Just returned from an excellent trip to Villea Village, Makrigialos in Crete, and thoroughly recommend it. The staff are very welcoming and friendly with a good knowledge of the local area. Villea is an hotel and apartment complex set in an olive grove. The grounds, pool and bar area are immaculately kept, with bourganvillea adorning the walls. The rooms were clean and tidy, with a small kitchenette, comfortable beds, a radio and television. Each room had its own private patio/garden area. The sandy beach is within approx.100 yds walking distance, past the bakery, where fresh bread is baked every day. The town itself has a good variety of shops and many different restaurants stretching into the harbour. Within a short drive there are some interesting historical sites and pretty mountain villages with traditional travernas. There is a variety of activities to enjoy at Villea, including the Pefki gorge walk, but the highlight of our week was a Minoan meal cooked by archaeologists, who’d researched every detail, even casting the clay cooking pots, which were exact replicas of those used in Minoan times. The pots was placed on individual fires inside a dug out earth pit, around the central fire which was used to cook the bread. Villea does try to give its guests an experience of traditional Cretan life and this was a great example. I don’t know where else one could enjoy the privilege of such time travel and wonderful food! All in all a very comfortable, relaxing time.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay here. Extremely conveniently located for the beach (great beach), tavernas etc - far enough away from the bars so the noise doesn't disturb you. Our room was quiet and well appointed.

All the staff we encountered were great - from reception on never anything other than a smile. The pool bar was great - again not noisy but friendly and helpful and pleasant to relax at in the early (and sometimes late) evening.

Pool is excellent. Interesting activites arranged if you wanted to take them up. We will come back and have already recommended it to friends who like to see the real Crete.

The whole resort was very pleasant as well. What a relief after driving through the horror of Malia on the north coast.

We stayed there from 20-27 August 2011. It was the second time after 12 years that I 've been there through time-sharing. We had 2 rooms with 2 bathrooms. I 've seen different opinions about the hotel. OK, it 's a B class (or 3 stars) hotel. This doesn 't matter me. It is clean, the rooms have just everything you need, the kitchen utensils are OK and useful, there was sponge and plate detergent for the plates, there wasn 't a hair drier and shampoo (we had ours), I don 't mind if the TV is the old type, the veranda was nice and I had to sleep in a separate bed from my wife (this is a minus). The furniture were OK for us (don' t look that old, as others say), but the aesthetic of people differs. The garden is just lovely, with the vucamvillas (from this flower comes the name Villea Village) and the olive trees and the buildings, built in the white and blue Aegean architectural style, are good seated in the garden. A large 25m swimming pool for the pool lovers and the kids, but 50 m. away is the sea, very clean and with a sandy bottom (not suitable for snorkelers), which is preferable for me. The window doors yes, they need a change to the modern 2-glass systems, but these are not the basic things. The bathroom is comfortable. The maid took the rubbish every day, but she cleans the room twice a week and not every day, this is a minus also, especially for people wanting every day cleaning. Also a minus is that the reception isn 't open the whole day, but only 4 hours in the morning and 4 hours in the evening. But all these minus are not enough to waste your holiday, you have to look for the positives, which are much more! Makrygialos, where the hotel is located, is a village (it means "Long Beach" in Greek) along a long beach, in the south of Crete, 25 km east from Ierapetra, on the national road to Sitia. The village has everything (bank, small "super markets", doctors, tavernas and cafes). The taverna opposite "Villea Village", named "Hani", serves very good home-cooked food in reasonable prices and good portions. We were lucky to see a traditional Cretan feast in this taverna, with good live music. Very famous in the area is the taverna "Dragon 's Cave" (I Spilia tou Drakou), 3 km east of Makrygialos in the direction of Goudouras, with good food and delicious lamb ribs (but I have to say that the prices now there are quite high in comparison with 12 years ago...). You have to go there by sunset and enjoy the stars in the night, it 's a don 't miss experience. Staying in Villea and Markigialos you can make excursions to the Lasithi area. So from there you can go to Ierapetra (not very interesting indeed, but from there you can take the boat and go to Hrisi island, where there is a fantastic beach facing Ierapetra, with excellent waters), Agios Nikolaos (the route from Pahia Ammos is very nice, with all these fiord shaped beaches), the capital of the area, where you must walk round the sea-lake and the promenade, Elounda (there are the most expensive hotels of Greece) and Plaka (so as to visit the small island of Spinaloga, where the lepers lived in the first half of the 20th century; notice that it is cheaper to take the boat from Agios Nikolaos, than from Plaka, although it 's 5 minutes away from there!!!), Sitia (nothing special, only the Kazarma Venetian Castle), the Toplou Monastery, the Palm Forest of Vai (the only palm forest in Europe), with a fantastic beach (ideal sea for snorkelers), which has a lot of visitors, the area of Zakros, with the ruins of Minoan era (and good fresh fish!), the Xirokampi village with its fantastic beaches (if you go to Xirokampi from Ziros, where the military radars are, you 'll enjoy breathtaking views of the beaches driving down the road from the mountain). All these routes are the maximum 2 hours away, but you have to notice, that the roads of Crete are narrow and full of curves, so driving is a bit tiring, but that 's the only way to tour around Crete. Of course if you don 't have a car, you have to rent it, but that ' s how you 'll go to a place 2 hours away from the port and airport (Heraklion). There are excellent organized beaches near Makrigialos, in the direction to Ierapetra, in Ahlia and Ayia Fotia. In general Lasithi has a lot of beaches, ideal for every taste (lonely or crowded, rocky or sandy). Markigialos is a peaceful place, ideal for people who don 't want glam, crowds, bars with noise etc. The village is new (no old or traditional houses). But it 's OK. And Villea Village is OK with all this. So I was very satisfied and I would suggest someone to go there.

We have visited this hotel with our 2 chlidren of 6 and 4 years old. The hotel is very old. The reception is not working the whole day but only some hours in the morning and in the afternoon. There is only one person for bookings, reception and for accompany visitors to their rooms, so you have to wait a long time to get served right after your arrival. The room service simple does not exist. They enter in the rooms for cleaning only after 3 days. There is no hot or even warm water but only something less than cold!! When we were taking a shower, parts of the shower were falling apart.... But the worst part is the managment of this hotel. We had a very bad experience since they did not allow us to stay in our booked room -capacity of 3 persons- but they tried to obliged us to stay to a bigger room with 4 beds, with the additional charge of EUR 75/night. We tried to explain to them that we do not need any additional bed, towels etc and they can only charge us with a reasonable amount just for the use of the water for the shower of our two small kids. No result!! Talking with other people, turists and citizens, we found out that quite everyone had a problem with the manager. They always try to get unreasonable profit from everyone. They also ask money to let you park your car in the hotel's garage. The only positive part was the great sea, to which we spent the whole day. Makry-Gialos is a very nice place to enjoy sea and relax, but we advise you not to think to stay to this hotel. It is the worst ever! Elina.