Your Children Don’t Need a Different Crete

Somewhere between booking the flights and counting the swimsuits, you begin actually envisioning your holiday. Trying to feel how it feels to be there. The long lunches. The walk through the old town. The restaurant you saved. 

But then, you kids get in the picture. The long lunch sounds ambitious, the Old Town gets a question mark and the restaurant starts to get assessed less for its food than for how quickly everyone could leave. 

Travelling with children makes you practical. It can also make you forget even what drew you to a place in the first place. Crete, for instance. The tables you wanted to sit around to get a generous taste of the food you have heard so much about. The globally ranked sea you had mentally entered months before arriving. The pleasure of wandering into a street without knowing what waits at its other end, because locals will be more than happy to guide you back. Surely some of this can belong to everyone?

Your children may experience the island differently. They may give the harbour three minutes and a particular cat twenty. But there is something rather wonderful about discovering how much of the same place you can love together. Because when a place has such open arms, it embraces all ages.

Chania, Seen From a Little Lower Down

In Chania, you might look up at the façades, taking in the Venetian and Ottoman influences that coexist in the old town. Your child might be inspecting a doorway that makes a funny sound. You admire the harbour’s composition, while they ask questions to understand why a boat keeps moving when it is tied up. The same walk develops several storylines.

There is no obligation to bring these observations into alignment. A child does not need to appreciate architecture correctly to enjoy being somewhere beautiful. Sometimes the colour of a wall is enough. Sometimes the steps beside it are considerably more interesting. And trust us when we say, they will remember that trip to Crete as adults.

Allow a little room for this and the outing becomes easier. Because then, you may notice more yourself. Once someone has asked why a door is blue, you actually look at the door. A detail you would have walked past becomes part of the afternoon. For a moment, nobody is checking where to go next. Isn’t that the new luxury? 

Something for the Middle of the Table

Food brings its own negotiations. Parents know the particular optimism of ordering something new for a child, followed by the quiet acceptance of eating it themselves.

Still, a Cretan table offers opportunities that do not require a grand announcement. Bread dipped into olive oil. A piece of tomato taken from the shared plate. A little cheese, examined carefully before a verdict is reached.

For the adults, there is pleasure in letting the meal remain a meal, even with minimal talking. You can be interested in what you are eating, look at your partner’s expression to understand if they are matching your foodie excitement, and then decide which plate to reorder. 

However, in families with younger children, some lunches will be brief. Others might unexpectedly stretch. On the good days, you realise you have been sitting together for quite a while, and nobody has needed to call it an activity. May we call it quality time? We may.

A Place Where Everyone Can Settle

At Domes Zeen Chania, the setting gives this kind of holiday room to happen. Stone pathways, greenery, natural textures and earthy interiors carry through the resort, with family accommodation that includes pavilions, suites and villas, and options with shared or private pools. The surroundings still carry the aesthetic pleasure you hoped for when you started looking at Crete on the internet.

That matters. Parents are allowed to care about where they wake up, the terrace where they sit. This way, beauty remains part of their holiday.

There is practical space for children, too. KiEPOS, the Montessori-inspired kids’ club, brings play and educational activities into a setting of foliage, yurts, teepees and natural materials. A dedicated family pool nearby offers another place to spend an unhurried part of the day together.

The useful thing about having these possibilities is the freedom to make fewer decisions. An afternoon can take shape around everyone’s energy. There is somewhere to play, somewhere to swim, somewhere to return to when the outing has been quite enough.

If you think about it, with supervised activities at KiEPOS and spa time available for adults, Domes Zeen makes room for those different wishes. 

There will still be tiredness, misplaced slippers and strong opinions about dinner. A beautiful setting does not abolish family life. It gives it somewhere lovely to unfold, to manifest in a laid down way, with enough support for you to enjoy being there as well.