El Greco Hotel
El Greco Hotel is a 19-room hotel on the seafront at Ierapetra, the southernmost town in Crete, and Tripadvisor lists it as El Greco Boutique Hotel. It scores 8.7 on Booking.com across 808 reviews and 4.5 on Tripadvisor across 293, ranking 14th of the 28 hotels in Ierapetra, with 179 of those reviews at Excellent and 11 at Poor or Terrible. The sea-view rooms and the breakfast buffet carry the praise; the street-side rooms are where the complaints come from.
Crete Locals has no commercial relationship with this hotel. We earn a commission if you book through the availability links on this page, at no cost to you and with no effect on what we write; both ratings were read on the date in the table.
Hotel information
| Hotel | El Greco Hotel |
|---|---|
| Address | 42, M. Kothri street |
| Type | Air conditioning · Babysitting/child services |
| Style | 19-room seafront hotel on the promenade at Ierapetra, the southernmost town in Crete |
| Listed as | El Greco Boutique Hotel on Tripadvisor |
| Signature | Sea-view rooms over the promenade, and a breakfast buffet guests rate as their strongest in Crete |
| Rooms | Seven categories, including suites with sea views and one with a spa bath |
| Ranking | 14th of 28 hotels in Ierapetra on Tripadvisor |
| Review record | 8.7 from 808 Booking.com guests; 179 of 293 Tripadvisor reviews at Excellent, 11 at Poor or Terrible |
| Book carefully | Street-side rooms are reported noisy until after midnight; ask for a sea view in writing |
| Bring | Mosquito protection: guests report no screens on the windows |
| Airport | Heraklion (HER) about 105 km northwest, roughly an hour and three quarters |
| Booking.com rating | 8.7/10 (808 reviews) |
| Tripadvisor rating | 4.5/5 (293 reviews) |
| CreteLocals score | 8.3/10 · read the verdict |
Booking.com and Tripadvisor scores checked on September 28, 2026.
Location
El Greco Hotel is located at 42, M. Kothri street, in Ierapetra. The map below shows the exact spot; Google Maps and Waze give turn-by-turn directions.
Who El Greco suits, and who should skip it
El Greco suits travellers who want a sea-view room on the Ierapetra promenade, a short walk from the harbour where the Chrissi island boats leave, at a modest rate. It suits guests who will pay for the breakfast buffet. Anyone allocated a street-side room, or who needs a large bathroom and mosquito screens, should read the disadvantages before booking.
Advantages
- Directly on the seafront, with a promenade walk from the door
- 8.7 on Booking.com across 808 reviews, with staff at 9.2
- 179 of 293 Tripadvisor reviews rate the stay Excellent
- Breakfast buffet praised repeatedly, including by guests who paid extra for it
- Sea-view rooms with sunrise views, and a suite category with a spa bath
- A short walk to the harbour for the Chrissi island boats
Disadvantages
- Street-side rooms are reported as very noisy until after midnight
- No mosquito screens, with one guest describing hundreds of mosquitoes
- Bathrooms are small, and one guest reports water across the floor after showering
- One street-side balcony overlooked pigeon droppings and dead birds
- Toiletries are basic, with hand soap at the basin and shower gel in the shower
- Parking is difficult in season, though free on the street off season
The rooms: 19 keys, and which side you face
El Greco sells seven categories: Economy Double, Double or Twin, Triple, Twin with Sea View, Junior Suite with Sea View, Suite with Sea View, and a Suite with Spa Bath and Sea View. The pattern in the reviews is absolute: guests in sea-view rooms rate the hotel highly and guests on the street side write the negative reviews.
Book a sea view and say so in writing. One reviewer states the instruction plainly, another describes a street-side room as extremely noisy with a balcony overlooking pigeon droppings, and a third who booked twin beds found none available on arrival and was upgraded to a suite, which the hotel handled well but which shows the allocation is worth confirming.
Ierapetra, the buffet and the mosquitoes
Ierapetra is the warmest corner of Crete and the least touristy of its coastal towns, with a long promenade, a Venetian fortress at the harbour and the boats to Chrissi island leaving from beside it. The hotel sits on the front, so the sea is across the pavement and the town’s restaurants and shops are a short walk in either direction.
The breakfast is the recurring compliment, and it is charged separately. Guests call it the strongest buffet they had in Crete, with fruit, continental and cooked options, while one notes the choice does not vary much across a longer stay. The hotel restaurant also draws praise, which matters in a town where hotel dining is usually an afterthought.
Two practical warnings deserve equal weight. There are no mosquito screens on the windows, and a guest reports hundreds of mosquitoes in the room as a result, which in a seafront hotel in the warmest part of the island is a real problem rather than a quibble. The bathrooms are small, with one guest describing an inch of water on the floor after a shower. Pack a plug-in repellent and accept a compact bathroom.
How to get there
Fly into Heraklion airport (HER), about 105 km northwest, roughly an hour and three quarters by road via Agios Nikolaos. Sitia airport (JSH) is closer but carries very few flights.
Pre-book a transfer if you are not driving, since the road from Heraklion is long; the operators and fares are in our guide to taxi and transfer services in Crete. Hire a car for the south coast, Makry Gialos and the drive inland, and check the terms in our car hire guide for Crete, bearing in mind that parking near the seafront is tight in season. The harbour and the Chrissi boats are a walk along the promenade.
The Crete Locals review
El Greco earns 8.3 from us. The Booking.com sample is large at 808 reviews averaging 8.7, Tripadvisor adds 293 at 4.5 with 179 at Excellent, and the two agree on the shape of the hotel: a well-placed seafront property with good staff and an inconsistent room stock.
The strengths are the position and the food. A sea-view room here puts you over the water on the promenade of a town that still functions as a town, with the Chrissi boats a short walk away and a breakfast buffet guests rate as the strongest of their trip. Staff are scored 9.2 and named warmly in reviews.
The weaknesses are all avoidable at booking except one. Street-side rooms are noisy and, in at least one case, overlooked something unpleasant; the bathrooms are small; the toiletries are minimal. The missing mosquito screens are the exception, because they affect any room with an open window in the warmest town in Crete, and that is worth planning for rather than discovering.
Book El Greco for a stay in Ierapetra in a sea-view room with the breakfast buffet added, and bring mosquito protection. Book inland or at Ferma if a quiet night matters more than the promenade.
