Hotel Coral Matala
Hotel Coral is a 15-room hotel on the main street at Matala, five minutes’ level walk from the beach with the caves, and Tripadvisor carries it simply as Hotel Coral. It scores 8.5 on Booking.com across 331 reviews and 4.3 on Tripadvisor across 127, with 66 of those at Excellent and 8 at Poor or Terrible. The pool, the garden and the owner carry the praise; the wifi score of 5.8 is the lowest figure in this batch.
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 | Hotel Coral Matala |
|---|---|
| Address | Main Street |
| Type | Air conditioning · Airport shuttle |
| Style | 15-room hotel on the main street at Matala, on the south coast |
| Listed as | Hotel Coral on Tripadvisor |
| Signature | A quiet pool and garden five minutes' level walk from the caves and the beach |
| Rooms | Four categories: double, deluxe double, triple and a family room |
| Review record | 8.5 from 331 Booking.com guests; 66 of 127 Tripadvisor reviews at Excellent, 8 at Poor or Terrible |
| Sub-scores | Staff 9.5, cleanliness 8.7, wifi 5.8 on Booking.com |
| Watch for | Wifi at 5.8, the lowest in this batch, and two separate complaints about the breakfast area |
| Beach | Matala beach about 0.9 mi, a five-minute walk on the flat |
| Airport | Heraklion (HER) about 70 km northeast, roughly an hour and a quarter |
| Booking.com rating | 8.5/10 (331 reviews) |
| Tripadvisor rating | 4.3/5 (127 reviews) |
| CreteLocals score | 8.0/10 · read the verdict |
Booking.com and Tripadvisor scores checked on September 28, 2026.
Location
Hotel Coral Matala is located at Main Street, in Matala village. The map below shows the exact spot; Google Maps and Waze give turn-by-turn directions.
Who Coral suits, and who should skip it
Coral suits travellers who want a simple, quiet room with a pool and a garden five minutes from Matala beach, at about 59 euro a night. It suits guests who do not need to work online. Anyone who requires reliable wifi, a modern room or a spotless breakfast room should look at the newer properties above the town.
Advantages
- A five-minute level walk into Matala town and to the beach
- Staff scored 9.5 by Booking.com guests, with the owner named in reviews
- A pool and garden that guests describe as well maintained and quiet
- 66 of 127 Tripadvisor reviews rate the stay Excellent
- Rooms with a fridge, kettle, tea and coffee, and air conditioning
- Free parking and a playground, which helps families on the south coast
Disadvantages
- Wifi scored 5.8 by Booking.com guests, the lowest figure in this batch
- Cleanliness scored 8.7, and one guest found the breakfast room unclean
- Another reports flies at breakfast, to the point of skipping it
- 22 of 127 Tripadvisor reviews sit at Average or below
- Rooms are of old architecture, renovated rather than new
- The pool may not be open at the very start of the season
The rooms: 15 keys, renovated rather than new
Coral sells four categories: Double Room, Deluxe Double Room, Triple Room, and a Family Room with Bathroom. Guests describe them as simply furnished with good beds, a fridge, a kettle with tea and coffee, and air conditioning, in a building of older architecture that has been renovated with an emphasis on cleanliness.
Set your expectations by the rate rather than the photographs. Reviewers who rate the hotel highly still call it a lovely little place and simply furnished, and the people who wrote the critical reviews were looking for something closer to a boutique hotel than a family-run guesthouse with a pool.
Matala, the pool and two breakfast complaints
Matala is the bay where Roman tombs cut into the cliff face became a hippie settlement in the 1960s, and it is still a small town with one long beach, a row of tavernas and the Red Sand Beach over the headland. Coral sits on the main street five minutes away on the flat, which is worth more than it sounds in a town built against a hill.
The pool and garden are the reason to book. Guests describe a clean, well-maintained pool with a garden around it, quiet enough to sleep beside, and an owner, named Eleni in several reviews, who runs the place with evident care and remembers guests. Staff score 9.5 on Booking.com, which for a 15-room hotel means the family.
Two complaints concern the breakfast and they are specific. One guest describes the breakfast space as not looking very clean, and another says they avoided breakfast entirely because of the number of flies getting into the dishes, adding that the food quality was not the issue. In an open-air breakfast room in southern Crete flies are a seasonal reality, but two independent reports are enough to mention, and cleanliness at 8.7 supports the note rather than contradicting it.
How to get there
Fly into Heraklion airport (HER), about 70 km northeast, roughly an hour and a quarter by road across the Messara plain.
Hire a car for a stay in Matala, because the south coast is spread out and Phaistos, Gortyna and Kommos are all short drives; the terms to check are in our car hire guide for Crete. Pre-book a transfer if you would rather not drive after the flight, using the operators in our guide to taxi and transfer services in Crete. The beach, the caves and the tavernas are a five-minute walk from the hotel.
The Crete Locals review
Coral earns 8.0 from us. The scores are consistent rather than high: 8.5 across 331 Booking.com reviews and 4.3 across 127 on Tripadvisor, with 66 at Excellent and 22 at Average or below, which is a wider tail than most properties in this batch.
The hotel is a straightforward proposition that delivers what it promises. A clean, simple room with a fridge and a kettle, a quiet pool in a garden, free parking, and a flat five-minute walk to one of the most photographed beaches in Crete, for around 59 euro a night. The owner and staff are scored 9.5 and named with affection in the reviews.
Two things hold it back. Wifi at 5.8 is the weakest score we have recorded in this programme, so treat the hotel as offline; and the breakfast has drawn two separate complaints, one about the room’s cleanliness and one about flies in the food. Neither is a reason to avoid Matala, but both belong in front of anyone choosing between hotels here.
Book Coral for a few quiet nights at Matala with the pool, the garden and the walk into town, and do not plan to work from the room. Book one of the newer hotels above the bay if wifi or a modern breakfast room matters.
