My wife and I stayed at the Pietro two weeks ago, we stayed for the minimum one week stay. We made the reservation in early January, 6 months prior to our arrival since we had learned early from reading the reviews of the extended time needed to secure a room. We made the reservation directly with Christine by calling and emailing.
All the reviews are correct, the location, the rooms, and Chania are beautiful. Since our arrival time was during Christine's break and our flight had been delayed, her mom greeted us and took us to our room. Our room was behind the hotel, it was the only seperated room from the main part of the hotel, and we didn't mind this a bit, less noise from the other guests, one of which had a small child. Don't misunderstand we love children, but the child crying could be heard in the stairwell when we arrived. So we liked our secluded apartment with the tub instead of the standing shower. The room was beautifully decorated upon arrival, and the fridge was stocked with wine and champagne. A coffee maker, a small stove, kitchen sink, and refrigerator were in the room. The hair dryer is adequate for men. My wife had a problem with it though, we are asian indian, her hair is thick, so the hair dryer couldn't cut it, unless she stood there for an hour. We brought our own hair dryer, we used the adaptor, but it tripped the circuit breaker on the first night. It tripped it so badly that after resetting the breaker, later that night everything turned off due to burnt wiring. We have taken this hair dryer with us everywhere, included Thailand, Nepal, Singapore, the UK, Amsterdam, and Mexico, but for some reason it tripped the breakers here. Nevertheless, the family found and fixed the problem before we returned from our outing. That is what good service does.
My wife and I like to make use of our days, so we went to Falassana, Elfonossi, Stavros, and Golden beach. The latter we took a taxi to, which was polluted, and definetly not a good representation of what Crete has to offer in beaches. The first three we drove to, and they were wonderful. Falassana, and Elfonossi are AMAZING, there is no finer beauty then that which is found in nature, these places exemplify that statement. My wife and I took the time to drive to these places through the mountains, and gorges, the views at times were breathtaking. The drive gets a little hairy at times, but drive with caution and all is good. On your way to Elfonossi, stop at the Cave of Agais Sofia, you cannot miss it, everyone is stopped there, walking up the side of the mountain, it is a worthwhile stop. Also on the way back stop in the town of ELOS for a small snack. The lagoons are gorgeous, take snorkeling equipment as well. When you go to Falassana make sure to drive to the Minoan ruins and take a look around, the road is rough so drive slowly and carefully there as well. All of these beaches have snack bars, and beers available. Stavros is nice as well, only a half hour away, there was a nice island off of the shore that my wife and I snorkeled to as well, some people actually climbed up the rocks and hung out there. The beach here is nice as well, not polluted like Golden Beach.
In regards to dining, my God, if you like Greek and Cretan food, this place is like going to culinary heaven. The food was great, even when it was mediocre, it was great. A bottle of wine a night, plus beer at the beach, Greek beer of course, and Raki at night was what the doctor ordered. We mainly dined at one of the MANY restaurants on the harbour. They were all good, we are not foodies, we don't claim to be, but we like good food. We felt we ate good food at every place, some were better then others, but take your pick, by the way don't get a hamburger in Crete, eat some local foods, those are made daily and fresh.
We loved our trip, it was amazing, the measure of a good trip is when it ends too soon. This was one of them. The hotel was a perfect launching pad for our excursions. We would definetly stay there again, the atmosphere is memorable and the people are very hospitable.

You know that a place is utterly fantastic when you feel compelled to write about it while on vacation! We arrived on Thursday, and were greeted by the young owner Christine, whose family has lovingly restored every inch of a Venetian townhouse dating from the 1200s.

Christine spent nearly an hour with us as we settled into our magnficent suite, explaining every nuance of the room, and answering our countless questions about Chania. She offered us candies, champagne, and wondeful peaches from our stocked fridge ( on the house) and delightfully posed for pictures beside our bed, which she had decorated with more candies and flowers from her roof garden!

The lovely harbor is only a two-minute walk from this hotel. Christine is full of suggestions about how to get to the best beaches and places with or without a car. All I can add to the many other compliments she's received already is that if you are visiting Chania, and don't stay here, you're out of your mind! After many trips to Europe, this family-run B&B is a place that's at the top of our list. We hope to return again and again.

My partner and I stayed here a year ago. This must be the tardiest review ever, but written a year later I want to endorse all the other comments about this place.

We arrived horribly late (nearly 4am) because of a flight delay and a hire car with no fuel. There are only 2 stations open on the Island on a Sunday night (none in Heraklion). If you hire a car make sure you stipulate a full tank of gas. I only just made it to a station after an 8km downhill freewheel! (Honestly, my eyes were glued to the fuel guage!) Christine valiantly stayed up to great us, which set the tone for the rest of the holiday. She is an exceptional hostess but really needs a deputy, since her hours are interminable. She is a fount of knowledge for places to see, to eat without being ripped off (at least one of the heavily touted restaurants try this on - their final bill is twice what you might expect, if you argue they call the police).

The Plazzo is a beautiful old building restored with great charm. the rooms/beds/freebies are all delightful. The air conditioning was a fantastic thing to return to in the heat. There is no restaurant but a well stocked kitchen makes the place for me a 'luxury apart-hotel'.

Chania is a wonderful harbour with countless good restaurants and bars. We never tired of walking aroung the town every evening of the week we spent there.

Crete for us had a magical atmosphere with fantastic people. Hiring a car is a good move, but if you drive across the beautiful mountains towards Loutro go no further than Hora Sfakion, where you can get the ferry or hire a boat to Loutro. Any further and you will have the most terrifying drive of your life! Switchbacks on a single carriage lane with a sheer drop to the sea hundreds of feet below. And a ditch the other side. Very exhilarating looking back a year later, but at the time...

Sadly, I made the mistake of offering to fix Christine's computer which had viruses before I left, and since she never replied I got a big guilt trip about maybe wrecking it - should not have done it on the last night! And her father had treated us to a fantastic meal. But a year later she's still in business so hopefully all is fine.

So of all the places I've been to, Chania is the gastro-harbour of choice, and the Palazzo THE place to stay.

We would have loved to have stayed at this hotel as it looks fantastic and I am sure that Christine is a brilliant host. Unfortunately we lost our reservation as we send our bank details by e-mail and didn't do a bank transfer and it is up to you to get them the deposit to make sure you don't lose your reservation. If you want to communicate with the hotel you must use their contact form as e-mails get looked at as Spam and they sometines get lost. Apart from that it looks fantastic and I only wish we could have stayed there!