Greece · 20 pool stays
Summer highs around 29°C, and private pools to cool off in.
Crete at a glance
Climate: Air: HNMS climatic data, Iraklio station (39 m), mean monthly maximum 1955-2010. Sea: seatemperature.info Heraklion, 10-year monthly average. Rounded.
Photo: Serinus / Pexels
Crete is Greece's largest island, and its pool stays come in every format: suites with their own plunge pool, swim-up rooms that open onto a shared channel, and villas in the hills above the coast. The HNMS station at Heraklion records average highs of 29°C in July and August, and the sea there reaches about 26°C in August, so here the pool is for cooling off rather than warming up. The season runs long, too: in October the average high is still 24°C and the sea is around 23°C.
Every stay we add here needs a pool at the property and a Booking.com rating of 8.0 or more from at least 50 guests. For a summer trip we give extra weight to private and infinity pools, and each stay page says plainly whether the pool is yours alone or shared with other guests.
Worth knowing: most hotel pools on Crete are outdoor, and many are unheated and open only for the warm months, so if you travel in spring or late autumn, check the opening dates and water temperature with the hotel. Balos and Elafonissi get very busy in July and August. If you have fixed school-holiday dates, book well ahead.
Warmth by month
In January the average afternoon high in Crete is 15°C, the sea sits at 17°C.
| Month | Air high | Sea |
|---|---|---|
| January | 15°C | 17°C |
| February | 16°C | 16°C |
| March | 17°C | 16°C |
| April | 20°C | 17°C |
| May | 24°C | 20°C |
| June | 27°C | 23°C |
| July | 29°C | 26°C |
| August | 29°C | 26°C |
| September | 27°C | 25°C |
| October | 24°C | 23°C |
| November | 20°C | 21°C |
| December | 17°C | 19°C |
Scale starts at 10°C. Air and sea: Air: HNMS climatic data, Iraklio station (39 m), mean monthly maximum 1955-2010. Sea: seatemperature.info Heraklion, 10-year monthly average. Rounded. None of the stays here states a pool temperature yet, so there is no pool line.
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High on a hillside near Kissamos, each of the three white villas here has its own outdoor pool, set into a pale stone deck with a glass balustrade on the open side. From the water you look across green hillsides down to the sea. The pool is fenced and opens for the warm season.
Spinalonga sits right across the water from Cayo's three outdoor pools, infinity pools set on the hillside above Plaka. Most rooms and suites add a private pool on their own terrace: every category except the entry-level Superior Room has one, and the Grand Suite has two. Down in the Armonia Spa there's also a large indoor pool beside the sauna and steam room.
From the deck you look straight out over green slopes to the Cretan Sea. Each stone villa here has its own outdoor pool, fenced, with a shallow end and a long lounging terrace alongside. The pool is heated and open all year: the heating lifts the water 6 to 8 degrees above the day's average air temperature, up to 29°C.
The best of the four pools is out at the tip of the peninsula: a two-level saltwater pool with the sea on three sides, a children's section on the lower level and nothing but the bay of Agia Pelagia from the water. The main pool sits higher up between the restaurant and the snack bar, with a 270-degree sea view.
Agii Theodori island fills the horizon from the main pool, which runs between the resort's terraces and the sea at Platanias. Outdoor pools spread through the 30,000 m² grounds, including a palm-lined courtyard pool, and there are four children's pools. The heated one is indoors: a 90 m² pool under a glass roof in the spa, lined with white loungers, with a sauna, steam bath and hammam alongside.
Acro's main pool is a saltwater infinity pool set into the cliff above Mononaftis Bay, on Crete's north coast. The edge runs out towards the Cretan Sea, with a terrace of flat loungers and a shaded cabana at one end and the resort's stone-and-earth suites stepping down the rock behind it. It's an outdoor, seasonal pool, and there's a second, indoor pool for cooler days.
Seventeen freshwater pools spread through Creta Maris, from the big main pools above Hersonissos beach to five kids' pools and a 4,000 m² waterpark with slides, aqua tower pools and river rapids. The heated ones set the tone for spring and autumn: the indoor pool, the heated outdoor pools in the Terra family area, and three heated East Pools inside the Exclusive Adult Rooms area, kept for guests aged 16 and over who stay there.
The lagoon pool is the whole point here. It winds through the resort between palm islands and timber decks, with overwater bungalows and swim-up rooms stepping straight down into it. A sunken round lounge sits in the middle of the water, and the buffet restaurant has a wooden deck reaching out over it. For cooler days, the Anassa Spa adds a heated indoor pool.
The main outdoor pool runs along the edge of Ierapetra's seafront, with the Libyan Sea just beyond the railing and rows of thatched umbrellas on the sand below. It's a saltwater pool with its own pool bar, and next to it a separate kids' pool is built around a pirate ship with water slides. Down in the spa there's also an indoor pool, alongside a sauna, a hammam and a hot tub.
From the infinity pool at Seaside you look out over the Cretan Sea, with the resort stepping down a rocky headland above Mononaftis Bay. Three outdoor pool areas spread across the terraces, a rooftop pool among them, all ringed by palms, timber cabanas and thatched parasols. The Action pool by the Pelagos bar was renovated with saltwater.
The main pool sits on a stone-paved terrace with the garden's trees around it and the bay and mountains across the water. It has a shallow end for easing in, and a separate children's pool gives younger swimmers a space of their own. Both are outdoors, and the main pool opens in season.
A large tree spreads its shade over the garden at Epavli, and beneath it runs a long, narrow outdoor pool, lined with grey loungers on pale stone and backed by the white neoclassical mansion that holds the suites. Greenery closes in around the garden, so it feels more like a private courtyard than a city hotel, even though the old town is a short walk away.
A long outdoor pool runs the length of the sun terrace, finished with an infinity edge and a shallow end for easing in. Pale stone decking and glass balustrades frame it, the garden lawns run alongside, and the upper balconies look straight down onto the water. There's a kids' pool too, so younger swimmers have their own patch.
Every room here has its own pool, set into a furnished terrace, and from the sea-view suites you look out over the rooftops of Chania towards the sea. It's water a few steps from your bed, for a morning dip or a swim after dark. Down in the spa there's a second option: a heated indoor saltwater pool with water cascades, beside a large jacuzzi.
Tall palms stand over the pool at Kallitsakis Beach, set in a flowering garden between the low apartment buildings. It's a fresh-water outdoor pool with a shallow end, ringed by sun loungers and umbrellas, and the pool-view balconies and ground-floor terraces look straight down onto it. It opens with the summer season, from May to October.
Spinalonga and its Venetian fortress sit just across the water, and the pools of Domes of Elounda step down the hillside towards the sandy beach of Driros. Families get their own outdoor pools with a shallow kids' pool, there's an adults-only pool, the 16+ Chora complex has a pool with the closest view of the island, and the spa has an indoor seawater pool. Many suites, residences and villas add a private pool; the rest have an outdoor hot tub.
Water is everywhere at Lyttos Beach. A long, curving outdoor pool runs between the hotel wings and the sand, a lane-marked pool is there for proper lengths, and an indoor heated pool sits under glass for cooler days. Along the seafront, some ground-floor rooms and junior suites have a private pool of their own, a few steps from the beach.
The infinity pool sits at the tip of a rocky headland, so the view from the water takes in 180 degrees of Mirabello Bay: islets, the mountains of eastern Crete and the open sea. Loungers are set into the shallow water itself, and below it all is the resort's own sandy cove. Three suite types add a pool of their own, and in the Infinity Lagoon Suites that pool opens onto a shared lagoon running along the rooms.
Two outdoor pools curl through the gardens between the hotel and the beach, with the sea beyond the loungers. The White Sand Lagoon Spiral is 1.4 m deep, and the Tropical Green Lake, 1.55 m deep, is designed to be accessible for guests with reduced mobility. Both run with the hotel season, from 15 April to 9 November. Inside the Coral Wellness spa there's a heated indoor pool, 1.2 m deep, beside a hot tub.
From the water you look straight down Vathi's cove. The main pool is an infinity edge filled with heated sea water, set on the hillside just above the resort's private sandy beach, with part of it kept for children. Up the slope, many rooms, suites and villas have a sea-water pool of their own: 165 in all.
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