Monastery Estate Retreat is a converted monastery estate in the mountains above Sougia, in southwest Crete: eleven rooms, most with their own private pool, facing the White Mountains and olive terraces.
Minos Beach Art Hotel spreads low across two kilometres of Mirabello Bay shoreline near Agios Nikolaos, whitewashed bungalows and villas set among rock, sand and a permanent sculpture collection.
NIKO Seaside Resort MGallery sits on the waterfront at Agios Nikolaos, an adults-only address of 137 rooms and suites, most with their own plunge pool, looking out over Mirabello Bay.
King Minos Retreat rises amphitheatrically up a green hillside above Crete's north coast, its Cretan-style stone buildings and garden bungalows arranged for sea views, some with private pools.
Minos Palace Resort occupies its own peninsula above Agios Nikolaos Bay — an adults-only address on the Cretan coast where a dark-bottom freshwater infinity pool opens onto Mirabello Bay.
AKU Suites in Stalida gives each apartment its own private pool and a garden that opens straight onto the sunbeds — a compact aparthotel built around privacy rather than a shared resort deck.
Pnoe Breathing Life sits above the coast at Karteros, an adults-only resort where every room comes with its own private pool and the service, by all accounts, does the rest.
ADĀMA is an adults-only collection of villas above Matala, on Crete's southern coast, where the design of the buildings themselves is what most guests remember.
NEMA Design Hotel & Spa is an adults-only five-star on Analipsi Beach Road in Hersonissos, part of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, working a dark, contemporary palette against the Cretan light.
Dyo Beach Suites sits directly on the sand at Misiria, east of Rethymno: a small collection of one-bedroom apartments, several with private pools, breakfast carried to your terrace each morning.