Almyrida is a former fishing village that has grown into a small but very nice resort village. The place is very popular with tourists primarily due to the peculiarities of the coast – in the Gulf of Sudas, where, in fact, the village is located, a long “childish” shallow water and a warm-warm sea (almost like on Azov, only much better), a clean sandy beach in places with shade from trees and surprisingly friendly weather – half a day of calm, half a wave, suitable for windsurfing. Very important and extremely good location – to Chania with all the international infrastructure is only 20 kilometers: that is, not too far, you can get at least by bus, but still away from the heart of tourist activity.
Almyrida can be the starting point for exploring the region. From here the trails are “trodden” not only to neighboring villages or to Cape Drapanos, but also to Lake Kournas (23 km to the south-east), to the island of Elafonisi with charming pink beaches, to the longest gorge in Europe – Samaria, and, in principle, anywhere.
They are few, but they are worth it: in Almerida there are only two sandy and one pebble beach at the entrance to the village. They are so good that for the last decade they annually receive the Blue Flag – the main “beach” insignia of the EU, which is awarded only to beaches that are ideal in terms of cleanliness and infrastructure.
Almyrida has all the necessary minimum for a relaxed family holiday – the beach, taverns, traditional eateries and bakeries, souvenir shops and even a diving center. And, of course, many, many hotels for different requests and financial opportunities. The feature of the village is a large selection of boutique hotels and apartments and the almost complete absence of even intra-Crete hotel chains.
Historical fact
It is believed that it was in Almirid in 1866 that the last battle of the Cretans against the Ottoman Empire took place. The defeated Ottomans were expelled.
Aloe Boutique Hotel & Suites (adults only)
Modern stylish, though small, with only 57 rooms in four categories, boutique hotel Aloe is located on the first line from the sea – the beach, but not its own, but common, across the street. Here with Cretan hospitality meet adult guests and their friends, but children under 16 in the hotel do not settle. Beautiful rooms in light shades, each with an individual twist, huge common spaces, well-trained staff and individual service of the highest class – this set in Aloe is considered the minimum necessary for a decent stay.
The guest house includes a continental breakfast served from 7.30 to 10.30. The rest of the time there is a cocktail and snack bar by the pool. Dinner is served from 19.00 to 22.00 in the same restaurant where breakfast is served.
The hotel also has its own spa, also small, which is called unpretentious – Ocean Spa. According to reviews, this is an extremely pleasant place. It offers rejuvenating and relaxing treatments that include:
- face and body masks with aloe, chocolate, cocoa and seaweed;
- exfoliation and peeling;
- anti-aging wraps, masks and massages;
- traditional Greek massage – wiping.
Also in the spa center they do a professional massage of the head, feet, collar area, relieve crepature and stress with the help of aromatherapy techniques. The centre has a sauna and a fitness room with a personal trainer.
Maria, Moscow: “Nice pool, nice area. But a huge “but”! Breakfasts are pathetic, meager and tasteless. Sun beds on the beach are paid – 16 euros, in a set of cosmetics do not include shower gel and hair conditioner, and for each capsule for a coffee machine they pulled on euros. Like a 5-star hotel, it’s a crumb.”
Almyrida Resort
The 4-star family-run Almyrida Resort is a complex of three buildings (in fact, separate hotels with their own policy and design concept), three swimming pools, a fitness room and a large spa. For kids there is a playground, you can order a nanny. Adults can play billiards or bowling, as well as choose a tour from the extensive list of local bureaus.
Hotel Almyrida Resort is located in the heart of Almyrida, around many taverns of national cuisine, but the chefs of the hotel restaurant guarantee that guests will not want anything else – the hotel feeds tasty and unusual, this is perhaps its main feature. For breakfast, soft Cretan cheese with herbs, dense yogurt – it should be eaten with a small spoon, salted or spread on a flatbread or pancakes. On the lid of the hotel there is a bar-restaurant Thea, which serves Mediterranean cuisine with an emphasis on Cretan specialities – beans, lamb, seafood.
Mira, Sergiev Posad: “The hotel is clean, the room we had with a sea view, the staff is more than friendly, the breakfast is unrealistically generous and delicious. Cons: for a 4-year-old child demanded to pay 10%, next to the hotel, wall to wall, public parking, so the noise is hellish. Balconies are open and viewable, do not count on privacy. The beach is, well, just so-so.”
Almyrida Sands
Many tourists prefer to stay in Almirida in apartments, bypassing hotels. There really is something in this – at least greater autonomy, flexibility of the service and privacy. One of these options is Almyrida Sands Apartments, which are located on a small private area a hundred meters from the beach.
Surrounded by a lovely garden (the owner’s hobby, he personally gardens) there are five self-contained apartments, a villa for 5-7 people and a studio with sea views.
Each room is equipped with absolutely everything necessary for a comfortable stay – appliances, dishes, household trifles.
The owners are sensitive to the quality of the services provided, so they guarantee:
- all berries and fruits from the garden can be eaten, they are environmentally friendly;
- all textiles, including bed linen, only of the highest quality;
- the bathroom is fully equipped;
- the furniture is made by local artisans.
The main materials used in the design are only natural – stone, wood, cotton, marble, ceramics. The owners try to minimize the heat trail, respect the environment and are as correct as possible.
Attention!
The owners require an advance payment of 50%. The remaining amount can be paid during the settlement. A deposit will also be required.
Panorama+
The complex of luxury apartments offers 10 rooms with panoramic sea views. The beach is a stone’s throw away. The whole complex is made in a style with a touch of postmodern aesthetics, in which functionality prevails over decorativeness.
Apartment layout:
- living room;
- bedroom (you can choose, separate or combined with the living room);
- kitchen;
- bathroom with shower;
- spacious balcony.
You need to understand that the service in the apartment is different from the hotel: the staff will not disturb guests for trifles, providing more autonomy. However, Panorama Plus is cleaned daily and bed linen, bathrobes and towels are changed twice a week.
Guests can relax by the shared pool or on the private balcony. It is wide enough that you can sunbathe on it without even going down to the beach.
SK Place Crete Luxury Villas
The sk Place Crete complex,consisting of three luxury villas built on an individual project, is located in a closed area just a hundred meters from the beach, guarantees an absolutely private exclusive holiday of the highest class.
- Villa Anemos is decorated in a traditional Mediterranean style with early twentieth-century furnishings. Parquet floors, calico and silk in the décor, draperies in warm colors together with modern wall treatment, high-tech appliances and marble bathrooms create lightness and resort mood. Next to the villa in the canopy of lemons and oranges there is a grill and a gazebo for a light romantic dinner.
- Villa Almyra is a masterpiece of design in the style of minimalism with a gorgeous panoramic view of the mountain range. Modernity and archetypes collided and merged in the design: light wood floors and tinted panoramic windows, steel pergolas and wood on the walls made of natural unpolished stone. White and gray are complemented by steel, glass and azure stretching below the sea surface.
- Villa Ammos is decorated in the tradition of western Crete, using aged, sea and sun-bleached wood and natural stone. The interior beats the light and volume, the rooms have high windows and doors, flying curtains and a lot of free space.
Each villa has its own swimming pool and several sun terraces. In size, they are about the same – 200 sq.m on three floors, suitable for six people.
Blue Elephant
A little Thailand in Crete awaits all connoisseurs of Asian fusion in the 4-star design hotel Blue Elephant. This, of course, is also Crete, but with an unexpected addition that will give the vacation an interesting taste.
Advantages of the hotel:
- the restaurant is always looking for something interesting: in 2020, Italian chef Ettore Botrini was invited to expand the menu;
- spa chiropractors specialize in massages and reflexology;
- the hotel has the opportunity to check into rooms of one of four categories;
- the pool is really nice.
The hotel has a bar, a fitness room with traditional equipment, a cosmetology room and a sauna-hammam. An outdoor pool is available in the warmer hours. Breakfast, by the way, can be ordered from the menu directly to the room: room service, perhaps in Blue Elephant and not the best in Crete, but quite decent. The property can arrange transport rentals, excursions or airport transfers.
Elvira, Vladivostok: “The best hotel in my life! Beautiful location, nice room, good mattress and pillow. The only not very significant disadvantage is a boring repetitive breakfast. But we didn’t try to eat anything at the hotel at all, so it wasn’t important for us.”
Apartment Sunkiss
Affordable in price and internal filling apartments,at the same time guaranteeing excellent service – the key to a great holiday. And Sunkiss is just such an option: two kilometers to the beach of Vrasko, but on the territory there is an open “limitless” pool; the rooms are not big, but stylishly decorated.
The apartment consists of three bedrooms, a bathroom with a shower and a fully equipped kitchen (oven, electric kettle, toaster, stove, refrigerator, washer + dishwasher, dishes). Not all, but many overlook the terraces, and the view from the window differs depending on the floor and building.
The staff cleans every other day or on request, towels are changed once a week. Bonus: round-the-clock room service, including dinner delivery.
Vladlen, Khabarovsk: “We spent 10 quiet days at Sunkiss. A huge plus is the perfect sound insulation. Good internet and air conditioning, the sea is close. In three minutes a dozen decent and not very kharcheven, all not to try. We’ll come again.”
Elea Villas – Aspro & Blanche
The complex of villas Elea (two villas – Aspro and Blanche) is located in Almirida, a five-minute walk from the beach, among the garden and overlooking the mountains. Balconies and windows offer views of the garden, pool or city streets.
The villas are made in an ultra-modern style of concrete, chrome and glass. The interior decoration stylistically echoes the external urban minimalism, but, nevertheless, the villas are bright, cozy and spacious:
- bathroom on the top and ground floor;
- light wood, cream walls and textiles;
- the kitchen is fully equipped, including a large wine cabinet.
A swimming pool is open during the warmer years. In November, it is closed until May. Decent mountain bikes can be rented from the hotel.
Villas Almyrida
On a small hill in the city limits of Almyrida, 800 meters from the beach, there is a complex of two-level villas Villas Almyrida – the owners did not bother with the name, especially since the demand for renting their villas is so huge. Mostly, they are ordered by the Greeks themselves and residents of neighboring countries who want to spend a weekend with friends on the warm coast in a pleasant place.
Comfortable villas are suitable for families, even with the youngest children – the owners will always meet halfway and organize not only a transfer from the airport, but also a bassinet and a high chair.
Villas are equipped with:
- satellite TV, internet;
- climate control;
- washer and dishwasher;
- microwave and stove;
- separate barbecue area.
Each villa has its own furnished balcony. A shared outdoor pool with sun loungers and a children’s playground are available on site.
Almiris Seaside Apartments
In the heart of Almyrida and almost on the beach is one of the most popular tourist apartment complexes. A small swimming pool (according to reviews, it is more for children than for adult guests), a tiny garden and free Internet coupled with a human price by Cretan standards – and that’s it, most guests agree to return again and again.
The place is really nice. Despite the minimum of equipment: there is a kitchen, but without frills – stove, refrigerator, microwave; bathroom without bath, but with shower and hairdryer; the beds are good, but the mattresses are not orthopedic – it is quite convenient to live in apartments, and few people dream of more on vacation. In the end, you can not cook, there is a huge selection of taverns of different levels.
Sergey, Omsk: “Everything was fine. The vacation has flown by, it’s a pity. The room is nice, the staff is unobtrusive, clean and beautiful. The only thing is that I personally was very annoyed by the smell of fried fish from the street. There are taurens nearby, something was constantly cooked there, and it did not always smell pleasant. “
Almyrida is a sweet, sleepy and slowly plying between the past and the future resort village. For everything about everything here only a couple of mini-markets, one pharmacy and not a single shopping center. In this Mecca of relaxed rest, you do not need to chase the perfect hotel service – here it is still impossible to find. Almyrida is not Turkey or Dubai, people do not come here not to sit in anthill hotels. It is better to take advantage of other offers, especially in the market a lot of decent options for renting apartments
Selection of hotels Almyrida on map
