Crete Greece |tourist holiday travel guide to Crete beaches


	Crete beaches \| tourist holiday travel guide

Beaches in western Crete are strung like washing along the north and south coasts with a mighty mountain range between. The mountains are so dominant that, as storms batter the north, the south can enjoy peaceful skies. Some northern beaches have turned belly up to the holiday package industry, especially west of Chania, but many more have a low key air. The west coast beaches are remote and beautiful - a magnet to coach trippers. In the south the mountains plunge vertically into the sea leaving much of the coast uninhabited, but with occasional bays hosting small and unassuming resorts. Wherever you are, that mountain backdrop provides some awesomely splendid scenery.

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		OVERVIEW CRETE NORTH COAST
		Most tourist development along the north coast of western Crete is mercifully free of the indiscriminate sprawl of neon sleaze that greet you at the eastern end of the island. Beaches west of Chania have suffered a little in this respect, with an unedifying rash of tourist tackiness stretching along the coast road from Agia Marina to Maleme. But but the coastline between Chania and Rethymnon has escaped relatively unscathed. The shoreline east of Georgoupolis is coming to the attention of the concrete mixer, especially since the opening of the main coastal highway that now runs the virtual length of the island and a rash of apartments are springing up..

			Blue Flag beach
		Georgoupolis	Satelllite map Georgoupolis
		Three rivers run into the sea at GEORGOUPOLIS, where flat sand stretches east from the village for almost 7km. The main river is salty and its mouth creates a small harbour where derelict boat hulks lie rusting. A second smaller river cuts through the middle of the long sandy beach and a third reaches the sea at a small cove to the west. Marshy flats lie behind the sands, an ideal habitat for birds, turtles and for mosquitoes, for which the village once had an unhealthy reputation - along with several malaria outbreaks. Some hotels and apartment owners still boast of anti-mosquito netting, so take precaution is you are staying here. The place has grown quickly from a small fishing village to a moderate sized tourist resort, popular with British package firms and now offering more than 3,500 beds. Its popularity it starting to show, with blaring adverts, cheap tourist knick-knacks and crowded car parks. That said the resort is pleasant enough, with welcome shade from the massive eucalyptus trees and high curtains of bamboo that sprout up at every turn. The flat beach is exposed to the northern winds and is a bleak prospect when the weather is poor. The sand is good and fine, but flat and featureless as it snakes off into the distance. The best is at the western end where a long stone walkway reached out to a tiny chapel perched on the rocks. Characterless small hotels and beach complexes have grown up behind the sands where they meet the busy and noisy main highway.	Georgoupolis Holidays in GEORGOUPOLIS Going Places (2) MyTravel (2) YouTravel (6)


		Almyrida	Satelllite map Almyrida
		The growing resort of ALMYRIDA is just around the headland from its neighbour, the slightly more popular Kalives. The sandy beach curves around in a crescent from a small breakwater which serves as a simple harbour, recently rebuilt. This was a very quiet and attractive seaside village with a string of tavernas along and behind the pleasant beach. But the growing number of apartments in recent years, and now a large hotel, may signal an end to the resort's tranquility. Nevertheless it remains a pleasant and attractive beach resort withing striking distance of Chania should you want a more lively day out.. It has a bakery, mini market and a car rental firm as well as a string of tavernas along the shoreline at the western end of the beach. There are several coves nearby that are even quieter and there are many walks in the area with spectacular views over the bay of SOUDA. The inland villages of KOKKINO KHORIO and PLAKA are also noted for their role in the filming of Zorba the Greek and boast some fine tavernas set in shady tree-lined squares.	Almyrida Holidays in ALMIRIDA Going Places (2) MyTravel (2) Holidays in PLAKA Meon Villas (1)


		Kalives	Satelllite map Kalyves
		To describe KALIVES as down-at-heel would be to do it an injustice, yet it does have the air of a one-street backwater. The scruffy main street runs parallel tother coast and is lined with crumbling, unkempt buildings flanked by more modern apartments. The beach itself is very fine. It sweeps around the medium-sized bay with a small harbour at one end and the horribly twee Kalives Beach Hotel,with fake lighthouse, dominating the other. The sands are deep and soft and backed by trees beneath which white benches have been placed for visitors to take full advantage of any shade. Behind is a narrow road lined with small, but excellent tavernas that also set out tables on the beach. Kalives is a working - not just a tourist - village, so there is a good complement of shops; bakery, ironmongers and so on - even a barrel maker. Kalives visitor reviews	Kalyves Holidays in Kalives Going Places (1) Meon Villas (2) MyTravel (1)


		Koumos	More on Koumos
		A short walk out of the village to the west is a bizarre collection of Gaudi-style stone buildings known as KOUMOS. The complex has been built by local man who spent the past 15 years erecting them. Paths are littered with mosaics of stone, walls are stuffed with stones and shells depicting fish, snakes and other creatures and rough tables and chairs of stone and cement are planted about for visitors to sit and view it all. The place is outlandish enough to be interesting and is well worth a visit	Koumos


		Akrotiri	Satelllite map Stavros
		The large cauliflower peninsula north east of Chania known at AKTORI or AKROTIRI is a strange mixture of scruffy suburbia, bare wilderness and mushrooming luxury resorts. The scruffy bits lead to the main regional airport and nearby military base while the resorts are capitalising on particularly fine sandy beaches at KALATHAS and STAVROS. Both of these now surrounded by apartments and villas and are popular with th elocals. Stavros sits at the northern tip of the Akrotiri peninsula with two sandy beaches beneath a large rock outcrop. This is where many scenes were shot for the movie 'Zorba the Greek'. The wilder bits are found inland and include the fortified monastery of Gouvernetou on a remote plateau above AGIA TRIADA, a hermit cave nearby called Arkoudiotissa, after a huge bear-shaped stalagmite to be found inside, and beyond that the cave of the hermit St John approached down 150 steps carved into the rock. Noted for its profusion of wild flowers there are any number of excursions for amateur botanists but, wherever you are on the peninsula you have to ignore the noise from civilian and military aircraft.	Stavros Agia Triada Holidays in AKROTIRI Meon Villas (3)


		Agia Marina	Satelllite map Aghia Marina
		The city of CHANIA is one of the biggest on the island and the population is served by a long run of sand and shingle beaches to the west, the first of which is the popular AGIA MARINA. The cement mixer has been at work here with some gusto and the result is a long coastal ribbon of ugly low-rise resort development backing the long stretches of flat sand. Tavernas and bars tangle with gift shops and supermarkets to tout for the tourist trade that passes along the busy main road, which is sometimes impossible to cross given the weight of traffic. The beach is wide, flat and exposed and out as sea, the islet of AGI THEODORI can be seen, now a nature reserve for the rare kri-kri Cretan mountain goat. Legend has it that the island was once a whale that tried to swallow Crete but was turned to stone in the attempt	Agia Marina Holidays in AGIA MARINA Monarch (3)


		Platanias	Satelllite map Platanias
		Slightly larger than neighbouring Agia Marina, the resort of PLATANIAS has done some good trade with neon salesmen. The actual village of Platania perches quietly up on the hillside but most visitors stay in the coastal beach strip that fans out below along a busy main road. A long sweep of tavernas, rental outfits and souvenir shops sells indifferent food, gaudy pottery and cheap leather goods. There are plenty of sun beds and watersports and you are never far from a taverna or snack bar, several of which proudly advertise their wide screen TVs and karaoke nights.. Dirt tracks from the busy main road lead down to the long sandy beach, flat and featureless and backed by low dunes in the few places where the holiday apartments have not yet encroached. Further west the beaches are more difficult to access, being behind fields and bamboo hedges, but they are worth the effort of seeking out if you prefer to escape the crowds.	Platanias Holidays in PLATANIAS Monarch (2) YouTravel (2)


		Maleme	Satelllite map Maleme
		The main road runs on from Palatanias to MALEME in a virtually unbroken chain of hotels, apartments, tavernas and snack bars that makes it difficult to judge when one resort starts and another ends. On the hillside overlooking Maleme is a cemetery dedicated to the German paratroopers that were cut down as they droppedl from the skies in the Battle of Crete in World War II. The capture of the vital airfield on the plain below led to the loss of Crete for the Allies who, in a mixture of stupidity, incompetence and inertia managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. It led to the evacuation of thousands of Allied troops. Swathes of scrub back an indifferent shelf of shingle and sand that is the beach.	Maleme cemetery Holidays in MALEME Monarch (1) Meon Villas (2)


		Kastelli Kissamos	Satelllite map Kastelli Kisamos
		Confusion with several other Kastelli's on Crete has led to this fishing village being variously called KASTELLI, KISSAMOS or KASTELI KISAMOS. The area was another site of fierce fighting in the Battle of Crete when unarmed islanders took on the Nazi paratroopers. Their use of pitchforks and knives on the enemy led to savage reprisals by the Germans, including the shooting of 200 men for allegedly mutilating soldiers. Today, the seaside resort has a dull, grey, worn out air with a non-descript, but long, pebble beach that is relieved somewhat by several good tavernas.	Kasteli Kissamos



		Crete West Coast
		The west cost of Crete provides some of the most remote, some say the finest, beaches in the whole of Crete. Many are spectacular indeed and the dramatic coastline itself makes a visit worthwhile. But facilities are few here and many take the day trip options offered by tour firms and boat owners.


		Gramvousa	Satelllite map Gramvoussa
		Far off the beaten track, this striking spike of islands at GRAMVOUSA - once the haunt of pirates - is now a favourite target for day-tripping boats. Spectacular sand bars and shallow waters stretch to the islet from Balos beach where there sits the ruin of a Venetian fortress. The castle was built in 1582 but destroyed six years later when lightning set off a gunpowder store. It was rebuilt in 1630 and garrisoned by English and French soldiers in 1828. Today only ruins remain. Wild and uninhabited, this beach is best visited by boat as there are no facilities and no roads worthy of the name.	Gramvousa


		Falasarna	Satelllite map Falasarna
		To the west of Kastelli lies some of the finest, coastline in Crete. The tracks down from the main road to FALASARNA certainly provide wonderful views of wrinkled rocks, clear blue sea, white sand and, unfortunately, row upon row of green plastic greenhouses, this being tomato and cucumber growing country. There are several wide sandy coves but the main beach is at northern end of the bay. Beautiful the beach may be but the waters here are very cold and sometimes carry in tar and other obnoxious debris from passing ships. Its beauty also attracts many boat trippers so it's not always as tranquil as the postcards suggest. There are some archaeological ruins here but they are widely scattered and difficult to find.	Falasarna


		Elafonisi	Satelllite map Elafonisi
		The tiny uninhabited islet of ELAFONISI looks like a desert island paradise but it's cursed with a relentless influx of daily coaches and boats. It is a magical place if you can avoid he crowds. You can wade out to the islet along a shallow reef through a sun-warmed waters that rarely reach more than a metre in depth. There are a couple of beach cantinas and any number of rare plants and animals including protected frogs, lizards and snakes. The beaches are also sea turtle breeding grounds and it's the last European stop for birds migrating to Africa. The protection of such creatures is at the centre of resistance to a Greek-German consortium's plan to build a massive luxury hotel complex on the headland	Elafonisi



		Crete South Coast
		Much of Crete's south coast is composed of sheer cliffs that plunge sharply into the sea from the Lefkas Ori mountains above. But, the beaches that are found here are some of the best in Crete and they enjoy some of the best weather too, facing south and protected by the mountains behind.


		Paleochora	Satelllite map Paleochora
		Built across the base of a peninsula the village of PALEOCHORA has the harbour on one side and long, sandy beach on the other with Venetian ramparts towering above. Tourism has made its mark and the place is now heavily developed as a resort but still enjoyable - busy rather than crowded with taverna tables spilling out onto the main street. Many cafes are found around the port and a small pebble beach beyond that. The Venetian fortress on the tip of the peninsula was destroyed by the pirate Barbarossa in 1539 but subsequently restored and is now open to the public. The bigger beach is also much sandier and very fine though disco noise can be a nuisance nearer the town. There are more beaches to the west but ugly polythene tomato tunnels keep them off the postcards. Boats sail from Paleochora to Gavdos island, the most southern part of Europe and this is one of the few Greek resorts that stay open all winter.	Paleochora


		Sougia	Satelllite map Sougia
		The most striking thing about SOUGIA is the road that leads to it. What prompted the authorities to hack such a huge asphalt road through the mountains to this tiny village is beyond me. Once there you will find a long but steep pebble beach that dips sharply into the sea backed by rocky cliffs and a clutch of modern cement buildings that do nothing to enhance the views. The exception is the delightful church that has a Byzantine mosaic dating from the sixth century.	Sougia


		Frangokastello	Satelllite map Frangokastello
		A wide flat plain lies beneath the mountains and the sea from Chora Sfakia to Plakas. Behind a long flat beach stands the castle of FRANGOKASTELLO, a severe rectangle of brown and orange stone. The castle, imposing from the outside, is little more than a shell inside and a full tour will take no more than a few minutes. The beach itself lies in front and beneath the castle, a fine stretch of gently shelving white sand with rocky outcrops at one end, a sheltered boat bay at the other, and a sea that stays shallow for a good 100m offshore. There is a single beach taverna and a few apartments but little else and it makes for a tranquil spot with the added bonus of a towering backdrop of blue grey mountains.	Frangokastello

Plakias

Satelllite map Plakias

John Osborn's site Welcome to Plakias has more info.

This former fishing village at PLAKIAS has undergone a bit of a tourist boom with apartments scattered somewhat meaninglessly about the wide coastal plain. Despite the influx the resort has kept its head and is remains low key.
A good long beach of grey sand and shingle has fine views of the mountains behind and there are plenty of shoreline tavernas help satisfy demand.
The town may lack the charm of its neighbours but it has all the facilities and the long uncrowded beach more than easily makes up for the drawbacks. Nearby DAMNONI also provides a trio of sandy coves for those who want more seclusion.

Plakias visitor reviews

Plakias

Holidays in PLAKIAS: Olympic Holidays (8)

Preveli

Satelllite map Preveli


		Agia Galini	Satellite map Agia Galini
		A picturesque setting and tight village layout make AGIA GALINI the pick of the popular package holiday companies with the place jammed solid throughout the summer. The taverna-lined harbour provides focus and meals are generally excellent but the tiny beach, though good, often fails to meet the demand and is always crammed to capacity. There is is a longer stretch of coarse sand to the east. The narrow pedestrian streets that climb up the hill are thick with cafes and souvenir shops. Though obviously tourist-centred the place has not sacrificed all of its charm. But the coastal plain east of here is generally regarded as the ugliest area of Western Crete, with land hidden under acres of polythene greenhouses and a horrible concrete sprawl of agricultural buildings given over to industrial growing of tomatoes and cucumbers.	Agia Gallini

Crete beaches | tourist holiday travel guide

OVERVIEW CRETE NORTH COAST

Crete West Coast

Crete South Coast

CRETE PHOTO GALLERIES

A tourist holiday travel guide to the Greek island of Crete



		CRETE PHOTO GALLERIES
		Rethymnon photo gallery by JOY HINDMARCH
		If you would like your photo gallery here then email details. It takes 10 photos to make a gallery and they can be of the whole island or of a particular resort. I can offer a small amount of cash for a good set of photos.