Village Heights Resort
Village Heights Resort is a 227-key apartment and villa resort in the hills above Hersonissos, next to the Crete Golf Club, and it is the only property in this batch where guests describe the accommodation as dated and still rate the stay highly. Village Heights scores 9.1 on Booking.com across 574 reviews and 4.7 on Tripadvisor across 1,782, an agreeable pair that says the formula works. Space, quiet and free shuttles to the beach and town are what people come back for, and the interiors are what the price reflects.
We have no commercial relationship with this resort. Crete Locals earns a commission if you book through the availability links on this page, at no cost to you, and it does not affect our verdict; both ratings were read on the date in the table.
Hotel information
| Hotel | Village Heights Resort |
|---|---|
| Address | Hersonissos |
| Type | Air conditioning · Airport shuttle |
| Style | Apartment and villa resort in the hills above Hersonissos |
| Signature | Free shuttles to town and beach, and two a la carte restaurants inside the all-inclusive package |
| Keys | 227 units built as apartments and villas, with lounges, kitchens and large balconies |
| Dining | Main restaurant, lobby bar, two a la carte restaurants; Cretan breakfast at Rodies |
| Next door | Crete Golf Club, the island's championship course |
| Beach | None on site; the resort runs free transport to its beach area |
| Rooms | Guests describe them as large but dated, a trade the ratings accept |
| Airport | Heraklion (HER) about 25 km west |
| Booking.com rating | 9.1/10 (574 reviews) |
| Tripadvisor rating | 4.7/5 (1,782 reviews) |
| CreteLocals score | 8.5/10 · read the verdict |
Booking.com and Tripadvisor scores checked on September 25, 2026.
Location
Village Heights Resort is located at Hersonissos. The map below shows the exact spot; Google Maps and Waze give turn-by-turn directions.
Who Village Heights suits, and who should skip it
Village Heights suits families and groups who want an apartment with a separate lounge and a big balcony rather than a hotel room. It suits guests who like a quiet hillside with views over the sea and are happy to ride a shuttle to the beach. Travellers who want to walk out of reception onto sand, or who expect new-build interiors, should book on the coast road instead.
Advantages
- Apartments and villas with separate lounges, full kitchens and large balconies
- Free shuttles to Hersonissos town and to the resort’s beach area
- Two a la carte restaurants included in the all-inclusive package, which guests single out
- Cretan breakfast at Rodies, named repeatedly in reviews
- Spa with therapists guests describe as professional, plus pools across the site
- Quiet hillside setting in gardens, with sea views below and the golf club next door
Disadvantages
- Rooms read as basic and dated next to newer resorts, a point guests make even in positive reviews
- No beach on site, so swimming in the sea depends on the shuttle
- Hillside position means a car or a shuttle for everything outside the gate
- Guests advise eating at the lobby bar over the main restaurant, which is a mixed signal on the buffet
- Self-catering guests still pay resort prices for the setting
- Hersonissos nightlife is a shuttle ride away, for better or worse
The rooms: 227 keys, and space instead of newness
Village Heights holds 227 units built as apartments and villas rather than hotel rooms, which is the whole proposition. Guests describe the interiors as a little basic and dated, then in the same sentence describe them as huge, with separate lounges in the suite categories, kitchens for self-catering and balconies with sunbeds on them. For a family of 4 or two couples sharing, that trade reads well, and the review scores show it.
Book a suite category if you want the separate living room and the bigger terrace. Ask for a unit with the sea view rather than one facing the hillside, since the site steps down and the outlook varies more than the floor plan does. Anyone self-catering should check which units have a full kitchen rather than a kitchenette.
The shuttles, Rodies and the golf next door
The shuttle service is the feature that makes a hillside resort workable. Village Heights runs free transport to Hersonissos town and to its beach area, which means guests can swim in the sea, eat in town and get back without a hire car or a taxi fare, and reviewers mention it as often as they mention the pools. It is also what allows the resort to be quiet: the noise of Hersonissos stays in Hersonissos.
Two more things set the place apart. The all-inclusive package includes two a la carte restaurants rather than charging for them, and guests repeatedly say the upgrade to all-inclusive is worth it for that reason; the Cretan breakfast at Rodies gets named specifically. And the resort sits beside the Crete Golf Club, the island’s championship course, which puts 18 holes within a few minutes of the room for anyone who wants them.
How to get there
Fly into Heraklion airport (HER), about 25 km west along the national road, then climb inland from Hersonissos. The final approach is uphill and the resort signposts it from the coast road.
Pre-book a transfer for the first arrival, since the hill road is easier with a driver who knows it; see our guide to taxi and transfer services in Crete. Hire a car if you intend to reach the Lasithi plateau, Knossos or the eastern beaches under your own steam, and read the deposit and insurance notes in our car hire guide for Crete. If you plan to stay inside the resort and use the shuttles, you can skip the car entirely, which is unusual for a hillside property.
The Crete Locals review
Village Heights earns 8.5 from us, and it is the clearest example in this batch of a resort that knows what it sells. It sells space. The units are apartments and villas, so a family gets a lounge, a kitchen and a terrace instead of two hotel rooms and a corridor between them, and guests say so in almost every positive review. They also say the interiors are dated. Both are true, and the ratings of 9.1 and 4.7 across more than 2,300 combined reviews show which one matters more to the people who stay.
The all-inclusive package is better value here than at most resorts of this size, because two a la carte restaurants are inside it rather than alongside it. Reviewers make the calculation themselves and conclude the upgrade pays for itself. The same reviewers suggest eating at the lobby bar rather than the main restaurant, which tells you the buffet is the weakest of the food options and that the resort has enough alternatives for that not to spoil the week.
The thing to be honest about is the sea. There is no beach here, because the resort is in the hills for the views and the quiet, and getting into salt water means taking the shuttle down. The shuttles are free and frequent enough that guests treat this as a detail, but if your ideal morning is a swim before breakfast, this is the wrong address and a coast-road hotel is the right one.
Book Village Heights for a family or group week where an apartment, a quiet garden setting and included a la carte dining matter more than a new bathroom. Take the all-inclusive package, ask for a sea-view unit, and book a coastal hotel instead if walking to the beach is the point of the trip.
