Icarus Suites & Apartments

The location was the one good thing for me. I had expected better. Icarus Suite Apartments are part of a group of three different hotels, but our transport had us listed under another name and dropped us nearby. It was stressful trying to work out where we were meant to go. We were then put in an older section under the name Lefkoniko Beach Hotel, which seemed below the standard advertised. The bathroom was very dark with just one light, and the shower was so tiny that moving around meant water got all over the floor. I’m pretty sure there were either bed bugs or fleas, since I was bitten so much. I don’t think it was mosquitoes: I had a wall plug-in repellent and used Jungle Formula every night until I was sticky. The food was very basic too, with little or no Greek food, which I’d hoped to try. The return pickup was stressful as well because we didn’t know which of the three hotels they’d collect us from. I ended up being placed strategically with my mum, then the driver told us off for being in the wrong place.

When we got there, the shower tiles hadn't been cleaned after the previous guests and the toilet wouldn't flush. We were exhausted after arriving and just wanted to use the bathroom and shower. The receptionist wasn't very polite, didn't apologize, and tried to put off fixing the toilet. After some persuasion, she called the plumber right away. The room wasn't cleaned properly during our stay either. Once, the sheets smelled so bad that I couldn't sleep. I complained, but they weren't changed until a full day later, so I had to sleep in those awful-smelling sheets for two days.

The staff were friendly, and the balcony had a small drying rack that came in handy. The pool was nice, though it only got sun in the morning. The hotel is beside a roundabout and traffic made it really loud. Across the road, a restaurant had live music four days a week. The kitchen was dirty and poorly equipped, the beds were so hard my hip hurt when I lay on my side, and the bathroom was very small with a leaky shower screen.

The staff and landlord were great to deal with, and gave us lots of useful tips for our trip. Our apartment was spacious, clean, and nicely set up, with a well-equipped kitchen for making something small. The air conditioning was pleasant too. The beach is only two minutes away, and breakfast on the sunny balcony was wonderful. For the price, I think it would be hard to find somewhere better in such a good location. Rethymno is the most beautiful city on Crete to me, and from there you can reach lots of lovely, windless beaches by bus or car, even in bad weather. We had a great time and will definitely come back.