We had a wonderful stay at Elina's place outside Chania. The location was perfect in a safe and beautiful neighbourhood right on the beach (you can walk into Chania or just jump on the 21 bus which takes you to the centre of the city in about ten minutes). When we arrived at the apartment there was already some food which was perfect! The apartment itself is very clean and large - it is even more beautiful in person!! Elina also created these really helpful pamphlets which suggest all these great spots to go to in Chania that are not touristy (from restaurants to shops and even laundromats!). We checked out a couple of the restaurants and they were great. We also rented a car for a few days from PanCar (ask for Christos) and the rates were by far the cheapest and everyone was really helpful (they even dropped the car off to the house and picked it up!). Gas is a little pricey in Crete however we over-estimated how much we would need to visit beaches on the West coast (half a tank can last you 2 days of travel). We visited a few beaches while there - Sougia, Roumeli, Elafonisi, and Falasarna. Elafonisi was by far the most beautiful beach and it is a must! If you have time it is also very much worth it to walk the Samaria Gorge - we booked a day trip to walk the Gorge through Diana's travel which is just around the corner from the apartment.
Elina's parents were also very kind and very helpful and made our stay very comfortable.
We cannot say enough good things about Elina's apartment and Crete in general! We hope to come back soon!