Arrived in Crete land choose to take a chance on the Penelope Apartments following extensive review research and the confusing mixed reviews.

The gable appeared to have paid off when we first arrived when we were dropped of outside but our transfer follow a well organised transfer about 30mins from the Hererklion ariport. Initial impressions on arrival was aside from the close location of a rather fast main road the building looked well maintained and what we expected. At the front was a small but pleasent pool with bar that appeared to double up as the reception area. Remebering this is NOT a hotel we could only expect this.
The owner introduced us to our room that was around the side and at the rear on the ground floor overlooking a hill that was covered in litter, however my 1st job was to clear away the old pizza boxes as this was sure to annoy me during the stay (this land is not owned by the hotel).

The owner openned the door to our room and seemed to make a quick exit before we had chance to complain about the two single beds of differing heights! Not the double we had asked for but bear in mind this isnt out of the ordinary on the continent.

Anyway, after a little disappointing shock that the room was extremely basic and that the bathroom light did not work, drain smelt and the door squeeked very badly we began to realise that the price we paid for the holiday was basically the flight costs and not the accommodation. Kitchen area again was basic and limited with just two electric rings and no oven, fridge/freezer was good as water was kept cold during the day.

A cost worth considering though would be air con. This was extra about 60 euros for the week, i decided this was a little cheeky to be asked for seperate payment but on reflection would have allowed us to sleep much better at night as the temperature was in the mid twenties and made sleeping very hard.

Generally the hotel guests were middle aged couples, small families and small groups of same sex younger people. Were are in our thirties so felt comfortable that we would not be kept awake at night, however there were a few occasions we were! Steer clear of rooms right at the front as we spoke to a few people who had rooms and the road noise did keep them awake at times.

Stalis town was great though. A ten minute walk brought you to a large choice of beacheswith a pair of sun beds around 4 to 6 euros for the day. You could eat out every night for around 25 to 30 euros for two pretty good meals in one of the many bars. Go to the Golden beach, this is on the right where they smash plates and keep you well entertained. Waiters are very helpful and friendly and often shake your hand and begin to recognise you and remember what drinks you order etc...not bad when you consider how many tourists they must see!

Germans and Brits seem to make up the tourists...no problems there.
Hire a moped if you can, we did at a cost of 55euros for 3 days...this gets you out of Stalis that really gets a little boring after a few days. Dont bother going to Malia unless you just want lap dance bars and smelly streets. We went to San Antonio in Ibiza last week and i would say Malia is even worse (takes about 15 mins on a motor bike from Stalis)

Lots of water parks and organised coach trips to get you in...the best one is water city, this is around 45 mins by bike or coach and includes entrance which is about 32 euros for two adult, the coach trip saves you about 10 euros so worth doing and great fun

All in all i would go to Crete again, would spend a ltille more money on hotels and go B & B as breakfst became a pain!

I stayed at this hotel in June 2009 with my Mum & Aunt. The hotel itself was approx half an hour from the airport & we were charged 40 euros for the taxi (each way). The hotel has a nice pool area (although no seperate part for young children). The pool bar was also nice with a very cheap 'happy hour' from 20:00 - 23:00. The food which was available at the bar was the 'usual' pizza, burgers, chips etc. I found the internet access to be cheap and fast although there was a shortage of other activities.

The room was okay - we were on the ground floor with not much of a balcony. The room smelt slightly damp but was not an issue. The only problem we had with the room was a burst pipe on the last night which caused a flood and an electricity short!! However, nothing was damaged and the staff were really helpful. They gave us another room and did not charge us to stay on late before we vacated (the usual charge is 20 euros).

The resort of Stalis is lovely, the beach is quite crowded and has a variety of watersports. The restaurants are great and the greek food was second to none. The cocktail bars were not too rowdy and very cheap.

I would reccomend this hotel for people looking to do Stalis on a budget but would not reccomend it to people with children as it is very near a busy main road.

We arrived in the middle of the night and the bartender was there waiting for us.He put our suitcases in the room on the second floor. We asked for studio and we got 2 bedroom apts which was fantastic with perfect view. Very very clean.The next day we met the woman who works in the morning till late in the evening and wer have never met such a kind Greek woman. She gave us a/c which costed us only 40 euro a week (6 euro aday for 24 hour a/c). She suggested us nice places to visit where we can eat good food. Gave us also a lot of advices. Our chilren have had great time there with Anda cooking very nice and healthy breakfast. We asked if the last day we could keep the room bit longer and Anda toild us that it depends on the reservation they are going to have. So 1 day before she told us that it was not possible because they expected people to come in the same evening. But we were told also from the travel agency that it may happen because it is always busy place. But we stayed in the swimming pool and before we left we took a shower in the wc next to the pool. We really had a great time there and we will sure go back.

We visited the penelope apartments on the 25th of june. We got there at 12 am and went to the bar to find somebody to give us our key for the room. The guy come over and took our cases and took us up 2 flights of stairs which i wasn't happy about as we had asked for a ground floor apartment. He never gave us his name he just put our cases down and went.
The room was ok old fashioned but clean. It was infested with ants but never mind we thaught we might have a better outlook on it in the morning.
Morning come and we went to the reception desk to ask for air conditioning as it was red hot in our room, we were told the woman with the key wasn't in so we would have to go back the next day. We were told it would be 70 euro for the week which i thaught was very expensive so we decided to go and buy a fan.
The pool area was ok but not suited for small children as it had no small pool and the pool area was really small, luckily we had friends staying in the hotel next door so we spent every day around there.
It is a 15 to 20 minute walk in stallis and in the heat and with kids it is very harrasing.
On our last day we asked if it would be ok for the lady at the reception to ring our transfer for us and she told us NO which i thaught was a bit rude then we asked if we could keep our room on as we were not flying till 10 at night and we were also told NO the were full which i did not believe for a second. We had to go to our friends apartments and pay to keep a room there.
I would never go back here ever ever again yes they are cheap but you would expect to feel more welcome and not have ants all over...
Do not go with childen !!!!