Pefana Village Hotel

Today we have just returned from a 14 day trip from the Hersonissos village (formally Pefana village), we were a bit worried after the comments we had read on this site, but we had a very good holiday there. There must have been a change of ownership or management because the previous comments we read don’t ring true with our experience.
The site was cleaned everyday, as were the rooms, bins emptied everyday & towels every other.
The food was varied with a good selection of meat and fish and salads which were fresh. We did not have a problem getting served at the bar even though there were other nationalities! There is a small kids club for young kids, daily activates including water polo, darts, beach volley ball etc, quite a fit fella running it as well!
The staff were friendly, the view superb, the only downsides were no evening entertainment (except for a certain night) and the walk to the beach & town which going down is ok but coming back is an uphill climb! Approx 10-30 mins depending on which beach you want to visit.
We really enjoyed our stay, we would definitely go back there.

I have to say, that after reading the bad reviews about this hotel on this website I was not looking forward to my break at all. How wrong could I have been? I don’t know what some people expect on holiday but, let me assure you – if you’ve booked to go here please ignore all the bad reviews. (And no – I’m not related to the owners!!!). I do have to agree, though, that this is more of a three star than four star hotel.
There were certainly a huge amount of Germans there, but also French, Dutch, Spanish and Greek. As an English person I certainly didn’t feel like a second class citizen – everyone was treated equal and the staff all spoke English. You are in a foreign country – expect foreigners!!!!!
Accommodation: The room was fine (actually, exactly like the one in the hotel website picture.) It was cleaned everyday – and towels replaced as and when necessary. The air conditioning and fridge were free of charge. There was a safety deposit box which was payable at hotel. Water was always hot, and there was ample storage space.
Food: Breakfast and evening meals were served in the restaurant – self service buffet-style. Lunch was also buffet-style on the terrace by the pool. There was always at least one meat dish and fish (hot – not cold as reported in other reviews). There were also always potatoes vegetables, pasta, rice and all the usual salad things (only had chips once). I have a very plain eating teenager who thought the food was great. There was always ample staff clearing and re-laying tables.
Drinks: Throughout the day all the drinks are self service by the pool. You can help yourself to as much beer, wine, raki, ouzo, brandy, water and other soft drinks as you can manage. Tea and coffee is also served twice a day by a barman (cakes in the afternoon). Drinks in the restaurant are also self service. In the evening there was always two staff to serve from the bar. There was a notice up which said that they only served one drink to each customer at any time. We were, however, never stopped from one of us collecting all the drinks for our family – and there was never a long queue.
Location: Hotel is up a hill – so views are stunning. The walk to the closest beach is obviously uphill on the way back – but you don’t have to be a mountain goat to climb it! (As suggested in other reviews). The walk into the centre on an evening was a pleasant walk – but did take about 20-25mins (longer on way back since it was uphill).
Entertainment: There isn’t any evening entertainment provided (but the hotel doesn’t make any claims that there is). There was one BBQ and a Greek dancing evening which you had to pay for during our two weeks. Lots of people sat around playing cards enjoying family time together. During the day I think there was a mini club (didn’t use it ‘cos kids too old), and sporting games are organised. Water polo was on most days which was great and encouraged people to mix. The lad who ran the sports activities always made a point of asking everyone if they wanted to join in – and funnily enough, the only language he didn’t speak was German.
All in all this was great value for money. All anyone can do is speak as they find – and we found it a great place.
Can I suggest that if you are the sort of person who wants to live on junk food – be surrounded by English people, and are incapable of entertaining yourself then perhaps a trip to Butlins is more up your street!

Well if you don’t like German people don’t go, there was about 10 English and about 500 German, you will definitely know the lingo before you leave. I think the owner must be German as all the staff speak the language and treat them superior to the English. They get there drinks prepared for them before even ordering, they get shown to there seat in the restaurant and you feel they get a much better service in general. All in all though the hotel was ok, you get what you pay for, if you pay cheep what do you expect. The food was ok, the drinks were the usual for all inclusive, there is no nighttime entertainment though just a bar, the pool and rooms were very clean. The hotel was on a very steep hill and without excellent health you would need taxi’s or rent a car yourself. However the views were great as you could see all of the bay. The restaurant staff are excellent, always having fun.

I have read the other reviews and they cover most of it. Basically do not book at this hotel.
I do not know how this hotel justifies a 4* rating for the accommodation or the food. The food was definitely the worst. They do not cater for English tastes, and everything was cold. We did keep looking to see what they had, but in the end I found just looking disgusted me. We ate out every day. The menu was repetitive and very limited. I felt sorry for guests with children as there appeared to me to be nothing at all for them. The drinks options were very limited and the fact they asked you to pay for drinks after 11pm was unbelievable.
The room had ants in abundance. The fridge looked like something they found on a tip. The Bathroom looked liked it had not seen a maintenance man since it was installed, and the fittings desperately needed replacing as they did not work properly. The bathroom floor flooded every time we emptied the bath. The room was like a prison cell. If you opened the shutters that led to the sun terrace everybody could see into your room, directly at your beds. As the sun terrace was straight onto a path, you had no privacy. This left you with one very small window quite high up in the wall.
There were wires stretching to light fittings and electrical items.
The hotel is located on top of a hill, which meant the views over the town and sea were beautiful. However it was quite a walk down a steep hill into to town. Unless you hire your own vehicle, or pay for taxis, for this location you need to be physically fit and without any walking difficulties. If you have small children it would be a problem. Take a good pair of walking shoes for a visit to the beach, there is no way you could get a push chair down the extremely rough path.
We found the staff on reception had reasonable English. I would not describe them as rude, but their answers to questions were direct, short and to the point. Other staff had no English, trying to order 2 drinks was a challenge. Again for 4* the number of staff was not satisfactory. There only appeared to be 2 staff in the dinning area during meals, one of which was serving drinks. I never saw more than one person in the bar area serving drinks, and they only had one bar area open at any time.
We did not use the pools which were small, the area provided for the sun beds was small. All the sun beds touched one another, packed in like sardines is a good description.
Crete was lovely, we hired a car a therefore spent a minimal amount of time at the hotel. Good food could be found in the town any the many restaurants, and the prices were reasonable. If this had not have been the case the holiday would have been a complete disaster.

First of all don’t go expecting a 4 star British hotel. The food isn’t that bad and actually seemed to get better through the week.
If you are drinking wine, have it with soda and avoid the vodka. The beer is drinkable and actually quite refreshing.
The rooms are acceptable and the beds might be on a concrete base but are still quite comfy. Ask for a balcony if you can, ours was really large and a real sun trap in the afternoon. The pool area is nice but could be cleaner. The hotel isn’t really suited to kids, not many activities for them.
The staff were quite friendly and helpful. There is a nice taverna (Cafe Ya) down the hill next to the beach, we dined there twice and it was really good value. Remember it is a hotel on a Greek Island and is not going to be The Ritz. It's a cheap break and you get what you pay for.

Well what can we say! After reading all the previous reviews we have to say we agree with everything that has been said. The food was a disgrace, no vegetarian or children’s menus. When we complained about no vegi options we were told to eat potatoes. Had to shell out for meals elsewhere, not something you want to be doing on an all-inclusive.
Absolutely no entertainment for kids, or adults for that matter. Had to leave the hotel every evening or the kids would have been bored stiff.
Had a mouse in our room for most of our stay, reported it repeatedly but was still there when we left.
Bar staff can’t be bothered with the English. Make sure you get last orders in early cause at 1 second past 11 they will stop giving you the free beer.
The snacks are a joke, cheese and ham dry roll or pizza till 6 o clock, then nothing. Had to complain to reception for 5 days before they would give me a roll with no meat on.
The hotel is set up on the side of a mountain so when they say it’s only a half a mile or so from the town centre they don’t tell you you are going to need an oxygen mask and hiking boots to get there and back. Be prepared to spend a fortune on taxis cause once you have made the epic trip once you wont want to do it again
There is a beach a few hundred meters from the hotel but again this is down a very steep dirt track that most professional mountain bikers would find impossible to navigate.
Although the rooms were tidied on a daily basis, we never had the towels or sheets changed. the only redeeming thing was that the rooms had air con.
Please avoid this hotel if you can, we will from now on.

Don’t go there.....It was sold as a 4*, its about a two star in anyone’s book.
Service was terrible, we stayed for two weeks in which time they did not once change our towels. We had to demand a change at the hotel reception.
All inclusive is just a laugh....the only food available all day as a snack is re heated in the microwave, bread rolls with Ham and cheese, I don’t eat meat, but they wouldn’t take the ham out before it hit the microwave. The other meals were just as bad. To sum up I can tell you we eat there 3 times in our two weeks.
The place is just run down. The staff treated us as though they were paying for everything we asked for?
NO hot water in the morning, and you had to be in at the right time to get some in the evening.
We slept on raised concrete beds infested with ants..
The local beach is a haunt for nudists so forget taking the kids unless you want to show them the graffiti.
The next nearest is a car drive unless you are super fit.
We tried to get moved but our tour operator was as much use as a chocolate fireguard. The local rep showed up once, got terrible verbal abuse form the other British people staying there, and never came back.
Our extra expenses total over £1000, hiring a car and eating out. So if you get a special deal and take all of our experiences into account, fine. Otherwise STAY AWAY. Enjoy your holiday.

Well, what can I add that hasn’t already been said in the previous 3 reviews. It was like reading my own thoughts and words. I too have stayed in 2* accommodation far better than this, and although the rooms were cleaned daily, I didn’t appreciate waking every morning with a bed full of ants..!!!
We often stay all-inclusive, and have never had such appalling food and drinks choice or standard. If you ordered a toastie you got a roll with a slice of cheese and manky salami thrown in the microwave, or your other fantastic choice was a slice of pizza which was either heated for so long the topping stuck to the wrapper or cold.
If braving the bar of an evening, ensure you get a few rounds in around 10.30pm, as they’ll ignore you as much as they can until you have to pay at 11.00pm, not that you’d actually pay for the crap they serve.
After the first couple of days, and the food being the same every day - fish, fried potatoes, pasta, or manky salad - we too ended up spending the rest of the holiday eating and drinking in town.
(ps...if you have children with you don’t forget...you MUST order chips at reception 2 HOURS before requiring them, and ONLY children can have them).!!!!!
Also protect your children from possible ear infections from the pool....quite a few suffered while we were serving our sentences...!!!
Overall holiday ****......but can't complain about the resort of Hersonissos.....very, very beautiful, and very friendly and were all very aware of the reputation of the Pefana Village.!!
Also...don’t forget your hiking boots....250mtrs from the beach...yeah right...like climbing Everest to get back.!

I totally agree with the previous comments...would not recommend this hotel to anyone, you are far better of staying at home .
Like the other two comments after the 1st night we ended up going to town for food and entertainment. Drinks where a joke and if you are not German do anticipate a wait as you will feel invisible at the bar.
I rated it a 1 but like I say there are far better places to stay than this dump.

This was supposed to be a four star all-inclusive hotel I’ve stopped in two star self-catering apartments which have been better.
The food was appalling the all-inclusive drinks consisted of local watered down beer, Raki, ouzo and something they called wine. The staff were rude. The snacks were pizza, cheese and salami sandwiches with no taste and cake (cheesecake the best thing on the menu). I cannot understand how any body has got the cheek to call this a four star hotel. The only four star thing about this hotel is the view over Hersonissos.
After a couple of days of enjoying the hospitality of the hotel me and my family found a nice taverna next to the beach which sold very good food and drinks, and that’s where we ate and drank for the rest of the holiday. I would not recommend this hotel to anybody (I gave it a 1 rating because there was no 0).