Serenissima Boutique Hotel - Chania

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this romantic hotel in Crete and unpacked their olive oil and honey-dipped pastries, a full account of their Greek break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Serenissima Boutique Hotel in Chania…

Have a Venetian romance at Serenissima Boutique Hotel in Chania, which throws the Cretan-resort rulebook out the window. It’s not right by the beach (though it’s a close stroll away); instead it’s set in Chania Old Town’s tangle of cobbled streets. Like its location, the hotel is rich in history. Its 16th-century townhouse still bears the stamp of its Venetian occupants: arched windows, exposed brick, wooden beams, cobbles a-go-go. In keeping with the historic romance, rooms are painted in delicate, lovers’ hues: blush pink; pale peach; wistful greys. Not all of the hotel’s charms are ye olde, though. Massages and beauty treatments can be arranged in rooms; there’s an 18th-century hammam that will soon reopen for 21st-century guests; the hotel is even adding a rooftop pool. At its heart, though, Serenissima Boutique Hotel’s lures are timeless – a generous dose of romance; a generous dose of serenity – and that’s exactly why we love it.