Garifalia Studios
+ 60
Compare deals for Garifalia Studios across hundreds of sites, all in one place
Look out for a deal with free cancellation or excellent ratings
Compare rooms and prices
We compare 100s of sites to get you the best deal
Fast facts
Check in from: | 00:00 |
|---|---|
Check out before: | 11:00 |
Pets | Pets not allowed |
Amenities
Wi-Fi
Parking
Air conditioning
Front desk 24 hour
Non-smoking
Laundry
More about Garifalia Studios
Garifalia Studios
500 metres from Kalamaki Beach, Garifalia Studios is a recently renovated property set in Kalamaki Heraklion and offers air-conditioned rooms with free WiFi and private parking.
Reviews from 
Couple
Comment: 19 Jul 2026
Stayed in: Jul 2026
Excellent experience.
Quiet place, clean rooms, welcoming and very helpful owners.
Couple
Comment: 4 Sep 2026
Stayed in: Aug 2026
A terrible mistake
The area is lovely and has great restaurants but had a nightmare experience with the accommodation.
Was okay until we discovered both locks on internal and external doors didn’t work and couldn’t lock ourselves in or lock doors when leaving.
Informed owner and asked her to please get them fixed as we do not feel our that we and our personal property are safe.
We notified booking.com and they couldn’t find us alternatively accommodation.
Has a sleeplessness night.
Asked again for locks to be sorted first thing next morning.
She attempt to fix herself at 1 pm for over an hour but still couldn’t fix them .Did not knock or let us know, just waltz in while hubby was in the shower. Nothing got fixed. Notified booking. com again.
She kept going into the unit while we were not there turning this off and unplugging things.
Things got awkward and confrontational when we did not want to pay cash and wanted to use our card.
We realised on payment that we were put in a cheaper room not the one we had booked.
Would not move us even though locks were not working and it was the wrong room.
Asked for a refund so we could leave early due to locks not working. Was told no.
Had to barricading ourselves in room as per instructions from booking agent after owner tried entering the room on multiple occasions on the last day, to turn off the aircon while we were having a day inside to avoid heatwave and possessions getting stolen.
We were awoken from sleep at 10pm to owner turning on the lights and trying to gain entry thinking we were out as the aircon was on and they wanted it off.
Left in the night and reported to police and Greek travel authorities and booking agent
Wished we had checked trip advisor and Google before booking as we found many other disturbing real reviews.
“Apparently” trying to clean a self contained unit six times in 48hrs and at 10 pm ???
Was okay until we discovered both locks on internal and external doors didn’t work and couldn’t lock ourselves in or lock doors when leaving.
Informed owner and asked her to please get them fixed as we do not feel our that we and our personal property are safe.
We notified booking.com and they couldn’t find us alternatively accommodation.
Has a sleeplessness night.
Asked again for locks to be sorted first thing next morning.
She attempt to fix herself at 1 pm for over an hour but still couldn’t fix them .Did not knock or let us know, just waltz in while hubby was in the shower. Nothing got fixed. Notified booking. com again.
She kept going into the unit while we were not there turning this off and unplugging things.
Things got awkward and confrontational when we did not want to pay cash and wanted to use our card.
We realised on payment that we were put in a cheaper room not the one we had booked.
Would not move us even though locks were not working and it was the wrong room.
Asked for a refund so we could leave early due to locks not working. Was told no.
Had to barricading ourselves in room as per instructions from booking agent after owner tried entering the room on multiple occasions on the last day, to turn off the aircon while we were having a day inside to avoid heatwave and possessions getting stolen.
We were awoken from sleep at 10pm to owner turning on the lights and trying to gain entry thinking we were out as the aircon was on and they wanted it off.
Left in the night and reported to police and Greek travel authorities and booking agent
Wished we had checked trip advisor and Google before booking as we found many other disturbing real reviews.
“Apparently” trying to clean a self contained unit six times in 48hrs and at 10 pm ???
Couple
Comment: 29 Aug 2026
Stayed in: Aug 2026
Worst experience ever
If I could give zero stars I would.
It started with we would check in at 12 as she asked for a time of arrival. We changed our arrival time to 3pm due to a change of plans exploring the area on the way from rhythm. I sent them a message at 1050 to state our new arrival time.
When we arrived she was not there and her partner had no idea who we were. He eventually put us in the downstairs studio. We set everything up in the room including putting all our food in the fridge. Whilst doing that the freezer smelt of bait fish. We then went to go out and we couldn’t lock the door. We asked her to have it fixed which was very difficult due to the language barrier.
The next morning was very awkward trying to bay by card, she was really trying to force us to pay cash. I had to wait awkwardly for her to charge her machine as she didn’t speak English very well. She mentioned why I didn’t book the upstairs room and is felt like she was implying us to pay more for the upgrade. I ended up paying by card.
We stayed in the room for mid morning due to the 40 degree day. During that time she spent an hour with a drill trying to fix the door to no avail which was quite annoying as didn’t even inform us what she was doing and just opened the door whilst I was in the shower.
We went out for the afternoon and came back and she turned the air conditioner off. We then went out to watch the sunset, came back and she turned the air conditioning off again by entering our room.
I double checked my booking and realised that we should have been in the deluxe room as per our booking on booking.com. The couple then came to our door and started fiddling with the lock again at 9pm. I asked them then why she put us on the ground floor studio room when we booked the deluxe double room. The conversation wasn’t pleasant and she just walked away.
The next morning we asked for a refund for the last night and she refused. I then asked to go to the upgraded room and she said we booked the studio and it was too hard to move us.
We ended up staying the whole day in the room as we didn’t know if they would enter the room and possibly take our belongings outside.
In my entire life at 60 years of age I have never come across service this bad. How can you let a room out with no lock. She actually stated that the lock hasn’t worked for a while.
Also the beach looks nice but to enter it the whole coast line has plate rock and reef and to enter safely is not easy.
It started with we would check in at 12 as she asked for a time of arrival. We changed our arrival time to 3pm due to a change of plans exploring the area on the way from rhythm. I sent them a message at 1050 to state our new arrival time.
When we arrived she was not there and her partner had no idea who we were. He eventually put us in the downstairs studio. We set everything up in the room including putting all our food in the fridge. Whilst doing that the freezer smelt of bait fish. We then went to go out and we couldn’t lock the door. We asked her to have it fixed which was very difficult due to the language barrier.
The next morning was very awkward trying to bay by card, she was really trying to force us to pay cash. I had to wait awkwardly for her to charge her machine as she didn’t speak English very well. She mentioned why I didn’t book the upstairs room and is felt like she was implying us to pay more for the upgrade. I ended up paying by card.
We stayed in the room for mid morning due to the 40 degree day. During that time she spent an hour with a drill trying to fix the door to no avail which was quite annoying as didn’t even inform us what she was doing and just opened the door whilst I was in the shower.
We went out for the afternoon and came back and she turned the air conditioner off. We then went out to watch the sunset, came back and she turned the air conditioning off again by entering our room.
I double checked my booking and realised that we should have been in the deluxe room as per our booking on booking.com. The couple then came to our door and started fiddling with the lock again at 9pm. I asked them then why she put us on the ground floor studio room when we booked the deluxe double room. The conversation wasn’t pleasant and she just walked away.
The next morning we asked for a refund for the last night and she refused. I then asked to go to the upgraded room and she said we booked the studio and it was too hard to move us.
We ended up staying the whole day in the room as we didn’t know if they would enter the room and possibly take our belongings outside.
In my entire life at 60 years of age I have never come across service this bad. How can you let a room out with no lock. She actually stated that the lock hasn’t worked for a while.
Also the beach looks nice but to enter it the whole coast line has plate rock and reef and to enter safely is not easy.
Family traveller
Comment: 10 Aug 2024
Stayed in: Aug 2024
Never ever again!
We have been coming to Crete for many years. We also like to come back to Kalamaki. We like the not entirely new, the slightly improvised and at the same time very warm welcome here. If there is a cockroach in the bathroom, we remove it. Period. But what we had to experience this year in the #GarifaliaStudios is as sad as it is bizarre. Simple studios, tiny bathrooms with no water pressure, minimal WiFi, old mattresses, poorly equipped kitchen - but hey, none of that bothers us. We know the simplicity of many accommodations here and appreciate it, we always have the Opinell knife with us and sometimes buy a decent pan ourselves. Of course there was a lot of room for improvement - more than we are used to - always having to walk past the private rooms, constantly having to listen to their music, hearing their toilet flush in the front studio... but never mind... The initially warm welcome made up for it: fruit from the garden, small dumplings and a stew to welcome us... But then the behavior and energy on site changed so much that we moved a week before the end of our vacation. Background: When he was removing a cockroach from the bathroom ceiling, one of the very old camping stools collapsed under my husband. Fortunately, he didn't hurt himself in the tiny bathroom. The next evening when we returned home - tired, hungry and accompanied by our little son - Garifalia really confronted us: we had broken a stool and a tile had cracked. It was definitely the children with a stone. To explain: the day before, our son ran to the studio with friends' children to get something from the terrace (more of a narrow balcony facing the street). When we arrived there shortly afterwards, it was very clear that this was not wanted... And we agreed with our friends that the children should stay with them if they were to stay. Basically, you can see that she likes to have everything in view and under control. Back to the accusations: Our explanation of what actually happened with the broken stool and the dark tile with a hairline crack that we hadn't noticed was not accepted. She wasn't really interested in the fact that the children weren't in the bathroom. My husband didn't talk about the basics of professional tiling anymore. Then suddenly it was about our payment via Booking - she hadn't received anything, etc. My husband then showed her the confirmation of the payment and the debit receipt. That wasn't enough, he should send it to her... He did that the same evening. In short: We then decided not to stay there - also because that's not how a vacation should feel. And especially not when you have a child with you... Instead, we moved out the next morning. When we informed Garifalia that we were leaving, brought her the keys and offered to check the two studios, the debate started again: Why wasn't there a brown stain on the bathroom ceiling when we had removed a cockroach there (incidentally, that wasn't the only cockroach we encountered there). The answer: paper towels. How heavy was my husband? And: the stool cost €5. We offered to pay for it, but it still went on... We then took photos of the rooms that had been left tidy, disposed of the rubbish and left. And even though we now paid twice - all three of us were incredibly happy when we left there. Conclusion: If you have children, if you have slightly higher expectations of WiFi or comfort or sea view, if you want to feel unobserved on your own narrow terrace, if you are interested in being able to cook and much more, this is the wrong place for you!
Anonymous traveller
Comment: 28 Jun 2025
Stayed in: Jun 2025
Very friendly hosts. Good location. Will return.
Location
New Kalamaki, 70200, Greece
Check in and check out
Check in from:
00:00
Check out before:
11:00
Good to know
Pets not allowed
Extra beds are available for an additional charge, depending on the size of the room.
Garifalia Studios: FAQs
Need flights or a car for your trip?
Did you know we can help you plan the rest of your trip? Get exclusive deals and great rates for flights and car hire.Flights