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.
Maison Meltem is an eight-room adults-only bed and breakfast above Agia Pelagia, where the whole building faces the Aegean and breakfast is served under olive trees.
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.
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.
The Tanneries Hotel & Spa occupies four conjoined 1800s tannery buildings on the Tabakaria waterfront near Chania, 20 suites strung along the water inside a Design Hotels member.
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.