As I’ve mentioned in the title of this post, Crete is the largest and southernmost island of Greece. It can be a party place, or a relaxing destination for a family vacation. Crete offers a little bit of everything: sandy beaches, a mountain or hill here and there and towns to suit every taste.
In the top that I’ve mentioned when I wrote about Zakynthos, regarding the Greek islands, Crete would be on the third place for me, and I am about to tell you why. I love the diversity of things to do on this island. The towns have a lot to offer: bars, fun activities, etc.
On the downside, the only good hotels with sandy beaches that we found were pretty far away from the cities that we were interested in visiting, so we were bound by car.
I’ve been to Crete around 3 times, and the only time that I didn’t have the car, we were pretty much stuck in the town where the hotel was (glad we at least didn’t choose an isolated one, we stayed in Limenas, so we had plenty to do).
Out of the 3 trips on this particular island, I only remember two of the hotels that I’ve stayed at:
Elounda Beach Hotel & Villas - in the town of, you guessed it, Elounda. It was alright, it didn’t have a beach so we had to always pay for sunbeds and umbrellas, and I also didn’t love the nearby beaches. The hotel in of itself was nice, but it’s pretty important to me that it has a nice beach, even if I have to pay for it daily, and in this department it was lacking. It was around an hour drive from Heraklion.
Daios Cove Luxury Resort & Villas - this is a really good hotel. The only problem is that it is quite isolated, also an hour drive from Heraklion, and it’s not even in a city. All of this being said, I would come back here, and you should too! Yes, you will be bound to your car, but at least the hotel makes it worth it. It’s a pretty big domain, you can have golf carts taking you around and there’s even a funicular.
We got the private pool room, which was large and clean, and the pool had a beautiful view, although the water was a bit cold.
The private pool room The beach wasn’t too big but it was enough to not feel crowded.
The hotel beach There were a couple of different restaurants you could eat at, but we didn’t try any of them.
The first thing we did once we landed and picked up our car was to visit the two most iconic beaches on this entire island. They were very far away from the area where we were going to stay, so I knew it was now or never, ‘cause I wasn’t gonna drive that much on any other day.
Balos Beach - this is absolutely stunning. You can either get here by car or if you take a boat trip. Since we were short on time, after we parked the car and did the 20 ish minute walk to the beach (which is a bit rough and super dusty), we only got to take some photos.
We didn’t climb down the stairs unfortunately, but the view from uphill was amazing. You won’t get that if you come by boat, unless you are willing to climb the MANY stairs to get to the viewpoint. If you have the time, it’s 100% worth it coming here, it’s probably one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen.
Balos Beach from above And as a side note, there’s lots of goats called Kri Kri that hang around there, on and under cars, and they are super cute.
Elafonisi Beach - this is the famous pink sand beach. Although it is pretty, and I would enjoy spending a day at the beach here, I don’t think the sand is really that pink. You can barely tell in real life, so don’t go just for that. There’s a couple beach bars over there and plenty of space to sit. It’s up to you if you want to come by here, but Balos Beach is definitely the more interesting one.
There’s a few main towns that I’ve visited so far while in Crete, and where you have the most things to do:
Chania - one of the largest cities on the island. I’ve only been here once, the last time that I travelled here. This is definitely skippable if you don’t happen to have your hotel nearby. It is pretty, with a venetian harbour and waterfront restaurants, but it’s not that different compared to the others.
Limenas - the party town. I’ve always loved coming here. It’s such a lively place, with tons of bars and restaurants right by the sea shore, and plenty of little shops to look at along the way. The atmosphere is on point, although food/drinks and other activities might be a bit overpriced.
Limenas Heraklion - the capital city of Crete. It’s really beautiful, with lots of shops, restaurants and cafes. It’s nice just wondering around and discovering the centre of it.
Heraklion If you are going to visit just one large city, it should be this one. Here you can also find the Knossos Palace, for those of you who are interested in history and mythology.
Knossos Palace Elounda - there’s not really much to do here. It’s a pretty, small town with a couple of restaurants and that’s about it.
The walk to a beach near Elounda Agios Nikolaos - similar to Elounda, those are just small towns that you shouldn’t go out of your way to visit, unless you are staying close by.
Agios Nikolaos You can also get day trips by boat to Spinalonga from here, an island that is filled with history.
View from a hill near Elounda
Last but not least, I’m going to talk about the restaurants and bars that we’ve tried while in Crete. They are in different towns, and I feel like they cover all sorts of types of food:
Waka Japanese & Peruvian - in Heraklion, this is exactly what it sounds like: sushi, poke bowls and all sorts of food. It looks really cute too, but it’s a bit expensive.
Indian Restaurant - Curry Park - in Heraklion, this is my kryptonite. I will eat butter chicken in every single place that I go to. They also had super good mango lassi. And it’s not too expensive! Definitely go here if you feel like switching things up!
King Scorpio Beach Club Restaurant - in Limenas, this was your classic Greek bar that you find in a lively town. It is huge, with loud music and a super cool atmosphere. It is a bit too expensive for what they deliver, but it was worth it for a good time in my opinion!
The Butchers Bar - in Limenas, we were feeling fancy when we decided to go here. It looks really cute and it’s right on the shore. We got a surf and turf and a steak and it was really good. Worth the extra buck!
And with this, I think I’ve shared most of the things I’ve tried while in Crete. I’ll admit, Greece is the time when I’ll be my laziest and I don’t really want to run around a lot, so I don’t have a lot of recommendations.
For the longest time, until the recent years when I’ve started exploring more islands, Crete was my all time favourite place in Greece to go for my summer vacation. If it is your first time going, and you are interested in visiting something other than Santorini and Mykonos, but still a place with lots of things to do, Crete is the place for you.
I hope you enjoyed reading about Crete, number 3 on my top Greek islands. Have a lovely day!