CRETE

Photos, itinerary and travel diary for Paradisiaca Island of Crete ... All on This page!

Information and travel tips for Crete

Why go? Crete is a Greek island throughout and for everything, but, with differences in the other Aegean islands, it offers boundless spaces. The variety of landscapes and the infinite beaches deserted even in Ferragosto are therefore excellent motifs to venture into Crete. In addition, it is an island easily reachable from Italy.

When to go? July and August are the most chaotic months, but it is easy to escape from confusion. Indeed, this season you can enjoy both the moves of the northern coast and of the nature and peace of the southern coast and the interior, if you travel a smart travel itinerary. Of course, if you like to have nature all for you the other months are even better. Obviously in autumn and winter the days are shorter and the grayest sky, and even in spring the sea water is not at all hot .... but you can still invent an interesting travel itinerary.
How to move? A rental car is the obvious solution for those who want to explore the island without setting up a few places and few beaches: moreover, you can (and you have to, in the wildrips spirit) Travel without booking anything in advance, Even in August, choosing a different hotel in the evening in the evening. A jeep like the jimny coast relatively little: perhaps it is not so necessary (at least, the Greeks manage to travel sterrats full of fossi even with normal cars), but gives more satisfaction and freedom.
To rent a car here at the best prices for your travel itinerary I absolutely recommend by Search And book this link .
How much does it cost? Prices are relatively low: with 10-15 euros you can dine at the restaurant and a double in high season it goes from 40 to 50 euros per night. To reach the island you can travel with Ryanair.
Keep in mind that in what it costs I take into account the whole journey ... from the middle for the airport departure to the drink passing through meals and souvenirs.
For an idea on hotel prices in Crete Click here to compare the hotels and find the most convenient accommodation.

Where to go? The whole island is to be explored: the famous Balos and Elafonisi are fantastic and mandatory in every itinerary, but the least famous beaches in the south of Crete are just as beautiful and often deserted. Then try to follow the coast in Jeep, passing from Palekastro, Plakias and Matala. Among the cities, Chania is probably the most fascinating.
Other destinations? There are always other non-beaten roads with which to get lost for Crete. Furthermore, you can take a ferry and reach Santorini and other Greek islands. You can read everything about Northern Greece and Lefkada at this link .

Travel diary in Crete

Who doesn't want to enjoy a week of summer vacation on a Greek island? And who doesn't want to do it aboard a jeep, excavation mountains, crossing canyons, looking for deserted beaches even in mid-August, of very impressive and wild coasts to put the chills?
Well, I hope that every person healthy desires A senseless journey of this type. Crete is ideal for this purpose, being the largest and most varied island in the Greek archipelago. During a relaxing holiday, you can sullaze on the beach and you can do nightlife, especially on the northern coast. But The rest of the island is everything to be explored to the adventure .

With Ryanair we flyed from Pisa to Chania , we landed at three in the afternoon. We retreated the decompactable Suzuki Jimny 4x4 which would have made us company for the rest of the trip: 490 euros for a week with Anna Cars (a local agency), insurance included - price from a very high season. Not even twenty minutes by car and parked at Stavros on a beautiful beach with a crystal clear sea and rocky mountain in the background. A good start, for our improvised travel itinerary.
In the evening we stopped in Chania, the most fascinating city of Crete, lying on the sea, rich in clubs and restaurants, with streets and lanes on water and an ancient , spectacular port. The cast of tourists at that time of vacation was remarkable and made the city a lot animated.

The next day I drove towards the beach of Balos , along dirt roads gradually increasingly scenic. You can reach this beach even by sea, with boat trips, but the top view of this amazing bay, with La Laguna and the rocky islands , is something unique and unforgettable.

The dirt road for Balos is also passable with normal cars, albeit very slowly, so access by land is really advisable to not say mandatory in a travel itinerary to Crete.
We snapped various photos, one more spectacular than the other ( Even if my judgment is partial), and we explored the hidden corners of what is a very famous bay and yet in its own way.

We left Balos in the afternoon. The upholstered him towards the car, under the sun, was tiring, but those who wanted could rent a mule.
We reached Falasarna before sunset. Here is an immense stretch of sand, partly equipped with deckchairs and water sports.
Towards dinner time we started looking for a place to stay and found a double room in a quiet guesthouse for 40 euros each. This type of room and price would have revealed the norm along our travel itinerary to Crete, despite the last-second and the high season.

The location was spectacular, but there was no liveliness, and the fish restaurants seemed some of the rips.
The following day, along a road that ranked attractively the sea, we arrived at Elafonisi , one Of the most famous beaches of Crete but still inevitable on a trip here.

Here he turned out again the miracle of Crete. The beach seemed to be tourist and crowded, but actually walking just a few hundred meters along the sandy peninsula, there was only in splendid baiette from crystal clear water .

The tourist beach was organized, with deckchairs, umbrellas, canoes, windsurfing (the wind is frequent in summer), etc.

In the afternoon we decided to continue along our travel itinerary (which we didn't have, but roughly wanted to go - more or less - the dick of Crete).
We wanted to go to Paleochora, and the We made a small, battered signal in Greek characters that indicated a dirt road that seemed to follow the coast . The road was very badly reduced, but the jimny had a high bottom and if he cavava; The landscapes were spectacular.

Dopo Paleochora guidammo fino a Sougia, dove giungemmo al tramonto, in tempo per ammirare la splendida lunga spiaggia surrounded by immense cliffs; The restaurants were very touristy.

Il giorno dopo il nostro viaggio continuò Inside, towards the Canyon of Imchos , which we walked on foot, downhill, between impressive rocky walls.

At the end of the walk, duration two to three hours, we were transported for a few euros at the starting point of the walk from two lords with a van, a comfortable option to do not carry forward and backwards.
Satisfied with the girth at the canyon of Imchos, We drove to the sea, we took a bath and continued the Lungocosta route, touching Hora Sfakion and Loutro.

We arrived at plakias at sunset, another pleasant town on the sea where the evening spent quietly.
Plakias is perhaps the most touristic town along the southern Cretan coast, also thanks to some spacious beaches easily reachable. A vacation spot, in short, where you can hire canoes , as we did the following morning, and try windsurfing, drifts, water skiing , etc.

Dopo la Canoeed, we resumed the jeep and continued for several hours sunset overlooking the sea, stopping every now and then for a bath in beaches gradually increasingly spectacular . Our travel itinerary in Crete was revealing more savage than expected.
We arrived at sunset at Agia Galini , where we decided to stay, a characteristic country of white houses that descended the sea.

So far the travel diary has been exciting, right? Amazing, no? No. Okay. The diary still continues shipped, allowing themselves to overlook important details (for example, that, between Plakias and Agia Galini, we visited the beautiful PREVELI beach and the lush canyon behind it; the beach is spectacular, but In the southern part of Crete there are equally beautiful and much less frequented: the canyon, however, makes the difference).

The next goal was Matala , a popular resort for the natural caves inhabited since prehistoricia, but also from the Hyppie in the 1960s. The country is characteristic, although a little tourist, and overlooks a beautiful bay. On the rocky side of one of the promontor who close the bay there are countless caves , to visit. Not far from Matala and within walking distance through a short but tiring path there is the beautiful Red Sand Beach or beach with red sand.

After Matala we abandoned each logical travel route and threw himself to the north of Crete, going to take the highway that follows the north coast and moving east. We paused, after almost three hours, at Mohlos , or Mochlos, a beautiful village where we enjoyed an overview Mythos (the local Cretan beer) . After another little road we reached Sitia , a beautiful town where we stayed.

Our vacation then continued to go with a wide beach with a palm grove behind: splendid place, but crowded with tourists. (Along our travel itinerary in the south of Crete we had accustomed ourselves well, as for wild and deserted coasts). Then went to Palekastro, homeland of windsurfing, always swept by meltemi.

The Palekastro area is splendid and after windsurf we explored it in Jeep. So we walked away following the dirt roads that brought us to coast the sea along a wild peninsula, finding other deserted bakes.

In the early afternoon, looking for a few inns found other deserted beaches and the most characteristic and better trattoria of the holiday where we ate meat and folk octopus . In Crete you can eat at any time.

Then I drove for a couple of hours and arrived at Malia , where we decided to stop.
It was now the last day of vacation, and with it, unfortunately for you and for the literature in General, a Cretan Travel Diary will also end After all the beauties of Crete and the vissy adventures disappointed a lot. We did not explain the mass of tourists visiting (nor even our presence!). Other cretan, less reconstructed and less touristy archaway sites were much more fascinating, in more natural contexts. I emphasize however that I am not an archaeologist!
On the road to the airport we stopped at Rethymno , a fascinating town on the sea of ​​Venetian origin, although my favorite remained Chania.
as a conclusion Of this travel diary, I underlined willingly that a vacation to the adventure in Crete is therefore also possible to August: a proper means is enough, a bit of a spirit of initiative and improvisation capacity. In short, if you spend your summer holidays in Crete, you will have the wild blessing of Wild Trips (without this blessing you would be lost, I know).
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