The Villa was totally amazing. It was beautiful inside and out and had everything we needed for a fantastic relaxing holiday. The pool area was amazing with a tv (for the World Cup Football), a bbq, oven and everything you needed to cook outside. A hot-tub, shower, toilet, you didn't need to go inside for anything except sleep or if you fancied it a sauna, a quick workout and then a game of pool in the games room (which also had another TV!) We were all totally blown away with this villa. You do need a car though as the town was a 15 minute drive away. Would definitely recommend this villa, it has absolutely everything you need for a fantastic holiday!
Skaleta · Rethymno · Crete
Villa Aelia
A house built inside its own olive grove. Six bedrooms, fifteen guests, four thousand square metres behind one gate.
Into the grove
Inside the grove
The trees were here first.
ελιάeliá — the olive
The olives
Seen from directly above, the estate sits in rows of olive trees. They run up to the lawn and carry on inside the wall.
The wall
4,000 m²
A wall and one private gate close the whole estate, so the grounds belong to one group at a time.
The lawn
850 m²
Lawn on three sides of the pool, running out to the olive trees at its far corner.
The water
100 m²
A curved pool, 1.5 m deep, with a 10 m² children's pool set into its edge, half a metre deep.
The house
410 m²
Three floors: living rooms on the ground floor, four bedrooms above, and two more with the cinema, billiards and spa rooms below.
The house is named after the tree. Every terrace, table and bedroom balcony looks back out into it.
The olive hours
One day on the olive wreath.
The Aelia mark has twelve leaves. Read them as a clock, two hours to a leaf, and follow one day at the house.
08:00 Morning
The view from the balcony.
From the first floor, the pool sits below you in the olive groves, with the mountain on the horizon.
10:00 Late breakfast
Doors open to the terrace.
The living room, dining room and kitchen share one floor, with glass doors onto the terrace and the olives beyond.
12:00 Midday
Two pools, one curve.
A 100 m² pool, 1.5 m deep, with a 10 m² children's pool set into its curve, half a metre deep.
14:00 Lunch
The pavilion by the pool.
A lounge, a table for the whole group and a full outdoor kitchen with a gas grill, oven and dishwasher, under a roof that opens.
18:00 Late afternoon
Olives all the way to the mountain.
The lawn and the two pools, and the olive groves running out to the mountain on the horizon.
20:00 Sunset
The house in the water.
The lights come on and the whole house is mirrored in the pool.
22:00 Blue hour
Both pools, lit.
Lights come on under the water, and the pavilion glows behind them.
00:00 Midnight
The last ones in the spa.
The pavilion stays lit and the spa stays warm. The leaves from two to six stay dark until morning.
The afternoon splits
Seven rooms for seven different afternoons.
A big group stops agreeing on anything by four. The lower level is built for that.
Swipe through all seven
01 / 07
Cinema
A screening room with a 65" screen and surround sound. One guest can sleep on its sofa.
Billiards
A Chevillotte table, with room to walk all the way round it.
Playroom
Small tables, small chairs and a shelf of toys for the youngest guests.
Gym
Treadmill, cross-trainer, a multi-station and free weights.
Sauna
A timber cabin for up to three, a few steps from the gym.
Massage room
A treatment room with its own door, not a corner of the lounge.
Heated spa
Outside by the pool: six seats, aromatherapy, lights and a waterfall, with its own shower and WC.
Six bedrooms
Four rooms upstairs, two below.
Every bed is drawn to scale. Twelve guests sleep in beds, two on sofa beds and one on the cinema sofa.
First floor
Plus a family bathroom with a bathtub, washer and dryer.
Lower level
With the cinema, billiards, gym, sauna and massage room.
- 6
- bedrooms
- 12
- in beds
- +3
- sofa beds and cinema sofa
- 4
- with their own shower room
First floor
The suite
A curved ceiling, a porthole window and a shower room with a copper basin, opening straight off the bed.
- King bed 180 × 200
- Own shower room
- TV
First floor
The balcony room
Balcony doors on one side and a window on the other, both looking out over the olive canopy.
- King bed 180 × 200
- Own shower room
- Balcony
- TV
First floor
The twin
Two singles for children or friends, or one king bed if you ask before you arrive.
- Two singles 90 × 200
- Joined into a king on request
- Balcony
- TV
First floor
The sea-view room
The smallest room, and the one with the sea in its window.
- Semi-double 150 × 200
- Balcony
- TV
Lower level
The garden room
A king bed and a sofa bed, with a window onto the garden.
- King bed 180 × 200
- Sofa bed for one
- Own shower room
- Window
- TV
Lower level
The inner room
The one room without a window: the darkest and quietest in the house, for the earliest night or the latest morning.
- King bed, or two singles on request
- Sofa bed for one
- Own shower room
- 43" TV
- No window
The guest book
The house, remembered by the people who stayed.
Every Airbnb review is five stars. Five of them, in full.
9.7Booking.com Traveller Review Award
Top 10%Tripadvisor Travellers' Choice
Both awards are shown with the year they were given.
The whole house
Walk through the whole house.
Fifty-six photographs in seven chapters, from the gate in the grove to the pool after dark.
Skaleta
Five minutes' walk from the beach.
Skaleta is a coastal village on the north coast of Crete, between Rethymno and Panormos.
The beach at Skaleta is about five minutes away on foot. Rethymno's old town is a short drive west, and the mountain villages are an easy morning inland. Three bicycles come with the house.
- Skaleta beachAbout five minutes on foot
- PanormosFishing village and harbour, east along the coast
- Rethymno old townVenetian harbour and old quarter, west
- Arkadi MonasteryInland, in the foothills
- Ancient EleuthernaExcavated city and museum, inland
The details
Before you arrive.
Arrival and stay
- Check-in from 16:00, check-out by 11:00.
- A welcome basket from the owners on arrival.
- Cleaning with fresh towels and linen every four days, for stays of six nights or more.
- Pool cleaned twice a week, garden once a week.
- Secure private parking, 170 m².
Pool and spa
- Pool heating on request, usually March to mid-June and October to November, with two days' notice and an additional daily fee.
- Heating can't run above 25 °C outside or in rain.
Families
- Cot, high chair, stair gate and unbreakable children's plates and cups on request.
- A 10 m² children's pool, 0.5 m deep, beside the main pool.
- A playroom on the lower level.
In the house
- Air conditioning throughout, and an open fireplace in the living room.
- Wi-Fi inside and around the pool.
- Three bicycles.
- Licence: Greece 1067228.
Your dates
Everything is arranged except the dates.
Tell us when you'd like to arrive, how many of you there are, and anything that matters to this group. You'll get a personal reply with availability and rates.
Pool heating, baby equipment and extra housekeeping need advance notice and may carry a fee.