Sophia and Peter are incredible hosts!

We spent 3 nights at their beautiful home on our 2 week Athens-Crete-Santorini-Mykonos holiday with children (9 & 7).

Between 4 days in the capital and a week of island-hopping, we wanted downtime in the countryside and Villa Vrisali was the perfect choice.

It is a spacious, bright family farm house, dating back over a hundred years, which has recently been completely and tastefully renovated, with all the mod cons including washer, satellite TV, wifi (works v.well), air conditioning and a beautiful swimming pool. The house is super clean and beyond comfortable, the views are stunning and the scenic drive from Chania to Gerolakkos is about half an hour through the winding, arid hills and local villages. Once you arrive you are surrounded by greenery and Peter's father will show you his magnificent olive trees, herbs and home vegetable garden from which we enjoyed many delicious meals using his fresh tomatoes, aubergines and strawberries drizzled with home-pressed olive oil and washed down with his home-made wine and raki!

Sofia was prompt and thorough replying to queries, she was by far the most helpful & generous Greek host this trip. She provided amazing basic stock of kitchen suplies and we used her local agent to book all ferry transfers plus car hire as we couldn't pay online from Bangkok, Thailand.

The family spent an hour settling us into the house, explaining what was where, how to use things and we planned day trips to the famed Cretan beaches of Farnassa and Elafonisi. We also enjoyed a day in Chania itself taking the kids out for a 1hr boat trip.

The house was a little further than we thought from town and it is tucked way up in the hills so it's best to get stocked on your drive in with groceries. We didn't have GPS so we got lost a few times but always managed to find our way home eventually.

We only had 3 days but they were blissful despite our over ambitious driving to Elafonisi which took hours along a beautiful but hair-raising coastal road...the shorter route back home through stunning gorges is easier and just as scenic with charming villages.

After checking-out, we drove to Heraklion to visit the Minoan ruins of Knossos Palace and saw the jaw-dropping treasures in the museum before catching our ferry to Santorini the next morning (there are no ferries from Chania). Seaside Rethymno was charming as a halfway stop for refreshments and a wander.

Villa Vrisali is ideally a place to stay for a minimum of 3 nights to really unwind and explore, better still, I would recommend 5-7 days. our kids loved being next to a farm seeing the wandering sheep, goats, chickens and ducks every day, and they adored the pool which was well stocked with floaties and toys as Sofia has two young boys of her own.

We highly recommend Villa Vrisali.

Thank you again Sophia, Peter & Peter's dad!