Our autumnal week at the Village Heights Golf Resort, just outside of Heronissos was filled with bright days, sunny skies and wonderful family time. Memories of this week will include the 14 year old getting a hole in one at the mini golf, playing bat and ball by the sea at nearby Stalis, the wonderful, happy staff of the resort and the beautiful platefuls of Greek food we ate until we were fit to burst. It was the perfect family break and one we’ll remember for the longest time. REad our full review of the Village Heights Golf Resort, Crete here.
Read more: Our guide to Crete with kids
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Table of Contents
Village Heights Resort – Hotel and Location:
The Village Heights Resort lies just outside of the bustling town of Heronissos.
Around 25 kilometres east of the capital Heraklion it is set in a beautiful location. Up in the hills with views down to the sparkling blue sea in one direction and the Dikti Mountains in the other.
Surrounded by olive and pomegranate trees and with the sound of gently tinkling bells from the goats drifting on the air. It’s a wonderful location and incredibly atmospheric.
Staying at the Village Heights Hotel, Crete
The Village Heights Resort has a number of different styles of accommodation from one bedroom apartments through to family villas with private pools.
The whole resort is designed to look like a traditional Greek village rather than a big hotel. And this works very well.
The grounds are so well looked after and peppered with beautiful plants throughout with paths that wind their way through the resort.
We stayed in a two bedroom house which had in the downstairs –
A lounge, kitchen and dining area. This was a lovely open space with all the kitchen appliances we needed to cook up great lunches.
The sofa also turned in to a bed for our oldest son. We loved this space that was perfect for relaxing in during the day.
On this floor there was also a twin bedroom.
There was a bathroom with bath and shower over.
The lounge area also opened up onto an outside terrace which was ideal for sitting out in and enjoying the sunshine. With a table and chairs we ate lunch here on many of the days.
Upstairs was the master bedroom which was a beautiful room with lots of space and a really comfortable bed.
The en suite bathroom also had a bath with shower over.
Off of the master bedroom was another terrace with table and chairs. This was the perfect spot to watch the sun come up or set each day.
We loved the views over the mountains.
The facilities
The Village Heights Resort has absolutely everything you could need for a fantastic family holiday. It really is a wonderful resort to enjoy.
The hotel is set amongst beautiful grounds which you can wander through to get everywhere. There are two large outdoor swimming pools and one indoor pool.
There’s also tennis and basketball here to enjoy.
We loved the mini golf which, like the other activities, is completely complimentary. You just go along to reception to get the clubs and balls and we all really enjoyed playing the games here.
There’s a kids club for under 12s which we didn’t use. And also a small playground which the youngest two really enjoyed spending time on.
We loved the Village Height’s beach club area at Stalis.
The hotel has a free shuttle down to the beach and an area of the sand with loungers on.
We would regularly head down here to paddle by the sea and enjoy all the shops of Stalis. There’s a great bakery here for picking up spanikopita and we really enjoyed our times at the beach, even in October when we visited.
We also really enjoyed some of the events the hotel put on for the guests.
We had a great session tasting different wines with the Cretan wine producer Haralabakis Wine on one of the evenings.
On another day time we went to a cookery session with the resort’s brilliant chef. Here he made local dakos (rusks moistened with olive oil and topped with fresh tomatoes and feta cheese) and also a delicious bulgur wheat and feta dish that was so tasty.
We also enjoyed some adult time at the spa where I had the most wonderful facial. And Mr G had a massage.
It was such a fantastic experience and my skin felt amazing afterwards.
Eating in at Village Heights Golf Resort
The food at the Village Heights Resort was wonderful.
It was full of variety and with lots of nods to local dishes which we really enjoyed. We were staying at the resort on a half board basis which meant that a buffet breakfast and dinner were included each day.
Breakfast
Breakfast was a wonderful spread of fresh fruit juices, cheeses, fruits, jams and pastries. There was a hot buffet of breakfast items and lots of wonderful Greek treats.
We all loved breakfast. It was the perfect way to fill up before heading out to explore (or relax) for the day.
Dinner
In the evening the restaurant had different themed nights including Mexican, Italian and lots of Greek (from Greek Island food to specifically Cretan).
On some of the nights there was entertainment. The highlight for us was the Crete night where they had amazing local singers and dancers.
We loved all the little extra touches. Like the day they brought in a local coffee seller who was making traditional Greek coffees for anyone who wanted one.
The staff in the restaurant were nothing short of incredible. From all the serving staff to the absolutely wonderful maître d’ to the sweetest chef who went out of his way to make sure there was enough vegetarian choice.
We really can’t say enough about all of them. It was such a pleasure to see them each day.
The Elia at Village Heights Resort
We had one meal in the resort’s a’la carte restaurant The Elia which was a really nice treat.
We had starters including a traditional pie with grilled vegetables with Cretan olive oil, garlic and oregano and a pumpkin soup.
The main courses featured a lot of fish which the children loved. I enjoyed a ravioli filled with myzithra cream cheese and mint and served in a sun dried tomato cream which was very good.
We loved the desserts, particularly profiteroles with tahini and peanut butter and a chocolate sphere with blackberry sauce.
How child friendly is Village Heights hotel?
This is a fantastically child friendly hotel.
There was a lovely mix of people here and plenty of families.
While it was a little too cold in October for us to use the swimming pools I can imagine these are amazing in the summer when you need somewhere to cool off.
The children thought the beach area was brilliant and wanted to visit every day. They also really enjoyed being able to go off and play mini golf or tennis as regularly as they wanted to. The resort felt very safe (there was a security guard stopping all traffic driving on site at all times) and we were happy to let the 10 and 12 year olds go for small walks around the resort together.
Village Heights Resort – the best bits
We really enjoyed our stay at Village Heights Golf Resort, from the accommodation that gave us plenty of space to relax in to the maintained gardens and all the pops of colour from the plants everywhere.
The staff were fantastic and the facilities perfect for those visiting with kids. We loved that even the cats were well taken care of with their own cat cafe.
The biggest vote came from the children who are already asking when we can return.
Ready to book?
You can find out more about Village Heights Golf Resort and check availability here and don’t forget to check out our feature all about Crete with kids for lots more inspiration on this lovely island.
