Avra Imperial Hotel
Avra Imperial Hotel is a five-star resort of 328 rooms and suites on the bay of Kolymbari, about 25 km west of Chania town, with 118 private and shared pools attached to its rooms. Avra Imperial sits beside Kolymbari’s Blue Flag beach at the quiet end of the Chania coast, and guests score it 8.6 out of 10 on Booking.com and 4.5 out of 5 on Tripadvisor across 2,392 reviews. Our verdict lands at 8.3 out of 10: the fullest resort package in western Chania, with the remote setting the honest trade-off.
Hotel information
| Hotel | Avra Imperial Hotel |
|---|---|
| Address | Kolymbari 730 06 |
| Type | Resorts |
| Style | Five-star family resort in a quiet bay |
| Signature | 118 private and shared pools attached to rooms |
| Keys | 328 rooms and suites |
| Dining | 5 restaurants and 4 bars, with Basilico the flagship |
| Beach | Beside Kolymbari's Blue Flag beach |
| Nearest airport | Chania (CHQ), about 33 to 35 km |
| Booking.com rating | 8.6/10 (350 reviews) |
| Tripadvisor rating | 4.5/5 (2,392 reviews) |
| CreteLocals score | 8.3/10 · read the verdict |
Booking.com and Tripadvisor scores checked on September 19, 2026.
Location
Avra Imperial Hotel is located at Kolymbari 730 06, in Kolymvari. The map below shows the exact spot; Google Maps and Waze give turn-by-turn directions.
Who Avra Imperial suits, and who should skip it
Avra Imperial suits families and couples who want a resort that carries the whole week itself, and it suits them because the pools, the kids club, the animation team, and 5 restaurants remove the need for the town the location does not provide. The lists below come from recurring themes in the resort’s 2,392 Tripadvisor reviews and 350 Booking.com reviews.
Advantages
- Rooms scored 4.6 out of 5, called big and modern with unusual consistency
- 118 private and shared pools attached to rooms, rare depth at this rate
- Dining across 5 restaurants and 4 bars, with Basilico the review favourite and a piano player in the mentions
- Housekeeping scored 4.6 out of 5 for cleanliness
- Kids club, creche, and animation team covering the family day
- Kolymbari’s Blue Flag beach steps away, with the village’s tavernas beyond it
Disadvantages
- Location scores 4.0, the clear weak number, because Kolymbari is quiet and far from Chania’s evening life
- Beach beside the resort is a small strip rather than a resort strand
- Value scores 4.2, with half-board and all-inclusive extras the recurring grumble
- Pool sunbeds called uncomfortable in more than one review
The rooms: 328 keys, and the pool question
Avra Imperial spreads 328 rooms and suites through low blocks around its enormous main pool, with 118 of the keys carrying a private or shared pool. Reviewers call the rooms big with a consistency that matches the 4.6 subrating.
The booking decision is which water you want. A private-pool room is the resort’s signature and priced fairly against what Elounda charges for the same idea; shared-pool rooms split the difference for families; and standard rooms bank the savings for Basilico dinners, since the main pool is vast enough to absorb the resort. Deluxe suites with sea views toward the Rodopou peninsula top the ladder.
The pools, Basilico and the family programme
The main pool is the resort’s centre of gravity, one of the largest in western Crete, ringed by the pool bar and the animation team’s daily programme. Kolymbari’s Blue Flag beach lies just beyond the grounds for the salt-water half of the day.
Dining is where Avra Imperial punches above its rate. Basilico, the a la carte flagship, is the single most named venue in reviews, the al fresco tables and the piano player carry the evenings, and the buffet handles families at volume. A spa and a conference centre round out the depth, and the creche-to-kids-club ladder covers every age below the teens.
How to get there
Avra Imperial is about 33 to 35 km from Chania airport (CHQ), a drive of roughly 40 minutes around the city and west along the coast to Kolymbari. Chania’s old town sits about 25 km east for the essential day trip.
Three transport options cover the trip, and each fits a different stay. A pre-booked transfer or taxi handles the arrival; our guide to taxi and airport transfer services in Crete lists the operators and typical prices. A hire car matters more here than at most resorts, opening Chania, Falassarna, and Balos, and our car rental in Crete page compares local rates. The Kissamos-Chania bus stops at Kolymbari for the budget route.
The Crete Locals review
Avra Imperial is the resort we suggest when someone wants western Crete’s quiet without giving up resort depth, because Kolymbari is the last stop before the coast empties toward Kissamos, and this is the only property out here operating at this scale. Avra Imperial reads as a deliberate bet: build the pools, restaurants, and programme of a Heraklion-coast flagship, price it below one, and let the setting select the guests. Across 2,392 reviews the bet holds, with rooms and cleanliness both at 4.6.
The location cuts exactly both ways, and the 4.0 score is honest. Kolymbari offers a working village, a monastery walk, a Blue Flag beach, and genuinely dark nights, and it offers no strip, no bar street, and no spontaneity without a car. Guests who chose the west for those reasons rate the resort warmly; guests who expected Platanias 20 minutes closer write the location complaints.
The operational notes are modest for the size. Value at 4.2 tracks the usual half-board drinks and upgrade pricing, the beach beside the grounds is a strip rather than a strand, and the pool sunbeds have their critics. Nothing in the record suggests structural problems; the resort’s weaknesses are the category’s, at slightly better prices than the category usually asks.
Book Avra Imperial with a car and the west’s geography in mind: Balos and Falassarna on the doorstep by Cretan standards, Chania an easy evening, and the resort as the calm centre of it. A private-pool room in June or September is the version we would book, with Basilico reserved for the first night rather than the last.
