Porto Platanias Beach Resort

We stayed at the Palazzo Villa in Platanias at the end of May - through half term, Unfortunately we had to travel from Heraklon Airport to the hotel, which is a 1.5 hours taxi journey. Quick tip: Book early to get a flight into Chania - only 20 minutes away, or book a car and drive to the hotel. Anyway, we arrived to an immaculate hotel, a lovely friendly reception and the easiest and swiftest check-in ever. We were in our room within minutes. And the room was fantastic. We booked a Villa apartment in the main hotel, and it was great. Clean, airy and had two floors. It even came with a kitchenette - which isn't made clear - with all cutlery, pots, plates, etc and even a kettle. The apartment had two showers - one upstairs, and a very good air conditioning system. We couldn't complain. It was great and cleaned everyday. Overall, the hotel was just right. It was everything a 4 star should be and the staff were amazingly friendly. We took our 3 year old boy and he had a wail of a time. All of the staff adored him and welcomed him everywhere. The food was also great - it changed everyday and we were there 10 days. Breakfast was also very good. The hotel is on the beach - literally, and there is a large pool and kiddies pool. Only thing to watch out for: there are not enough loungers around the pool and people place towels on them before breakfast. This isn't at all fair, but the hotel will remove them at random times - hooray! The resort is also great, only 15 minutes bus/car drive from Chania town, and there is a massive choice of restaurants close by. I would recommend it to families, and those who don't mind children making a bit of noise in the pool. We loved it and would go back anytime!

Nice central location. we stayed here for 5 days in October and were put into an apartment next to hotel (without explanation, we were later told hotel was closing down for season?) ) decor not good in these apartments (2 -3 star) very basic. we had meals at hotel which were good and service was excellent in restaurant, rest of hotel was nice. Beach very close and good for swimming (safe for kids) platanias not v, exciting but its worth the trek up the hill for the fab views. Receptionists rather unhelpful and english not spoken well here.

We stayed in this hotel after booking at the last minute The room and facilities were excellent. Staff were polite and helpful at all times Food excellent and varied I would highly recommend this hotel for all types of visitors, with or without children or dependants We will revisit again

Arrived at the hotel with high expectations after reading other trip advisor reviews.Travelled with my wife my mother and my two children aged 3 and 8. We had booked two adjacent twin viila rooms sleeping two to three persons with pool or garden views.Unfortunately on allocation of the rooms we were given one twin villa with wall view (VERY DEPRESSING) and a double room sleeping two people the other side of the hotel.Obviously not what we had booked and not a great start to the holiday, We decided this was not acceptable and tried to change the rooms.we were then given another double room with only a slightly better view. The hotel rooms are very nice and very clean but a little basic for a five star hotel.The hotel itself is also very clean and well presented and probably the best situated hotel in platanias. As half board guests we thoroughly enjoyed the variety and the quality of the breakfast and evening buffets which covered most tastes. The swimming pool is quite large with some nicely shaded areas and is very well maintained.Unfortunately it is also extremely cold and therefore myself and children could not enjoy it. This hotel is much more suited to middle aged couples and as such we found ourselves feeling out of place.I have never seen so many gloomy people with apparently no tolerance for young children. To sum up i would say this is more like a three star hotel as the level of service is not up to standard.

This is an outstanding hotel and I would wholeheartedly recommend it. The staff are excellent - friendly, responsive, trying hard. They go out of their way to meet special needs, like babies. The food quality is consistently good particularly for a buffet format. Rooms are spacious, clean and pleasantly furnished. We had a ground floor room and would suggest seeking a higher floor on a future visit - no lifts but better views. Things to note- - the swimming pool is very shallow in the middle - ideal for beginners but not much use for swimming lengths - the entertainment in the evenings is focused on the older age group - ideal for us but younger couples would need to go elsewhere in the town - the beach has modern music all day which may not suit all tastes. We hired a car to visit Elafonisi, a really splendid beach about 1.5 hours away. Went there twice. Beware the western coast road - very steep drops and no barriers, so stay inland.

I had to struggle to find a bad thing to say about this hotel! I have only one - the swimming pool was too cold! But thats it. Everything else is perfect. The hotel sits right on the beach, with a lovely view, clear sea and boat trips to go snorkelling from right outside your door. The rooms are huge and clean, with patios/balconies. The food is wonderful - eat as much as you like buffet with a great choice of dishes at both breakfast and evening meal. The bar is also great, with any cocktail requestable. The staff are superb. We had such a laugh with the guys there. They organise things for you to do throughout the day and every evening. Activities from the hotel are easy and the reception girls know every possibility - day trips all over the island leave from outside the front door. At the rear of the hotel is a main road with loads of bars, restaurants and shops. Hire cars are also available (we went on a day trip to Knossos which was great). I would absolutely recommend this to anybody venturing within a hundred miles of the place, and want to go back there asap! Its superb value and much better situated than other hotels in the area (the Panorama for example). Lazing by the side of the pool with the sun beating down and a pint of cold beer at the click of my fingers. This hotel is heaven. We didn't want to leave.

We have just come back from a fortnight at this hotel and it was wonderful! The staff are lovely, the food is delicious and the hotel was clean and luxurious. The best thing for us was the fact that the Greeks adore children and our 4 year old daughter went down a storm! I would heartily recommend this hotel and resort to anyone, especially if you have children.

We have just returned from a 2 week stay the hotel was excellent, the best staff of any hotel I have stayed at very friendly and professional. The food was suberb plenty of choice, everywhere was spotless. Hotel is more or less on the beach, sit in the bar at night overlooking the sea, the bar staff are very friendly, katerina and the boys work very hard. Jan and the entertainment team work very hard in the evenings stay in for a drink you won't be dissapointed. Vladimir the beach guy is a real character, make some time to speak to him. the only disapointment all holiday was our descion to eat out at the Mexican restaurant, if it was England it would be done for trades description, they do not do Mexican food its horrible. Take a boat trip from the harbour to the island , real value for money, great afternoon out.

I and my daughter have just returned from the Palazzo Porto hotel. My first experience was the offer of the private pool in your room which was on the on the ground floor of the hotel which was quite impressive, but I requested middle floor with sea view, the room also backed onto the busy main street, of noisey traffic, I expressed my concerns about the traffic and the fact I felt unhappy about it so I kindly asked them to move us to another room and the very next day we were moved. Our new room was exactly what I expected and I, and my daughter were very pleased. We recieved great apologies, and they made sure we were happy all week with it and with our acommadation. The staff made us feel very welcome and the food was excellent. The pool was very clean and the bar food was great at lunch time. The beach was amazing and it was just across the road which helped alot. We were very pleased with this hotel and we will definately go back there again.

I've been there with my family (wife + 6Y old son) from June 22, 2005 till yesterday (July 2), and I'm still full of memories. I've choosen the hotel, based on reviews on this website (am I crazy ?;-), so I guess I owe to share my experience. SHORT SUMMARY --------------- Go there, if you expect: - delicious dinner - clean room & good services - friendly atmosphere (it's like a family hotel, with a nice privacy, not a tourist machine) - excellent pool for children LONG STORY --------------- ROOM: We've arrived at Crete very early (gee, waking up at 1:30am, departing from Prague at 5am, arriving on time at 8:40 local time) and as we didn't fit into the bus to hotel resorts, the travel assistant from CEDOK decided to give us a TAXI. I felt like VIP, good start :-) Eventhough the official hotel checkin time was 2pm, we've been accomodated immediatelly after arriving to the hotel (9:30 or so). It was just little double-bed room, is our son supposed to sleep between us? Quick check on the reception (the receptionist was very friendly and she apologized for troubles) and the additional bed was there in a minute (OK, it took 3 minutes). TIP: Sea-view rooms are also north-side, so if you want to have a nice and cold balcony, go for it. You won't be grilled by sun, when drinking your beer (BTW, the local beer Mythos is good, give a try). Aircon, service, cleaning - everything was perfect. BREAKFEST/DINNER: Halfboard is enough for the whole day, if you don't want to end up like a baloon after your vacation ;-) You can order lunch at pool restaurant, we did it once, and no one could finish his portion - it was too MUCH! Dinner table offers a sort of international + Crete food (it varies each evening) and it tastes as good as it looks - it's an art, I can tell you. I fall in love with Crete olive oil and Greek chesse. I put the oil on nearly everything, did some experiments with melone+cheese+oil and found that delicisious. That's something I'm going to miss so much. Our son preffered jelly, ice-creme, cooked vegetables and french fries (in that particular order ;-). DRINKS: I was looking forward to good local wine, but neither me nor my wife got used to its strange smell. Makedonian wine was better choise, white is better than red one (my preference). The wine at the hotel is pretty expensive (14-17 Euro for a bottle), comparing to 4-5EUR for the same bottle at the street. On the other hand, the 'super-market' don't handle the wine properly in such a hot temperature and I had a bad luck to buy a wine that bubbled. We switched the gear to cocktails before dinner and they have good ones there. TIP: If you want to try something local, based on Ouzo, visit Nicolas's bar on the main street (10 minutes walk from the hotel) POOL/BEACH: EXCELLENT POOL for children. There is a shadow in the middle and you can spend hours there. It was so easy to teach swimming there, so my son finally learnt to swim & breath. Beach is so close to the hotel, that you don't need a chair there (8EUR). The coast is a kind of steep, not the best for small children. Green flag (no waves) is slightly boring, yellow one was much better. TIP: We've been on Falassarna beach twice - I liked that beach. Not so "turistified" as Elafonisi, no BUSes, it's sandy, very clean, perfect for children and just 30-40 minutes from the hotel by car. CARS: I rent a car at the hotel twice. One day with Toyota Yaris, without power assisted steering and breaks, driving on narrow and steep roads, forced me think about my life insurence, so I've picked Audi A2 for another 3 days. That was such a nice difference and I enjoyed the west coast as well as inland roads and curves so much. Don't miss that! ENTERTIMENT: I'm not the one who likes to 'be animated'. There was a Dance evening at one night and Greek one at another one and the noise was quite disturbing, since it finished around 10:30-11pm. Also the music at the pool was quite loud during the day, eventhough most people wanted to spend their time by reading books, rather than listening to disco from 70's. Greek music was 100% better than ABBA and BoneyM and other zombies, but I admit, it's my personal view. I'm sure I'll return to Crete at some point in the future and PPP hotel is going to be on my top list.