Myrtia is a village south of Heraklion, set among the vineyards of the Peza wine region on the island of Crete. Travellers know it above all as the ancestral home of Nikos Kazantzakis, the writer of Zorba the Greek and The Last Temptation. A modern literary museum on the shaded village square keeps his manuscripts, letters and personal belongings. Whitewashed houses, a fountain, a church and tavernas frame that square, and vineyards spread across the surrounding hills toward Heraklion, the Minoan palace of Knossos and the Archanes villages. This guide sets out what stands here and how to fit the village into a day of culture and wine with My Greece Tours.
The sections below cover the location of Myrtia, the writer behind its fame, the Nikos Kazantzakis Museum, the wineries of the Peza hills, and the practical route from the coast. Each answer opens with the core fact, then adds detail drawn from the village itself. Read this page as one stop within the wider Crete travel guide, alongside the coast, the palaces and the mountain villages. The aim is a clear, factual picture of a small inland village that rewards a half-day of reading, tasting and quiet walking rather than a beach afternoon on the northern shore.
Where is Myrtia in Crete?
Myrtia sits south of Heraklion in the Peza wine region of Crete, a village among the vineyards between the city and the Archanes settlements. A short drive links it to Heraklion, the palace of Knossos and the coast.
The village stands on the low, vine-covered hills that rise south of Heraklion, in the district that carries the Peza name across its wineries and cooperatives. Terraces of vines, olive groves and scattered farm buildings surround the settlement, and the road up from the coastal plain climbs gently through this farmed country. Heraklion, the capital and main port of the island, lies a short drive to the north. That closeness makes Myrtia an easy addition to a day that starts in the city or at the harbour. From the square the land rolls toward the Minoan sites and the higher Archanes villages on the western hills.
Visitors weighing things to do in Crete often pair this inland stop with a morning at the coast or a palace before the drive up.
Position places Myrtia inside a tight cluster of destinations rather than off on its own in the hills. The Minoan palace of Knossos, the most visited monument of the island, stands between the village and Heraklion, so a single road links all three. The Archanes villages, with their restored houses and their own Minoan finds, sit close by to the west. This compact geography lets a traveller reach Myrtia from the port of Heraklion within half an hour and still return to the coast for the evening meal. The vineyards that ring the village belong to the wider Peza zone, one of the recognised wine areas of the island.
They shape both the look of the drive and the produce on the taverna tables around the square.
Who was Nikos Kazantzakis and why is Myrtia his village?
Nikos Kazantzakis was the Cretan writer of Zorba the Greek and The Last Temptation, and Myrtia is his ancestral village. His family roots draw readers to the square, where a museum records his life and writing.
Kazantzakis ranks among the widest-read Greek writers of the twentieth century, and his family line reaches back to Myrtia. The two books that carried his name abroad were Zorba the Greek and The Last Temptation. Both grew from Cretan and Greek material, and film versions later spread the stories to audiences who never opened the novels. His writing ranges across fiction, travel, drama, translation and a long epic poem, and it returns often to the landscape and character of the island and its people. The village square keeps that connection alive year after year.
The writer’s presence turns a small farming settlement into a place of literary pilgrimage, and readers arrive from across Greece and beyond to trace his roots among the vines and the whitewashed lanes.
The link between the writer and the village is one of descent rather than lifelong residence, and the museum on the square makes that heritage its subject. The family belonged to Myrtia, so the settlement became the natural home for a permanent public record of his work and his life. Visitors interested in this literary side of the island can set the stop alongside other hidden gems in Crete, from mountain villages to quiet southern coves and frescoed churches. The pairing of a famous name with a plain inland square gives Myrtia its character.
There is no resort and no beach here, only a direct line to one of the defining voices of modern Greek letters, kept in the writer’s own ancestral ground among the vines.
What can you see at the Nikos Kazantzakis Museum?
The Nikos Kazantzakis Museum on the Myrtia square displays the writer’s manuscripts, letters, notebooks, photographs, stage sets and personal belongings across a modern exhibition, counted among the finest literary museums in Greece and the main reason travellers reach the village.
The museum gathers the written and personal record of the writer under one roof on the shaded square. Manuscripts and notebooks show the drafting of the novels, letters trace his contacts and travels, and photographs document a life that crossed much of Europe and beyond. Stage sets built for productions of his dramatic work stand among the cases, along with personal belongings that connect the exhibits to the man rather than the printed page. The arrangement is modern in its display and its layout, which sets it apart from a plain house-museum of the old kind.
This depth of holdings earns it a place among the finest literary museums in Greece, and it forms the single clearest reason a traveller turns off the main road toward Myrtia.
A visit here reads as a cultural half-day rather than a quick photo stop, and the material rewards slow attention. The exhibition sets the novels in the frame of the writer’s wider output across poetry, drama and translation. A reader of a single book meets the scope of the whole career in these rooms. Whitewashed houses, a fountain, a church and tavernas surround the museum on the square, so a pause for lunch fits naturally after the galleries. Travellers building a food-focused day can follow the museum with a taverna meal and a taste of Cretan food in the village.
From there the plan moves on to a winery in the surrounding hills, keeping culture and the table within one short and easy circuit around the village square.
What are the Peza wineries near Myrtia in Crete?
Myrtia lies in the heart of the Peza wine region, and vineyards and wineries spread across the hills around the village. This setting makes a tasting the natural companion to the museum on a cultural day inland.
The vineyards that surround Myrtia belong to the Peza zone, one of the established wine areas of the island, and they cover the slopes on every side of the village. Wineries and a long-running cooperative work the local grapes into red and white wines that appear on taverna lists across the district. The pattern of terraced vines, olive trees and low stone walls gives the drive its character, and the harvest keeps the surrounding farms busy through late summer. A tasting fits the village well, and the museum draws a visitor who has time to linger over both.
Travellers planning a route through the Crete wineries can treat Myrtia as the cultural anchor of a day spent among the Peza estates, their vineyards and their cellars.
Pairing wine with the museum turns a single monument into a rounded half-day inland from the port. A morning in the galleries, a taverna lunch on the square and an afternoon tasting at a nearby estate keep the whole visit within the hills south of Heraklion. The wineries range from the large cooperative to smaller family cellars, and the surrounding villages of the Peza and Archanes zones add further stops for those who want them. This concentration of vines around a small literary village gives Myrtia its double identity of book and bottle.
That rare mix explains why the settlement suits travellers after culture and wine rather than a stretch of open sand on the coast about an hour to the north of the hills.
How do you visit Myrtia from Heraklion?
Myrtia sits within a short drive of Heraklion, Knossos and the Archanes villages, so a car reaches it in about half an hour. Most travellers combine the museum with a palace visit and a winery in one loop.
The practical route runs inland from the coast through the vineyards of the Peza hills. From Heraklion a driver heads south past the edge of the city and climbs into the farmed country, reaching the village square in roughly half an hour. The compact spread of sights makes a loop the sensible plan. The Minoan palace of Knossos stands on the way out of the city, the museum waits on the Myrtia square, and a Peza winery rounds off the afternoon before the return to the coast. A single day covers all three sights without a long transfer between them.
The road ties the palace, the village and the estates into one short circuit south of the port, and the drive between each stop stays quick and simple.
Timing suits a half-day or a full cultural day rather than an overnight stay, and the village works best paired with its neighbours. The museum, the square and a taverna lunch fill the middle of the day, with the palace before and a tasting after. Myrtia holds no beach and no resort, so travellers base themselves at the coast or in Heraklion and drive up for the culture. Those weighing a longer trip can fold the stop into a wider plan for where to stay in Crete, choosing a coastal or city base and reaching the inland villages by car.
The short distances keep the whole Peza cluster, the palace and the coast within easy reach across a single unhurried day out from the port and the city below.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Myrtia worth visiting in Crete?
Myrtia rewards travellers interested in Cretan literature and wine rather than the coast. The Nikos Kazantzakis Museum, one of the finest literary museums in Greece, gives the village its main draw, with manuscripts, letters, notebooks, photographs, stage sets and personal belongings of the writer set out in a modern exhibition. Around the museum the shaded square carries whitewashed houses, a fountain, a church and tavernas, so a visit combines culture with a village lunch beside the water. The setting in the heart of the Peza wine region adds a tasting to the day, and the short drive from Heraklion and the palace of Knossos makes the stop easy to reach by car.
A visit here suits a half-day of reading, walking and wine among the vines. Travellers planning a route can weigh it against the wider list of sights on the island and set it within a broader inland circuit south of the port and its coast, close to the palace and the Peza estates that ring the village.
How long does a visit to Myrtia take?
A visit to Myrtia fits a half-day, though it stretches to a full cultural day when paired with the palace and a winery. The Nikos Kazantzakis Museum on the square merits an hour or more, since the manuscripts, notebooks, photographs, stage sets and personal belongings reward slow attention across the modern exhibition. A taverna lunch on the shaded square, beside the fountain and the church, adds a further pause. From there a tasting at a Peza estate rounds off the afternoon among the vineyards. Travellers who add the Minoan palace of Knossos on the way from the coast turn the visit into a full day out from the port and city of Heraklion.
The village holds no beach and no resort, so most people drive up from a coastal or city base, spend the middle of the day here, and return to the shore for the evening rather than staying overnight in the quiet hills.
What is near Myrtia in Crete?
Myrtia sits within a short drive of Heraklion, the Minoan palace of Knossos and the Archanes villages, all set among the vineyards of the Peza wine region. The palace stands between the village and the city, so a single road links the three, and the Archanes settlements lie close to the west with their own restored houses and Minoan finds. Wineries and a long-running cooperative work the surrounding hills, which makes a tasting an easy add-on to the museum. The coast and the port of Heraklion sit half an hour to the north, giving travellers a base with beaches and rooms.
The compact spread of sights lets a driver combine the museum, the palace and a winery in one loop. Those mapping the wider region can treat Myrtia as one of the quieter inland stops, a cultural anchor among the Peza vines south of the northern coast, tied to the palace and the city by one short road.