GDM Megaron, Historical Monument Hotel
GDM Megaron is a 58-room hotel inside a listed historic monument on Heraklion’s Venetian sea walls, converted in 2003, with a fifth-floor plunge pool looking over the old harbour and Koules fortress. It is ranked first of 47 hotels in Heraklion on Tripadvisor at 4.8 across 1,613 reviews, with 9.3 out of 10 on Booking.com across 2,379, where staff and cleanliness both score 9.7. Our verdict lands at 8.9 out of 10, the highest city score in this programme: a genuine landmark run to a standard the building deserves. We earn a commission if you book through the links on this page, which never decides what we write.
Hotel information
| Hotel | GDM Megaron, Historical Monument Hotel |
|---|---|
| Address | 9, D. Beaufort |
| Type | Air conditioning · Car hire |
| Style | Five-star city hotel inside a listed historic monument |
| Signature | Fifth-floor plunge pool and summer bar over the Venetian harbour and Koules |
| Keys | 58 rooms and suites; building from the mid-1920s, converted in 2003 |
| Dining | Plaza Cafe, the Living Room lounge, Megaron 5th Bar and fifth-floor restaurant |
| Location | 2 minutes to the bus station, 7 to the Archaeological Museum, 8 to the harbour |
| Nearest airport | Heraklion (HER), about 5.8 km, roughly 7 minutes |
| Booking.com rating | 9.3/10 (2,379 reviews) |
| Tripadvisor rating | 4.8/5 (1,613 reviews) |
| CreteLocals score | 8.9/10 · read the verdict |
Booking.com and Tripadvisor scores checked on September 22, 2026.
Location
GDM Megaron, Historical Monument Hotel is located at 9, D. Beaufort, in Heraklion Town. The map below shows the exact spot; Google Maps and Waze give turn-by-turn directions.
Who GDM Megaron suits, and who should skip it
GDM Megaron suits travellers who want a historic building, a harbour view and everything within a ten minute walk, including the ferry and the bus station. Skip it if you need a large pool, a spacious modern bathroom, or a resort’s facilities. The lists below come from recurring themes across its 1,613 Tripadvisor reviews and 2,379 Booking.com reviews.
Advantages
- First of 47 hotels in Heraklion on Tripadvisor, with staff and cleanliness both at 9.7 on Booking.com
- The building itself is a designated monument, built on the Venetian sea walls and the city’s first apartment block
- Fifth-floor plunge pool and terrace with 180 degree views over the working harbour and the fortress
- Breakfast is the most praised feature after the location, a Cretan buffet with pastries and homemade dishes
- The bus station is 2 minutes on foot, the port 8, the Archaeological Museum 7 and the harbour 8
- Street noise barely registers in reviews despite the central position, thanks to soundproof windows, and parking on site is free
Disadvantages
- Bathrooms are the weak point: small, dated in places, and some have no window or ventilation
- Air conditioning is by split units that guests find noisy and hard to regulate
- The rooftop pool is small, forgiven for the view but not a swimming pool
- The breakfast room is undersized at peak hours
- The gym is under-equipped, with guests reporting machines not even plugged in
- Sound carries inside the building, which one guest compared to a hostel
The rooms: 58 keys, and the view is the decision
GDM Megaron runs 58 rooms and suites, from 24 sqm Executive doubles to a Presidential Suite, and the categories split simply into those facing the Aegean and the Venetian fortress and those facing the business district.
Pay for the view. Urban View rooms look at the modern city, while the Executive Sea View, the VIP room, the Junior Suite Sea View and the Presidential Suite all take the harbour and Koules. High ceilings and room size are praised in a third of reviews, a direct inheritance from the building’s origins as 26 large apartments for the city’s leading families. Our records showed 60 rooms; the hotel says 58, and that correction is part of this review.
The building, the fifth floor and the breakfast
The hotel occupies Megaron Fytaki, built in the mid-1920s by a citron-exporting trading house on the Venetian sea walls, four storeys tall when nothing else in Heraklion exceeded three, and through the 1930s the centre of the city’s political and intellectual life, its ground-floor salon home to a scientists’ club.
It was evacuated under wartime bombing, damaged when a German ammunition ship exploded in the harbour, used by the Prefecture and the courts, left derelict, and finally converted into a hotel in 2003. The fifth floor is where the conversion pays off: an open-air plunge pool with sun beds, a summer bar and a restaurant, all looking over the port. The pool runs April to October, is not heated, and is small enough that guests say so every time before forgiving it. Downstairs the Plaza Café covers the winter months and the Living Room sits between the two atriums with a library, while the fourth-floor health club with its sauna and steam bath is reserved for guests.
How to get there
GDM Megaron sits at 9 D. Beaufort in Heraklion, about 5.8 km from Heraklion airport (HER), roughly 7 minutes by road, with Knossos 6.2 km south.
Three transport options cover the trip, and each fits a different stay. A taxi or pre-booked transfer is a 7 minute run from the airport; our guide to taxi and airport transfer services in Crete lists the operators and typical prices. A hire car is worth it for Knossos and the south coast, and parking here is free on site, which is rare in the centre; our car rental in Crete page compares local rates. Otherwise walk: the main bus station is 2 minutes away and the ferry check-in 8, so this is the easiest base on the island for travelling without a car.
The Crete Locals review
GDM Megaron earns an 8.9 because it is the rare conversion where the hotel is worthy of the building. First of 47 hotels in Heraklion across 1,613 Tripadvisor reviews is not a fluke, and the Booking file backs it with 9.3 from 2,379 guests, staff at 9.7 and cleanliness at 9.7. Location leads the praise with nearly 300 mentions, staff next, then breakfast, then the views. Booking’s automated list of cons for this hotel is empty, which we have not seen on any other property in this programme.
What the history gives, it also takes. A 1920s frame means small bathrooms, some without windows, split air-conditioning units instead of central climate control, sound that travels, and a breakfast room that cannot grow. The plunge pool is a terrace amenity rather than a pool. None of this is hidden and none of it is new, and guests price it in: value still scores 4.6 and 9.0.
The detail that impressed us most is the quiet. A hotel this central, ten minutes from the nightlife, draws almost no noise complaints at all, which is a soundproofing investment most city hotels skip. Compare that with the aircraft complaints at Aquila Atlantis nearby, or the traffic on Galaxy’s avenue, and it is the clearest practical difference between Heraklion’s three best-rated city hotels.
Book GDM Megaron for two or three nights in April, May, September or October: a Sea View category or the VIP room, breakfast unhurried, the museum and the fortress on foot, and an hour on the fifth floor at sunset. Expect about 168 to 177 euros a night in season for an Urban View double, and roughly 204 upwards once you want the harbour.
