wife and i stooped in hersonissos early october last year,found crete lovely and quiet. visited ag/ nic' found to be hilly ,malia, dead quiet since the invasion of youngsters was over, but full of british type bars.hersonissos a small town which we found to be nothing special(we stayed in a village complex in old hersonissos overlooking town,an abundance of greek restaurants on hillside road to die for)if we returned we both said it would be to stalis(between hersonissos and malia) cannot comment on resorts on other side of island.

moved to correct forum

wizard

thanks johnny,

We tend to steer clear of "British" bars, and by avoiding the school holidays, try to miss most of the younger kids.

We don't mind a bit of "lively entertainment". We did spend a week in Palma Nova Majorca, and didn't think Magaluf was too rowdy, although it was low season.

We'll look into Stalis, thanks.

thanks to Wizard for moving thread, I didn't see the Crete forum.

I think you would find that Stallis would fit your requirements, it can be as liverly or as quite as you like really. There are a great number of good Restaurants and Bars as well as the locals being very friendly, once they have met you once they never seem to forget a face.

You will also find that the local buses are very good for getting around.

We have been to Stais 3 times in the last four years and we love it.

There are plenty of bars and restaurants, our favourite being Socrates. The owner and waiter Adonis is a fantastic man. Nothing is too much trouble and the food is out of this world. The lamb kleftiko is fantastic.

Each time we have visited, we stayed at the Christiana Beach Hotel. It is on the coast road and the pool overlooks the beach. There is a pool bar and the hotel is bed & breakfast. As far as I'm aware, there are no self catering facilities. The pool area never gets too crowded in the day time, there are plenty of sun longers and the rooms are of a good size with aircon.

They do have their own website or you can phone then and speak to the owner Nikos. We saved a fortune by booking direct this year. The broucher price worked out around £1,600 for 2 adults and 1 child.

We booked our own flights with Thompson and booked direct for 2 weeks b & b, with fridge hire and safe deposit box and it cost us £1,100. If you book through the broucher, you will need to pay extra on arrival for aircon, fridge and safe.

The hotel is in a good location for malia and stalis. It takes about 20mins to walk to mailia and 5 mins to the centre of stalis. The hotel faces the Rose & Crown Pub, one of the best in Stalis. Shows all the football and the food is great. Good atmosphere in the evening and not far to stagger home.

It is mainly families and couples who stay at this hotel.

The transfer from the airport is about 25 mins and costs 35euro in a taxi.

If you book stalis, you will not be disappointed.

Hi

I used to work in Rethymnon on the West of Crete and would recommend it as a resort. The best hotels were the Grecotel Rithymna Beach. Looks a bit dated but it is right on the beach and has a massive swimming pool and lovely shops etc. and is 5 star. Check out the hotel reviews on the Crete page it has a wonderful write up.

Next door they had just built the Grecotel Creta Palace which looked beautiful. Again, right on the beach and 5 star but newer with a smaller swimming pool.

I loved Crete and Rethymnon so I would recommend it as a resort. You may need a car as the hotels are not in the town centre and it is a very long resort stretching for miles along the coast. The town has many restaurants and bars along the front, in the harbour and in the cobbled streets and can be as lively or quiet, especially if staying near your hotel, as you want it to be. Lovely beach which goes on for miles and you can visit the Samaria Gorge, the Palace of Knossos and Chania for shopping if you want to go somewhere else for the day.

Hope this helps.

We have been to Crete many times and at both ends of the island. Our preference is for the Chania end. North and South West Coast are brilliant.
We have stayed at Agia Marina which is a lovely small resort but close to Platanias which is a bit livelier at night, not nightclubby though. Nice enough to wander up and down and look at the shops and restaurants are lovely, but could be too busy to actually stay. We prefer the quieter places and last year stayed at Kolimbari, Skoutelanos which is deadly quiet, which we like. Fantastic fish restaurants on the beach front too. It is also on the main route to Elafonisos, gorgeous pink sands and lagoon on the South of the Island and also Falasarna on the NorthWest Coast, brilliant swimming and tropical beach. Within easy reach of the Samaria Gorge, fantastic views and the drive is hair raising. Chania is fantastic to walk around, very pretty and fascinating buildings. We just love the Cretan people. I could go on and on and on and ........

We went to Corfu this year for a break which was beautiful too but always have a hankering to go back to Crete.

I went to Magaluf with my daughter a few years ago at the end of October fearing the worse but we had a lovely relaxing time and it was so quiet. Couldnt stand it in the high season! Not a lot of the local feel about it though, like being at Brighton - well, there might be more Tapas bars in Brighton than Magaluf.

My daughter and I go to Turkey Sunday for the first time and wonder what that will be like. Still think Crete will top the list!!!!

You can do worse than contacting these. They have some excellent villas and apartments for the higher end of the market.

info@simplycreteholidays.co.uk

http://www.mantraki.4t.com

First went to Stalis 12 years ago and boy has it changed.

It is the best resort in the med beautiful restaurants nice bars friendliest palce in the world. Will be trying to get back this year time permitting.

I always stay at la Luna they have 2 places La Luna 1 and 2

George the owners son is a top bloke and many a time whilst wifey was in bed he and I would be drinking till ummmm hour lol

You will not have a bad holiday.

If you go into Volcano tell George Geezer says hi

Hi Yellowking
Like you I'm a regular to Stalis stop in Koni up the road from the La Luna, it was 20 years ago the first time we went but we stopped in Malia. Stalis was barely a resort then and you are right it has changed hell of a lot but it's still a great place for an holiday.The volcano has changed it's name can't remember what it's called but it's an english pub name now I think, although, I've never used the place myself always use the beachcomber, and still like to go into Malia usually every other night but just stay on the side of the road where the old village is.Roll on June for next visit.
Rick.