If you are looking for a holiday house to rent in a real Greek village, our houses give you the peace and quiet of a rural location, within a couple of minutes' walk of village tavernas, kafeneions and shops. The safe sandy beach & tavernas of Almirida are 5 minutes' drive, and the historic Venetian towns of Chania & Rethymnon are 45 minutes away. Many more beaches, the White Mountains and the Samaria gorge are all in easy reach.

The Olive picker's house and Old wine press are traditional village houses.
Both houses have been carefully renovated to keep their original Greek flavour, but also feature the comfort and facilities you would expect to find in a modern villa. These traditional Greek villas are privately owned and maintained by us.

Here you will find secluded independent accommodation for a relaxed self catering holiday at any time of year, a peaceful haven 5 minutes walk from the village centre.

View of the houses from above (click the picture for locating arrow)		Gavalohori is a little village away from the main tourist beat, but still only 5 minutes to the beach resorts Almirida and Kalíves. You can follow the path on foot down to Almirida through the olive groves. Gavalohori  is well supplied with tavernas & cafes, as well as several small shops and a bakery, everything you need to self-cater is within 5 minutes walk. An excellent base from which to explore the varied topography and ancient sites of Crete; which also has fascinating 20th century historical connections. Still very much a traditional Cretan village, though now with facilities for self-catering holidays, right through the year.

5 minutes stroll from the houses is APOSPERITIS, our local taverna . The best food in Apokoronas & exceptional value. Bring your friends or you won’t be able to finish your dinner!
With a varied traditional menu, everything is cooked to order. Great for vegetarians too.
Opens May to October 6.30 pm until very late.
Open for lunch Sundays & (Greek) bank holidays.

Walking on a few metres you will see H POIOLIS General store, the first shop on the right before the village square. Selling general groceries including fruit, vegetables, wine, frozen meat & fish, this shop is open 7.30 am ‘till 8 pm. every day of the year.

“SWEET CAFÉ”, a patisserie bar with loads of sweet temptations, with "BARBEQUE,"  next door together offer a full and varied menu. Enjoy your meal on the roof, inside - or the pavement cafe if you are brave!
Open 9 am - 2.30 pm, 6 pm - midnight every day.

Right in the square is GAVALOHORI KAFENES. Run by Georgos who also runs the excellent fish taverna “PSAROS” in Almirida, and his Tasmanian wife, Monica. This café/snack bar has been very nicely renovated and is open 9 am ‘til late every day. The menu has expanded here - enjoy ‘mezes’ and traditional Cretan dishes from the oven, as well as Greek salad, giant beans, stuffed courgette flowers and more.

Opposite GAVALOHORI KAFENES is the village bakery, a few yards up a little side street. They are open 9 am - 2 pm & 5 pm - 8 pm every day. Very nice brown bread, spinach pies, and sometimes chocolate croissants.

On the other side of the square is the GAVALOHORI WOMEN’S CO-OPERATIVE. This co-operative is run by 30 ladies from the village & sells all kinds of local products, particularly lace which is hand made from silk from their own silk worms. They also have herbs and wild teas from Crete, locally produced olive oil, and ‘spoon sweets’ in jars. They have an ice cream fridge and cold drinks. The co-operative acts as an informal kafeneion for the old men of the village who sit along the street, opposite the real kafeneion. Open March to November 9.30 am - 10 pm. A wonderful place for authentic gifts.

At the end of the square there is a larger mini market called SUPERMARKET FRONIMOS. They stock general groceries, fruit, wine, frozen meat and fish, etc and also flip flops, beach accessories and film. SUPERMARKET FRONIMOS is open 7am - 8 pm every day. This is a much better than average village shop with just about everything you need.

Turn left as you enter the square and after about 70 metres on the right you will find the  GAVALOHORI FOLK MUSEUM.
Open April to October
9am – 7pm Monday to Saturday,
Sunday 9am – 1 pm 5 pm – 8pm. 

Keep walking past the red domed church, bearing left up hill you will pass the old village school. This is owned by the Gavalohori cultural society and is the venue for some music evenings in the summer. Continuing left down hill you will reach the road – turn left and in a few metres you will be back at the house!

Crete offers culture and history, bustling cities with nightlife and shopping, beautiful beaches, friendly villages, trekking, countryside and mountain walks.

Crete is the largest of the Greek islands and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean. It is 256km long and between 15km and 70km wide. The inland terrain is mountainous with high fertile plateaux split by spectacular gorges, ideal for walking and photography. Along the north coast, sandy beaches stretch virtually the length of the island. Other local activities include cycling, bird watching, horse riding and painting.

The Winter is very short in West Crete – by February the almond trees are blossoming, and from then on new wild flowers appear every day. In March, April, and May the sky is a beautiful deep blue, birds sing their hearts out and the snowy peaks of The White Mountains are truly spectacular. October can be gorgeous, sunny & warm, quiet beaches and wonderful for walking.

Cycling 

Crete is one of the best places in the Mediterranean for cycling and walking, especially in the cooler months March-May and September-November. The roads in most parts of the island have improved radically in just the last few years and are now mostly good tarmac.  The by-product of this though is that the older unmade roads - perfect for cycling - are hardly used by normal traffic. Within half an hour or so you can be in the most beautiful & spectacular Cretan countryside, and have it pretty much to yourself.

There is now a company in nearby Georgoupolis which specialises in the hire of good quality mountain bikes and organised tours of this area. They will deliver bikes to you here in Gavalohori from where you can join their tour party or take their map and head off by yourself. Tours start from 35 Euro/day or bike hire alone 80 Euro/week. You can see more detail on their website Adventure Bikes www.adventurebikes.org

Click here for information about the area - within easy reach of our houses.

Click these links to see more about the houses.
The olive pickers house and The old wine press

Self-catering holiday accommodation in Apokoronas, Western Crete.

Gavalohori can also be found spelt Gavalahori, Gavalochori, or Gavalachori.