Silver Beach Hotel & Apartments
Silver Beach Hotel and Apartments sits directly on the sand at Gerani, between Platanias and Maleme, 24 km west of Chania, and it ranks 6th of the 15 hotels in Gerani on Tripadvisor. Silver Beach scores 9.0 on Booking.com across 399 reviews and 4.4 on Tripadvisor across 260, where 157 sit at Excellent and 13 at Poor or Terrible. The private beach area is the reason to book; the food and the distance from anywhere else are the reasons guests mark it down.
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 | Silver Beach Hotel & Apartments |
|---|---|
| Address | Platanias Gerani |
| Type | Air conditioning · Airport shuttle |
| Style | Beachfront hotel and apartments at Gerani, between Platanias and Maleme |
| Signature | A private beach area, with pools that guests report are never full |
| Rooms | Seven categories, from garden-view doubles to family suites with sea views |
| Ranking | 6th of 15 hotels in Gerani on Tripadvisor |
| Review record | 9.0 from 399 Booking.com guests; 157 of 260 Tripadvisor reviews at Excellent, 13 at Poor or Terrible |
| Sub-scores | Cleanliness 9.5, wifi 9.4, staff 9.4 on Booking.com |
| Watch for | A small buffet with no grill station, and a stony entry to the water |
| Getting around | A car is needed; guests report taxis at 25 to 35 euro into Chania |
| Airport | Chania (CHQ) about 40 km east, roughly 45 minutes |
| Booking.com rating | 9.0/10 (399 reviews) |
| Tripadvisor rating | 4.4/5 (260 reviews) |
| CreteLocals score | 8.3/10 · read the verdict |
Booking.com and Tripadvisor scores checked on September 28, 2026.
Location
Silver Beach Hotel & Apartments is located at Platanias Gerani, in Gerani Chanion. The map below shows the exact spot; Google Maps and Waze give turn-by-turn directions.
Who Silver Beach suits, and who should skip it
Silver Beach suits families who want a quiet beachfront hotel with pools, a playground and a room a few steps from the water, and who will hire a car. It suits guests who want to read rather than be entertained. Anyone without a car, or who expects a wide buffet and a kids club, should book on the Platanias strip instead.
Advantages
- Directly on the beach, with a private beach area for guests
- 9.0 on Booking.com across 399 reviews, with cleanliness at 9.5
- 157 of 260 Tripadvisor reviews rate the stay Excellent
- Pools including a children’s pool, plus a playground and a fitness room
- Sea-view rooms and family suites, with apartments for longer stays
- Chania 20 minutes by car, with Elafonissi and Samaria within reach
Disadvantages
- 13 of 260 Tripadvisor reviews sit at Poor or Terrible, and 15 at Average
- The buffet is small, with guests reporting no grill station
- A car is needed, and guests report taxis at 25 to 35 euro into Chania
- The shoreline is stony at the water’s edge, so swim shoes help
- No kids club or entertainment programme, by guests’ own description
- Check-in is from 13:00, which is later than most hotels here
The rooms: sea views and family suites
Silver Beach sells seven categories: Double or Twin Rooms with a garden, pool or sea view, a Superior Room with Sea View, an Apartment with Pool View, and Junior Family and Family Suites with sea views. Guests describe large rooms with balconies, fridges and daily cleaning, and bedding changed every other day.
Book a sea-view category, because the hotel’s value is the water rather than the building. A family of five across two rooms describes one side facing the private beach and the other facing the grounds, and reviewers consistently report loungers available at the pool and on the sand without competition.
A quiet beach, and a small kitchen
Gerani is a low-key stretch of coast: a beach, a handful of tavernas and the old national road behind it, with the Platanias nightlife 10 minutes east and Chania 20 minutes by car. Guests who like the hotel describe it as human-sized and calm, with the sea a second from the room, and several return.
The food is where opinion divides. One reviewer puts it plainly: quantity is not quality, the assortment was small and there was no grill cook, but what was served was cooked well. Another calls the food good with room for more variety. Treat the board basis as adequate rather than a reason to stay in, and plan to eat out some evenings.
Two practical warnings recur. The water’s edge is stony enough that guests recommend swim shoes, and the hotel’s isolation means a car: reviewers report paying 25 euro into the city and 35 euro back, with no ride-hailing available. One guest also found the staff inattentive, which sits against a Booking.com staff score of 9.4 from 399 reviews, so read it as one experience rather than the pattern.
How to get there
Fly into Chania airport (CHQ), about 40 km east on the Akrotiri peninsula, roughly 45 minutes by road. Gerani lies on the coast west of Platanias, before Maleme.
Hire a car for a stay here, because the hotel sits away from the resort strips and taxis into Chania are expensive; the terms to check are in our car hire guide for Crete. Pre-book a transfer for the arrival itself, using the operators in our guide to taxi and transfer services in Crete. Chania is about 20 minutes by car, Elafonissi and the Samaria gorge each a little over an hour.
The Crete Locals review
Silver Beach earns 8.3 from us. The two platforms agree on the shape of the hotel rather than its quality: 9.0 across 399 Booking.com reviews against 4.4 across 260 on Tripadvisor, with 157 at Excellent but 28 at Average or below, which is a wider tail than most properties in this batch.
What you are buying is position. The hotel is on the sand with its own beach area, the pools are clean and never full, the rooms are large with sea-view balconies, and the setting is quiet in a way the Platanias strip is not. Cleanliness is scored 9.5 and staff 9.4, so the housekeeping and front desk are not the issue.
The limits are the kitchen and the car. Guests who criticise the buffet are specific about it being small and lacking a grill, there is no entertainment or kids club, and getting anywhere without a car costs 25 to 35 euro each way. Add the stony entry to the water and this is a hotel for people who want the beach and their own transport, not a resort that covers everything.
Book Silver Beach for a quiet family week on the sand at Gerani with a sea-view room and a hire car, and pack swim shoes. Book at Platanias if you want restaurants, bars and a kids club within walking distance.
