Carob House is a unique place offering a very special experience: an old Cretan stone house, beautifully restored with passion and exquisite taste. You are surrounded by stone, marble, wood, and a lush garden. The house is also a kind of museum of old Cretan handicrafts -- ceramics, textiles, wood carvings, millstones, and more. Though a village, Chorafakia is a lively center of activity and the house sits on a main road. Alexandra and Dimitri are extremely generous hosts; they are also well traveled and "weltoffen," having the broad perspective of people who know the world. Other reviewers have mentioned the proximity to nice beaches; I would add that there are lovely hikes to take along breath-taking gorges nearby, as well as some of the most important Greco-Venetian monasteries. You are very close to the lovely city of Chania and significant archaeological sites. Aptera with its Roman cisterns and Ottoman/Venetian fortresses was my favorite; you get to it by driving along magnificent Souda Bay on a road that offers amazing panoramic views of the bay. (There are also beaches on its southern shore.) We ate excellent food at fish tavernas in Stavros, Chania, Tabakaria (in Chania), and Marathi.