Villa Koukouvayia

Don’t get away from it all.
Get away from everything that doesn’t count.

“It’s best to take a vacation twice a year, and to make sure each one lasts six months.”― Anonymous

Villa Koukouvayia Farms will provide you more than a place to vacation with your great friends, your close family, or your significant-other. It will help you remember just how great, close & significant they are to your heart.

With so quiet a place, with so many activities on the estate and nearby, and with three beautiful homes from which to choose, Villa Koukouvayia can form the foundation of a true vacation for you and for those you love best. Here is where people reattach and recharge—through activity, through relaxation, or by enjoying a healthy balance of both.

One private estate; three private homes.

“It’s easy to face life with care, courage and love when you have a home filled with all three.”― Anonymous

Villa Koukouvayia’s three private homes form the heart of her hospitality and flexibility. For individual families, couples or friends seeking a simple vacation rental, each home’s air-conditioned bedrooms, separated entrances, private parking, gardens and spaces create a comfortable quiet residence isolated from the estate’s other homes. For groups needing a larger venue to host a multi-family reunion, a destination wedding, or an activity-focused retreat, the homes will serve an ideal balance between privacy and community, sharing the estate comfortably and casually, and creating—together—a social center for celebration, conversation, care and camaraderie.

The farm’s Guest House, the oldest of the three homes, sleeps 4 adults (or a family of 5 with children who are under 12.) The Guest House was built in 2012, set back at the highest and farthest position from the farm’s entrance, and faces northwest where Gramvousa’s mountains slope into the sea.

The Main House typically sleeps 5 adults, with the space to host an extra adult in any one of several rooms. Completed in 2017, the Main House is set further down the property’s slope from the Guest House, and by facing northeast and pivoting slightly offline from her smaller sister, both houses have unobstructed views of the Gulf of Kissamos and the dramatic Aegean mountains that form the bay.

The villa’s Garden Suite, her third residence, was finished in 2022, and is now undergoing a final fitting-out for 2023 service. Of all Villa Koukouvayia’s homes, the Garden Suite has the greatest flexibility and capacity. Her three bedrooms can be configured from queen-bed apartments to singles sleeping up to 11 adults. And with a large living area easily converting to a semi-private bedroom via a hidden cabinet bed, two additional family members, friends or (if lodging a program) staff can increase occupancy to 13. Resting beneath the Main House, the Garden Suite trades the sea-views of her two sister-homes for her ability—using a series of large windows, skylights and double French doors—to let guests step directly into her private yard & garden, and directly experience the Cretan embrace of our surrounding olive groves.

Use the occupancy table and notes below to see whether the Main House (MH), Garden Suite (GS), Guest House (GH), some combination, or the entire estate (VKF) will provide the best venue for your group’s stay.

(Click on table to zoom in)

Main House Occupancy Notes:

The Main House can accommodate up to 2 extra people (1 without charge) using the two bedrooms where an extra bed can be easily added, or the long living room sofa as a nightly bed.

While there are unique circumstances we might discuss (e.g., an extra small child sleeping in a parent’s room, a family member showing up for only one vacation night), for your and the house’s comfort, we rarely recommend lodging more than 7 people in the Main House.

Guest House Occupancy Notes:

For your comfort and the house’s, we don’t recommend exceeding the Guest House’s maximum capacity of 4, except when 3 guests are children under 13. This configuration is easily achieved by adding a portable bed into the 2nd bedroom. It is free of charge, and guests have found this a comfortable alternative to renting a larger home.

Garden Suite Occupancy Notes:

Because Garden Suite bedrooms can be comfortably configured to handle groups from 3 to 11, “typical” occupancies are often fewer than the “standard” occupancy listed above. But to decide how your specific group can take advantage of the Garden Suite’s flexibility, simply remember that:

2 bedrooms can sleep up to 4 adults in single beds or host two people (or a single person) in a queen bed.
1 bedroom can sleep up to 3 adults in single beds or host two people (or a single person) in a queen bed.
Additionally, the Garden Suite can host 2 extra adults using the living room’s comfortable cabinet bed.

One private estate; three private homes.

“It’s easy to face life with care, courage and love when you have a home filled with all three.”― Anonymous

Main House

Villa Koukouvayia’s Main House is perhaps the most luxurious of the villa’s three homes, with wide terraces and balconies that offer spectacular Aegean & Mountain views at all three of its levels. The ground floor boasts a sunken living room, stone fireplace, large dining area and kitchen, food pantry, and a bathroom convenient to living areas and pool patios. For guests needing to keep in touch with professional tasks during an extended stay, a dedicated private office featuring network docking, monitor, printer and other peripherals, provides simple plug & vacation-to-work connection.

Upstairs, three bedrooms each access either a spectacular balcony or a roof terrace with wet bar. Bedroom 3, the “Falcon Nest,” shares its antique maple bed with French doors, large closets and perfect views of the moon or sun cresting the steep eastern slope opposite the Tyflos River Valley. Bedroom 2, the “Griffon Nest,” is built into a dramatic stone turret with two levels—a studio and upper sleeping loft—connected by spiral stairs that also lead to the Main House’s roof terrace, with a wet-bar. Both the wide desk at studio level and the extra-long single bed in the loft are built into the turret’s wrapping windows to create a romantic 180-degree view from the island’s western edge to its northern Aegean shore. The lower studio is perfect for professional work or, with an easily installed 2^nd bed, another adult—either friend or sibling—can comfortably double the suite’s capacity. The 2^nd full bathroom on this level also hosts the Main House’s convenient laundry facilities, adjacent to a dedicated laundry balcony for fresh-dried linens.

Finally, the Main House’s 2^nd floor accommodations are crowned by the master bedroom or “Koukouvayia Suite.” The suite’s luxuries include built-in closets & hidden hampers; a library, reading area & stone fireplace; and a hand-carved king-sized teak bed set into windows tall enough to display the night’s galaxies and constellations. The Koukouvayia Suite is privately isolated from rest of the 2^nd floor by a long entry hallway and en suite bath. The bath is large enough not only for a two-person shower, but a long soaking tub where one can bathe beneath the charming view across the valley of the moon rising, and the spot-lit mountain chapel of Saint John.

Together the Main House’s accommodations are perfect for larger families or families with grown children who now need the extra privacy and space.

Guest House

Villa Koukouvayia’s Guest House, built in 2012, is the oldest and smallest of the villa’s three homes. Set back at the highest and farthest position from the farm’s entrance, her design echoes the Main House below her and includes the same continuous verandas, large, spectacular balconies, and a private roof terrace where star-gazing feels more like star-touching. The house’s open-design first floor provides space for large living areas, a fully equipped kitchen, and a convenient bath. Upstairs, two bedrooms include a master bedroom (the “Hawk’s Nest”) whose sliding doors open onto a 270° wrapping balcony large enough for entertaining and with spiral-stair access to the roof terrace. The second bedroom (the “Crow’s Nest”) also opens onto a private balcony, gazing south up the Tyflos Valley to Crete’s higher elevations and famous White Mountains. The Crow’s Nest sleeps two adults comfortably, each with a single bed, built bunk-stye into a full-width window that integrates each bed into a soaring view of the sea below. And if needed, the room can be outfitted for a third child under 12. The 2^nd floor’s final feature is a large full bath with a two-person shower, laundry, and a clothes balcony to make the necessity of vacation washing days—literally—a fresh breeze.

Together, the spectacular views and efficient design make the Guest House a perfect choice for a young family, a traveling couple, or a group of four friends wanting to relax, explore and recharge together.

Garden Suite

Completed in 2022 and now receiving final detailing for 2023, Villa Koukouvayia’s Garden Suite is the estate’s most unique and flexible home and—being her newest addition—arguably her most luxuriously appointed. A ground-level residence resting beneath the Main House, the Garden Suite’s private entrance, French doors, wide windows, and her designed integration into the site’s slope let guests step or gaze directly into her private yard, gardens and into the extensive olive groves surrounding the estate.

Entering through French doors from her private garden below the pool waterfalls, a welcoming stone foyer wraps around the apartment and leads in one direction to the spacious living area with winter-stove, stone hearth, large library and entertainment center. In the other direction the foyer leads to a professionally outfitted kitchen and a dining area serving up to ten. Each of the Garden Suite’s three bedrooms and her living room are outfitted with bespoke closets and bookshelves, antique furniture or other charming features, and each has a series of high-quality, built-in cabinet beds that let you custom configure your space from luxury queen-bed apartments to albergue style rooms sleeping 3 or 4. Her two largest bedrooms, the “Pheasant Nest” and “Partridge Nest,” look out onto the southeast groves sloping into the Tyflos Valley, and her third bedroom, the “Albergue Room” makes up for a lack of view with charming stone features and a private office alcove.

And for larger families and groups, the living room’s beautiful library cabinet pulls down to reveal a fully mattresed bed that converts the area into a semi-private room and increases Garden Suite capacity to 13. To service such larger groups, the Garden Suite has modern, professional-grade appliances, storage pantries, and two full bathrooms. The second bath & laundry are adjacent to the living area, and a luxurious master bath is positioned near the three bedrooms, large enough for a long, deep soaking tub on one side, and on the other a romantic two-person shower surrounded by hand-hewn stone.

And although the Garden Suite can easily be configured and expanded to comfortably sleep 13 adults, her base price will allow a more typically sized party of 7 to secure her inexpensively, while letting those who need the Garden Suite’s extraordinary capacity to reserve those extra spaces easily, with a supplement of €10 per/person/night for each guest beyond 7 up to the capacity of 13.

Common Spaces

Villa Koukouvayia proudly positions herself not as a hotel to be rented, but a home to be enjoyed. Historically, and echoed in countless reviews, her guests have easily taken up this characteristic during their stays, enjoying the privacy of their separate home’s gardens, terraces and spaces, but enjoying, too, the sharing of the few resources the estate holds in common. While privacy is always an option, guests often enjoy the luck of their children finding a new friend the same age to share the ping-pong table or pool.

The friendly culture allows easy sharing of the estate’s common resources with never a moment when needs clash. The extensive recreational gear of bicycles, kayaks, lawn games, interior board games, hiking, snorkeling & beach gear, the exercise room with a professional table-tennis facility, and the estate’s deep plunging pool and patio have always met everyone’s needs, even when the villa has the privilege to host three families as guests.

The villa’s isolation among the silent groves affects those staying here, too, creating a common culture of quiet, and a consistent respect for the precious chance for all guests to relax.

The extensive gear allows guests to avoid most vacation-specific expenses, yet still enjoy the toys and equipment that often add fun to time away from home. The pool especially serves a variety of guests, offering the chance to cool off from the Cretan sun, to plunge off the salt from a coastal swim, to safely dive into its depths, or play beneath the waterfalls. And when the patio is quiet, the splash of the waterfall creates a perfect background music to nap by.