The old harbour of Chania
A Venetian lighthouse, pastel facades and the finest evening stroll in Greece.
Crete
Minoan palaces, pink beaches and mountain villages
Best time
May – June & September – October
Gentle pace
5–7 slow days
Ideal for
Families · Beach lovers · History lovers
Crete is Greece in miniature — a mountainous island of ancient palaces, pink-sand beaches, olive groves and old Venetian harbours, large enough to spend a week and still feel you have only scratched it. The Cretans are famously the warmest hosts in Greece, and children are welcomed into taverna life as if they were family.
With children, base yourselves in the west near Chania, swim at Balos or Elafonissi, walk the Samaria gorge if the kids are older, and spend evenings in the old harbour over fresh fish and a carafe of wine.
Worth lingering over
Elafonissi pink beach
Shallow, warm, pink-tinged sand and a sandbar to a little island — a children’s paradise.
The Palace of Knossos
The Minoan labyrinth of legend, half-restored and full of stories — go early and bring a guide.
Hidden gem
The village of Loutro and the Libyan Sea
On Crete’s remote south-west coast, reachable only by boat or on foot, sits Loutro — a tiny cluster of whitewashed houses around a turquoise bay with no road, no cars and almost no crowds. Take the ferry from Chora Sfakion, swim from the pebble beach, eat fresh fish on the harbour, and walk the coastal path to the ruined Venetian castle above. It is the Crete of forty years ago, and most visitors never find it.