I stayed here for a week with my husband and although there had been a mix up with the room, the staff went all out to ensure that we had the best possible stay. The hotel is geared towards offering travellers a personal service and the staff are some of the best I have come across despite travelling extensively, going out of their way to please you wherever possible. It felt so comfortable and homely, that you can instantly relax. The property has been renovated sensitively and is charming. The rooms are decorated beautifully and each offer something a little different however I would say that as these were categorised as junior suites, I expected a sitting area but that said they were so characterful.
It was all the little things - if the staff knew you were going to your room, they would offer to bring coffees up, offer iced teas if at the pool and suggested taking breakfast items away if you were going out for the day. I cannot commend the staff enough and its these little touches that make somewhere worth revisiting. And, for a nice change it wasnt about making as much money out of holidaymakers as possible, just about being hospitable.
The hotel itself is in the centre of the old town right next to all the shops, bars and cafes as well as within easy reach of the fort and venetian harbour. Rethymnon old town has alot of charisma and its great just to walk around exploring all of the little alleys as we always found something new every day.
Breakfast was lovely and including hot items such as eggs, bacon and sausages as well as a great selection of breads, pastries, amazing greek yoghurt, fresh fruit, cold meat, cheeses etc although I would have liked the eggs a little hotter but only a minor issue. This hotel is for the independent holidaymaker as there is no on site presence after 10pm but they are more than happy for you to help yourself to glasses, ice etc.
The only downside was that the air conditioning is temperature controlled which kind of defeats the purpose as I like the room to be very cool at night and had to sleep with the door open, resulting in umpteen bites and the rooms with baths could do with shower screens but again these are just personal preferences.
We had a room overlooking the pool which was really nice and we had the pool area to ourselves most days as people are generally there to sightsee and may only spend an hour or two relaxing. We went on the local bus to Chania but to be honest as it was our first time in Rethmynon, we preferred to spend most of our time there. The fort is a lovely walk and the Rimondi fountain is a stones throw away.
We ate at some great restaurants including Taverna Larenza which serves amazing stifado (beef) and steaks and Alana restaurant which has a really pretty outdoor garden restaurant and the food was good. Also good was the Melody Garden restaurant (a visit to meet Costas and drink raki with him is worth it) as was the home made garlic bread and tzatsiki. We ate here twice and also had snacks at CuldeSac which was value for money and served great cocktails and burgers.
A little local cafe called noataeia which is en route from the hotel to the rimondi fountain did the most amazing chicken fillet gyros and at 2.5 euros was good value and the home made chips were fab too (the tiny cafe itself is next to gelato.it but has a seating area before you come to the main restaurants before culdesac).
So many really good places to eat, we just didnt have time to fit it all in. PS if you are heading down from the Fort, a little taverna called Katerina's is worth stopping to have a drink. Katerina is so grateful for your custom and goes out of her way to make you welcome and she has the sweetest little old dog.
I cant speak for Crete overall but the people in Rethymnon were the friendliest people ever and I like that cafes and restaurants always offer little drinks on the house (either ouzo, wine or raki), snacks including apple, nuts, crisps or biscuits and complimentary desserts which is just so hospitable.
If you like crumbly old towns with lots of character and history and staying in really nice hotels, then this is definitely worth a go.