Reviewed 08 Jun 2008 by Katherine Terrell Gray
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Finding authentic Greek tavernas and traditional villages less touched by tourism in the hills behind the resorts. Spending time at the Koumos taverna in the hills just above Kalives - it has a magical quality about it because of its rustic charm and decoration - very romantic. Also meandering through the mountain roads staring down ravines and over the ranks of hills. The sparkling vista of Elifonisi lagoon on the south west of Chania was also a lovely sight, especially in contrast to the darker, cooler waters of the north coast.
2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Military activity
If you want absolute quiet you will find relative peace, but not absolute - this is because Souda Bay houses a US naval base and military aircraft trained on many days of our holiday out of Chania Airport. They obviously flew the length and breadth of Crete and its surrounding seas (as we saw and heard them in Elifonisi in the south one day) but some days there was a lot of military activity. In the current climate of Middle East unrest this level of activity could be maintained or even uplifted.
Family apartments
Also, for those wanting to have an apartment right beside their children (in the next one), we were offered two apartments with a shared balcony which would provide access etc. However, on arrival it turned out that while the top floor was exclusively ours, the two apartments did not meet at the balcony, and did not have removable balcony walls to provide access. This meant that we had to use keys to access each other's apartments through front doors. When my daughter had a bad ear infection she was moaning for hours of pain - according to her brother who eventually woke us up by knocking on our door - unbeknownst to me! We had to remember to keep keys available when moving from one place to another in case we got locked out when treating her... put older children only in 4a and 5a I would say - mine managed fine once she had medication and the ear eventually eased some days later, and I got spare keys to make access easier.
Pool depth for weak or non swimmers
The main pool has no shallow end - so if you are a weak or non-swimming adult or child you cannot use it without swimming aids and, in one fellow guest's eyes, a lot of fear (she was an older non swimmer and wanted to use the pool to get some confidence but ended up just dangling her feet in it for the duration of the holiday). If you are 5'3" you will be able to just stand with your mouth and nose out of the water, right at the edge of one end! There is a kiddies' pool which is fine for little ones, while being a bit small for lots of them at once.
Exploring the tavernas in Kalives
Our youngest child is 5 and we wished we had taken a small fold up buggy to push him into the village and around for walks up to the lovely Koumos taverna. He was just too small to be easy to lug about (what we did) as the walk into town is about half a mile or more to get to the beachside tavernas. If you can, bring a small buggy, it will make your life easier!
Tavernas
The first caravan on the beach is meant to be great and worth a lunchtime visit for calamari. The next one along with steps up from the beach cost us twice the price of most of our other comparable meals. While the food was good and it was a nice environment we never went back because of the cost. I've mentioned it before, but Koumos taverna and rustic museum is worth a visit, and the little village of Armeni with its taverna by the watercourse opposite the church is a must for Greek village life.
3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?
Unimpressed that there was no evidence of recycling and we just had to chuck all our rubbish into bags! I thought this place recycled its stuff - such a shame. I saw no evidence of recycling anywhere in Kalives. Maybe I didn't look hard enough, or maybe they take it all away and incinerate everything?
4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
Good - having a car to travel if you're curious to see more is essential, especially if you and the children will find the northern sea in June a bit nippy (we did - I came out after very short swims and the children wouldn't really do more than paddle about). Maybe arriving in Chania then hiring a car the next day and driving around the island is a better way to see it all in the future. However having critiqued it all, a very good set of apartments, well managed and nicely cleaned, in a great setting for families seeking rest and relaxation whilst letting their children have some freedom to enjoy the pools and the sand!
Read the operator's response here:
Crete does host Europe’s largest military base and from time to time there is overhead activity with Jets carrying out flying manoeuvres. The noise during these times can be an intrusion, however, from personal experience I’ve found the Jets pass over quickly and the noise subsides after 30 seconds or so. The accommodation booked was not a family apartment, but 2 studios, which is reflected in the price paid. These studios are adjacent but not interconnecting – where as the family apartments do have interconnecting doors on the balconies. This would have been explained over the phone. The apartments boast a large shared pool, small baby pool and sit right on a sandy beach allowing a wide selection of swimming options. I would recommend a push chair/buggy for families with particularly young children as it is approx 800 metres to walk to Kalyves – we do state in our brochure and on our website that it is a 15-20 minute walk to Kalyves, which is quite tough for youngsters, especially late of an evening when they may be tired.
Sadly, further to this review, my colleagues overseas have spoken with the owners of this property regarding the lack of recycling, as we were extremely disappointed to hear it is not being carried out. We are currently working alongside responsibletravel.com to determine whether we can continue to promote these wonderful apartments as being “responsible” based on the other responsible qualities they own.
