Nana Princess Suites Villas & Spa
Nana Princess Suites, Villas & Spa is a luxury beachfront hotel of suites and villas, many with private pools, on Stalis beach between Hersonissos and Malia. Nana Princess holds numbers almost no hotel sustains: guests score it 5.0 out of 5 on Tripadvisor across 1,392 reviews and 9.9 out of 10 on Booking.com, and it ranks number 1 of the hotels in Stalida on Tripadvisor. Our verdict lands at 9.3 out of 10, the highest score on Crete Locals so far: near-flawless service and rooms, with the modest Stalis setting and the rate the only honest caveats.
Hotel information
| Hotel | Nana Princess Suites Villas & Spa |
|---|---|
| Address | Drapanos |
| Type | Air conditioning · Airport shuttle |
| Style | Luxury suites-and-villas hotel, family-friendly |
| Signature | Private pools; service scored 5.0 across 1,392 reviews |
| Beach | Directly on Stalis beach, with free cabanas |
| Dining | 3 a la carte restaurants, including seafood and sushi |
| Spa | Large Health Club & Spa; 2 outdoor pools plus an indoor pool |
| Nearest airport | Heraklion (HER), about a 21-minute drive |
| Booking.com rating | 9.9/10 (364 reviews) |
| Tripadvisor rating | 5.0/5 (1,392 reviews) |
| CreteLocals score | 9.3/10 · read the verdict |
Booking.com and Tripadvisor scores checked on September 19, 2026.
Location
Nana Princess Suites Villas & Spa is located at Drapanos, in Hersonissos. The map below shows the exact spot; Google Maps and Waze give turn-by-turn directions.
Who Nana Princess suits, and who should skip it
Nana Princess suits travellers marking an occasion, honeymoons, anniversaries, the one big family trip, and it suits them because the staff culture is what every scoring system here agrees on: service rates 5.0, and reviews name individual staff members constantly. The lists below come from recurring themes in the hotel’s 1,392 Tripadvisor reviews and 364 Booking.com reviews.
Advantages
- Service scored a straight 5.0, with rooms and cleanliness at 5.0 and sleep quality at 5.0
- Booking.com score of 9.9 out of 10, the highest we have recorded on the island
- Suites and villas with private pools, plus free cabanas on the beach
- Dining across 3 a la carte restaurants, with the fish restaurant and sushi the review favourites
- Beachfront position on the sand at Stalis with buggy service around the grounds
- Transfer of only about 21 minutes from Heraklion airport
Disadvantages
- Stalis itself is a modest package-holiday strip rather than a destination town, and location at 4.9 is the lowest subscore
- Rates sit at the top of the coast, with value at 4.9 the other below-perfect number
- Waterpark and busier facilities belong to the sister hotel next door, not the quiet side
The rooms: suites and villas built around private water
Nana Princess builds its stock as suites and villas, with private pools running through most of the ladder rather than reserved for one headline category. The rooms score of 5.0 across 1,392 reviews is the statistic to sit with: essentially nobody leaves unhappy with the room.
Choose by water temperature and position. The private-pool suites are the signature and the reason most guests book; villa categories add bedrooms and space for families; and a beachfront-row unit puts the cabanas and sand directly below the terrace. Heated-pool options matter at the season’s edges, so confirm the heating dates for your category when booking spring or autumn.
The beach, the spa and the restaurants
The beach frontage is golden Stalis sand with the hotel’s free cabanas on it, one of the details reviewers bring up as proof the rate buys real things. Two outdoor pools and an indoor pool back it up, and buggy drivers run the grounds with the same named-in-reviews warmth as the restaurant teams.
The Health Club & Spa is among the largest on this coast and anchors the shoulder-season appeal. Dining runs through 3 a la carte restaurants, with the Blue restaurant, the Point, the fish restaurant, and the sushi service the names that repeat across reviews; half board here reads as an upgrade rather than a compromise.
How to get there
Nana Princess is about a 21-minute drive from Heraklion airport (HER), on the beach at Stalis between Hersonissos and Malia. The short transfer is part of the pitch: you can land at noon and be in your private pool before 2.
Three transport options cover the trip, and each fits a different stay. A pre-booked transfer or taxi matches the hotel’s arrival style; our guide to taxi and airport transfer services in Crete lists the operators and typical prices. A hire car is worth it if you plan Knossos, Agios Nikolaos, or Lasithi plateau days, and our car rental in Crete page compares local rates. The north-coast bus stops in Stalis for simple runs to Hersonissos, Malia, and Heraklion.
The Crete Locals review
Nana Princess is the hotel we cite when someone asks whether perfect scores online can be real, because this is what one looks like when it is: 1,392 Tripadvisor reviews averaging 5.0 and a 9.9 on Booking.com, sustained across years rather than a launch-season spike. Numbers like that describe a system, not luck, and the system here is staffing: reviews name the service manager, guest relations, buggy drivers, and individual waiters so often that reading them feels like a staff directory with compliments attached.
The hotel around that service holds its end. Suites and villas are contemporary and large, private pools run deep into the category ladder, the spa gives the stay an indoor dimension, and the fish and sushi tables convert sceptics who expected hotel-standard dining. Families are welcomed rather than tolerated, with the kids club on site and the livelier sister hotel next door absorbing the waterpark energy.
What keeps our score at 9.3 rather than higher is context, not performance. Stalis is a friendly but ordinary resort strip, so the walk outside the gates does not match the world inside them, and the rates price all of this at the very top of the Heraklion coast. Neither is a flaw in the hotel; both belong in the decision.
Book Nana Princess for the occasion stays, and book the category honestly: a private-pool suite is the experience the scores describe, and the beachfront rows are the upgrade that changes the week. May, June, September, and October pair the spa and heated water with softer rates, and the 21-minute transfer makes even a 4-night escape worth the flight.
