Agia Galini
Built into a hillside overlooking a small fishing harbour, Agia Galini is a busy family resort, its pretty whitewashed houses packed with cafes and souvenir shops. The grey sand beach, lined with sunloungers and backed by tavernas, lies a 500-metre walk from town. It is also a good base for visiting the nearby archaeological sites of Phaestos and Gortys.
Agia Pelagia
Tucked away off the main road 20 kilometres west of Heraklion, low-key Agia Pelagia is built into a hillside above a sheltered bay. It offers a decent choice of mid-range hotels and apartments, most of which have sea views. The sandy main beach curves around the bay and is overlooked by tavernas and cafes. It offers sunloungers and good water sports facilities. Nearby, several more bays have smaller, less equipped beaches.
Agios Nikolaos
A cheerful 19th-century fishing village turned holiday resort, Ayios Nikolaos overlooks Mirabello Gulf. It centres on a small, deep lake, ringed by tavernas and cafes, and connected to the sea by a narrow inlet, traversed by a bridge. Its big, modern, mid-range hotels are popular with package tours. Taxi-boats run from the harbour to beaches along the coast. Excursions include jeep safari trips to the Lasithi Plateau, dotted with windmills.
Chersonissos
A large, popular resort, Chersonissos lies 27 kilometres from Heraklion. It offers sand beaches with water sports facilities, and a buzzing nightlife with English-style pubs, cocktail bars and nightclubs. There’s plenty for children too, including go-karts, and a miniature train that runs along the seafront. The Star Beach complex combines a beach, water park and spa. The 18-hole Crete golf club lies seven kilometres inland.
Elounda
Crete’s most expensive resort, Elounda overlooks the calm blue Gulf of Mirabello and Spinalonga Island. Popular with the rich and famous, it offers discreet, low-profile luxury, with several large five-star hotel complexes built into the hills above the coast. Set in landscaped grounds, they offer facilities such as wellness centres, infinity pools, private beaches, sophisticated on-site dining and chic cocktail bars.
Gouves
Ideal for a relaxing sea-and-sun holiday, this friendly, purpose-built, family resort offers a good selection of low-cost hotels and apartments, and lies 17 kilometres east of Heraklion. The local sand beaches have sunloungers, parasols and water sports. The main strip offers a handful of tavernas (some with live music) and bars, but night-time entertainment is generally hotel-based. The Star Beach water park is nearby in Chersonissos.
Heraklion
The capital of Crete, Heraklion’s modern, industrial port shelters a pedestrian-only old town filled with centuries-old Venetian monuments, countless open-air cafes, and high street clothing stores. It’s a popular base for visiting the 4,000-year-old Knossos Palace, five kilometres inland. The city’s Archaeological Museum displays Minoan finds from the site. The best sand beaches lie several kilometres east of town, as does Crete Aquarium.
Ierapetra
On the remote south coast, Ierapetra is Europe’s southernmost town and has more hours of sun per year than anywhere else in Europe. A 17th-century Venetian fortress presides over the harbour, hosting open-air theatre during the summer festival. On the edge of town, the long, grey-sand beach is lined with hotels, tavernas and bars. Daily excursion boats run to the tiny uninhabited island of Chrissi, known for its white beaches and turquoise sea.
Malia
Crete’s top party resort, Malia lies 37 kilometres from Heraklion. Developed in the 1980s, it is popular with a young British crowd, its main draw the neon-lit strip of late-night discos, English-style pubs, and fast food kiosks. Hotels and apartments overlook the two-kilometre-long sand beach, offering water sports and bungee jumping. The Star Beach water park in Chersonissos is also nearby. Daily excursion boats run to Ayios Nikolaos.
Matala
On Crete’s remote south coast, Matala was ‘discovered’ in the late-1960s when roving hippies (including Cat Stevens) began living in the caves carved into the red rocky cliffs above the cove. Today it attracts more mainstream visitors, but the caves remain. The cove houses a lovely golden sand beach, probably the best-known on the south coast. It makes a good base for visiting the archaeological sites of Phaestos and Gortys.
Milatos
An authentic fishing village, Milatos offers a slower pace of life than the major resorts. The pebble beach is lined with good seafood tavernas, and there are several modern resort hotels along the coast, as well as rooms and houses to rent in the village. Excursion boats run from the harbour to the island-fortress of Spinalonga. Climb the hillside above the bay for great views and a look in Milatos Cave, home to a tiny church.
Rethimnon
Presided over by a 16th-century Venetian fortress, Rethimnon old town is a warren of pastel-coloured Venetian mansions housing hip bars and eateries, antique stores and crafts shops, and a former mosque with a towering 19th-century minaret. The old Venetian harbour is lined with upmarket seafood tavernas, and guarded by a lighthouse. The palm-fringed sand beach lies east of town, overlooked by a string of big, modern hotels and souvenir shops.
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