Kydon The Heart City Hotel
Kydon, The Heart City Hotel is a 110-room hotel on Sofoklis Venizelos Square in Chania, and it was the first hotel ever built in the city centre, opening in 1968. Kydon scores 9.2 on Booking.com across 1,246 reviews and 4.7 on Tripadvisor across 1,923, which is an unusually consistent pair of numbers for a hotel of this age and size. It is the choice for travellers who want to walk to the Venetian harbour, the Municipal Market and the old town without a car, and the wrong choice for anyone whose holiday is built around a beach and a pool.
We have no commercial relationship with this hotel. Crete Locals earns a commission if you book through the availability links here, which costs you nothing and does not affect what we write; both ratings were read from the platforms on the date shown in the table.
Hotel information
| Hotel | Kydon The Heart City Hotel |
|---|---|
| Address | Sofoklis Venizelos Square & 2, Str. Tzanakaki |
| Type | Air conditioning · Babysitting/child services |
| Style | City hotel on Chania's central square, open all year |
| Signature | The first hotel built in the centre of Chania, opened in 1968 |
| Keys | 110 rooms in 7 categories, from Classic to an Executive Suite with Old Town view |
| Address | Sofoklis Venizelos Square and 2 Tzanakaki Street, Chania |
| On site | Restaurant and bar, gym, conference venue, members club |
| On foot | Municipal Market about 2 minutes, Venetian harbour about 10 |
| Not here | No beach and no resort pool; the city is the amenity |
| Airport | Chania (CHQ) about 15 km away, the shortest transfer in this batch |
| Booking.com rating | 9.2/10 (1,246 reviews) |
| Tripadvisor rating | 4.7/5 (1,923 reviews) |
| CreteLocals score | 8.6/10 · read the verdict |
Booking.com and Tripadvisor scores checked on September 25, 2026.
Location
Kydon The Heart City Hotel is located at Sofoklis Venizelos Square & 2, Str. Tzanakaki, in Chania Town. The map below shows the exact spot; Google Maps and Waze give turn-by-turn directions.
Who Kydon suits, and who should skip it
Kydon suits city travellers who want to step out of the lobby into Chania, and business guests who need a conference venue and a desk. It suits couples visiting in spring and autumn, when the old town is comfortable to walk and the beach hotels are closed. Families set on a water slide and an all-inclusive band should book on the Platanias coast instead.
Advantages
- Position on the city’s central square, with the Municipal Market and old town on foot
- Rooms with views over the Old Town and the market, which the hotel prices as a category
- Open year round, unlike most of the coastal properties near Chania
- Conference venue and a gym on site, rare in a historic city-centre building
- Ratings that agree: 9.2 on Booking.com and 4.7 on Tripadvisor across more than 3,000 reviews combined
- Seven room categories, from classic rooms to an executive suite, so the price ladder is real
Disadvantages
- No beach and no resort pool, so summer afternoons need a plan or a bus
- Square-facing rooms pick up city noise, which is the trade for the address
- Parking in central Chania is difficult and adds cost to a hire car
- Classic rooms are the smallest stock in a 1968 building, so space is the upgrade
- Little for children beyond the city itself
- Old Town view rooms cost more and are the ones that sell out first
The rooms: 110 keys and 7 categories
Kydon divides 110 rooms into 7 named categories, and the naming tells you what you are paying for: Classic, Comfort, Superior with Old Town view, Junior Suite with Square view, Junior Suite with Old Town view, Family Suite with Square view, and Executive Suite with Old Town view. The view is the variable, and the Old Town categories look towards the market and the roofline rather than at the square.
Choose a Square view room if you want the city’s noise and life under the window, and an Old Town view if you want the photograph. Choose Comfort or above if two of you are staying a week, because the Classic rooms are the smallest stock in a building from 1968. The Family Suite is the only category built for a family of 4, so check it is available before booking two rooms.
A 1968 landmark, and what that means in practice
Kydon opened in 1968 as the first hotel built in the centre of Chania, and the hotel treats that as its main asset rather than hiding it. Decades of politicians, artists and travellers have passed through the lobby, and the building has been renewed in stages while keeping its original outline. The practical consequence for a guest is a hotel that behaves like a city institution: a proper lobby, a conference venue, a gym, a restaurant and bar operation, and staff used to year-round business rather than a six-month season.
The second consequence is that Kydon stays open all year. That matters more than it sounds. Most of the coast west of Chania shuts from November, so a February trip to see the old town in the rain, or a conference in March, comes down to a short list of hotels, and this is one of them.
How to get there
Fly into Chania airport (CHQ) on the Akrotiri peninsula, about 15 km from the city centre, which makes this the easiest arrival of any hotel in this batch. The public bus and the airport taxi rank both serve the centre.
Take a taxi or a pre-booked transfer from the airport, since the drive is short and parking at the hotel end is the difficult part; our guide to taxi and transfer services in Crete lists the operators. Hire a car only for the days you leave the city, for Elafonissi, Balos or the Samaria gorge, and read the terms in our car hire guide for Crete first. Central Chania is a walking city and a parked car costs money in a place where you do not need one.
The Crete Locals review
Kydon earns 8.6 from us, and it is the most straightforward recommendation in this batch. The hotel does one thing and does it without excuses: it puts you in the middle of Chania. From the door you reach the Municipal Market in a couple of minutes, the Venetian harbour in about ten, and the whole old town in between. Every restaurant worth eating in is a walk. That geography is why the ratings hold at 9.2 and 4.7 across more than 3,000 combined reviews, a sample large enough that neither number is a fluke.
The age of the building cuts both ways. A hotel from 1968 has proportions a new build does not: a real lobby, wide corridors, and a place in the city’s life rather than on its edge. It also has the smallest entry-level rooms in this batch, and a square-facing wall that the city shouts at on a Friday night. Both are predictable, and both are fixable at booking by paying for Comfort or above and asking for a quieter side.
What Kydon cannot do is be a resort. There is no beach, no lagoon pool and no children’s club, and in July and August the middle of the day in central Chania is hot work. Guests who book it as a base for exploring western Crete, or for a city break in the shoulder months, rate it highly. Guests who wanted a sunbed rate it lower, and the reviews make that split visible.
Book Kydon for a spring or autumn week in Chania, for a business trip, or as the first and last nights of a Crete road trip, since the airport is 15 km away. Book a beach hotel at Agia Marina or Platanias if the point of the holiday is swimming, and keep Kydon in mind for the two nights at each end.
