We loved our 6 day stay at Athina Apokoron. The open plan area was very clean and comfortable. The swimming pool worked well for the 7 year old children that were not strong swimmers. The steps down to the pool might not be easy to manage for those with toddlers/small children. The bedrooms were clean and spacious with decent storage for unpacking. The bathrooms were clean, plumbing and hot water all worked well. No shower curtains on the bigger bath tub made it difficult to shower without making the floor wet and slippery, still it was manageable. The kids loved taking baths with the jets going. We were in a perfect location, so close to the beautiful Almyrida Beach, which is where we spent most mornings. We did hire a car for the duration of our stay but it was not essential as Almyrida Taxi service was very good. So many delicious food, drinks and ice cream options between Gavalohori and Almyrida. Thanks again to Christos for being a wonderful host. We hope to be back soon!

Spacious comfortable villa with a real ‘wow factor’. Ideal location close to village with great amenities. Mrs Froso the property manager was helpful and communicative. We did think the villa needed a bit of work as it was showing its age (difficult door locks, shower fittings, scuffed paint)

Excellent well equipped large villa with superb pool.The steps down to the pool would make it challenging for smaller children and it could do with some black out blinds in the bedrooms but overall rating is excellent,

Booking process was extremely smooth, and Christos helpful throughout - also putting us in touch with local car hire people as the big names at the airport were looking to charge us crazy prices.First impressions of the villa were extremely positive: airy, spacious, clean, modern,. Plenty of room for our 2-family party of 4 adults and 4 children aged 11-15. Pool area nicely laid out and big enough for all to get in for ball games without being cramped together. Great views across the valley towards the setting sun of an evening.Froso the cleaner was an extremely smiley and helpful daily presence.Whilst this is on a development with a number of other villas, you are not overlooked - and whilst we were aware of others coming in and out of the shared driveway, privacy is maintained.Air-conditioning is plentiful, and works extremely well. There were issues with the washing machine and tumble dryer during our stay, but Froso kindly offered to take our washing to another villa to get it done while the problems were fixed - so no inconvenience was caused.All in all, the villa itself fully met our (quite high, bearing in mind the quite high price!) expectations of it. The one thing it did however lack, which has been a feature of all our previous villa holidays was a visitors' book where we could learn from the experiences of others and add our own comments for the benefit of others. So let me quickly do that here.Gavalochori - sweet little village, Monica's tavern at the bottom of the hill does good Greek food and puts on some decent music nights.Almyrida - closest beach, shallow, nice swimming but can get busy and we just went there once. Closest bank.Kalvyes - sweet little town, the beach bit is hidden behind a wall as you come in from Almyrida and looks a bit forbidding. Go in - the bay is nicer than Almyrida and in Il Forno you have the best restaurant with the best front-of-house guy you'll find all holiday.Georgioupoli - our favourite beach, we went past the busy main drag and round the corner to the beach club area. Paradiso was our favourite.Chora Sfakion - lovely 1 hour drive over the mountains. Watch out for the nudist beach & hotel on the road in, we tried to stop there for lunch! Chora itself not too inspiring, back past the nudists we found a lovely stone beach and great Taverna somewhere called Koumelas or similar.Rethymnon - pretty, nice hustle & bustle of an evening. Try the Lemon Tree restaurant.Enjoy!