Grecotel Villa Oliva

Accommodation: this hotel is a real gem; a boutique hotel that came as part of a package holiday but wow, what a find. The staff are exceptional - Nikoletta, Dora and Arrass in particular but all were friendly, attentive and helpful. We went with our twin sons, 19, so had two separate rooms. Ours was 1st floor with an enormous double bed, the "boys'" was on the ground floor with a big double and a single. Both rooms have a small kitchen area with a fridge, hob, kettle etc, and the bathrooms / showers have that thing that so many don't seem to - a shelf to put things on! Both rooms overlooked the beach rather than the pool and we had some lovely later evenings sitting and chilling before bed. The rooms were perfectly airconditioned. There are towels provided for the (very comfortable) sun beds - and if you want to take them to the beach, that's more than fine, in fact it was even encouraged. The variety of parasols meant that we didn't need to sit in the sun. Transport: we eventually decided not to hire a car; the staff were super helpful (of course) and pointed us to the supermarket where we bought €2 tickets to get on the bus into Rethymno (bus stop literally right outside the hotel for both directions) and, as an aside, we'd highly recommend the open deck bus tour round Rethymno as it goes round the town and up into the mountains, including around a steep gorge (interesting view from the top deck trying not to look down!) Food: breakfast is a selection of fresh fruit, cheese and ham, plus bread and pastries, and a selection of fruit, yoghurt, juices, treats etc. Apparently the coffee was amazing, I recommend the local teas. We were offered eggs - 'any way' so we tried fried, scrambled, poached and omelettes, all with a range of ham, cheese, tomato, mushroom, bacon etc. There are boiled eggs also available on the self-serve part. This hotel is part of a family owned chain, I believe, who also own a farm nearby; we took a cab (€12 there, €15 back, for 4 of us) on the Sunday evening (you need to book the day before) for an amazing evening. A restaurant overlooks the valley with incredible views out to sea, and there's a tour with a cheese, wine, olive oil and honey tasting, a small animal collection (donkeys, ducks, sheep, goats, rabbits etc) before a fabulous meal with so much food. Definitely recommend trying for a special meal. There are several eateries both left and right out of the hotel, all walkable, all more than fine, and some decent bars, too. Location; the hotel is on a road but this isn't a problem and with the patio door shut, there's very limited noise at night. The beach is over the road - it's a 'gritty' sand and leads to a rocky and uneven sea base. Many people were wearing beach shoes / wetsuit type ones to go into the sea. There are beach bars with umbrellas near by in both directions - we ended up preferring the pool in the end, with the lifeguard also being very friendly and helpful. I believe that the

Wonderful stay. Accommodation was clean. Bed comfortable. We had room with balcony overlooking pool. Pool was warm. Staff were so pleasant and friendly. Breakfast fresh in mornings outside on patio. Able to access beach across the road.

Brilliant hotel. Lovely staff. Equally as good food location. Relaxed atmosphere but enough around to explore and see, get car hire etc. roads either side of the hotel but was absolutely no issue. Would recommend. Great experience over all