Traditional House With Pool And Great View!

Wir ( 2 Erwachsene, 2 Kinder 13 + 8 Jahre) waren für zwei Wochen zu Gast in der Villa Gaia.

Die Villa hält, was die Fotos versprechen. Sie ist geschmackvoll eingerichtet, die Ausstattung lässt keine Wünsche übrig. Sogar Regenschirme und ein Sonnenschirm für an den Strand waren vorhanden.

Alles ist sehr sauber und gepflegt. Das Haus wurde während unseres Aufenthaltes zweimal gereinigt, die Betten frisch bezogen und die Handtücher gewechselt.

Die Außenanlage der Villa ist sehr schön. Von der Terrasse aus hat man einen herrlichen Blick und rund um den Pool ist der perfekte Platz zum entspannen. Natürlich war der Pool das Highlight unserer Söhne. Er hat eine angenehme Größe und ist tief genug um auch mal einen Sprung vom Beckenrand zu wagen.

Das Haus mit seiner Außenanlage ist also der perfekte Platz für Erholung und Entspannung.

Im ca. 6km entfernten Stavromenos gibt es alles, was man für den täglichen Bedarf benötigt. Neben mehreren Minimarkets gibt es eine Bäckerei, eine Apotheke, mehrere Tavernen und natürlich der nächstgelegene Strand.

Archäologische Ziele wie z.B. das Kloster Arkadi oder die Ausgrabungsstätten von Eleftherna sind nur eine kurze Autofahrt entfernt.

Im nächstgelegenen Ort Skoulufia befindet sich die Taverne "Smaragdgarten". Diese Taverne war unsere Lieblingstaverne. Sie ist perfekt für Menschen, die traditionelles griechisches Essen mögen. Die Besitzer sind überaus freundlich und zuvorkommend.

In unseren Erinnerungen an diesen Urlaub bleiben sehr viele nette und herzliche Menschen. Vor allem die Vermieter haben in Sachen Herzlichkeit, Freundlichkeit und Gastfreundschaft jegliche Erwartungen übertroffen. Wir haben uns noch in keinem anderen Urlaub so willkommen gefühlt, wie in der Villa Gaia. Das liegt nicht nur an dem unvergleichlichen Willkommenspaket oder an den Aufmerksamkeiten, die uns zwischendurch zuteil wurden, sondern daran, dass die Gastfreundschaft der Familie Katsirakis von Herzen kommt und das spürt man.

Für uns steht fest, wenn Kreta, dann Villa Gaia!!

Wir freuen uns auf ein Wiedersehen!!

I think it's fair to say that we've been blown away by the quality of the villa, and the friendliness and generosity of the hosts. It has been our best villa experience so far. The villa is nicely furnished and is spacious indoors and outdoors; all the listed facilities were present and worked (including the air con!) The soft landscaping is beautiful and well kept making sitting on the terrace and around the pool a very pleasant experience.The villa maintains being secluded and peaceful, and with friendly neighbours, whilst being in an easily accessible location making trips to other areas in Crete easy to do. The welcome by Zacarius’s parents was amazingly kind; they came and rescued us when we got lost on the way to the villa in the dark! Also provided was a very generous welcome box which was above and beyond all necessities.

We have massively enjoyed our holiday. We will be recommending this villa to all our family and friends.

Myself and two friends have just returned from a wonderful week staying at Villa Gaia. From our arrival we were made so very welcome by Zacharias and his brother John and through the week we got to know their mother Helen. They are a really lovely family and made our stay so very special. The Villa is wonderfully situated in the mountains, with stunning views, but only 10 minutes from the main coastal road. The Villa is beautifully and very tastefully decorated and well equipped for everything you need for your stay. A very generous basket of supplies, including wine, was on the kitchen table on our arrival which was very kind and thoughtful.

We loved the outside seating areas and had all our meals outside on the balcony although it was only early May. We also enjoyed being able to cool off in the pool!

We all felt that this was one of our best holidays ever – the area is very quiet and peaceful and the views are stunning. Each day we had a short drive to many of the wonderful archaeological sites in the area and some of the smaller towns both on the coast and in the mountains. But we loved returning to the Villa each afternoon to relax and enjoy the peace and solitude.

We would all certainly recommend this Villa to anyone looking for a wonderful place to stay, away from the crowds, but within easy reach of a number of main towns and sites of interest. We do not normally do “repeat” holidays but we all hope that we will be back at Villa Gaia very soon!

We stayed here for 11 nights from sep 12th 2015. We have 2 small children under 4, so we needed somewhere that we could relax and enjoy once the kids were tucked up in bed, and also somewhere they could enjoy during the day.

We were delighted with the villa!

From our arrival, which was late on Saturday night, we were greeted by Ellena and her husband, who are really lovely people. They had provided us with groceries, some local wine and Raki, and a hot meal with a lovely salad and more, cakes, Biscuits but most importantly, a lovely warm welcome.

The villa is exactly as it is in the pictures so if you like the pictures you wont be disappointed.

On entering you have a spacious living room and dining area to your right with a fully equiped kitchen area on the left. through an arch to the hallway gives access to 3 good sized bedrooms, 1 bedroom with 2 singles and patio doors, 1 bedroom with a mummy and child sized bed with patio doors and 1 bedroom good sized double. The bathroom is next to the bedrooms and has a bath with a shower unit that has good power in it.

The outside seated area is where we spent every night and most mealtimes and is a great little area to sit and relax and take in the fact that your on holiday at last!

The pool area was a lovely space too, but we probably underused it due to the demands of our little ones, the water was a bit cold for them, so we mostly had to find other ways to entertain them, but I had a few lovely soaks in the pool - great on a hot sunny day!

The villa is located about 5 to 10 mins off the main Rethymnon - Heraklion route, and about 15 mins from Rethymnon the nearest eating and shops are based in Stavromenos which is just as you come off the main road. As the villa is located up on the hillside, you can easily view the sea from the villa.

Our own favourite places to go in the area were Bali and Panormos about 15 mins East along the coast, but there are lots lovely places in the area and its great to explore.

The hosts, Zacharias, Ellena and im embarassed to say ive forgotten her husbands name! Were so friendly and generous, as well as the welcoming pack of food and drink they also left us other lovely food and treats.

And i must say a very special thank you for the magnificent birthday cake you got for us, that was very thoughtful generous!

We are not generally people who go to the same place twice, but if we were ever back in Crete it would be very hard for us to stay anywhere else.

Hospitable hosts! Cosy villa! In life, everything is the same as on a photo. Close to shops and restaurants. Next to Rethymnon. Close to interesting sights! Us all really enjoyed it.