We spent a week in Crete in June 2019 and it surpassed all of our expectations - the landscape, wine, food, beaches, and cities were beautiful. There were olive trees growing absolutely everywhere (cultivated and wild, it seemed), goats browsing along the roadside, and thriving flowers and vines and potted plants on every building. It was absolutely necessary to rent a car to explore the island, however the roads were tiny and the locals drove very, very fast, and if they had any road rules, they were barely followed. We managed to get through the week without a scratch on the car, but I don't think that's the norm! We loved exploring this island and feel like we only scratched the surface - it is the largest Greek island and offers more adventures and experiences that only a week-long visit can hold. We mainly stuck to the western side of the island during our trip and are already wanting to go back to see more! We would highly recommend Crete if you are looking for a mix of relaxing, breathtaking beaches, rugged countryside/hiking, and delicious wine, olives, and cheese!
First, some general recommendations:
Most of the beaches are pebbly/rocky instead of sandy. There are some sandy beaches, however the pebbles were nice because it was much less messy than sand! Pretty much every beach had chairs to rent, but we were fine just using our towels.
We stayed in the "Old Town" areas of Heraklion, Rethymno, and Chania. While the old town areas are lovely to walk around in, they are very touristy. While you can find a few great shops and restaurants here and there, most of them are geared towards European and American tourists (think T-shirts, souvenirs, post cards, etc.). When we go back, we plan to stay a bit outside of the old town areas to get more of an authentic experience.
As I mentioned above, the driving is a bit daunting. Most of the roads in the center of the island are tiny, curvy, and people drive really fast. The highways near the coast are much larger and felt safer, but we recommend driving around the island because the mountains are just spectacular!
Pretty much everyone spoke at least a little bit of English, and most of the road signs had the English-version of the word underneath the Greek one. It was nearly impossible to pick up any Greek while we were there, but it was pretty easy to get around.
Food we really enjoyed: Cretan salad, stuffed grape leaves, Cretan cheese (sheep and/or goat), goat dishes, olives (all of them), and wine.
Heraklion
We only stayed in Heraklion one night - this is the largest city and is where the airport is that we flew into. We barely saw any of it because most of our time was spent Westward, however I think it's worth checking out.
Infinity City Boutique Hotel - lovely rooms, really nice breakfast, friendly staff
THINK TANK cafe - good coffee, beautiful rooftop seating area with lots of greenery
Plánē - cute restaurant with outdoor seating, right next to the hotel
Wine and cheese from small markets
Walking around the harbor
Old town had a lot of cute looking restaurants that we would have loved to try!
Rethymno
We also only stayed in Rethymno for one night but had a bit more time to explore the town. The streets were smaller and more touristy than Heraklion, but still had a lot of charm.
Leo Hotel - beautiful rooms, friendly staff. More of a classic/vintage feel.
Avli - Wonderful restaurant, we were recommended to come here by a few sources. We had their grouper dish and a slow-cooked goat and potato meal, both were wonderful! And a very nice bottle of wine: Kotsifali Mandilaria red wine from Idaia Gi winery in Crete (highly recommend Kotsifali!).
Chania
We stayed in Chania for four nights and really felt like we got a good sense of the city. There are a lot of perks to staying in one place for multiple days as you get to really experience more of what a place has to offer, but staying in more places for less time allows you to see more places! We had a nice mix of both. We really enjoyed Chania - the old town was, again, a bit too touristy for our tastes, but it still had a lot of good restaurants, shops, and cafes that we enjoyed. We also explored outside of the old town and really liked that area as well.
Vilamine Hotel - The nicest part about this hotel was the view - it overlooked the square with the Presentation of the Virgin Mary Holy Metropolitan Orthodox Church, which is very beautiful and worth the visit. Other than that, we might not recommend this hotel - it was right in the heart of the most touristy part of Chania, and the bed wasn't very comfortable. It did have a nice porch where we enjoyed some wine and was spacious, though.
Monogram Coffee - Every city needs it's minimalistic, hipster, specialty coffee shop. We came back to Monogram a few times - the coffee was really good and it was on a really pretty street with lots of nice restaurants and bars. Highly recommend!
Oinopiio Restaurant - It seemed like this was where a lot of the locals came to eat - the food was great. We got a nice Cretan salad, an eggplant pastry casserole dish of some sort, a greek dessert (not sure what it was, it had ice cream in it!), and to top it off, raki.
Park of Peace and Friendship - A pretty park just outside of the old town that was close to our favorite coffee place (Kross) and our favorite street just south of the park (Nearchou).
Kross Coffee - Our favorite coffee shop. There were multiple locations, but our favorite was at the corner of Solomou and Nearchou. It's in a big, old, white building with lots of beautiful plants and outdoor seating under huge white umbrellas. Such a treat!
Nearchou street and surrounding area, south of the park - Our favorite place to walk - gorgeous homes and beautiful old buildings, lots of flowering trees. So pretty!
Chania Market - An indoor market with fruit and veggie stands, cheese and olive shops, prepared food, and souvenirs.
Sinagogi Cafe-Bar - A really cool bar inside an old Synagog. Craft cocktails, open air, worth a visit.
Carmela Iatropoulou gallery - B-E-A-UTIFUL jewelry and ceramics. This was by far our favorite shop, and possibly one of our favorite experience. The woman working was so friendly and lovely, and the pieces were stunning. We purchased some pottery but I was so tempted by the jewelry - I plan to go back next time we are in Crete to treat myself. Please please please go here!
Sfakia
Sfakia is a tiny little town right on the water on the southern side of Crete. We came for a couple of hours, which is really all you need to see the place (we didn't stay to enjoy the little beach).
There is one little street right on the water that is touristy - we avoided that and felt that we got a nice authentic experience. We walked parallel to the touristy street and found a sweet market with local products, and kept walking up through narrow pathways and beautiful white buildings with overgrown vines and flowers.
We highly recommend taking the hike up to a little shrine on the cliff overlooking the town - great view! There are blue railings along the steps that you can see from the road below.
Elafonisi Beach
I have a hard time deciding which one was the most beautiful: Elafonisi or Balos beach. Elafonisi had beautiful white sand and it's characteristic pink sand. This beach was huge - tons of places for people to sit and swim without feeling too crowded. So while there were a lot of people there, because it was so big it never felt crowded, and it was easy to find a peaceful spot to relax. I recommend not finding a spot right when you walk in, but exploring a bit before settling down. We would also recommend walking along their little nature trail. You can take it all the way up this small mountain/cliffside that gives a beautiful view of the entire beach, and then it connects back to the beach on the East side. Everywhere you look was gorgeous! Even though it is a popular spot, and it is a bit of a drive to get there, it is definitely a must-do in Crete.
*It seems as if they've had problems with people taking the pink sand as souvenirs - so if you go please respect the beach and leave the pink sand for others to enjoy!
Balos Beach
This might be my absolute favorite spot of our whole trip. Not only was it breathtakingly gorgeous, but it was also the spot where Cary proposed! He couldn't have picked a more beautiful place. Balos beach was much more rugged than Elafonisi - you have to drive on a very rocky road along a cliffside on the most Northeastern part of the island for about 30 minutes, but it is absolutely worth it. A short walk takes you to the overlook, where the cliffside melts into the sea and the beach is in a little lagoon. When we go back, we may take a boat there, however for the first time we recommend driving and walking in. It was such an amazing experience!
Geropotamos Beach
We went to a new beach each day and are so glad we did - each one is different and offers its own experience. Geropotamos beach was pebbly and located off of a dirt road off the main highway. It is a small beach surrounded by rocky cliffs on each side. It was a nice spot to spend a few hours.
Plakias
We did not explore the town of Plakias but just spent a few hours on the beach. This is a much larger beach that is more sandy, with beautiful surrounding mountains. It is conveniently located to some restaurants/shops.
Stavros Beach
Stavros was one of our favorite spots. It is close to Chania and was a small beach in a little cove. Stavros had the feel of a typical "beach town" in the US. It seemed very family-friendly, and we even managed to get our own private little spot. We liked that it wasn't too crowded, and the water was a bit warmer since it was in a little cove. If you stay in Chania we would highly recommend this spot.
Spilies Beach
Spilies beach was another smaller-sized beach that we went to on our way back to Heraklion from Chania. There was no sand, just smooth pebbles (we recommend chacos for this beach!). Really cool rock formations surrounded this beach on either side. Really lovely! And there were public bathrooms as well, which was very convenient.
Samaria Gorge
Samaria Gorge is the longest gorge in Europe. It's 16 km from the entrance in the mountains down to the little village by the sea where it ends. Although we just hiked it for a couple of hours, you can do a day hike all the way down to the village (only accessible by the gorge or by boat, no roads in or out!) and either hike back up the next day or take a boat back. If we had more time it would have been really cool to do the whole thing.
Dourakis Winery
We only visited one winery during our time in Crete. What we found was different from the wineries in the US is that most wine tastings require a reservation to be made before your visit. We loved Dourakis - we got the tour, wine tasting, and cheese pairing, and it was all wonderful. We learned about Greek wine, which is delicious (really liked Kotsifali in particular), and the cheese and olives were of course amazing. The wines we tried were:
Muscat of Spinas (white)
Bidiano (white)
Kotsifali and Syrah (red)
Cabernet Sauvignon and Kotsifali (red) **Favorite**
Rose Granache
Agia Triada Monastery
**This is a must visit!** This monastery is absolutely beautiful, and is fairly close to Chania. For just a couple of euros you can walk around the monastery (still in use), the church, and get a free wine and olive oil tasting (that they make on-site). Highly recommend bringing a bottle or two of the wine and/or olive oil home with you - we got them as gifts for our parents and they were a hit, and so special.
Knossos
Knossos is the site of the Minoan civilization that was inhabited from the Neolithic period until the 5th century AD. The most prominent site of these ruins is the Minoan palace, however an Englishman in the early 1900's uncovered the entire palace and reconstructed much of it with concrete. Unfortunately, he covered up a lot of the original ruins and his interpretation of the palace wasn't as interesting to us as the real ruins, but it was still neat to see.
Cretan Countryside
My last recommendation is to explore the gorgeous countryside if you ever visit Crete - take advantage of the roadside pull-offs and soak in the views, stop at the little restaurants in the tiny towns in the mountains, take pictures of all of the goats everywhere, eat as much local wine, olives, and cheese as you can. Crete is a wonderful place, everywhere you look is beautiful, and the culture is interesting and rich. We can't wait to go back.
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