Stayed for 3 nights on our tour of the island. Picked it because of the location and the good reviews 1st in Matala - oops - probably should have gone to Agia Galini - a much nicer resort along the coast. It was quite a shock when we arrived as it was worse than the lower starred hotel we'd just left. Garden rooms are very basic and tired - in need up a make-over. You can either kneel in the bath or sit with your legs up the wall; but at least a bath and not a shower. Nice balcony overlooking gardens. Breakfast was ok, and more than basic Greek, presumably to satisfy the 90% German occupancy. The pool is odd, with high mucky sides. There were limited sunbeds - maybe because guests take them away to lay outside their bungalows. Glad we had a car as it's a long long walk to the beach and restaurants. Staff were friendly enough. We survived, but didn't really enjoy.

I would like to recommend this hotel that is situated in the beautiful garden. We stayed here only for one week but everything was perfect.

We have the room that was big enough for two people and also every day clean. The chambre change our towels almost every day and I have to commend for the cleanness in the bathroom.

The breakfast was every day same but man have enought choices. Only one mistake was coffee that was really terrible. So if you like good cup of coffee, this is problem. But after breakfast you can visit coffee bars in Matala and you find good coffee.

Evening dinners were fine and you can every day eat greece salad and alsu two or more other meals. Everything was tastefully and no one day was same menu.

My family and I have just left Matala Valley Villiage and wanted to let you know what we thought.

I have been coming to Matala for the last 15 years as i have relatives on this side of Crete. This is by far the best accommodation i have found in all those years. In the past i have stayed very close to Matala Beach but unfortunately those hotels have very small rooms and would not comfortable accommodate my family of 4 (2 children aged 4yrs and 1 year).

This trip we booked a bungalows to accommodate all our family. The bungalows are new, spacious. clean and comfortable. They are all ground floor and have a table and chair setting out side one door and a grass area out the other door.

The two bedrooms are on either side of a spacious bathroom with separate shower and bath (this can be quite rare in Crete). The bungalow had plenty of storage for us to put our things away as we were stating in Matala for 2 weeks. Each bedroom had it's own door and they provided me with a portacot for my young son.

My children had a great time. Outside our bungalow was a trampoline for all the children to enjoy and also a swing and climbing set near the pool. The pool also had a children's wading pool.

Downside to the pool would be that some refurbishment could be beneficial and some nicer outdoor sun lounges but that is a minor criticism.

Breakfast was well stocked and replenished frequently. I felt there was a good variety however agree with an earlier review that some changes to the menu every couple of days would be nice to break up the "same" breakfast every day. I also felt that the service to collect the dirty plates was a bit slow as they were often stacking up on our table.

The dinner buffet also looked great and this menu changed every night. We only ate in the hotel 1 night as we preferred to visit different Greek Tavernas in the local towns such as Siva and Kalamaki. Some nights we noticed traditional Greek dancers and music to entertain the hotel guests.

A suggestion to the hotel would be to provide a laundry room or a laundry service (at a charge) for guests as this was the one issue we stubbled with as we could not find a local laundromat and with young children I had a lot of dirty clothes.

During the morning and evening we enjoyed the easy walk to Matala Beach however during the day it was too hot so we would take the car and pay 4 euro to park for the day at the beach.

So overall we had a great experience and will certainly be back.

The cause of rather controversal reviews here is quite simple. The hotel consists of sseveral room types: Main building, garden houses, bungalows.
I did not have a chance to live in the main building, but stayed fpfor two days in a bungalow and then moved to a garden house (upon arrival the room that i reserved was still busy).

Bungalows are quite ok - two rooms, large doors, mosquito nets and overall feeling of a relatively modern stuff, large bathroom, in the morning you can step out from the room into a garden, etc.

On the contrary, garden houses feel old, toilet/bathroom is rather small and basic. So called "bathtube" is not very suitable for taking a bath.

Some other negative impressions:
Breakfast was the same all days during our stay (as of aug 2010 - may be it has changed). I did not care much first, but then we decided to have breakfast in town - there are lots of places where you can get decent meal in the morning.
Room cleaning was too late -- some times up to 5p.m...
Hotel's website does not show real condition of rooms in garden houses.
Distance to the beach is not 800 meters as the website says, but a bit more - i preferred to drive to the town and leave my car at a parking near the beach.


If I visit Matala again, I will probably choose the same hotel, but only if i book a bungalow.