Name: Libyan Mare
Address: Eparchiaki Odos Strovlon-Paleochoras 28, Paleochora, Paleochora, Paleochora, 73001, Greece
Rating: 9

Air conditioning

Smoke-free property

Garden

Terrace

General

Non-smoking rooms

Soundproof rooms

Family room

Rooms

Free Wi-Fi

Internet

Airport transportation

Car rental

Transfer services

Transfer

English

Languages Spoken

Bike rental

Sun Deck

Recreation

Free parking

Parking

Swimming pool

Pool and beach

Children swimming pool

Family/Kid Friendly

Kids

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Location

At the apartment

Pachia Ammos Beach

Chalikia Beach

Nikolas Beach

Keratides Beach

Psilos Volakas Beach

Port of Souda

Chania International Airport

Libyan Mare

Paleochora

We had a lovely 10-day holiday at Libyan Mare. The hotel is a 10 - 15 minute walk from cafés, shops and Tavernas.  The gardens and pool area at Libyan Mare are beautifully kept and are a god send when the winds of Paleochora make it impossible to be on the beach. At times, the winds also make use of the lovely balconies somewhat difficult because it becomes impossible to use the parasols and the sun is too hot to be without- just head down to the pool. Remember to use the "Please make-up my room" sign when you want the room cleaned. All bins are emptied daily, even if you forget the sign. The staff are very obliging and helpful, despite language barriers. They use their telephone to connect you with the manager's office. The A/C worked fine and the room temperature was very pleasant. In the larger suites, the bedroom is on the second floor and there is no on-suite bathroom.
 I've read that Crete has invested heavily in improving its water supply. The Libyan Mare is on a hillside and at times the water pressure petered out. The shower in our suite was in need of some renovation. The kitchenette was quite sparsely equipped, so don't expect to be able to cook up a storm!  
The beach can be easily accessed after a walk down the hotel driveway and across the road. The little rustic taverna at Limnaki Beach is a perfect spot for some tasty homemade burgers (meat patties) and fresh salads. Very friendly service. 

Beautiful garden and pool.

If you want cleanliness and what you
booked in advance to be provided then
avoid staying here! If you are having
problems in receiving replies to emails
then please take that as a warning, cut
your losses and book somewhere else!
Our long awaited holiday started in 2019
when in the autumn we booked a week for
June 2020 for 2 of us and paid a deposit.
Due to covid we had to change our
holiday dates to September 2020 (hoping
the pandemic would be over by then). Of
course it wasn't so again we amended to
June 2021. In late spring 2021 travel was
still uncertain for the summer. We asked
the hotelier if it would be possible to
again defer our holiday to August 2022
and that we would now like to now bring 2
teenagers with us (my partners kids from a
previous marriage) and stay for 10 nights
instead of 7. After countless emails back
and forth with days/weeks of waiting for
replies inbetween we eventually
confirmed the Ariadne Suite. The reason
there were so many emails is that we were
asking about the room set ups with
regards to bathroom and beds. A simple
question for a hotel owner we would have
thought?!!! We would ask some questions
and never receive a reply or only receive
a reply to one of our questions. It was like
pulling teeth! Eventually we were able to
chose the Ariadne as it had 2 showers,
which was very important to us. It was also
split level which offered something in the
way of a little more privacy for me and my
partner, rather than being on 1 level. We
were also advised that the double bed in
the lounge could be split- this was a little
puzzling as the write up mentioned 'sofa
bed' but we had it in writing and were
happy that the boys wouldn't have to
share a bed! We were asked to pay
another deposit (we didn't think this
strange as we were now staying for longer
and increasing the size of our party to 4
persons). We sent the hotelier John the
additional deposit with a screen shot of
our confirmed flights for 2022 and all of
our names. We did ask, and never got a
reply, if the Erato suite would provide us
with 2 twin beds in 1 of the bedrooms. We
were more than happy to pay more for the
accommodation (to give us space and a
little more privacy) but didn't want to pay
more if 1 of the kids had to be
accommodated in the lounge. It would
defeat the object of paying for more communal space and it ending up as a
bedroom. Anyway fast forward now to
August 2021 when we received an email
asking where we were!!!!!????? We
immediately forwarded the confirmation
flight email which clearly showed the
reservation for 2022, not 2021, incidentally
2022 was also in the title of the email! We
were made to feel very guilty, like it was
our mistake. Regardless our booking was
reconfirmed for August 2022. We were now
even more a little apprehensive about our
reservation (due to the date mistake of
the hotelier and the amount of emails) so
we constantly kept in touch with John by
wishing him and his family a happy Christmas, happy easter, saying how
much we were looking forward to coming....etc. In July 2022, after another
'keeping in contact email' we received an
email from John saying that he has
'passed' our booking to end Sept/
October as he has limited availability in
August. WHAT?!?!?! This was just
unbelievable???? Again we forwarded
emails and confirmations and eventually
John agreed that he would cancel others
that booked to sort something for us.
Again we had to sit tight, be patient and
wait weeks for a full reply. I did of course  send the odd email but to ask what was
happening but never received a
response. Eventually John sent us an
email saying he had cancelled 3 other
bookings and could accommodate us but
only for 7 nights, our last night would also
have to be in the Erato Suite. So here we
are, confirmed flights for 10 nights, car
hire booked for the entire holiday but only
7 nights accommodation, (inconveniently
changing rooms for the last night). We had
no choice but to accept and then find
accommodation for the last 3 nights of
our holiday. Again I asked John to confirm
that we had the 2 twin beds for the boys as now we just didn't trust him at all! We
received a reply, again eventually, saying
"all was ok'. Readers of this review may ask
why we didn't just find somewhere else to
stay in Paleochora, or elsewhere in
Greece for that matter. The reason is we
believed this was the best
accommodation in town. We had spent
weeks doing research - am an exe travel
agent and in the travel/customer service
industry for 30+ years. How wrong could
we be though! After countless days of
additional research we booked our last 3
nights near Chania at the Mossa Hotel (separate report on this - excellent hotel
by the way - spotlessly clean!) A week before our holiday we
sent another email asking what will
happen upon arrival with regards to keys
to the suite. No response. A couple of
days before we forwarded the same
email. Again no response. At Gatwick we
text the number on the website. No
response until we landed in Chania to a
text message saying the key was in the
door of the Antigone Suite. WHAT????? We
had booked the Ariadne!!!! The Antigone
was not split level and only had 1
bathroom. We arrived shortly after
midnight. As promised the key was in the door. To aid in our
dissatisfaction there was no twin beds or
twin sofa beds in the lounge. It was a
double sofa AND not even made up!
Bedding was no where in sight. We called
the number of John. His mother picked up.
She said that the mistake with the kids
beds was hers and that for this night only
the boys could sleep in a studio on the
lower level. We were told to look in the
dark reception (unmanned as all the
family were at a wedding in Chania) for a
key. We requested to speak with John the
following day at 9am. The following day we waited. At 0917hrs we got a text to say
John wasn't coming but his mother would
but at 1100hrs. After 11, the mother arrived.
Myself and partner are very reasonable
so greeted her politely, as she did us,
although my feelings inside were very
different! She started off explaining that
obviously a mistake was made and they
tried to sort for us (like we should be
grateful)! We simply asked her to put us in
the Ariadne as we had booked. She said it
was full but regardless asked to see the
email from John confirming the Ariadne,
which we eventually found and showed her. Upon reading she repeated again it
was full and dismissed the email. We
suggested that the boys stay in the studio
below (at least that would provide us with
the privacy, 2 bathrooms and twin beds)
but she said people were arriving that
same day, we could not have this. The
best she could do was to put an extra bed
in the Antigone or for us to look elsewhere
for accommodation!!!! As a last resort she
offered a scruffy studio that had all her
belongings in she was living in - we refused
last option and had no choice but to
accept an extra bed. We explained that
we did not want to waste our long awaited, shortened Paleochora holiday
looking for accommodation. We were
asked to wait an hour for it to be sorted.
Throughout the conversation she was
interrupting us everytime we spoke,
although we had allowed her to talk to us
without any interruption. We did try at first
to give our side of the story, to converse in
a civilised manner, but she just continued
to speak over us so thought it better to
listen, be patient and give our side when
she had finished. Not surprisingly when we
did get the chance to speak she cut in
everytime! I couldn't finish a sentence! We
had to ask her to pay us the same respect as we had paid her by listening and not
cutting in! She stuck her head in the air
and was looking around the room as not
paying attention at all! We were
absolutely flabbergasted at the service
and attitude that she had towards us. As a
paying customer on holiday that had
been extremely badly treated from almost
the start to be shouted at by the owner in
my experience is completely inexcusable!
After about 1.5 hrs we were asked to
inspect the room. The double sofa bed
had a sheet on top of the cushions (no
protector or anything underneath) the single bed was actually a cheap camp
bed with a sheet simply put on it (not
tucked in, no extra padding or protection
like camping! Not what I would expect
from the money we were paying. The
lounge and kitchen area was now
cramped with all the furniture here and
there to accommodate this set up. We
weren't happy at all, but what could we
do:-
CLEANLINESS/GENERAL 1/10...Upon
arrival the floor of the Antigone was filthy.
We mentioned this to John's mother who
said this was due to the door being left ajar for our arrival. We explained it wasn't
ajar, it was shut with the key in it. She said
that it was obvious that we didn't like her
hotel and perhaps we would be happier
elsewhere! We reiterated that we don't
want to waste our holiday, but the very
least we would like is a clean room. She
still disputed the dirty floor was caused by
dusty air and ran her finger over the metal
rail outside the room, which when she
inspected her finger after looked very
embarrassed it as clean as a whistle!
Shocker! The floor was cleaned again
when the extra bed was put in. However it still wasn't good and there was a lovely
sight of debris with hair and god knows
what in greeting us when we went in the
separate bedroom - yuck! Our welcome
bottle of wine was opened, the seal
broken!!!! We mentioned this but it wasn't
replaced. It disappeared the following
day. (and no we didn't drink it)! The
kitchen units are old and shabby. The
bathroom had a small corner shower. All
around the edges of the shower unit were
dirty with grime, the metal was rusty, so
much so a bolt broke off. There were huge
tubes sticking out of the wall in shower
and bedroom by about a foot in length (don't know what these were)! The air-
conditioning didn't work on our first night,
forced to sit on the balcony for the night.
We informed John's mother of this the
following day who at first thought we
didn't know how to switch it on, but when
she tried she also failed. There was only 1
remote for both A/C units so she said she
would find another (she did and it worked).
However during the night water was
pouring out of both units so we reported
this the following day and it was soon
fixed. To avoid the water ruining the sofa 
we pulled it away from the wall. The floor underneath was filthy with a broken piece
of glass present. It obviously had avoided
the re-clean?! Thank goodness we had the
lights on otherwise we could have trod on
this.
Positives- the pool and gardens are
lovely. The brickwork and look of the
outside of the property is very pretty.
PAYING THE BILL - John's mother (does
John even exist?) met us unexpectedly
upon our arrival back on our last night.
This was the night we had to go to the Erato Suite. She was wanting paying as
she was out of town again in Chania the
following day. We went to the reception
and she had figures noted down, from
John. NOT surprisingly only one of the
deposits we had paid was noted. The cost
per night was also €20 more than
originally informed. She accepted we had
paid another deposit (we had the bank
transfer notification) but argued again
with us that we had to pay the higher
nightly fee unless we could show her an
email from John confirming the lower
price? We were trying to find the email of
the price through the countless emails when she said she would meet us half way.
We still tried to find the email as we
definitely had it (upon writing this I've
found it-typical) but just couldn't find. We
reluctantly accepted the half way price
and then brought up how disappointed
and unacceptable our first night was with
the dirty floor and incorrect room, A/C not
working, sleeping on balcony, boys in a
completely separate room, hunting
around for keys in the reception at lam.
this didn't go down too well and again was
shouted at that she had had bad holiday
experiences and that we should just accept it like she did! She said that we
should have gone to the boys bedroom to
sleep... on what I asked, it only sleeps
2!?!?! Eventually she accepted we pay the
outstanding amount of €600 (€50 less).
How generous of her.
In all my years of travelling the world we
have never received such bad customer
service with no want to try and put it right.
Unless you may think that a necklace, as
way of an apology, is an acceptable
gesture of good will as this is what we
received! No gifts would make me feel
differently about this hotel or the owners. We have never received such bad service with no want by the owners to put it right. Unless you may think that a necklace, as
way of an apology, is an acceptable
gesture of good will as this is what we
received! No gifts would make me feel
differently about this hotel or the owners.
If they had apologise properly and in the
very least spoken politely and decently
compensated us then it would have
perhaps left a different impression about
them as hotel owners. However the
uncleanliness of the rooms would still
remain.
WOULD NOT RECOMMEND TO ANYONE! 

PS- Erato suite - showers are still
disgusting. Kitchen is in a better state of
repair. Staying here for the night did allow
me one thing; to get my answer about the
beds! It is split level. There is a lounge,
kitchenette, shower and bedroom on
ground floor. Upstairs there is a bedroom
and glass shower unit. The beds in each
bedroom can be split. Shocking and
frustrating that the owner wasn't able to
tell me this.

Avoid at all costs!

We booked the presidential suite for a night and something happened so we couldn’t go there.The lady who I think was in charge said we have to pay 120€ No matter what.so we went there and she started yelling about that she would pay the rent for us if we didn’t witch is completely false

Ps. She didn’t ask about any pay in advance

Staff terrible

After visiting the busy town of Chania we just needed a break. And we were lucky enough to have found this paradise of a hotel. Beautiful garden with a pool and olive trees all around and the sea right in front of us. Couldn't recommend it more! We loved it!

Greek Paradise!

We did considerable searching to find a place to stay in the lovely seaside town of Paleochora, and eventually found Libya Mare. As it is more of a vacation rental than a hotel, it did not appear under  "hotels" in the search engines but rather under alternate accommodation. It was perfect for us. We had a two level suite with a small kitchenette, all in a new building on a lovely property. The approach from the road seems somewhat dubious, as it is an undeveloped industrial corner of the town. But once on the property, it is nicely landscaped with a lovely pool. Note-you must book in advance. There was no onsite person to check us in when we arrived-only a maintenance person with little English. But he did phone the owner/manager, with whom we had made the booking, and she arrived within 30 minutes to get us checked in. We love it and think it is probably the only "4 star" property in the town. Check it out, you won't regret it.

Lovely new property on the quiet side of town

Spent a few days here with family...accommodations extremely comfortable, fantastic views of Libyan Sea and coastline from terrace, kitchen well equipped, minutes drive away from town, and very peaceful and quiet...Chrissa, the owner’s mother, was extremely helpful, always willing to do whatever she could, to make our stay comfortable and enjoyable, very friendly and welcoming.

I recommend the site to anyone in the area!

Recommended!

We returned to Libyan Mare for the second time, on this occasion taking one of the studios. Much smaller of course than the larger suites upstairs, but still good, so if you are on a tighter budget, but would really like to stay at a beautiful property, a little way out of town, this is the place for you.

We'll be back, perhaps not next year, but certainly one day.

Another lovely stay at Libyan Mare

We originally thought we'd booked one of the very luxurious multi-room apartments on the first floor, but an administrative mix-up meant it was already reserved. So we were offered a ground floor studio apartment on the ground floor - and we're very pleased we were. It was half the price of the original apartment but just as well presented and equipped. We didn't use the rudimentary cooking facilities so there was no problem in one-room living. The large room was immaculate, newly decorated and very clean with access to a private ground floor sitting area outside. Chris, the lady in charge at Libyan Mare (the owner's very glamorous mother!) gave us a brilliant welcome and was really helpful throughout. We had a problem with our hire car on the first day and she dealt with the hire company on the phone for us while the gardener kindly diagnosed the fault (a dud battery). 

The hotel has a superb pool which is maintained immaculately, and beautiful grounds. Each apartment also has a designated garden table and chairs under its own olive tree for sitting outside in the shade. 

The position was perfect for us. It's located just a few hundred metres outside the edge of Paleochora and has no other buildings around. In the car it's literally one minute back into town or about ten minutes on foot. 

If you're looking for a quiet but VERY civilised place to stay in this wonderfully unspoilt town, this could be the place for you. If you're feeling flush, book one of the superb upstair apartments with beautiful balconies overlooking the sea. And if you end up in one of the ground floor studios, you won't be doing too badly either.

We're going back next year. 

A totally splendid place to stay! 

Stayed in 1 bed suite, and also 1 extra night in a double room. Both finished to high standards but with some quirks. Suite was luxurious, with 2 lovely balconies but shower leaked (a minor annoyance).  Double room less luxurious with poor tea making facilities and lack of cutlery. Shower also leaked and balcony is below the level of the garden, so no view.We were met by the owner's mother who is very friendly and helpful.

Luxurious accommodation, quiet location

The hotel is located 300 meters from the mine beach in touch is a family run Hotel. In reality is apartment that you get with a small kitchen and a fridge. You have a million dollar view of the Libyan sea and in the back the beautiful mountains. The pool is great. No complaints about this Hotel only complements. I give it two thumbs up!

Libyan Mare

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