We've been holidaying in villas now for 20 years, all over the world. We like the finer things in life and we like the privacy a villa offers. One thing we've found over the years is that sometimes Villas can feel a little bit too solitary, so when we found Thalasses we really loved the idea of a very small complex (4 villas) with onsite staff, a small playground for our 3 year old boy, and security features, whilst still having the ability to lock the gates and retreat to our own space without being disturbed.
The grounds that the villas are situated are spotless, there's a vegetable garden that you can pick your own fresh produce from, a small reception area, the kids playground, and really secure gates (keycode controlled) It was very easy to find Thalasses using satnav and the approach from the main road up to the property is well paved. The property looks fantastic from the outside and is a real credit to the owners.
The location itself was perfect for us. Around 50 minutes from Heraklion airport, and only a couple of minutes of the main national road, meant that using this is a base to tour central and western Crete is ideal.
Our Villa, Villa Thoi is on the very front of the property, closest to the sea. It really is literally 50 metres maximum from the ocean, and the view is spectacular. Evening sunsets were stunning and there was always a refreshing breeze blowing off the sea which helped keep us cool outside. A small taverna, Akrogiali, is within walking distance, right on the beach with sunloungers, we went there several times and I'll leave a separate review for that, but it was perfect.
The private beach is perfect for a small family, there are sunloungers which are locked up (you have a key for these on your set of villa keys). The padlock was difficult to open at first due to the constant salty air corroding it slightly, but we soon got the hang of it...note to the owners, some WD40 might help here. The beach itself is small and a very fine grit...which was rubbish for making sandcastles but brilliant for not sticking to you....it was just as comfortable as sand to sit on. The walk in to the sea is a bit rocky, so take beach shoes but the water is crystal clear and rocks provide an area which breaks the waves so our boy was really happy playing in the sea in a very shallow and sheltered spot. The sea was pretty rough whilst we were there so this was important. If you walk 20 metres to the west along the beach you reach fine sand, great for sandcastles and apparently great for turtles, there were 3 nests on the beach whilst we were there, protected by the local conservation teams. On the beach itself we got great Wi-Fi from the villa, there must be a booster there. There is also a shower and changing hut if you need it.
Within 1 minute's drive to the east there is a small supermarket with an attached restaurant which was also great (Pantelis restaurant and supermarket). If you drive to the west within 5 minutes you'll pass numerous restaurants, supermarkets, tavernas, pharmacy, shops and of course a couple of mini golf courses.
We mainly used the Pavlakis Supermarket as they stocked everything you could need, it's about 5 minutes from the villa. There is also a Lidl if you prefer your multinational brands.
We arrived in the evening and opening the gate to our villa garden was a pure joy to see after 8 hours of travelling and dealing with Heraklion airport! The pool is just the right size for a dip, with a little ledge that our 3 year old was confident standing on and playing on the edge of the pool, it was also great for sitting on and enjoying a gin and tonic whilst cooling in the pool....our own swim up bar for one :-) The pool wasn't heated but you can request this. Personally I like to use a pool to cool off and it was plenty warm enough to spend an hour in at the time of year we went.
The garden is beautifully lit and it really felt like we'd stepped in to a sanctuary in paradise. To the front is a low wall, allowing you to enjoy panoramic views of the ocean, but the side walls and fences ensure you keep privacy from the other villas.
The garden has a wooden deck area around the pool, which with a 3 year old meant we didn't need to constantly worry about him slipping on when wet, and then there are grassed areas and a lovely white marble patio with plenty of seating and sunloungers.
We used the bbq every other night, super easy to use and produced some great results. Pavlakis supermarket stock Charcoal, which was restaurant quality (if you're serious about BBQ like I am then this is important). There is a kitchen sink at the BBQ area, so it was really easy to cook alfresco!
To the rear of the garden, in the secluded area between the villa and the west wall is the hot tub. This was heated to 39C and we used it every day, it was a joy to use and a great touch by the owners.
On entering the villa it was spotless, the white marble, SMEG appliances, and the fittings in general made it feel very upmarket, the small touches used in the decoration made it feel very homely though, so in all a great design. The kitchen is small, if you're a messy cook or you like to spend hours in the kitchen then this may be a down side for you, worth considering, but we found it perfectly adequate for the 3 of us.
The TV is a smart TV with wifi connected, so it took me all of 5 minutes to login to Netflix and Amazon Prime Video (just remember to log out....the previous occupant hadn't and we could have used all his subscriptions...we didn't obviously) There were several DVDs there too, mostly kids stuff which was great for our boy.
The beds are extremely comfortable, nice linen, lots of pillows and great air con. The bedrooms also have large ceiling fans for those of you that don't like air con.
Plenty of hot water, a good shower, lovely welcome pack, plenty of kitchen utensils etc, all in all a very well equipped Villa.
One of the best things about all of the Thalasses villas is that you have onsite staff during the day. Anastasia is the manager and she is wonderful, she made sure we had everything we needed, was great at giving local advice and was generally there for us at all times during our stay. She, like all Greeks in our experience, was absolutely lovely with our boy, he took a real shine to her and she is a credit to the team at Thalasses. Our maid was called Eleni and she was also lovely, did a brilliant job cleaning to a high standard, despite my sons best efforts to cover every shiney surface in finger prints of sun block!
On our last night a wedding party arrived on the beach to have photographs taken on the beach at sunset...it really is photo worthy.
If we return to Crete we would absolutely stay at Thalasses again, thank you Stavros, Anastasia and Eleni - Rob, Elle and Leo x