Daios Cove Luxury Resort & Villas
Arriving at Heraklion and travelling to Daios you would be forgiven to believe it will just be more of the same style of resort you see along the way - A hotel in a busy road, concrete cookie-cutter buildings, crammed with visitors…You could not be more wrong. A secluded quiet, private cove with rooms tastefully scattered along the sides of the hills surrounding…welcome to Daios.
The resort is truly wonderful with levels of luxury I have so far yet to have experienced before. There are various types of villas and rooms available.
On arrival you are at the top level where you are shown to a lookout area that commands a full view of the resort - Stunning. Then you are taken down one level to the reception area but this level also has a small convenience store, a luxury clothing shop, the “Glass Box” bar and large number of seating areas as well as conference facilities where they show a film every night.
Many of the rooms have their own private pool filled with seawater that was larger than you might think and had a lovely deck outside you could sit on with views of the cove below. Inside there was a massive king-sized bed, a seated area with sofa, a large walk-in glass shower area, a separate large (glass again) toilet area and a full size bathtub never mind the large sink area.
There are funicular lifts that take you to all levels of the resort from the lobby level down to the beach that operate in a leisurely manner or there are staircases that you can use should you wish to use those. Some of the larger and more expensive rooms are accessed via golf cart on hidden roads called “avenues” running throughout the resort.
We were on the “half board” option - which appears to be quite common for visitors - which, contrary to what you might think, entitles you to breakfast and DINNER in the buffet restaurant “Pangea”. If you choose you can eat in one of the two on-site a-la-carte restaurants, the “Taverna” or “Ocean Restaurant” (the former being Greek food and the later being fine dining) - If you are on the half-board option they will give you credit towards your meal hear as well as a free bottle of wine but you must reserve. The meals in the buffet are superb with a large amount of choice including hot and cold options, salad, fruit, and tremendous desserts.
On Tuesdays there is a “Sounds of Crete” show in the Taverna which we would highly recommend as not only does it have a local group of dancers and musicians playing it also serves up a variety of Greek dishes in an appetiser buffet followed by courses of grilled food and a selection of desserts. Though it is a bit expensive and you must reserve your table.
Of course, you are here for the beach, which is a bit crowded with regimented rows of beach umbrellas and loungers, but your selected spot for the day will be prepared by the ever-attentive staff who will lay out fresh towels for you and are also on hand to take your drink or food order at any time (there is also a small bar at the back of the beach area). The water is crystal clear and often very calm. There are a number of water sports for hire here as well including snorkels should you wish to look at the many small fish here.
There is also a large infinity pool here (in addition to the one in your room of course!) that is uniformly shallow (a bit past your chest) with a separate swim-up bar area and a shallower area for children. Here also the attendants are on hand with fresh towels and service, should you need it.
The staff are amazing - Professional, efficient and extremely friendly. We cannot recommend this resort highly enough. Yes, it might be a bit expensive but there are packages on offer that make this a reasonable get-away.
For further information, please see the official Daios web site at http://www.daioscovecrete.com/