Abella Hotel

Who Abella suits, and who should skip it

Abella suits families and couples who want a clean apartment with a kitchen, a quiet pool and the beach five minutes away, at a rate the rest of this coast cannot match. It suits guests who will use the bus into Chania. Anyone who needs a spacious bathroom, a restaurant on site or a room away from any street noise should pay more elsewhere in the village.

The rooms: 20 keys, and which ones to ask for

Abella runs 20 units in three categories: Double or Twin Room with Sea View, Apartment, and Apartment with Sea View. The apartments carry a kitchen that guests describe as fully equipped, which is what makes the property work for a family week rather than a stopover.

Ask about the room number as well as the category. Guests report that two rooms are noticeably larger while the ones between them hold the better view, and that a sea-view room can still overlook a busy street below. One reviewer describes exactly that and says the view pulls your eye past the traffic, which is an honest way to put it.

A cheap hotel that guests return to

The pattern in this review record is repetition: several reviewers say they came back the following year, one with family the second time. In a village with 36 hotels on Tripadvisor, at the bottom of the price range, a return rate like that says more than the average score does.

What they return for is the pool area and the people. Guests describe a pool that is never crowded, with no competition for loungers, open from early morning until one in the morning with the bar alongside it, and owners they call discreet and kind. Cleanliness is scored 9.4 and staff 9.8 on Booking.com, and the Tripadvisor distribution has nothing below Average across 66 reviews.

The honest counterweight is what 55 euro buys. Reviewers who praise the hotel also call it simple, note that bathrooms are very small and use a shower curtain, and place it above the main road rather than on the sand. Guests who wanted a resort would be disappointed; guests who wanted a clean, well-run base in walking distance of the beach and the buses are the ones writing the reviews.

How to get there

Fly into Chania airport (CHQ), about 35 km east on the Akrotiri peninsula, roughly 40 minutes by road. Agia Marina sits on the coast road west of Chania, between Stalos and Platanias.

Pre-book a transfer for the arrival, since the coast road is slow in high summer and the hotel arranges airport shuttles on request; the operators are in our guide to taxi and transfer services in Crete. Hire a car for Balos, Elafonissi and the gorges, and check the deposit terms in our car hire guide for Crete. The local bus stops within a short walk and reaches both Chania and Platanias, which is how most guests here get around.

The Crete Locals review

Abella earns 8.7 from us. The evidence is strong for a small hotel: 9.3 across 534 Booking.com reviews, 4.8 across 66 on Tripadvisor with 53 at Excellent, and not one review at Poor or Terrible on either distribution we can read.

This is the value pick of the batch. For roughly 55 euro a night you get a clean apartment with a kitchen, a pool with genuinely long opening hours, staff rated 9.8, and a five-minute walk to the sand. Families get a children’s pool; couples get a quiet corner above the road. Nothing here is lavish and nothing needs to be.

The compromises are physical and worth knowing. Bathrooms are small and use a curtain, the property sits above the main road so a sea-view room can also be a street-view room, and there is no restaurant, so every meal beyond breakfast is out. At this price those are trades rather than faults.

Book Abella for a family or couple’s week at Agia Marina in an apartment with a sea view, and ask which rooms face away from the road. Book on the sand itself if being metres from the water matters more than the rate.