Villa in Crete
10 guests · 4 bedrooms · 3 baths
Reasons to book
Guests love it hereGuests give this property a top rating
Top-tier experienceA high end property in this area
Book with confidenceWe partner with the top travel sites so you know you're getting a great deal on the perfect rental
About this villa rental
Villa Athina is a stone-built villa in the traditional village of Gavalochori, 25km east of Chania Crete. Its unique architectural style is combined with modern facilities in order to provide an ideal environment for your holiday. The villa features 300 m2 of living space on a 1000 m2 plot of land. It offers complete privacy with its own parking space for two vehicles, garden and pool. The villa can accommodate up to 10 guests. It offers a stunning view of the White Mountains. The nearest beach of Almyrida is 3km away while the nearest shops are 200m away.
Cleaning Service: Price includes daily maid service (bathrooms and bedrooms only), change of towels and linen twice weekly (more often if requested) and general cleaning once weekly.
Free WiFi coverage throughout the villa. Beach towels are provided. The pools operate from March 1 to October 30.
Catering Service, groceries delivery: We can arrange for daily delivery to the villa of meals of the finest Greek and local Cretan cuisine. We can also arrange groceries delivery from local supermarkets, butcher shop, fruit stands and bakery.
Further comments about the area:
The villa is located on a hillside in the village of Gavalochori in West Crete. Gavalochori is a traditional Cretan village situated in the Apokoron region about 3km inland from the coastal village of Almirida. Its location is 25 km east of Chania which takes about 20 minutes' drive along the National Road. Gavalochori is an old historical village with approximately 500 residents which has retained its color and way of life. Several family run tavernas offer the visitor tasty dishes of Cretan cuisine. Near the small village square and within walking distance from the villa there is a coffee shop, a bakery, a mini mart, two tavernas and the Folk Art Museum. The surrounding area has several beautiful nature paths for walking or biking which lead either towards the sea or towards the White mountains. The coastal village of Almirida is less than 10 minutes driving distance. In Almirida you may find all basic facilities, such as a supermarket, pharmacy, post office, bakery, ATM, gas station and taxi service. It has a wonderful sandy beach with crystal clear water and a shallow section particularly suitable for small kids. This Blue Flag rated beach is organized with sun beds and umbrellas and sea sports services. There are several seaside tavernas and bars offering exquisite sea food and night entertainment. The large town of Chania of course offers the visitor a wider range of choices for shopping, dining and night life mostly centered around the old Venetian port. Some interesting monuments in Chania town are the covered Municipal Market, the Venetian fortifications, the Egyptian Lighthouse, the Synagogue, the Fortress of Firkas, the Arsenals, and the Orthodox Cathedral.
The villa can be used as a base for visiting several points of interest in the area:
3km to nearest beach of Almirida
10km to the exquisite beach of Georgoupolis and Kournas lake
25km to Chania town for shopping and night life
15km to seaside village of Kalives
20km to port of Souda
45km to Chania airport (code CHQ)
60km to Rethimno town
150km to Heraklion airport (code HER)
45km to the west coast beaches of Falassarna, Gramvousa and Balos
70km to south coast beaches of Elafonissi, Paleohora and Sougia
60km to Omalos Plateau and starting point of the Samaria Gorge
Cleaning Service: Price includes daily maid service (bathrooms and bedrooms only), change of towels and linen twice weekly (more often if requested) and general cleaning once weekly.
Free WiFi coverage throughout the villa. Beach towels are provided. The pools operate from March 1 to October 30.
Catering Service, groceries delivery: We can arrange for daily delivery to the villa of meals of the finest Greek and local Cretan cuisine. We can also arrange groceries delivery from local supermarkets, butcher shop, fruit stands and bakery.
Further comments about the area:
The villa is located on a hillside in the village of Gavalochori in West Crete. Gavalochori is a traditional Cretan village situated in the Apokoron region about 3km inland from the coastal village of Almirida. Its location is 25 km east of Chania which takes about 20 minutes' drive along the National Road. Gavalochori is an old historical village with approximately 500 residents which has retained its color and way of life. Several family run tavernas offer the visitor tasty dishes of Cretan cuisine. Near the small village square and within walking distance from the villa there is a coffee shop, a bakery, a mini mart, two tavernas and the Folk Art Museum. The surrounding area has several beautiful nature paths for walking or biking which lead either towards the sea or towards the White mountains. The coastal village of Almirida is less than 10 minutes driving distance. In Almirida you may find all basic facilities, such as a supermarket, pharmacy, post office, bakery, ATM, gas station and taxi service. It has a wonderful sandy beach with crystal clear water and a shallow section particularly suitable for small kids. This Blue Flag rated beach is organized with sun beds and umbrellas and sea sports services. There are several seaside tavernas and bars offering exquisite sea food and night entertainment. The large town of Chania of course offers the visitor a wider range of choices for shopping, dining and night life mostly centered around the old Venetian port. Some interesting monuments in Chania town are the covered Municipal Market, the Venetian fortifications, the Egyptian Lighthouse, the Synagogue, the Fortress of Firkas, the Arsenals, and the Orthodox Cathedral.
The villa can be used as a base for visiting several points of interest in the area:
3km to nearest beach of Almirida
10km to the exquisite beach of Georgoupolis and Kournas lake
25km to Chania town for shopping and night life
15km to seaside village of Kalives
20km to port of Souda
45km to Chania airport (code CHQ)
60km to Rethimno town
150km to Heraklion airport (code HER)
45km to the west coast beaches of Falassarna, Gramvousa and Balos
70km to south coast beaches of Elafonissi, Paleohora and Sougia
60km to Omalos Plateau and starting point of the Samaria Gorge
Amenities at Athina - Apokoron Villa with Large Private Pool and Great Views
Non-smoking
No pets allowed
Family friendly
Map of Crete
Ratings and reviews
Summary of reviewsGreat week at the villa with family and friends, lovely village with restaurants and shops. Awesome view, nice pool, unforgettable holiday!
10.0 / 10.0Outstanding·Oct 2025
Spacious comfortable villa with a real ‘wow factor’. Ideal location close to village with great amenities. Mrs Froso the property manager was helpful and communicative. We did think the villa needed a bit of work as it was showing its age (difficult door locks, shower fittings, scuffed paint)
10.0 / 10.0Outstanding·Aug 2025
Excellent well equipped large villa with superb pool.The steps down to the pool would make it challenging for smaller children and it could do with some black out blinds in the bedrooms but overall rating is excellent,
10.0 / 10.0Outstanding·Jun 2025
The villa was bigger than expected with a great location near the small village with good restaurants. Also, great beaches nearby, within 7-20min we could choose between several nice beaches.We can really recommend this to others!
5.0 / 10.0·Aug 2017
Booking process was extremely smooth, and Christos helpful throughout - also putting us in touch with local car hire people as the big names at the airport were looking to charge us crazy prices.First impressions of the villa were extremely positive: airy, spacious, clean, modern,. Plenty of room for our 2-family party of 4 adults and 4 children aged 11-15. Pool area nicely laid out and big enough for all to get in for ball games without being cramped together. Great views across the valley towards the setting sun of an evening.Froso the cleaner was an extremely smiley and helpful daily presence.Whilst this is on a development with a number of other villas, you are not overlooked - and whilst we were aware of others coming in and out of the shared driveway, privacy is maintained.Air-conditioning is plentiful, and works extremely well. There were issues with the washing machine and tumble dryer during our stay, but Froso kindly offered to take our washing to another villa to get it done while the problems were fixed - so no inconvenience was caused.All in all, the villa itself fully met our (quite high, bearing in mind the quite high price!) expectations of it. The one thing it did however lack, which has been a feature of all our previous villa holidays was a visitors' book where we could learn from the experiences of others and add our own comments for the benefit of others. So let me quickly do that here.Gavalochori - sweet little village, Monica's tavern at the bottom of the hill does good Greek food and puts on some decent music nights.Almyrida - closest beach, shallow, nice swimming but can get busy and we just went there once. Closest bank.Kalvyes - sweet little town, the beach bit is hidden behind a wall as you come in from Almyrida and looks a bit forbidding. Go in - the bay is nicer than Almyrida and in Il Forno you have the best restaurant with the best front-of-house guy you'll find all holiday.Georgioupoli - our favourite beach, we went past the busy main drag and round the corner to the beach club area. Paradiso was our favourite.Chora Sfakion - lovely 1 hour drive over the mountains. Watch out for the nudist beach & hotel on the road in, we tried to stop there for lunch! Chora itself not too inspiring, back past the nudists we found a lovely stone beach and great Taverna somewhere called Koumelas or similar.Rethymnon - pretty, nice hustle & bustle of an evening. Try the Lemon Tree restaurant.Enjoy!
$$$$
Top rated by guests
9.6Outstanding
(33 Ratings)
Great week at the villa with family and friends, lovely village with restaurants and shops. Awesome view, nice pool, unforgettable holiday!
From real guest reviews summarized by AIDon't miss out! Price and availability may change
