Yannis Divramis 
Crete is a big island, so the smartest question is not which hotel to book but which region to base yourself in. The west, the centre and the east each open onto different beaches, ruins and old towns. Driving from one end to the other eats a large chunk of any day. Pick a base … Read more
Crete is Greece’s southernmost large island, and its long, mild season gives you real choice about when to arrive. Each part of the calendar shapes the island differently. Spring paints the hills green. Summer heats the beaches and fills the resorts. Autumn keeps the sea warm as crowds fade, and winter turns quiet along the … Read more
Agios Nikolaos is a resort town on the Gulf of Mirabello, in the Lasithi region of eastern Crete. Its centrepiece is Lake Voulismeni, a small round lake ringed by cafes and tavernas and joined to the harbour by a short channel. The town works as a comfortable base for the eastern end of the island, … Read more
Heraklion, sometimes written Iraklion, is the capital and largest city of Crete, spread along the island’s north-central coast around a working harbour. It pairs a Venetian old town with a busy modern port, so a sea fort, a lion fountain, and pedestrian shopping streets sit within a short walk of ferries and cafes. The city … Read more
Balos Lagoon is one of the most photographed places in the whole of Crete, and the reality lives up to the pictures. This shallow turquoise pool spreads across the Gramvousa peninsula in the far north-west of the island, north of the port town of Kissamos. White-to-pink sand rings warm, waist-deep water, and the rocky islet … Read more
Elafonisi Beach sits at the far south-west tip of Crete, where a shallow turquoise lagoon separates a low sandy islet from the mainland. Crushed shells and foraminifera tint stretches of the sand a soft pink, and a sandbar lets you wade knee-deep across the warm water to the islet. The bay is a protected nature … Read more
Rethymno sits on the north coast of Crete, halfway between Chania and Heraklion. It holds the best-preserved Renaissance old town on the island, a tight grid of Venetian and Ottoman lanes running below the Fortezza fortress. The Rimondi Fountain still pours through its carved lion spouts, the Neratze mosque keeps its Ottoman minaret, and the … Read more
The Samaria Gorge is the headline hike of south-west Crete, cutting roughly 16 km through the White Mountains national park to the Libyan Sea. Walkers begin high on the Omalos plateau at Xyloskalo, around 1,200 metres, then drop down a steep wooden-stepped path into the riverbed below. The route runs one way and downhill, past … Read more
Chania sits on the north-west coast of Crete, the island’s second city and its most photographed harbour. Pastel Venetian buildings ring the waterfront, and a stone Venetian lighthouse marks the tip of the harbour mole. Behind the quay stretches an old town of narrow Venetian and Ottoman lanes, arched doorways, and shaded courtyards. The city … Read more
Crete is Greece’s largest island, stretching along the south Aegean and split into four regional units from west to east: Chania, Rethymno, Heraklion and Lasithi. That size gives you Minoan ruins, Venetian harbours, a mountain gorge, palm-fringed beaches and a food culture built on olive oil and raki. You can spend a week here and … Read more