Crete was our final destination on our month-long trip around the UK & Europe. We spent 4 days in Crete, staying in Rethymno and spending time in beautiful Chania, villages like Margarites and Spili, and beautiful beaches like Preveli, Plakias and Panormos. Crete is the largest island in Greece, and has a unique culture which reflects its history of occupation by the Romans, Byzantines, Venetians and Ottomans, before it united with Greece in 1913.

Crete is in the southern Aegean, so far south that the south coast of Crete is actually in the Libyan Sea. Crete is enormous, and in 4 days you don’t have a chance of seeing it “all.” We chose to stay in Rethymno, which is one of Crete’s most beautiful cities, and significantly smaller than Chania. We visited Chania for a day, and spent the rest of our time exploring the Rethymno region.

Why visit Crete?

This was my third, and David’s second, trip to Greece. and together we’ve visited Milos, Sifnos and Paros, and I’ve previously visited Santorini, Mykonos, Patmos, . I love the Cyclades islands, but after two trips to the Cyclades, we wanted to experience a Greek island outside the Cyclades.

We deliberated over which Greek islands to visit for a very long time, and changed our mind several times, before landing on Crete. We chose Crete because it is known for having a unique culture, due to centuries of successive occupation by different civilisations, for having beautiful beaches. Crete is the largest island in Greece, so we knew we’d have plenty to do for four or five days. And we could get a direct flight from Zurich to Crete, by flying into Heraklion.

We arrived late into Heraklion, and then drove for 1 hour to Rethymno. We were both exhausted on the drive, and wish we’d booked overnight in Heraklion. Since this trip, we’ve always booked a hotel in the town we fly into, if we’re arriving late.

Where to stay in Crete

We stayed in Rethymno, in the heart of the Old Town at Pal Calma Suites. Our accommodation was a two storey, loft-style suite, which was absolutely beautiful. The owner, George, was so warm and welcoming, and we had the best stay here. I would highly recommend Pal Calma, for the quality of the accommodation, but also for the excellent location. Chania is also a popular place to stay, and also an excellent choice. Personally I preferred staying in the smaller town of Rethymno, but both are very beautiful – regardless of where you stay, visit both.

Day 1: Rethymno Old Town

After a long travel day the previous day, we spent our first full day in Crete simply exploring Rethymno and enjoying a slower pace. Rethymno is much smaller than Heraklion and Chania, and is a very beautiful town. The old town has a maze of narrow streets to explore, with Venetian alleyways that spill out in charming squares and plazas.

We started our day with coffee at Skrik, a small neighbourhood coffee shop, which we would return to most mornings.

I found a beautiful shop selling homewares and embroidered tablecloths, and picked up a beautiful round tablecloth embroidered with Cretan motifs for 40 euros. I love it, and use it all the time at home.

Taverna Minares

We had lunch in Rethymno at Taverna Minares, presumably named for the minaret of the Neratzes Mosque, which it was located behind. It was a perfect taverna lunch – abundant, delicious and excellent value!

We escaped the peak of the heat of the day back at our room, and then went to Rethymno beach in the late afternoon.

Petra Restaurant

We had dinner at Petra, a beautiful restaurant with traditional Cretan cuisine. We sat in the leafy courtyard, under a canopy of vines, enjoying the long summer night and balmy weather. At every dinner in Crete, each restaurant had such a beautiful ambiance, while being a distinctly different setting from the night before. Petra put us off to an excellent start!

We tried Dakos, a traditional Cretan dish, which is a little like bruschetta, except its made from rusk breads topped with tomatoes, olive and feta. 

Day 2: Preveli Beach & Margarites

On our second day in Crete, we drove directly south across the island, to the south coast and then worked our way back towards Rethymno over the course of the day. 

Preveli Beach

Preveli Beach is one of the most famous and unique beaches in Crete. Located on the south coast of Crete, Preveli is a 40 minute drive south of Rethymno.

Preveli Beach has a unique setting, where the sparkling turquoise waters of the Libyan Sea meet the clear, green waters of the Kourtaliotis River, which creates a beautiful delta as it reaches the sand. The river is fringed by lush vegetation and palm trees, and reminded me of a desert oasis.

From the car park, it’s a steep trail down to the beach. There is a clear path, and some stairs, but it’s uneven and slippery, so it’s not super accessible. For those who aren’t up for a scrabbly walk down hill (and the return hike uphill), fishing boats also drop off passengers at Preveli.

Plakias

Plakias is a beautiful beach and small town on the south coast of Crete, 15 minutes drive west of Preveli Beach. We stopped here for lunch, and another swim.

We had lunch at a table right on the edge of the beach at Alianthos, which is one of my favourite and most memorable meals in Greece to date! It was just a perfect setting, and we had the most beautiful tuna steak salad. Heaven!

Afterwards, we hired beach loungers for a bit of beach time.

Spili

Spili is a small village in central western Crete, tucked away in the hillside, overlooking the Amari Valley. The village has a population of only 800 people, and has a beautiful town square lined with a handful of cafes and shaded by leafy trees. In the town square, there’s a beautiful stone fountain, called the Lions Fountain, which has fresh spring water bubbling out of a dozen or so carved stone lion’s heads. On such a hot, dry day, the cool, fresh water was appreciated! We stopped briefly here, bought an iced latte from one of the pretty cafes and then hit the road. This would be a lovely spot for lunch, had we not just eaten in Plakias, but so would our next stop, Margarites!

Margarites

The village of Margarites is one of my favourite small villages in Crete. Margarites is known for its handmade pottery, which can be found at workshops and studios all over the village. Margarites’ pottery tradition dates all the way back to the Minoan Period (which is Europe’s oldest advanced civilisation!). We visited a few shops and studios, before settling on a beautiful handmade olive oil jug, painted with lemons. I love buying homewares when I travel, but they’re often so bulky or fragile – but this was worth it! It was also helpful that this was our last stop on the trip.

We stopped for a coffee at a taverna which had a beautiful, leafy patio with views over the valley and out to sea. Again, another beautiful spot for lunch! You could spend all day eating long lunches in beautiful places in Crete.

Rethymno

In the evening, we had dinner in Rethymno once again. On our way to dinner, we ran into our host, George, who kindly offered to take a photo of us together in the pretty streets of Rethymno – it’s not often we get a photo together, that isn’t a selfie!

We had dinner at a beautiful restaurant on the edge of a town square, at O Psaras. I highly recommend this restaurant! It is a family owned restaurant, owned by second generation owners, Manolis and Irina. We had beautiful, traditional Cretan food, like octopus stifado and lamb kleftiko. As always in Crete, our meal ended with complimentary raki. It is such a generous and hospitable gesture, and I appreciated it even though I can’t bear more than a sip of raki! 

Day 3: Chania

Our third day in Crete was spent mostly in Chania, which is the second largest city in Crete, followed by some more time at the beach. We had one of our most memorable meals of our trip, by the ocean in Rethymno.

Chania

Chania is the most beautiful town in Crete, and one of the most unique towns in Greece. Nowhere is better than Chania for seeing the history of Crete in its unique architecture and maze of alleyways.

Chania’s Old Town is magnificent, and includes a Venetian Harbour, a Venetian Quarter, a Jewish Quarter and a Turkish Quarter. We didn’t have much of an agenda for our time in Chania, I just wanted to see each of the aforementioned districts. We spent a few hours exploring, before stopping for lunch at Taverna Michalis on the waterfront of the Venetian Port.

We stopped by a beach on the way back, unfortunately I didn’t even note down the name of it – there are so many beaches along the north coast of Crete, between Chania and Rethymno, and many are very similar. We had a lazy afternoon swimming and enjoying the sun, before heading back to Rethymno.

Rethymno

I had seen a string of restaurants in Rethymno, with outdoor seating along the cliffs, overlooking the ocean. We walked there in the evening, and after much deliberation, settled on a restaurant where the owners were the least pushy to seat us. As it turned out, they were the only restaurant along the strip which didn’t frequently cater to tourists. I thought I’d sensed even a slight hesitation before they seated us, and the waiter (who seemed like a manager or owner potentially) explained that their customers are typically only locals. It wasn’t quite a “locals only” message, as they were very friendly, but it did explain the difference in attitude compared to the other restaurants. I’m glad we went there, as we had such a beautiful meal.

Day 4: Beach Day!

It was our last day in Crete, and also our last day in Europe! After just over a month of travel, we decided to spend our last day on holiday with no agenda. We decided to spend a day on the beach, at a beach that we’d spotted the day before, driving to Chania. It’s a small beach, not one of the most popular beaches named on the travel websites, and it looked beautiful and low-key.

We spent a lot of time, the evening before, deliberating over whether or not we should spend the day travelling to Balos, one of the most famous beaches in Crete. We decided against it, which I’ll explain a bit below, but I am so glad we made the decision we did. We had the perfect day!

Panormos Beach

Panormos is a fishing village, twenty minutes drive west of Rethymno. Panormos Beach is a small, crescent shaped beach between the two harbour walls, with calm, crystal clear water. There is a beach club on the beach, and we had no trouble finding a chair. It was so relaxed here, I’m so glad we spent all day!

We only moved off the beach to go to lunch, overlooking the beach at a taverna called Captain’s House. We had a lovely long lunch, before returning for more beach time in the afternoon.

Why we skipped Balos

Balos is regarded as one of the best beaches in Crete, but it is notoriously difficult to get to.

There are two options: make a full day trip with a tour company, or take a long and treacherous self-drive. The road to Balos is known as one of the most dangerous roads in the world. The tour day trip did not sound fun, from the reviews I read online. It sounded like I could expect crowded ferries, delays, and relatively little time on the beach.

Usually we’d just self drive, but the road to Balos is mostly unpaved, and includes stretches of narrow roads around hairpin bends on the edges of cliffs, with nothing to stop your car from slipping over the edge into the sea. In fact, most car rental companies in Crete have a “no Balos” clause in the paperwork. Once you get there, you have a couple of hours before the tour boats arrive, and hundreds of other tourists descend. There are also no facilities, such as bathrooms, tavernas, day beds, etc, which makes spending a day there a bit less convenient.

Balos looks beautiful and may be the most beautiful beach on Crete, but it certainly doesn’t look like one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, or even in Greece. I’ve seen many of the most beautiful beaches in Greece, particularly those in Milos, and also am lucky enough to come from Australia, home to many more beautiful beaches!

The nail in the coffin for our Balos day trip is the fact that it is a 2 hour drive each way from Rethymno. On our last day in Crete, we didn’t want to spend 4 hours in the car.

While I usually love to a bit of adventure, we decided to skip Balos. We knew if we went, we’d only be doing it because we felt like we “had” to, being driven by FOMO.

Dinner in Rethymno

We knew exactly where we wanted to go for dinner on our last night in Crete. We’d spotted a hole in the wall restaurant, Taverna Diporto, in one of the alleyways in Rethymno, with outdoor tables, which was run by an elderly gentleman with an impressive handlebar moustache, who was seen either running between tables or chatting to customers. 

The menu was simple, and the hero dish was their gyros, which were only 3,80 euros each, and so delicious! As is customary in Crete, we were gifted something sweet for dessert – in this case, fresh watermelon and cherries.

While it’s tempting to be sad to reach the end of a holiday, we were genuinely so grateful for the amazing, and extended, time we’d had away, that we didn’t get any end-of-holiday blues (okay, except a little on the last night – Greece is very hard to leave!)

Next time in Crete

There is so much more to explore in Crete. Next time, I know there would be so many more things to see & do, but at the top of my list is the Minoan Palace at Knossos, outside Heraklion, and Elafonissi Beach in southwest Crete. Elafonissi is a 2 hour drive each way from Rethymno, so I’d stay in a village closer by in southwest Chania.

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