Crete, Greece

Cressa Suites

Price per night from$96.56

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (inclusive of taxes and fees) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR91.50), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Cressa Suites Photos

Style

Mod-mediaeval mansion

Setting

Heart of Old Town

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Mix the beauty of the past with the comfort of the present at Cressa Suites, where modern design rubs sun-kissed shoulders with Ottoman relics and Venetian stonework. Standing in one form or another since the 16th century, this five-suite townhouse is tucked down a quiet, cobbled street in the historic heart of Rethymnon, one of Crete’s more tranquil coastal towns. The remains of a stone oven and Ottoman hammam attest to the building’s storied past, but the interiors have since been treated to a total refit, introducing ash-blonde wood, brass lighting and a sculptural staircase into the mix. Sights like the town’s Venetian port are a stone’s throw away, but you’ll have glorious views from first light as you breakfast on the hotel’s sun-soaked roof terrace, overlooking terracotta roofs and the minarets of mosques…

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A bottle of wine and a traditional local treat

Facilities

Photos Cressa Suites facilities

Need to know

Rooms

Five suites.

Check–Out

11am, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 3pm.

More details

Rates usually include breakfast, which is made with ingredients drawn from organic farms in the area. Fresh rustic bread, cretan rusks, Greek pastries and yoghurt, fresh fruit and eggs however you like them.

Also

Two suites have private hot tubs. If yours doesn’t, ask the staff to arrange a session at a local spa.

At the hotel

Roof terrace, free WiFi throughout. In rooms: flatscreen TV; minibar; Illy coffee machine; tea-making kit; free bottled water; and Prija bath products.

Our favourite rooms

We’d plump for the spacious King Suite with a Private Terrace, which has a living room leading out to a walled terrace with a cushion-strewn stone bench, metal lanterns and potted greenery. There’s a table and chairs, too, so you can breakfast in private.

Packing tips

Don light, loose clothing – even by the coast, the Cretan heat can be intense.

Also

Ground-floor suites are available, but there are stairs throughout the hotel, so it’s not great for wheelchair users. Reception is open from 8am to 8pm.

Children

Little Smiths will have to stay home for this one – it’s adults only.

Sustainability efforts

The hotel uses solar power to heat their water, cleans with eco-friendly products and uses low energy bulbs. All the ingredients used in the breakfast are sourced from organic farms around Rethymnon, and guests are asked to choose what they’d like in advance, avoiding waste each day.

Food and Drink

Photos Cressa Suites food and drink

Top Table

Nab whichever takes you fancy – they’re all arranged around the edge of the terrace, ensuring each one gets the view.

Dress Code

There’s no need to stand on ceremony here – the hotel’s size means there’s often only a handful guests.

Hotel restaurant

The hotel doesn’t have a restaurant per se, but light dishes like mezze platters, sandwiches and Greek salads can be served at the tables on the rooftop. All vegetables come from organic farms in the area, as do to the cold meats, Cretan cheese and country-style bread.

Hotel bar

There’s no bar as such, but you can order drinks in-house. Try one of the cocktails, made with local fruit, herbs and liqueurs.

Last orders

Breakfast is served on the roof terrace or in-room from 8.30am to 11am.

Location

Photos Cressa Suites location
Address
Cressa Suites
Nikiforou Foka 48
Rethymno
74100
Greece

Cressa Suites is in the port town of Rethymnon on Crete’s north coast.

Planes

You’ll probably be touching down at Heraklion Airport, which can be reached direct from London Gatwick, Bristol and Manchester airports. It takes an hour to drive from the airport to the hotel; transfers can be arranged for €90 each way.

Automobiles

You won’t need a car in Rethymnon, but it certainly won’t hurt if you want to be able to daytrip up and down the coast. If you do want to hire, the Smith24 team can arrange it.

Other

Ferries sail between Athens and Heraklion several times a week. The fastest of them make the crossing in about seven hours.

Worth getting out of bed for

Other than lounging on the rooftop or your terrace with a glass of wine, there’s not a huge amount to do at the hotel itself, by design. Staff do organise cooking classes on the roof terrace, though, giving you a chance to get to grips with traditional Cretan cuisine. Beyond the hotel, they’ll happily organise visits to local wineries, food tours around the town, and picnics in the mountains or down on the coast. Overseen by a 17th-century Ottoman lighthouse, the Venetian port is one of the Old Town's most charming areas. Small tavernas line the picturesque waterfront, making it the perfect spot for a lunch or a sundowner. The Fortezza, the impressive 16th-century Venetian citadel on the town’s northern tip, is best seen in the morning or late afternoon, as there’s not much in the way of shade. If the heat gets a bit intense, decamp to the valley town of Argyroupoli, a veritable oasis thanks to the natural springs that rush over its small waterfalls, rocks and stonework, feeding the lush greenery and giving it a refreshingly cool microclimate.

Local restaurants

If you’re looking for something traditional, try Othonas, a first-rate taverna that’s been in business for decades. Whether you opt for the seared lamb or snails, you can be sure you’re getting Cretan cuisine at its best, paired with organic greens and seasoned with fresh mountain herbs. Housed in a 16th-century Venetian mansion, Avli has history galore, and is known for having some of the best regional cuisine in town. Old stonework and antique furniture are teamed with vibrant glassware and potted plants, giving it a look that’s traditional but not dated. Try the lamb sfakiano or pork tenderloin in white grape sauce, two of their specialities. For something pleasingly incongruous, stop in for brunch at hip Barrio Café, which has industrial interiors of white brick, grainy wood and blackened steel. The dishes are modern and have an American lean – go sweet with a stack of blueberry pancakes and a milkshake, or savoury with a burger and cold beer. Down on the waterfront, fine-dining restaurant Prima Plora lays on the romance thick and fast – opt for one of the tables on the wave-lapped rocks for uninterrupted sunset views. The simple, maritime-influenced decor is complemented by some of the finest seafood in town, with dishes like sea bass carpaccio, grilled Aegean squid and Loch Fyne salmon farfalle.

Local bars

If you’re looking for the local, stop in at refined restaurant and wine bar Veneto, which has a 600-year-old cellar stocked with some of the best wines in Greece, including plenty from Crete itself. The tables in the courtyard make a fine spot for an evening glass.

Reviews

Photos Cressa Suites reviews

Anonymous review

By Mr & Mrs Smith

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this budget boutique hotel in Crete and unpacked their locally-made raki, a full account of their coastal break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Cressa Suites in Crete…

Founded by the Minoans, made to flourish under the Venetians and then captured by the Ottomans, Rethymnon is saturated with history. The Old Town is one of the best preserved on the whole island, and travellers come from all over to admire its renaissance pedigree. The desire to stay true to roots is taken seriously here, and the owners of Cressa Suites are no different: during refurbishments, they uncovered the crumbling remains of an ancient stone oven and Turkish hammam – evidence that the building was once a harem. Rather than build over them, they had the stonework painstakingly restored, so that guests get a dose of exoticism as they ascend the stairs. The food, too, is a celebration of the local farmers and their time-honoured methods – everything that goes into the delectable breakfasts is as authentically Cretan as it comes, and anything that’s plucked from the soil is grown organically.

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Price per night from $94.98