SanSal Boutique Hotel
SanSal Boutique Hotel is a 28-room hotel built beside the Venetian walls of Chania old town, and its rooftop pool is the reason guests book it. SanSal scores 9.5 on Booking.com across 556 reviews and 4.8 on Tripadvisor across 167, ranking 13th of 122 hotels in Chania Town. The walk to the old town is about 10 minutes and flat, which in a city of steps and cobbles is worth stating plainly.
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 influence on what we write; both ratings were read on the date in the table.
Hotel information
| Hotel | SanSal Boutique Hotel |
|---|---|
| Address | Akti Kanari |
| Type | Air conditioning · Airport shuttle |
| Style | Modern boutique hotel beside the Venetian walls of Chania old town |
| Signature | Rooftop pool and bar with sea views, the reason most guests book |
| Keys | 28 rooms, with bathrooms and balconies guests call unusually large |
| Ranking | 13th of 122 hotels in Chania Town on Tripadvisor |
| On foot | About 10 minutes to the old town, flat the whole way |
| Watch for | The rooftop area is small and fills quickly when the hotel is full |
| Parking | Limited in this part of the city |
| Airport | Chania (CHQ) about 15 km, roughly 20 minutes |
| Booking.com rating | 9.5/10 (556 reviews) |
| Tripadvisor rating | 4.8/5 (167 reviews) |
| CreteLocals score | 8.8/10 · read the verdict |
Booking.com and Tripadvisor scores checked on September 25, 2026.
Location
SanSal Boutique Hotel is located at Akti Kanari, in Chania Town. The map below shows the exact spot; Google Maps and Waze give turn-by-turn directions.
Who SanSal suits, and who should skip it
SanSal suits couples and families who want a modern, spacious room within a flat 10-minute walk of the old town, and a pool to come back to. It suits guests who like a small rooftop bar where you end up talking to other people. Anyone who wants a beach, or a big pool deck with room to spread out, should book on the coast towards Agia Marina.
Advantages
- Rooftop pool and bar with sea views, which guests call the selling point
- 9.5 on Booking.com across 556 reviews, the second highest in this batch
- Rooms, bathrooms and balconies described as unusually large for a city hotel
- Flat 10-minute walk to the old town, with no hill at the end of the evening
- Position right beside the Venetian walls of the old city
- Front-desk staff named in reviews, Renata among them
Disadvantages
- The rooftop pool area is small, so it fills quickly when the hotel is full
- No beach at the hotel, and no ground-level pool deck
- Only 167 Tripadvisor reviews, a modest sample next to the Booking record
- Parking in this part of Chania is limited
- At 28 rooms, families needing two rooms should book early
- Modern and minimalist, which will not suit travellers wanting a historic building
The rooms: 28 keys, and the space is the surprise
SanSal runs 28 rooms in a modern, minimalist style, and the thing guests mention first is size. Reviewers describe rooms and bathrooms as huge, with balconies to match, which is rare in a city hotel where square metres are the expensive part. A family of 5 in the review record booked two rooms and had space to spread out.
Rooms are described as well equipped, comfortable and clean across both platforms, and the hotel’s position beside the Venetian walls means the outlook is towards the old city on one side and the sea on the other. Ask which way your room faces when you book, because both views have their case.
The rooftop pool, and why the size of it matters
The roof is where this hotel earns its rating. The pool sits alongside the bar with views out to sea, and guests describe it as the place they spent the late afternoon before walking into town. For a hotel with 28 rooms and no ground to spare, putting the pool on the roof is the right answer, and the views make it better than a courtyard would have been.
Guests are also clear that the area is small. One reviewer turns that into a positive, noting that its size makes it easy to end up in conversation with other guests and with the staff, which is true and is also a polite way of saying there is not much room. If you want a lounger to yourself all afternoon in August, go up early or book a hotel with a bigger deck.
How to get there
Fly into Chania airport (CHQ), about 15 km away on the Akrotiri peninsula, roughly 20 minutes by road. The hotel sits beside the old city walls, on the edge of the historic centre rather than inside it.
Take a taxi or pre-booked transfer from the airport, since parking near the walls is limited; the operators are in our guide to taxi and transfer services in Crete. Hire a car for Elafonissi, Balos or the Samaria gorge, and check the terms in our car hire guide for Crete. Everything in the old town is a flat walk of about 10 minutes, which is the detail that makes this hotel work at night.
The Crete Locals review
SanSal earns 8.8 from us. At 9.5 on Booking.com across 556 reviews and 4.8 on Tripadvisor across 167, it is one of the better-rated city hotels in Chania, and 13th of 122 in a town with this much competition is a genuine placing rather than a volume effect.
Two things explain it. The rooms are larger than the category suggests, which matters more over a week than any design feature, and the walk into the old town is flat. That second point sounds trivial and is not: Chania visitors walk in and out of the historic centre several times a day, and doing it without a hill or a long taxi queue changes how much of the city you actually see.
The rooftop is the hotel’s signature and its constraint in the same breath. It is a lovely place to be at six in the evening with the sea in front of you, and it is small. Guests have made their peace with that and several treat it as part of the charm, but anyone whose holiday is built around a pool should understand the scale before booking.
Book SanSal for a Chania stay where a big room, a flat walk into the old town and a sunset drink on the roof are the priorities. Book a coastal hotel at Agia Marina or Platanias if the week is about swimming and sunbathing, and keep this one for a city break.
