Sun Village

Because I had always wanted to visit Greece,I decided to choose it for my honeymoon. We studied a lot the offer and we finally decided for a 3* hotel from Crete, Sun Village.
The hotel is located between the villages Malia nad Sissi, 40 km from the city of Heraklion.
The location of the hotel is great, the landscape well balanced between sea and mountain and the beach is very beautiful.
We chose only half board but the food was more than enough for us.
The room was clea, with a spacious matrimonial bed,with sea view. The accomodation that we booked was equiped with all the facilities needed for a great holiday.
We spent a great honey moon, and we decided that next year we'll chose Sun Village again to spent our holiday.

After a tired and crowded year full of work and projects, we decided to take a holiday abroad, and we decided for Greece, Crete. We studied a lot the hotels on the Internet, and we finally decided for Sun Village, in Sissi Crete. The hotel is located between the villages Malia and Sissi, 40 km from the Heraklion and 20 from Aghios Nikolaos. The landscape is well balanced between sea and mountains. The sea is warm and calm and there all small,clean and idyllic beaches in the surrounding area. We booked an accomodation in bungalow, equiped with all the facilities necessary for a great holiday. The hotel was nice, also the food and the local drinks. We chose half board, and we had our meals at the main restaurant. We also had afternoon snaks such as pizza and sandviches, and there was also ice cream for the children. The food and the drinks were enough for everybody. The hotel staff was friendly and everytime willing to help you when you need.
The rooms were clean, spacious with sea view. We dad a lot of fun at the pool bar, enjoying a cocktail or tacking a bath.
Me and the girls decided that next year we'll chose the same Sun Village in Sissi, Crete, and we strongly recomend you this hotel,no matter if ypu go with your friends or with your partner.

After a years hard work, I was looking for a nice, and quiet location to spend my holiday. I ve checked numerous sites, looking for a hotel that offers the balance between quality and comfort. And I found it at Sun Village hotel in Sissi, Crete.
The hotel has a great location, an experienced staff and a wonderful owner. The rooms we stayed in, were cleaned every day, the cleaning staff were friendly, always trying to help. I really like to eat, and that's why I chose all inclusive. The food at the hotel was great, and there were a lot of greek dishes in the menu, which is great because I enjoy trying out something new.
The owner, is the best person in the world, he always asked if everything is ok, if I need anything. The beach is the best in the whole area, although a bit small, than again I dont like crowded beaches. I didn't go to any excursions so I can't say anything about them.
All in all, it was one of the best holidays I ever had. I would recommend this hotel to anyone, who wants to spend a quiet hoiday in Crete

Me and my boyfriend who are both in our early twenties stayed at the sun village for two weeks at the start of april! We knew we were in for a good holiday as we had stayed there previously 2 yrs ago! its was amazing then and it still is now! the family running the hotel absolutly made our holiday as they where very friendly and very helpful in cluding all of the staff!! we will defeinetly be back there next year!! sissi is a quite and peacefull village where i would highly recommend

well having just returned from my second visit to sun village in crete and i realy must deplore the lies that some people speak about this place ,
we booked with george direct and booked our flights seperate ,he aranged for a car to take us to and from the airport .
goerge or yorgos and his staff are nice freindly people if you are needing anything on your holiday there just ask yorgos and most things he can sort out
the pool is nice once again the only place i know where they empty the pool weekly for cleaning ,it is a refined salt water pool so that means they take the water from the sea and filter it doesnt taste of salt what so ever its more greener this way
food was nice continental style breakfast eggs sausages cereal bread ham cheese
evening meals were also nice nice clean salads and meat to die for
rooms were nice and clean
we wouldnt hesitate to go back hear alovely place close to the sea and a nice resort

My wife and I have just arrived back from a week A/I at Sun Village Sissi and contrary to previous reviews this hotel is now giving excellent value for money for the 2008 season.The owner George,his daughter and the rest of the staff could not be more friendly and helpful.The room itself was very clean,reasonably sized and had constant hot water.All meals were of a mediterranian or greek flavour with plenty of choice and we particularly enjoyed the bacon at breakfast and the 5 course evening dinner.A/I included tea/coffee,soft drinks,beer,wineand local spirits between 11.00AM and 7.00PM at the Pool Bar served by the very attentive and friendly Scots barman,Willie.Between 7.00PM and 11.00PM these drinks were available in the hotel lounge and dining room.The hotel itself has a mix of English,French and Eastern European guests and is ideal for a quiet holiday,near a very pretty fishing village and most of all it will not break the bank to stay there.

2 readers found this review helpful

Sun Village Hotel, to put it mildly made Fawlty Towers look like Paradise.
What you would consider as standard in an all inclusive were not:

It was 3 pm on arrival, when we reached our Hotel and we were hungry, we were told that the restaurant was closed and we would have to go to the bar at the pool for a snack. This we did, to discover that the pool snacks were not part of the ‘all inclusive’, so I asked for an orange juice, this was also not part of the all inclusive and I was charged 3 euros 50. A fizzy mineral water was 2 euros.
The little truck that was meant to cart your luggage to your room was broken (I have a bad back, we had to carry our luggage a considerable distance) and for the entire holiday the truck sat outside with flat tyres.
When we got to our room the shower was attached to the wall by one screw and was hanging off. I tried to have a shower and the water was cold, this was the scenario for the entire holiday. Not once did I manage to have shower with hot water and although I diplomatically complained, I was told that it was solar powered and that the water was used up quickly by other guests, basically if you did not shower before 4pm, you had to have a cold shower. I have thick long hair and spent the best part of the time with hair full of shampoo.
Air conditioning, also this was not part of the all inclusive and had to be paid for separately and was quite expensive. Also ours did not work.
The food was bland and more often than not quite unpalatable (dry and reheated). The fish was like rubber and the menu did not change, (and I am not a fussy or picky eater) I therefore had a salad and went out to eat daily. Of course this was expensive, so the holiday ended up being the most expensive one that I have ever taken.
Entertainment, well that was a joke, there was none, except on a Thursday night the staff did some Greek dancing. When we went out to the local restaurants (which we had to do) the entertainment, which came free, with the food was far superior.
Sports, ha ha. Tennis, well there was no net for a start and the gym consisted of a stationary bike sitting near the top of the hotel resort, I almost split my sides laughing, that was my entertainment!
The manager was not particularly approachable nor was the Aegean rep. I think that they had received so many complaints that they had simply given up. Everyone that I spoke with had complained.
The experience was quite funny in an oblique way, as I witnessed a shouting match almost every day between manger and guests (I did not get involved in that, but I do understand a little Greek so I caught the gist of it). The most amazing scenario was when some Greek people arrived and their rooms had not been made up before being allocated and I honestly thought I was going to witness a world war!
I also witnessed a woman having a complete ‘flaky’ because of her displeasure, packing her bags and leaving. I think she became quite violent, but that is simply hearsay (but the guests were all talking about it).
More often than not the manager’s teenage daughter ran reception and helped out at the bar, she could not cope with this (understandably) and ‘tore staff to pieces’ in front of guests shouting and gesticulating. In one instance I did my best to calm her down; she was just a child and should never have had such responsibility. Another awful experience witnessed by guests, was the sacking of a member of staff in the main reception area, which I found most distressing. This ought to have been done in private.
All inclusive alcoholic drinks consisted of weak lager, ouzo, raki, weak red wine and hot white wine, there was no Metaxa, which is local; you had to pay a high price if you wanted that. Soft drinks were sweet (Lidle’s, I saw the labels) orange and lemon juice and cola, not fanta as described or coke, the real thing? I think not.
I considered the soft drinks undrinkable and so went shopping and bought my own. I also had to purchase my own wine.
This was the most sober holiday that I have ever had. In addition the bar closed a 10pm, given that the restaurant seated people until at 9pm it was impossible to relax and have a drink afterwards unless you paid, and the bar was very expensive indeed. We simply went out locally where, with a snack, raki and ouzo were provided as complimentary.
Thank goodness we had no children, there was no baby sitting service as stated, no children’s pool as stated and very little food that children could eat. The people with children must have spent so much more than I did and I spent about a thousand pounds extra just to have a decent holiday, I dreaded returning to Sun Village in the evening. If I had been very rich I would have checked out and taken an apartment. Sissi was lovely, but our hotel experience ruined it for us.
I could go on, as there is more to say, but think that I have said quite enough to give you an idea of the experience.
I love Crete and will return despite this experience, but you do need to know that I will not be recommending this Hotel to anyone, as for 4 stars, I think somebody made that one up, this Hotel is not worthy of one star and that is no exaggeration.

We recommend this hotel to everyone, whether young or old!
Some of recent reviews of this hotel have said that there is not All Inclusive, not snacks, not ice creams; the hotel manager was rude ... etc.
We have just returned from Sun Village and we had fantastic holiday.
We, as most guests, were All Inclusive and we had a lovely room, a very clean and daily refreshed with sea water swimming pool and most importantly, absolutely fantastic hospitality from that "rude” manager and his daughters.
Food was simple BUT everyday fresh vegetables and excellent quality meat and fish. All vegetables from owner's-manager's farm, he is a farmer. For 7 days we had everyday different menu for lunch and dinner.
Breakfast was very basic but what do you expect to find real English breakfast in Greece?
The hotel owner, George, always friendly but very stressed because runs this property with his family. He and his daughters talked to almost every guest and asked all time if we’re happy and OK.
When I asked him why he charged for snacks and everything at pool or about air conditioning he said that never advertised them as free of charge.
Sissi itself is a really nice town, if you want to go there we highly recommend Sun Village.

We had read all the reviews but went with an open mind. Crete and the village of Sissi was beautiful. Sun Village that was something else. I am well travelled but have never had an experience like it.
It was cheap to go on holiday there but I still do not feel it had any form of value for money. People were friendly and the facilities had good potential but were not used to their maximum.
We booked and paid for 2 rooms but 4 adults were all shoved into one for the first 24 hours. This was due to the hotel owner renting rooms out for extra few hours to those that were leaving that day!!
We were the lucky ones some people with children had no room at all till the next day and had to sleep in the bar.
Breakfast was basic and the same every day, bread, ham, melon, scrambled burnt egg and cheese. We in fact had bread and melon every meal!!! All inclusive pack meant you had to pay for food by the pool bar. Which we did every day it was only snacks but was at least edible. It was a standing joke with most guests to see what delights were in store that mealtime, most left and went down to nearest Taverna and paid for it.
All inclusive also ended at 22.15 every night and you had to pay for your drinks!!!??
There were also many health and safety hazards, too many to mention.
If you complained about anything the manager was rude to you as were his 11 and 15 year old daughters, who worked behind the bar and reception. In fact on our last night he got the men who worked in the kitchens to evict a gentleman who dared asked for clean towels. We honestly thought we were on an episode of Fawlty towers.
Go by all means but you have been warned.

We read the bad reviews of 2005/6 and as we had already booked, i had a couple of sleeples nites but my daughter found a couple of 2007 reviews that said apart from the food things had impoved. Unfortunately, AI does not mean the same in crete as it does with long haul holidays. Allowing for some drop in standards, we were still at a loss as to why on earth this is graded at 3 and on some sites a 4 star hotel! Along with everyone we met also staying here at the sun village, we could barley give it 1 star. First arriving at 4am, i tried to shut the bathroom window, it fell on me; badly bruising my arm. In the morning, after no sleep due to an extremely lumpy pillow and freezing aircon which i had no clue how to shut offfor two days- (take key fobe out of pocket by door)....we tried to shower. absence of enough towels for 3 of us! Staff were freindly butit still took al day and several visits to reception to get a pillow and towels. The bar staff, Tony and Chris (unlikely brothers) were adorabe-well Chris was- Tony is fond of drink and women or your daughter! They entertained us with their bar tricks and balancing acts. A 15yr old girl on reception speaks very god english, George,her father often checked people out fo complaining, so most of us kept our mouths shut! After 3 days of barely surviving on french bread slice, feta cheese and grapes (thats all that we felt we could eat in the resturant) we had no chioce but to eat out at resturants in the port of sissi (Mama Mia and Plori well worth a visit). The Pool was lovely but that first day, tired, hot, hungrey and buised we found that there are not enough sun beds around the pool. When i complained that i couldn't sit close enough to wtach my son in the pool, I was told to wait until someone left. Dutifully we did. Around lunch time, two thirds of people leave the pool area, only they leave their towels! I fought the urge to simply throw them in the pool after several hours, sat on a plastic chair under the bar area, quietly simmering with anger. Around 4pm, some people left, allowing out party of five to sit around the pool and change in to swim wear. From then on we played germans, getting up at 8 am to go and sit by the pool (if you can't beat them, join them!). They serve more child friendly food at the beach bar, toasties, pizza and chips;however, contrary to web site, AL does not include this or ice creams, thay must be paid for. Also note that to ensure your children eat ,order early before they run out of food! Pizza is 4 euros, chips are 2 euros. There is absence of a loo at the pool so you have to treck back to your room every time you need the loo! You soon become expert at prancing upon less wobbly slates like a frog on unstabble lilly pads. We assume the crazy paving guy simply ran out of enthusiasm and ended up tossing the odd slate thisway and that in a drunkern fashion, neglecting to actually secure them to the ground. Our room was small and lacked the hair dryer and music channels we were promised. I didn't even know there was a tv until my 10 year old discovered it on top of the small wardrobe, enclosing the "ick it up and run" safety box. I was in the shower, which completely soaks the bathroom floor like a swimming pool due to a very short curtain and an in-adequete shower tray. Meanwhile, my son was watching one of the only two channels- Porn (the other being a greek policitcal channel)! Our balcony was small and slowly being overgrown by bushes, the view interesting rubble and chip board dividers between rooms. We kept the door shut due to a troop of ants, although we were still covered in a nasty red rash each moring, my sons feet were so badly swollen he could barely walk one day. Our neighbour found an old toe nail and hair in their bed! Cleaning was hit and miss depending on which cleaner you had! Usually, they simply mop the floor with water which does little. The hotel does not have a relax/beauty room or a billiards room that we could find, the tv room (which was never on) is a bay to side of reception. The Bar is also in reception. The beach is rocks, no sand so don't bother! The childrens play area is a let down and in seven days, we didnt see anyone use it. The childrens pool is not seperate to the main pool as stated, it is slighty lower in depth than the rest of the pool but not suitable for babies or toddlers who can not swim. In August it was very hot and so we appreciated the breeze and very cold water of the pool but I assume it would be a pain when the weather was cooler. The dubious dinning room was open at set times, generally 12.30 for lunch and if you want to try the food, get there on the dot when they open the doors! Once the lids come off the food, they stay off, allowing flies and such to have a field day! There are alot of tables to choose, due to lack of clients actually choosing to eat there! Be carefull of the crack - no, virtual hole- in the middle of the floor of the dinning area. After a couple of days of bread and moaning kids, looking at equally miserable faces, you probably will give up and venture out. We brought very little cash, we did book all inclusive after all! However, in desperation to actullay eat some food and enjoy the remainder of our faulty towers holiday, I was forced to use my credit card (brought for emergancies only). Ten minutes walk left out of hotel, down a hill and bend, curving around the port of sissi, try the Union Jack for omlettes, and kids beans on toast. On their big scren mtv and blockbuster films at 9pm for free.-See Billy-very interesting large man! Our boys loved the pool tables too. Further along and around you walk through many restruants after the fish resturant to get to mama mias and plori. Try their chicken dishes! wow! (sit this side to view port at sunset whilst you eat) The horse shoe road is crammed with shops and places to eat. The beach side (absence of an actual beach), is choca with eaterys there is an english bar on the hillside that has crazy golf. Don't eat at the pink flamigo, (closer to hotel) as i have previously read that it was good, we didn't like the food at all. Stop for a coke an for kids to play in play area by all means, owner is very friendly. All in all, we do miss the lovely Chris, the weather and the pool, Mama Mia's cooking and the union Jack bar staff! Thats about it though! Everyone in the port is familiar with the sun village wrist bands and look upon you wih knowing pity. There is a dutch hotel 5mins away from sun village near the sea, Anniaxi -2 star- yet miles in front of sun village! The local supermarket is great for most things and very reasonable, just across the road there is a travel shop- excursion to dolphins and such like. We choose the water city. 30 euros adults 20 for kids, coach picks up from hotel and entry to water city and return coach all included. Well worth it if you have kids! If you decide to change your booking, opt for B&B, although don't eat it! ants in cereal! If you opt to change hotels, try the Palm Bay on sissi port. Lovely and clean! If you have left it too late like we did and are hoping for the best well...... Best of luck, you need it! ,