Mr & Mrs Smith

The peace and quiet, the wonderful food and the location. It was a truly relaxing, delicious, sunny and therapeutic place to go for a two-week getaway. Great place to regain some perspective and readjust your priorities. Weather was amazing; the flowers were all in full bloom and so the hotel looked so pretty and smelt gorgeous. The staff were brilliant, especially at the restaurant. Even the cats were charming. I want to be back there as soon as I possibly can.

Nothing really, but I would have liked a full-length mirror in our suite. Minor quibble.

Have lunch at Avli in Rethymnon, Ferryman Taverna in Elounda and Gioma Taverna in Plakias.

Beautiful hotel in a beautiful location. Friendly, helpful staff and lovely food in the restaurant. The food is quite simple but delicious and very reasonably priced. Lovely pool. Perfect for relaxing.

Nothing could be better. The location is remote so unless you plan to stay by the pool or hike locally, you'll need a car.

Beautiful views; quiet; lazing by the pool; food was simple but delicious, and good value.

A Greek organic olive oil farm and restaurant, voted best organic restaurant 2009 by Vanity Fair. Fantastic. About seven km from the hotel.

The setting and architecture are fantastic. Rooms are beautiful with lovely toiletries and décor; suites had great terraces outside. The staff were charm itself and incredibly helpful with information about walks, outings etc and gave us a room for late check-out without any fuss. But despite the luxury it doesn't feel like an international hotel – instead it feels like you are staying in the peace and quiet of a lovely village.

I would say the only thing that let the hotel down at all was the food. The dining room outside is gorgeous but the dinner food was very unexceptional and the kitchen seemed to find it hard to deal with large parties. We were eight and both nights we ate there it took ages for our food to come.

The walk down from Moni Arkadiou back to the hotel – which takes about 2 hours – was really lovely (Arkadi Monastery, Arkadi 741 00). The hotel provided a map and directions.

We spent 6 nights at the Kapsaliana Hotel and we will definitely be coming back. We have been coming to Greece for many years now but we have never before stayed in such a beautiful place or been so well looked after by solicitous staff. We arrived at 1am; we were charmingly welcomed and also given supper to take to our room as the restaurant was unsurprisingly closed. Subsequently we ate each night in the restaurant and despite having a captive audience, prices were very reasonable and, where possible, produce was locally sourced from the hotel's garden. The room was spotless and tastefully decorated with complimentary goodies supplied, even a small decanter of raki. The owner and his staff were knowledgeable about the local area and, of course the hotel's history and conception, nothing was too much trouble. We had to leave very early to catch the ferry but breakfast was packed and given to us so that we would not go hungry at 5am. A really lovely hotel.

This hotel is absolutely first rate. Its tranquil location makes it a fantastic ‘get away from it all’ destination but may not be ideal for a two-week stay. The food served in the restaurant is of a high standard and competitively priced compared to similar restaurants in Rethymnon and Chania. Staff are friendly and helpful but the thing that sets this place out is the whole concept of the village atmosphere. I can thoroughly recommend it.

My wife and I spent a wonderful week in the Cretian hills last autumn. Kapsaliana hotel is certainly tucked away and it took us quite some time to find – don't attempt it in the dark. Once there, it is an oasis of calm. Fantastic views over the hills towards the sea. Decor and finish to a very high level and the onsite restaurant is fantastic; infact we ate here three nights out of five. We were not disappointed. A hire car is essential but bare in mind that Crete is a very large island and very mountainous. The roads are of variable quality and what may look like a major route on a map can vary from a dual carriage way to a single track lane – in other words allow plenty of time for travelling and get a good map and co-pilot. Driving in any Greek island is best described as entertaining but once you get into the local mindset is actually quite liberating. The big attraction on Crete is the Knossos ruins. We visited in October and it was quiet and pleasant weather, 25C. Be warned that in the high summer temperatures can reach 40C at the ruins and there is little shade and apparently huge queues. Try and get there early. They are impressive and worth a visit but there are lots of other sites which are quieter and just as spectacular. The ruins at Gortys in the south are a good example. There are ruins south of the main road which runs past the Gortys site which no-one visits. Classical columns, statues and an amphitheatre and it was just us and the goats.