Crete boat trips open a coastline that roads never reach, carrying travellers to offshore islands, hidden coves and sea caves that stay empty of crowds. From the harbour at Kissamos in the west, cruises sail out to a turquoise lagoon and a pirate island crowned by a Venetian fort. Southern boats cross to palm beaches … Read more
Gramvousa rises dramatically from the turquoise waters off Crete’s north-west coast, a pair of rocky islets crowned by a crumbling Venetian fortress that once sheltered pirates. The larger island, Imeri or Wild Gramvousa, draws visitors to its steep summit for sweeping views and to the sandy beach below, where a rusting shipwreck lies half-submerged in … 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