Aug 23. Just returned from 14 day vacation at Phaistos Villas. If you are looking for an authentic local Crete experience in small village close to some excellent beaches and busy town within a 15 minute drive, have a large party of people. You will not be disappointed by choosing these 3 Villas. Firstly the Owner George was excellent at communicating with our visit. Panos who looks after the villas, super communication. Cleaning ladies & Pool people, fantastic people. So friendly & helpful, Dimitri a local taxi guy, really dependable & helpful. We were 9 adults + 2 Children (5&2) everyone was very happy with the quality of the villas, all had super air con. A big must in August for sure. The pool was very good & area to sunbathe really nice. Kitchens were good, smart TV’s for Netflix, Youtube etc for the kids. Really good showers in all the villas. plenty of space to eat outside & also BBQ The local village (Sivas) a 4 minute walk away to the small square & several Tavernas all serving lovely local food & wine & small shop grocery shops, Butchers, pharmacy, everything you need to stock up to eat in if you want to all with genuinely friendly people we thought. A short drive away is Komos Beach. Really lovely, Then Matala village- 20 minute drive. very easy to walk around, plenty of lovely place to eat and drink fantastic chilled vibe to the whole village. One of our best family holidays & for us the owner & the people who look after the villas locally really made us feel welcome & we would be more than happy to return & recommend to any one else who may appreciate the genuine friendliness of a lovely small village not ruined by mass tourism in a great location, assuming you also have the choice of a car to explore even if you want to visit the more lively side of this area. PS from Heraklion airport we took taxis recommended from the owner, it takes about 55-60 minutes to get to the villas, but well worth the effort in our opinion.