We visited Crete on our honeymoon and traveled along the north coast between Chania and Agio Nikolaos. We wanted to find a place where we could just lay back and relax for a few days, with a beach and good Greek food nearby.

Sunrise Suites and Kalyves Beach were the perfect combination and a great value.

The hotel is situated on the hills overlooking the village and the sea. It's not beachfront, but the tradeoff is more than worth it... the views are fantastic and the walk to the beach and the main street in the village is very short (five minutes max).

The rooms are clean. comfy (with A/C), and a good size. As advertised, our suite had a kitchenette which was terrific for fruit, groceries, juices, etc..

We balanced our beach time with time around the pool at the hotel. With its own drink and ice cream bar, the pool was a great way to finish a beach day and grab late afternoon sun. )Though there is no lifeguard on duty at the pool, there is a 12-15" ledge running just insider the perimeter of the pool that provides some measure of protection for kids falling in.

We tried the breakfast buffet on one day... not bad, but we were content with cereal and milk in the room.

Iakovos and Katerina were fantastic hosts, always cheerful and bending over backwards to help us with whatever we needed.

Kalyves itself was also a great place to spend a few days... we found the prices for food to be reasonable and cheaper than Chania or Agio Nikolaos... there are several seaside restaurants and all were good food/value... we took to ordering one main dish to split because there was too much to eat for two. Our favorite place was a psitaria (Mitsos?) that sold pita gyro (pork or chicken) for 2.5 euros, stuffed with tomato, onion, yogurt, and even french fries. (It's across the street from a small market and another fast food place).

The beach itself was clean, with little bars/restaurants offering umbrellas/chairs if you bought something from them. (though nobody ever asked us to pay anything)... the east part of the beach is protected by a jetty and is highly kid-friendly.. with lifeguard. In our section, we could even do a little body surfing.

The only odd thing is that English and other folks make Kalyves a permanent residence... so lots of non-Greeks around.

Still, given how globalization is homogenizing the greek experience, we found Kalyves to still be authentic enough, particularly with the food and the general pace of life/business in the village. There is a highway bypass, so traffic was light (we were there in late June).

We'd recommend the Sunrise Suites to anyone and it's fair to say the hotel and the town are family friendly.