Royal Sun
Royal Sun Hotel sits on the hillside above Chania at G. Paizi 36, with a pool terrace and a top-floor restaurant looking over the city, and it ranks 16th of the 122 hotels in Chania Town on Tripadvisor. Royal Sun scores 9.1 on Booking.com across 1,874 reviews, the largest sample in this batch, and 4.7 on Tripadvisor across 1,010, where 744 sit at Excellent and 23 at Poor or Terrible. A free shuttle solves the distance into town; the rooms under the restaurant are the thing to avoid.
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 | Royal Sun |
|---|---|
| Address | G. Paizi 36 |
| Type | Air conditioning · Airport shuttle |
| Style | Hillside hotel above Chania at G. Paizi 36, with a top-floor restaurant |
| Signature | A pool terrace and city views, with a free shuttle into the old town |
| Rooms | Nine categories, from economy singles to sea-view doubles and a junior suite |
| Room count | Our record holds 18; a Crete hotel directory lists 36, so the total is unconfirmed |
| Ranking | 16th of 122 hotels in Chania Town on Tripadvisor |
| Review record | 9.1 from 1,874 Booking.com guests; 744 of 1,010 Tripadvisor reviews at Excellent, 23 at Poor or Terrible |
| Avoid | Rooms numbered in the 400s, directly below the restaurant floor |
| Getting to town | Free shuttle booked at reception; the centre is not walkable |
| Airport | Chania (CHQ) about 16 km northeast, roughly 25 minutes |
| Booking.com rating | 9.1/10 (1,874 reviews) |
| Tripadvisor rating | 4.7/5 (1,010 reviews) |
| CreteLocals score | 8.7/10 · read the verdict |
Booking.com and Tripadvisor scores checked on September 28, 2026.
Location
Royal Sun is located at G. Paizi 36, in Chania Town. The map below shows the exact spot; Google Maps and Waze give turn-by-turn directions.
Who Royal Sun suits, and who should skip it
Royal Sun suits families and couples who want a proper pool, a restaurant with a view over Chania and a free shuttle into the old town, at a rate the centre cannot match. It suits guests with a car, because parking is on site. Anyone who wants to walk to the harbour, or who sleeps lightly, should read the room-number warning below before booking.
Advantages
- 9.1 on Booking.com across 1,874 reviews, and 4.7 on Tripadvisor across 1,010
- 744 Tripadvisor reviews at Excellent, 16th of 122 hotels in Chania Town
- A pool that guests rate the strongest they have used in years
- Top-floor restaurant with city views, open for breakfast and dinner
- A free shuttle into the old town, booked at reception
- Room packages that bundle a car and airport transfer with the stay
Disadvantages
- Rooms numbered in the 400s sit directly beneath the restaurant floor
- Furniture noise from above is documented from early morning until late
- 23 of 1,010 Tripadvisor reviews sit at Poor or Terrible
- Not within walking distance of the centre, so the shuttle or a car is needed
- The nearest beach, Koum Kapi, is 1.6 mi away
- Cleanliness scored 9.3, below the staff score of 9.5
The rooms: categories, and one number to avoid
Royal Sun sells nine categories, from an Economy Single and Economy Double with a partial town view up to Double and Superior Double Rooms with a sea view, a Junior Suite with a pool view, and a package category that bundles the room with a car and an airport transfer. Our record carries 18 rooms while a Crete hotel directory lists 36, so treat the total as unconfirmed and book by category rather than by count.
Avoid any room whose number starts with 4. A guest in room 411, on the second floor directly below the restaurant, documented chairs and tables being dragged across a hard floor from early morning until late at night, and holds video recordings of it. The hotel’s written reply accepted that the family had experienced considerable noise, offered 10 per cent off a future stay, and advised choosing a ground-floor room next time. That exchange is the most useful thing in the record: the problem is structural, the hotel knows, and it is avoidable at booking.
The hill, the shuttle and the view
The hotel’s position above Chania is the reason the pool and restaurant work and the reason the town is not walkable. Guests describe the restaurant at the top of the building as the place to watch the sunset over the city, and the pool as the strongest they have had in years, with the junior suites opening onto the pool terrace.
The shuttle is what makes the location viable. Reviewers report booking it at reception and using it to reach the centre, with taxis as the fallback, and one guest notes the van also lets guests leave their car at the hotel rather than hunting for a space in town. Families travelling with a baby single out the whole arrangement as easier than staying in the old town itself.
Read the Tripadvisor distribution before you worry about the 23 poor reviews. Across 1,010 reviews, 744 sit at Excellent and 33 at Average, which for a hotel of this size on the hill above a busy town is a strong record. The complaints cluster on the restaurant-floor noise rather than spreading across the property, which is what makes a room request the practical answer.
How to get there
Fly into Chania airport (CHQ), about 16 km northeast on the Akrotiri peninsula, roughly 25 minutes by road, or arrive by ferry at Souda, about 15 minutes away.
Pre-book a transfer if you are not driving, and note that the hotel sells a package bundling a room, a car and an airport transfer; the independent operators are in our guide to taxi and transfer services in Crete. Hire a car for Balos, Elafonissi and the gorges, use the on-site parking and check the terms in our car hire guide for Crete. For the old town, book the free shuttle at reception rather than driving in.
The Crete Locals review
Royal Sun earns 8.7 from us. The evidence is the strongest in this batch by volume, at 9.1 across 1,874 Booking.com reviews and 4.7 across 1,010 on Tripadvisor, with 744 at Excellent and 16th place among 122 hotels in Chania Town.
The hotel has worked out what a hillside position can deliver. A large pool, a restaurant on the top floor with the town below it, a shuttle that removes the parking problem, and rates well under the old town’s, which is why families and couples on a week’s stay rate it as highly as they do. Staff are scored 9.5.
One flaw is documented too clearly to leave out. The rooms directly under the restaurant carry furniture noise across the ceiling from early morning until late, the hotel has acknowledged it in writing and its own advice is to take a ground-floor room, and the guest who raised it says plainly they would not return. Ask for a room away from the restaurant floor and the rest of the record is what you will get.
Book Royal Sun for a Chania stay with a pool, a view and the shuttle into town, and ask explicitly for a room that is not beneath the restaurant. Book inside the old town if walking home from dinner matters more than the pool.
