Paralos Kosta Alímia

Paralos Kosta Alímia is set directly on Anissaras Beach, on Crete's northern shore near Hersonissos. The hotel holds 152 rooms and suites, arranged across categories that range from garden view to direct sea view, with several offering a private pool or an outdoor hydro-massage tub. Rooms use earthy tones and materials drawn from the surrounding Cretan landscape. Some terraces extend onto a sunbathing deck with a fire pit; others connect straight to a shared swim-up pool called the Laguna. You can walk from a Junior Suite terrace into the water without crossing a lobby or a pool deck.

Dining runs across five separate restaurants, each built around one cuisine: Greek grill, a taverna, seafood, Mediterranean and a steakhouse. Three bars serve the pools and lobby, including two positioned at the poolside. There is no single dining room and no set buffet hours. A wellness spa and an indoor-outdoor gym sit alongside the pools, and watersports run from the beach, including parasailing and escorted scuba dives. The Crete Golf Club's 18-hole course lies a short drive away.

Check-in is by 3pm. Anissaras itself is a quiet stretch of coast, a short run from the harbour town of Hersonissos and Heraklion beyond it.