Idi Hotel
Idi Hotel is a 39-room family hotel at Zaros, in the foothills of Psiloritis 45 km southwest of Heraklion, and it has been run by the same family since 1980. Idi scores 9.2 on Booking.com across 750 reviews and 4.5 on Tripadvisor across 185, with 113 of those at Excellent and 5 at Poor or Terrible. The garden, the pool and a restaurant with its own trout farm are the reasons guests come inland instead of to the coast.
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 | Idi Hotel |
|---|---|
| Address | Zaros |
| Type | Air conditioning · Airport shuttle |
| Style | 39-room family hotel at Zaros, in the Psiloritis foothills 45 km southwest of Heraklion |
| Since | 1980, run by the same family |
| Signature | A restaurant next door with its own trout farm, and a large pool in a garden |
| Rooms | 39 rooms across thirteen categories, several with mountain views |
| Review record | 9.2 from 750 Booking.com guests; 113 of 185 Tripadvisor reviews at Excellent, 5 at Poor or Terrible |
| Sub-scores | Cleanliness 9.5, staff 9.3, wifi 8.9 on Booking.com |
| On the doorstep | The Rouvas gorge, Lake Votomos, the Zaros springs and Vrondisi monastery |
| Expect | A three-star hotel: comfort rather than design, and no beach within 45 km |
| Airport | Heraklion (HER) about 50 km northeast, roughly 50 minutes |
| Booking.com rating | 9.2/10 (750 reviews) |
| Tripadvisor rating | 4.5/5 (185 reviews) |
| CreteLocals score | 8.6/10 · read the verdict |
Booking.com and Tripadvisor scores checked on September 28, 2026.
Location
Idi Hotel is located at Zaros, in Zarós. The map below shows the exact spot; Google Maps and Waze give turn-by-turn directions.
Who Idi suits, and who should skip it
Idi suits walkers, families and couples who want a quiet mountain base with a large pool and a garden, near the Rouvas gorge and Lake Votomos, at about 69 euro a night. It suits guests who eat where the trout is farmed next door. Anyone who wants a beach, nightlife or a five-star finish should book on the north coast instead.
Advantages
- 9.2 on Booking.com across 750 reviews, with cleanliness at 9.5
- 113 of 185 Tripadvisor reviews rate the stay Excellent, 5 at Poor or Terrible
- A restaurant next door incorporating its own fish farm
- A large pool in a garden that guests describe as a small paradise
- Thirteen room categories, from singles to suites with mountain views
- Walks from the door: the Rouvas gorge, Lake Votomos and the Zaros springs
Disadvantages
- 3rd of 4 hotels in Zaros on Tripadvisor, on a field too small to rank usefully
- Rated three stars, and one guest says it deserves four rather than five
- Isolated: the village is a 15-minute walk and the coast is 45 km away
- No beach, so a car is needed for swimming
- Wifi scored 8.9, adequate rather than strong
- Only 185 Tripadvisor reviews against 750 on Booking.com
The rooms: 39 keys across thirteen categories
Idi runs 39 rooms in thirteen categories, from Standard Singles and Standard Doubles with balconies up through Superior and Deluxe doubles, triples, junior suites, king suites and suites, some with mountain views. That range in a 39-room hotel means the property has grown in stages since 1980, and guests report being upgraded, in one case to a room with a roof deck and a jacuzzi.
Book a superior or deluxe category with a mountain view. Guests describe brand new bedding, classy and comfortable rooms and impeccable cleanliness, and the reviews that mention value are usually describing one of the upper categories at a rate the coast could not match.
A trout farm, a gorge and 45 years in one family
The restaurant is the hotel’s distinguishing feature. It sits next door and incorporates a fish farm that supplies it, which is why guests write about the food before the rooms, and why the hotel has kept a following for decades. Breakfast draws the same praise, described as a spread of local flavours rather than a buffet of packets.
The setting is the other half. Zaros sits at the foot of Psiloritis with springs that feed Lake Votomos, the Rouvas gorge walk starting above it, and the Vrondisi monastery nearby, in a green pocket of the island that most visitors drive past on their way to Matala. Guests describe no noise except the water and a village 15 minutes’ walk down a quiet road with shops and tavernas.
The return rate is the strongest signal in the record. One guest first stayed in the early 1990s and came back decades later; another has returned annually since discovering the village by chance; a third was on a second visit and notes the hotel has been going since 1980 as a family business. For a three-star inland hotel with no beach, that pattern is unusual and it explains the 9.2.
How to get there
Fly into Heraklion airport (HER), about 50 km northeast, roughly 50 minutes by road via the Messara turn-off. Zaros lies inland, south of the national road between Heraklion and Rethymno.
Hire a car for a stay here, because Zaros is a mountain village and the gorge, the monasteries, Phaistos and the south coast beaches all need one; the terms to check are in our car hire guide for Crete. Pre-book a transfer if you would rather not drive the mountain roads after a flight, using the operators in our guide to taxi and transfer services in Crete. The village itself is a 15-minute walk from the hotel.
The Crete Locals review
Idi earns 8.6 from us. A 9.2 across 750 Booking.com reviews is a strong record for an inland three-star hotel, cleanliness is scored 9.5, and the smaller Tripadvisor sample agrees at 4.5 with 113 of 185 reviews at Excellent.
What the hotel offers is rare on this island: a green, quiet, family-run base in the mountains with a proper pool, a garden, and a restaurant that farms its own trout next door, 50 minutes from the airport and an hour from two coasts. Guests who come for walking or for a week away from the resorts rate it accordingly, and many of them return.
The honest limits are the star rating and the isolation. This is a three-star hotel, and a guest who loved it says plainly that it deserves four rather than five, so expect comfort rather than design. There is no beach, the village is a 15-minute walk, and without a car the location would become a problem by the second day.
Book Idi for a walking week at Zaros in a superior room with a mountain view, take a car, and eat at the restaurant next door. Book on the coast if the sea needs to be part of every day.
