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Crete’s diverse landscape offers holidays to suit anyone and brings tourists flocking all year round. Its northern coastline is crowded with beach resorts crammed full in the summer with sun addicts and water babies. Its stark southern coast attracts those seeking a more tranquil escape. Crete is a favourite of summertime island hoppers and the sea is regularly dotted with mistral-filled sails. The hills and mountains create endless routes for walkers, trekkers, climbers and even skiers. Crete has bars and nightclubs and all the drunken teenage Brits that come with them, but away from these heaving centres are golf courses and luxury villas; beyond these are forgotten villages, bougainvillea-kissed chapels, empty beaches and miles of wilderness.

Attractions

Beaches

Pebbles, golden sand, nudism, whatever you want from a beach, you will find it on Crete; the selection is endless so it is impossible to provide a comprehensive list here. The northern coast is very crowded in the summer so to find some seclusion you may have to compromise on quality. The southern coast is preferred by locals and is much less hectic.

Falassarna – Northwest

This bay offers a selection of its own. The most popular is Pachia Ammos, or Long Beach, which is wide and sandy. There are a number of small sandy beaches where you can often find a quiet spot. Near the port is a small pebble beach.

Makrigialos – Southeast

A long sandy beach with shallow water. A good family beach and just that bit less crowded due to its distance from the main resorts.

Elafonissi – Southwest

With pinkish sand and water shallow enough to wade from the beach to little islands, Elafonissi is a very popular beach. Tourists usually take daytrips here, leaving at four.

Glyka Nera – Southwest

A narrow pebble beach under impressive, imposing cliffs. Clean and quiet, this is one of the best beaches where nudism is permitted. The beach is also called Sweetwater Beach.

 

Traditional Crete

Away from the main coastal resorts Crete is dotted with little villages that maintain Greek tradition in their architecture and lifestyle.

The Anopolis plateau, between the White Mountains and the north coast, is strewn with abandoned villages and chapels.

The Amari Valley, in central western Crete, southeast of Rethymnon, has many secluded villages where local life proceeds with only the odd nod to tourism.

Argiroupolis, near Rethymnon, was built on and around the ancient city of Lappa. It is set apart from the other traditional villages by its abundance of water. Mountain springs drench the village; aqueducts carry water down to Rethymnon but in its profusion cannot be neatly tidied away: it sneaks up between stones and gushes down walls.

Archaeological Sites: Knossos, Phaestos and Gortys

Knossos is considered the most important archaeological site as it was the capital city of Minoan Crete. The remains of the Minoan palace are impressive in their scale and complexity. Bright murals and patterned tiles alongside earthenware pots in living quarters conjure bustling images of everyday life in an ancient time of opulence. The museum is a vital accompaniment to the site itself. Knossos sits on the north coast, just east of Heraklion.

Phaestos is home to a palace on a palace. The original palace, having been shaken to rubble by an earthquake, was topped with another. The city is on the south coast.

Gortys sits in central Crete, north of Phaestos. Greek myths cite Gortys as Zeus’s extramarital love-nest.

Aside from these three sites, the largest on the island, Crete is covered in archaeological sites and ancient chapels.

Spinalonga

Sitting just off the east coast of Crete is the tiny island of Spinalonga.  A tumultuous history of warfare and pirates has left impressive ruins, most notably the largely intact Venetian fortress. These grand buildings and the modest, pebble beaches became the home of a leper colony that thrived rather than withered. Spinalonga was made famous by Victorial Hislop’s The Island but art has long been fascinated by the island. It can be accessed by boat from Agios Nikolaos and Elounda.

Samaria Gorge National Park

Slicing deep into the White Mountains of Chania in southwest Crete is Samaria Gorge National Park. The sheer limestone walls of this narrow cut tower high above its rocky bottom where the river that carved it still trickles its way towards the sea. Handsome, gnarled cypresses cling to the rock and herbs, trod underfoot, fragrance the air. The full walk from Omalos to Agia Roumeli stretches 18 km and in the heat of a Greek summer is not for the easily wearied. Many choose the shorter, one hour jaunt from the Iron Gates to Agia Roumeli. The park is open from the 1^st May till the 15^th October.

 

Etiquette

Visitors should note the traditional values still held in traditional villages and act with respect for quiet, conservative customs. When entering any religious building women must not show their legs, arms or hair; men must take off their hats.