Hara Paradise Apartments

These apartments are a real surprise.
We were delighted to find that, not only are they scrupulously clean (cleaned daily), with fresh, white fluffy towels every two days, there was also a shower curtain ( a rare treat in Greece) plenty of kitchen utensils, and a TV, with some English channels.
Herula and her family are so warm and kind, nothing is too much trouble. We enjoyed our stay so much that we wouldn't consider staying anywhere else for future holidays in Chania.
Thank you Herula, Kristos, Georgios, and Yiannis... we will see you all in September!!
Linda & Gary Savage (Room 10 - April 1st - 14th).

After reading the other reviews we where put off to say the least! As we arrived on our first stay at Hara's Paradise we had an extremely warm welcome! The pool was quite small, but very clean and safe! The rooms where spotless and incredibly neat! The bathroom was nice, the shower was quite small, but was clean and had a curtain. The rooms where cleaned everyday, at 10am which was a nice change from being woke up at the crack of dawn!

The people where so friendly, especially the family that owned the hotel! The boys where lovely and everybody that was staying there seemed to be having a great time!

The only downside of the apt. is the location, even though it is extremely near to the beach! In between the apt. and the sea is a main road, but it never caused us too much bother! It was quiet at night, and we never heard a single dog bark!
After two weeks of being home, we booked to go back again! And we all can't wait to be back there! Loved every minute of our stay!

A very relaxing holiday.Haroula and her family were wonderful. Very friendly and helpful. The rooms were cleaned daily and bedding changed three times a week.
The hotel although small was very well presented and clean. Local restaurants are close by (if you like steak try the Cactus Restaurant,) all restaurants very reasonably priced and of excellent quality.
A great place to stay for couples and families with children. Buses to chania run every 15/20 mins and cost a couple of euros and taxis about 8 euros.

After reading the comments by other visitors to the Hara Paradise on this site, I have to wonder whether we are talking about the same place!
In regard to the room cleaning, this was done every day that we were there and, in fact, the owners were rather put out when they wanted to clean and we were still in the room one day.
The shower was no worse and a lot better than many I've had in rooms in Greece. ie. it worked and there was hot water. The size of the shower tray was no smaller, in my opinion, than normal and the fact that there WAS a curtain was a bonus! We did not have any problem with water flowing into the lounge area and any excess was drained, in the usual Greek fashion, down a grill in the floor.
The pool seemed clean to us and a net was used for leaves, insects etc regularly. The pool was completely drained while we were there due to the build up of oil from sun tan lotion (guests were advised to have a shower before bathing). I agree that the pool could be hazardous to small children in regard to depth and maybe this could be mentioned in a future brochure but it shouldn't put off watchful parents with children who can swim. It's just not a pool for paddling toddlers.
I remember the guard dog asleep outside the supermarket....but never heard it or any other dogs....although we do appear to have been on the opposite side of the apartments.
The situation of the HP Apartments is not built-up (yet) as there was a large area, used as a car park and planted with trees to the south and a disused area to the north, towards the road.

2 readers found this review helpful

Haroula (the owner) does a half hearted job of cleaning the rooms. I was keen to use our room safe (which is charged extra) and found it floating around in the bottom of our wardrobe, not bolted in!!! The shower in the room must have the smallest shower tray in the world, therefore when you surround yourself with the shower curtain, it sticks to every part of your body and will drive you mad. Or you can do without the curtain and watch the shower water trickle through into the main lounge/dining room area.
The pool (when it's clean, yuck!!) is completely unsuitable for small children as it deepens (very deep) the moment you step in off the second step. Because Hara Paradise is situated in a built up area, you have to put up with the usual barking dogs. The dog (which belongs to the supermarket next door) sleeps most of the day, but is visited at night by all the local strays and because it's tied up, has no choice but to bark at the other dogs. THE BARKING BETWEEN ALL THE DOGS GOES ON ALL NIGHT. I had proper ear plugs (not just cotton wool) and I could still hear the dogs clearly.
The food and drink which is served at the pool bar is fine and her sons do muck in and help, but overall, it's just not good enough. We visit Crete, especially Chania often, a few times a year and love it, but will NEVER stay at Hara Paradise again..

2 readers found this review helpful

After many visits to Greece I must say this is the most disappointing place we have visited.
Maybe it was because we went early October and it was coming towards the end of the season but we found the accommodation was not that clean, the sea was very unsafe for swimming for the entire duration of our stay due to a strong under current(no life guards were on duty), and the resort of Kato Stalos itself was scruffy and a little run down even by Greek standards. The pavements where there were any were quite dangerous and this resort is a definite no go for disabled people.
We love Greece but will not be re-visiting this resort as there are many more much nicer places around.

Everyone enjoyed the Hara Paradise Apartments and, in fact, some were booking for 2006 before they’d even left!
The apartments are situated near all the amenities of Kato Stalos - mini-markets, tavernas, car hire places, sandy beach, mini golf etc - and are clean and well maintained. One of the main 'pluses' of the Hara Paradise has to be the friendly Cretan owners (Hara - or Haroula - is the lady owner) and their lively family of three boys. The boys act as unofficial life guards, as well as bar tenders, and join in with the antics in the pool with great gusto. The family would put on impromptu 'Greek nights' by the pool, serving Cretan nibbles and encouraging guests to learn Cretan dances.
20 minutes from the airport, Kato Stalos is ideal for a family holiday and the only 'minus' I would mention is the busy east-west road although there was little intrusive traffic noise. The long, sandy beach receives much deserved praise and is patrolled by watchful life guards, due to the current. Restaurant/taverna staff were all friendly and helpful (even tolerating my attempts at Greek) and every meal was followed by complimentary water melon and 'tsikoudia' (a local Cretan spirit). I would particularly recommend the 'Paralia', situated, like many of the tavernas, on a terrace overlooking the beach and sea.
Kato Stalos is a 1 Euro (2005) bus ride from the former Venetian/Turkish capital of Hania (Canea) and 60km from pretty Rethymnon. For military 'buffs', the impressive German War Cemetery is situated at Maleme, a few kilometres west.