we stayed at the Pantelia suites for two nights in late September 2011. That is my wife and i and our 2 children aged 11 and 12. I found the task of choosing a hotel on this island a difficult and confusing one and relied very much upon the past reviews on trip advisor. They were almost entirely very positive and now I see why. So many of the places on the Calderra would not accept children and those that did, very many of them had pretty makeshift arrangements for a family of 4. Some had astonomical prices or were stuck away remote from the action.We had a two bedroom suite and it was fantastic and great value. The kids had their own bedroom, we had ours as well as two bathrooms in this beautiful classical whitewashed dwelling. It was like a postcard.We were very comfortable. It was spotless. Fridge, table and couch and chairs plus aircon but frankly we spent very little time in the unit lured as we were out the door by the view. Free wine and fruit on arrival and free bottled water in the fridge and very reasonably priced mini bar items as well. Look, if you are chasing down super luxury with swimming pool suspended on the cliff and day beds with billowing curtains, you probably are not reading this review and will probably look elsewhere.But this place was just tremendous and would be for families,solo,friends or couples alike. A lovely position tucked literally just seconds from the hustle and bustle of central Fira and yet totally removed from the noise and frenetic activity. You could leave you unit and be in the thick of it in a minute but if you didn't you were met with a real peacefulness. We had a shared balcony which was no problem at all and the views are great. Breakfast was spectacular (best we had in Greece by far) served up on our table on the balcony in the morning listening to the jingle jangle of the donkeys as they were walked to the old port to start their working day! As for the staff, again the reviews proved accurate. Nothing was too much trouble. Initially, Evangelos sat us all down with a map and pointed out the features of the island and how he'd rank them given the shortness of our stay, drawing things he suggested we should see. He spent about 30 minutes doing so but would do anything for you. He suggested we would be better with a car. The next morning i said we'd like a car. Within 5 minutes a fellow from hertz was there with a car and contract to sign. (My Tip: get a bigger motor than the mixmaster in the automatic Peugeot 107 if you are heading up the very steep mountain to Ancient Thira!) I had a concern as to whether our ferry to crete would sail. He spoke to a maritime friend and assured me that the winds that seemed to me to be rising were in fact on the wane (as proved to be the case) A boat trip out to the volcano, again a very helpful recommendation and it was a great day out. His suggested restaurants again were very good. By the way, you can use the pool at a very swish hotel about a minute away if you want, so don't be deterred by the absence of a pool. At the end of the stay he asked us if there was anything at all that they were doing which could be improved upon. He pressed us to honestly answer, saying that it was only by this means that they could improve their service or attend to some inadvertent shortcoming.We paused, looked at each other and said then and repeat now that we couldn't think of one improvement. We can't.That is pretty high praise but there it is. i thought that having used trip advisor that i should place our two bobs worth up for consideration. It was a fantastic place with a beautiful feel and we could not recommend it more highly.
Cheers
Mike and family, Melbourne Australia 12 October 2011
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
