Where to Stay in Crete: Platanias

On our trip to Crete we decided to stay in the town of Platanias. Platanias is just twenty or so minutes outside of Chania. We debated staying in Chania but there is no beach front there so we opted to be a little further down the coast. Here is what to expect if you stay in Platanias and why we loved it!

Platanias stretches a few blocks down the coast and is a very convenient location. All of the tours out of Chania offer pick up from Platanias as well. There are rental cars, taxi services, public bus routes, and a train shuttle that offer transportation to and from other places on the island.

We stayed at Hotel Castle Suites. This was actually our back up hotel that we had to book the night before (I’ll explain that below) but it turned out to be a decent place and a good location.
Read more info on Hotel Castle Suites’ website HERE.

In Greece almost every hotel is a single, double, or triple room. Basically, it is a twin bed for each person. So we had a triple room, which also had a small kitchenette.

We had a great view of one of the three pools from our balcony. They have a game room, spa, restaurant, breakfast buffet, and convenience store on site. I will say I was upset that they do not provide towels for the pool. This is the first place we have ever been on vacation where a hotel did not provide towels for the pool.

The breakfast buffet is not included in the cost of your stay but it is reasonably priced. This flyer was at the front desk inside the hotel but the prices have raised since. We were charged €10 per adult and €7 for our daughter. It was convenient to eat breakfast at the hotel but I honestly did not feel like the €27 ($30) was worth it.

The beach was a short five minute walk across the street from our hotel. I wouldn’t say it was the prettiest beach, but it was nice to be able to go to take a swim if we wanted. The prettiest beaches with crystal clear water are on the other side of the island. Make sure to read my posts about Gramvousa Island & Balos Bay and Elafonisi Beach.

There are a ton of restaurants in Platanias as well. You will have at least 10-20 options from just outside your hotel ranging from fancy restaurants to grab and go.

My absolute favorite restaurant we ate at was Sonio. It is a beautiful blue and white Greek restaurant on the beach. I definitely recommend making reservations for dinner every night. Restaurants in Greece prefer you make a reservation so they can have a table waiting for you when you arrive. I will say that we did not make any reservations (because I wasn’t sure what time we would be back from tours) and we were able to get in for dinner just fine. I attribute this to the fact that we eat early compared to the rest of the people on the island. We were eating between 5-6:30pm every night whereas most people did not eat until 7:30-8:30pm. So we were eating every night before it got really busy.
View menus and hours of Sonio on their website HERE.

You can never go wrong with a Greek salad! Greek food is the freshest we have ever tasted.he seafood in Greece was also delicious.

We also ate at Soniako Restaurant in Platanias. They have live music almost every night starting at 7:30pm. I didn’t realize that when I ordered a fish fillet that it would literally be the entire fish. It was delicious though!

I highly suggest buying your bottled water at a convenience store (like the one pictured above)other than at restaurants. We had a stainless steel yeti bottle that we carried around with us everywhere. The large bottled waters are only €0.80 at these stores. You will pay €3-6 for a bottle of water at a restaurant. These stores also offer fresh fruit, snacks, alcoholic drinks, towels, and pool floats.

These convenience stores are also a great place to grab cheap souvenirs. They have ouzo (Greek alcohol), Greek spices, olives, baklava, postcards, keychains, beach towels, etc. These are quite a bit cheaper than in the touristy souvenir shops. They also have sunscreen but it is way overpriced (around €25-30 per bottle). If you find yourself needing sunscreen then buy it from a grocery store instead (€5-15 per bottle).

There are some really cute shops in Platanias. its of stores ranging from boutiques, leather goods, handmade pottery, souvenir shops, and more.

Just a side note, you will probably need cash during your trip. Taxis are usually cash only, and some smaller shops may only accept cash, plus you’ll need tips for your guides. Make sure you only take out cash at a Bank ATM. Regular ATMs will charge you an outrageous rate. So make sure the ATM has some sort of bank name on it (the one above is National Bank). When it asks you if you want to use their conversion rate, make sure you say no. This will allow you to get out cash from your bank for only the ATM fee (usually €3-4) and not get charged upwards of 15% for an exchange rate.

There are quite a few putt putt golf places in Platanias too. Some also offer go carts, bouncy houses and arcades.

We were originally suppose to stay at Porto Platanias Beach Resort, but Booking.com cancelled our reservation two days before our trip. I was really ticked off and neither Booking nor the hotel could reinstate our reservation. That is why we ended up at Castle Hotel & Suites. We did however walk through Porto Platanias Beach Resort to check it out. The resort is one of three connected resorts with multiple pools, beachfront, restaurants, a water park and sports courts. It would have been extremely nice to stay here and we are keeping it in mind for next time!
View more info on their website HERE.