The Tanneries Hotel & Spa
The Tanneries Hotel and Spa is a 20-suite hotel built inside heritage-protected leather works from the 1800s at Tabakaria, on the waterfront a few minutes east of Chania’s centre. The Tanneries scores 9.6 on Booking.com across 521 reviews, the highest Booking figure in this batch, and 4.6 on Tripadvisor across 64. The gap between those two samples matters, and so does the neighbourhood, which is an industrial quarter rather than a resort strip.
We have no commercial relationship with this hotel. Crete Locals earns a commission if you book through the availability links on this page, which costs you nothing and does not change our assessment; both ratings were read on the date in the table.
Hotel information
| Hotel | The Tanneries Hotel & Spa |
|---|---|
| Address | 19-25 Vivilaki |
| Type | Air conditioning · Airport shuttle |
| Style | Suite hotel converted from heritage-protected 1800s tanneries at Tabakaria, on the Chania waterfront |
| Signature | 20 waterfront suites of 40 to 104 sqm inside the original industrial shells |
| Setting | A working industrial quarter, partly derelict, about 2 km east of the Venetian harbour |
| Sea | Direct access from the lower suites, with water deep enough to swim |
| In room | Steam showers, and beds guests single out |
| Watch for | Restaurant terrace noise until about midnight, and the constant sound of the sea |
| Samples | 521 Booking.com reviews against only 64 on Tripadvisor |
| Airport | Chania (CHQ) about 17 km, roughly 20 minutes; Heraklion is about 2 hours away |
| Booking.com rating | 9.6/10 (521 reviews) |
| Tripadvisor rating | 4.6/5 (64 reviews) |
| CreteLocals score | 8.7/10 · read the verdict |
Booking.com and Tripadvisor scores checked on September 25, 2026.
Location
The Tanneries Hotel & Spa is located at 19-25 Vivilaki, in Chania Town. The map below shows the exact spot; Google Maps and Waze give turn-by-turn directions.
Who The Tanneries suits, and who should skip it
The Tanneries suits travellers who want an architecturally serious conversion on the water, with a suite big enough to live in and the sea directly below the terrace. It suits guests who like a quiet, unpolished neighbourhood with history in it. Anyone expecting a smart resort setting, or who needs shops and restaurants at the door, should book in the old town.
Advantages
- Suites from 40 to 104 sqm, all on the waterfront with a sea view
- A conversion of heritage-protected 1800s tanneries, so the building is the attraction
- 9.6 on Booking.com across 521 reviews, the highest in this batch
- Sea access directly from the lower rooms, with water deep enough to swim
- Modernised bathrooms with steam showers, and beds guests single out
- Only 20 suites, and away from the crowds that fill the old town
Disadvantages
- Tabakaria is a working industrial quarter, and guests describe the surroundings as rough
- Restaurant and terrace noise carries until about midnight, per guest reports
- The sound of the sea is constant, which suits some sleepers and not others
- Only 64 Tripadvisor reviews, including 3 at Terrible, so that sample is thin
- 57th of 122 hotels in Chania Town on Tripadvisor, a rank driven by low volume
- Walking to shops and nightlife takes a couple of kilometres or a taxi
The rooms: 20 suites, 40 to 104 sqm, all on the water
The Tanneries has 20 suites and no standard rooms, ranging from 40 sqm to 104 sqm, and every one faces the water. The industrial shells have been kept and the interiors rebuilt inside them, which is why the suites are the sizes they are: these were workshops, not hotel rooms, and the conversion followed the building rather than a floor plan.
Guests describe spacious, clean rooms with steam showers and comfortable beds, and the lower suites open onto the sea closely enough that people swim from them. If you are a light sleeper, ask for a suite away from the restaurant terrace and expect to hear the water all night either way; one reviewer noted the terrace empties around midnight when the restaurant closes.
Tabakaria: the setting is the point and the catch
Tabakaria is the old tanning district of Chania, a run of stone workshops along the water where leather was processed from the 1800s. Most of the buildings are protected, several are still derelict, and the quarter has none of the polish of the Venetian harbour a couple of kilometres west. The hotel occupies one complex of those works and has restored it rather than replaced it.
Guests are direct about the trade. One recent reviewer warned other travellers not to judge the place by its surroundings, calling the area distressed and the position secluded, then described the hotel itself as a find. That is the honest summary: you are staying in a restored factory in an unrestored neighbourhood, with the sea at your feet, and the walk to a normal parade of shops is a couple of kilometres. Book it because of that, not in spite of it.
How to get there
Fly into Chania airport (CHQ), about 17 km away on the Akrotiri peninsula, roughly 20 minutes by road. Ignore any advice about Heraklion: that airport is around 140 km east and takes about 2 hours, which is why some guests report a long transfer.
Pre-book a transfer from Chania airport, since Tabakaria is easy to miss and poorly lit at night; the operators are listed in our guide to taxi and transfer services in Crete. Hire a car if you plan to reach Elafonissi, Balos or the gorges, and check the terms in our car hire guide for Crete. Taxis into the old town are short and cheap, and most guests use them in the evening.
The Crete Locals review
The Tanneries earns 8.7 from us. The 9.6 on Booking.com is the highest score in this batch and comes from 521 reviews, which is a serious sample, and the building deserves it: a protected complex of 1800s tanneries turned into 20 waterfront suites is a more interesting piece of work than anything else we have reviewed this month. Suites of 40 to 104 sqm with the sea below the window are not a category most Cretan hotels can offer at all.
The Tripadvisor picture is thinner and more mixed, at 4.6 from 64 reviews with 3 of them at Terrible, and its 57th place of 122 in Chania Town is a volume artefact rather than a quality signal. With samples this uneven we weight the Booking record more heavily, while noting that the small Tripadvisor sample contains a handful of genuinely unhappy guests, and that the likeliest cause is expectations about the neighbourhood.
That neighbourhood is the whole decision. Tabakaria is atmospheric, industrial and unfinished, and it is a couple of kilometres from where most visitors to Chania spend their evenings. Guests who wanted a hotel in a pretty street have written the negative reviews; guests who wanted to sleep in a restored factory on the water have written the rest. There is no ambiguity about which you are buying, provided you look at the location before booking.
Book The Tanneries for a couple’s stay where architecture and the sea matter more than a convenient address, take the largest suite you can justify, and plan on taxis into town. Book in the old town instead if you want to walk out into restaurants and shops from the door.
