Your private-pool villa in Crete

Chania in the west has the old harbour, the mountains and the beaches people fly in for, and it is where most of our villas are. Rethymno sits in the middle, quieter, within reach of both airports. Heraklion means the south coast and the Messara plain, the warmest and the emptiest. Lasithi is the eastern end, calmest in August. Each region page describes its own areas in detail.

May, June, September and early October are the weeks most guests come back for: the sea is warm, everything is open and the island is not crowded. July and August are the hottest and busiest, and the larger villas are booked first for those weeks. The south and the east stay warm later than the north coast, so late October is realistic there.

A week is the normal stay and it is what most of our villas ask for as a minimum in high summer, with shorter stays easier to find in spring and autumn. Crete is larger than people expect, about 260 km end to end, so a week in one villa with day trips out of it works far better than moving every few nights.

Nearly all of them, and it is what we select for. You can filter for a private pool or a heated one, and every listing states its own pool details, along with whether it is fenced, shaded or overlooked.

A 6% booking fee, and nothing else that is ours. The big booking sites typically add 15% or more to the same stay, which is most of what booking direct saves you. The only other line on your total is the Greek climate resilience tax, which is set by the government, collected by us and passed straight on.

If your arrival is more than 45 days away, you pay a 30% deposit of the accommodation plus the booking fee when the booking is confirmed, and the remaining 70% together with the tourist tax is taken automatically 45 days before you arrive, from the same card. If you book inside 45 days of arrival, the full amount is due at once. We email you before the balance is taken, so it is never a surprise.

No. You book direct with your name, email and card, and we confirm with the villa owner. There is no account to create and no password to remember, and you can reply to any of our emails to reach a person.

It depends on the cancellation policy of the villa you booked, which is stated on its own page before you pay and never changes afterwards. Two things are always true whichever policy applies: the tourist tax comes back in full, and the booking fee does not come back at all.

Chania for the west of the island and Heraklion for the centre and the east, and both are served directly from most of Europe through the summer. Rethymno sits between the two, about an hour from each, so if you are staying there you can take whichever flight suits you. Sitia in the far east has a small airport with domestic flights.

Almost always, yes. Our villas are in villages and on hillsides rather than in resorts, which is the point of them, and the beaches worth the drive are the ones without a bus route. The exception is a villa in Chania town itself, where you can walk to dinner.

A villa agency based in Crete, run by a local team who manage every villa we list. That is why you deal with one company from the first question to the key handover, and why we can answer what a beach is actually like in September rather than reading you the description.