. They also eat for free with an additional tasty corner at the buffet exclusively for 3-12yrs. 

The children’s club is from 4yrs and offers lots of different activities, it’s open until 10pm on some evenings offering a mini disco and cinema night, so we were able to have a nice adult meal together in the restaurant which is located next to the kids club, Yay! 

There are plenty of restaurants around outside the hotel and in Rethymno town is about a 15min taxi ride which cost about 12 euro or you can even take the bus, there is a bus stop outside the hotel and you can get tickets from the shop for about 1 euro. 

Here are a few restaurants that we visited which had children’s play area’s; which makes meal times more enjoyable for everyone; lol

• Myli Restaurant Café
• Marem Cafe Bistro
• Mouragio Maria

On our last night, we visited Al Greco Farm. This place was stunning and I highly recommend a visit if you’re visiting this area. 

They grow all their own produce, you get to tour the farm and then have a traditional Cretan Dinner. 

Included in the tour:

• Vintage olive oil stone press

• Beehives

• Threshing floor

• Wood burning ovens

• Water mill

• Wine and raki distillery

• The Chapel of “St Nicolas Kourtaliotis”

• The Farmyard with local and rare animals

If you want to explore more of the island there is also lots of car hire companies just outside the hotel. We hired a car one day and drove to Elounda which is the other side of the Island, the drive took about 2hrs. 

^{Elounda Peninsula All Suite Hotel} 

We thoroughly enjoyed staying at Grecotel Caramel and will definitely visit again. 

If you would like any more information or help booking your next holiday, send me a message