The Kavos Beach Hotel is a wonderful find that we had the pleasure of staying with my immediate family of 8 (4 girls ages 17 - 31, 2 brothers age 22 and 26, currently living in Souda and our 2 parents age 53 and 58). This northern part of the Akrotiri is a beautiful location and oasis for those seeking calm, beauty and proximity to a fun village to travel to (Chania). The hotel was surprisingly well designed and styled with modern layout, ample private terraces and balconies, beautiful landscaping and a nice kitchenette for self catering. The landscaping really enhances the area and is so well thought out - it gives the grounds a lush resort-like quality that is wonderful. Kudos to the architect! The bathrooms are the highlight and offer a luxurious amount of space compared to the typical bathroom size you will find throughout Greece and Europe. The pool is saltwater (no, not saline, saltwater) and is of ample size. The swimming in front of the hotel is great, but with proper shoes to get through the rocks. Better beaches are to the west (Kalathas) and east (Stavros) and a car is needed. The sunset is spectacular! And the sunrise as well as the hotel sits on a slight point and you have a 180 degree east-west view. The town of Chania is about a 15-20 minute drive west and is well worth it - such a gorgeous town with fun restaurants, bars, shopping and architecture.
Here are my critiques of the hotel which would be quite easy to fix:
- the beds are THE MOST uncomfortable beds we have ever stayed in. I like a firm bed, but this is extreme. The most strange part is that they do not give you a blanket, only a starchy sheet. When we asked for blankets, they told us they had none. I am not joking when I say that several of us slept outside on the beach loungers, in our rooms with our clothes and scarves covering us or witnessed more than our share of sunrises because we could not sleep. The only saving grace was my brother lives nearby and we went to his house to gather blankets and more sufficient pillows. The air conditioning works very well however!
- there is no soap or shampoo provided in the bathroom
- no pool towels provided
- breakfast not included in the room rate, not even coffee which was odd compared to the other hotels we have stayed in in Crete (much lesser hotels even) that provided even the modest toast and jellies with a coffee
- the service in the snackbar is not really service. It is more like a snack bar you would in a country club. A huge improvement would be to have a real taverna with a full menu as the location is perfect for it! Hopefully they will consider that for the future as we will definitely be coming back!
All in all, we fully recommend this hotel and would love to come back. With a few tweaks to some simple details, they will go from 4 1/2 star to 5 in our book.
